Is what you are experiencing now ultimately a cause or an effect?

Karma spans the three lifetimes—the three lifetimes being the past life, the present life, and the future life. So the things one does now, as well as the wholesome or unwholesome circumstances one encounters, may be either a fruit or a cause. What is called a fruit means that there was a cause in a past life, and the fruit is reaped in this life; whereas what is called a cause means that the things done in this life serve as the cause, and the fruit will come in a future life. When others commit acts toward you, whether wholesome dharmas or unwholesome dharmas, these may be either a fruit or a cause. If it is a fruit, then you planted the cause in a past life, and in this life you are due to receive this fruit; if it is not a fruit but a cause, then the other person is planting a cause upon you, and in the future it is he who will reap the fruit. This is the principle that karma spans the three lifetimes. Therefore, present circumstances are not necessarily a fruit, nor are they necessarily a cause; only those with supernatural powers or great wisdom can determine whether a given matter is a cause or a fruit.