How Are the Karmas of Sentient Beings Eliminated?

Throughout the process of cultivation over countless kalpas, sentient beings gradually eliminate their karmic obstructions; only when their karma is exhausted can they attain the Buddha way. The elimination of karma is mainly accomplished through one's own cultivation—extinguishing ignorance and transforming the mind. However, at the very beginning, when sentient beings are heavily obscured by ignorance and their mental power is weak, most of their karmic obstructions are eliminated, carried, and borne for them through the blessings of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. If the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas did not bear and eliminate each sentient being's karma, no one could ever realize the Way and become a Buddha. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas eliminate, resolve, and bear sentient beings' karma in countless ways, yet sentient beings remain unaware and unknowing, and sometimes they even go so far as to slander the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. When sentient beings are ignorant, they simply do not understand how immense the kindness and grace of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is.

The cause and effect of sentient beings is the cycle of rebirth in the six realms—birth, aging, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress (śoka-parideva-duḥkha-daurmanasyopāyāsa). Yet when each sentient being encounters the Buddhadharma, the karma of birth-and-death and the feelings of suffering grow ever lighter, until finally the karma of the three evil realms is severed, and even the karma of rebirth in the six realms is eliminated. When each sentient being has the opportunity to encounter the Buddhadharma, do not think that this is all due to the being's own merit and virtue—it is all due to the kindness and grace of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Day after day, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas make vows and aspirations, wishing that their power of vow may reach all sentient beings in the three evil realms. The beings of the three evil realms, unknowingly and in a state of confusion, receive this grace; their merit increases day by day, until at last they encounter the Buddhadharma and begin their cultivation and study of Buddhism over countless kalpas. From then on, their karmic obstructions begin to be eliminated bit by bit, until they finally attain Buddhahood—all of this is due to the kindness and grace of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Unless one becomes a Buddha, no one can ever fully repay the kindness of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

The blessings and vows of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are all formless; the countless karmic obstructions they eliminate for sentient beings are likewise formless—invisible and intangible. When sentient beings are ignorant, they cannot perceive it, yet in reality its power is boundless. Sentient beings are not merely ungrateful; they simply do not know of the kindness at all, and they even slander the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas without cause. Yet the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas never take it to heart—who would bother to quarrel with ignorant and deluded sentient beings? No matter how much karma the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas bear for sentient beings, no matter how much Buddhadharma they teach, and no matter how profound the dharma they expound, ignorant sentient beings will not even allow the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to bear the title of an ordinary bodhisattva. How deep, then, are their sins and obstructions?