The Karmic Retribution of a Contemptuous Mind

When a person has a contemptuous mind, not only can the words spoken become seeds of evil karma that will bring evil retribution in the future, but even the expressions that represent contempt also become karmic seeds, and in the future one will also suffer evil retribution because of them; even the initial applications and sustained examinations (vitarka-vicāra) and thoughts in the mind will be stored away as seeds, and in the future one will also suffer evil retribution because of them, because once the mind-ground is defiled, the karmic seeds are impure.

Whenever one has had a contemptuous mind, no matter in what form, one should promptly repent; in order not to receive evil retribution in future lives, it is worth paying whatever price to remedy it. There are mental actions even more serious than a contemptuous mind, which should be repented of even more, so as to avoid great evil retribution in future lives—for example, deception and lies, deliberate deception and malicious lies, all of which should be promptly repented. A small cause yields a great fruit; these matters are by no means child's play—retribution is not false.

In the past, a young śrāmaṇera said of an ordained master that he ate like an ox chewing grass, and as a result he was reborn as an ox for five hundred lifetimes. If the verbal karma of an ordained person speaking about an ordained person is that serious, how much more serious is the verbal karma of a layperson speaking about an ordained person. Everyone must examine themselves; even the slightest fault should be repented of, lest one regret it beyond remedy when the retribution comes in the future. Nowadays there are many people who slander the Three Jewels—not a small number—and they do so brazenly, openly, self-righteously, unreasonably, unbelievably; such people may well descend into hell to receive their retribution. If one had supernatural powers and could take a trip through the hells, one would know that the beings in hell are not all murderers and arsonists; quite a few of them are sentient beings who studied Buddhism and committed great evil karma in the past. At the time they did not know they were committing evil karma; some even thought it was wholesome karma, thinking nothing would come of it. Among these people, quite a few considered themselves to be quite accomplished in cultivation.

As long as the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion have not been eradicated, it is possible to commit evil karma. Especially when Buddhist practitioners are incited by people they trust, their heads get hot, and they dare to do anything, thinking nothing will happen, not knowing that the future retribution is extremely heavy. The more esteemed someone is in the world, and the more beneficial they are to sentient beings, the greater the karmic offense of committing evil deeds against them. A Buddhist practitioner must first understand cause and effect, be careful with bodily, verbal, and mental actions, not commit evil karma, and not receive evil retribution—this is a wise person. Those who truly understand cause and effect, who truly deeply believe and accept cause and effect, are already close to attaining the bhūmis as a bodhisattva of the first ground; pre-bhūmi bodhisattvas (pūrvabhūmika bodhisattvas) cannot yet fully believe and accept cause and effect, let alone ordinary beings. Because those who can realize the tathāgatagarbha and directly observe its functioning know that bodily, verbal, and mental actions are stored into the tathāgatagarbha moment by moment, without omission, and the retribution is therefore unavoidable, they have no mentality of hoping for luck.

By frequently reading the examples of cause and effect taught in the Buddhist sutras, one can understand cause and effect more deeply, and one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions will become extremely careful. People whose heads often get hot and who are irrational are everywhere; the evil habits accumulated over beginningless kalpas are too deep and heavy, hard to restrain. Know what you know as known, and admit what you do not know as unknown; regarding what you do not understand, do not lightly open your mouth to comment and evaluate; do not be overconfident—overconfident people often suffer losses, and all those losses are inflicted on themselves by themselves. An overconfident person is one whose "I am strong" is prominent—one whose self-grasping, self-love, self-delusion, and self-conceit are deep, heavy, and blazing. To put it plainly, committing evil karma and receiving evil retribution is still because of the "self" within the mind; as long as that self has not been subdued, it will keep popping out to commit evil karma.

Having a sense of superiority within is māna of self—it is having a self. As long as the mind takes any minute dharma as self, that is māna of self. Māna of self is the hardest to eradicate and the hardest to detect in oneself, because one is too accustomed to it; often one is unaware of it, and it manifests very naturally. Most people have extremely coarse and heavy māna of self, yet very few can become aware of their own conceited mind. Because meditative concentration (samādhi) is insufficient and wisdom is lacking, they cannot introspectively observe their own obvious conceit and hidden conceit; if no one reminds them, it will be allowed to develop unchecked.