No one may publicize the unwholesome aspects of a monastic's bodily, verbal, and mental actions

Regarding the lifestyle and practice style of monastics, all laypeople and worldly people should not, and have no right to, slander, accuse, reproach, or revile them. However, when facing a monastic who proclaims erroneous dharma teachings—teaching content that contradicts the original meaning of the Buddhist sutras and the path of liberation, presenting what is not Dharma as Dharma—what should be done in such a situation?

Dharma teachings concern the matter of sentient beings' birth and death and saṃsāra through life after life; this is a matter of great importance. Errors should be corrected. Apart from this, no worldly conduct of any monastic or the Saṅgha should be criticized or publicized—especially malicious publicity, publicity driven by ulterior motives, by selfish personal agendas, by the desire to achieve personal goals, or by the intent to sow discord—all aimed at destroying the image of monastics. This karmic offense is very grave; it may even be beyond repentance, and there will also be flowering retribution in this very life. Flowering retribution in this life is much lighter than the retributive fruit in future lives; where there is flowering retribution, there must be retributive fruit in future lives, and the two combined constitute a very heavy retribution.

Even a monastic should not publicize or deliberately and openly accuse other monastics of their bodily, verbal, and mental actions, causing laypeople to know of it and give rise to ridicule, thereby creating evil karma and falling into the three evil destinies to undergo retribution as a result of such karmic actions. Any sentient being who has generated the great Mahāyāna bodhi mind should be respected and revered; those of great merit and those of virtue should all be respected. If one also gives rise to thoughts and actions of slander toward them, the offense is also very great, causing one's own merit to be rapidly exhausted, to the point that all manner of adverse and contrary conditions arise. In matters that damage one's own merit, one must exercise patience and restraint, and not commit such deeds.

Slandering the Three Jewels, slandering people of virtue, and committing all other evil deeds is like spitting at the sky—the spit ends up falling back on one's own face; it is like lifting a rock only to have it finally drop on one's own foot. Do not contend with others, do not contend with cause and effect, and do not contend with the tathāgatagarbha. Human calculation cannot surpass heaven's calculation; you cannot out-calculate the law of cause and effect of the tathāgatagarbha. Conversely, all the wholesome karma and meritorious karma that a person creates also returns to that person—oneself receives the benefit. Wholesome karma is created for oneself, and oneself comes to receive the wholesome retribution. All retribution falls upon oneself, and lands nowhere else.