Cause and Effect Is Real and Not False

In the Dharma-ending age, sentient beings' minds are restless and agitated, yet some people deliberately cater to and pander to this restlessness in order to please sentient beings. If one never goes against the bad habits of sentient beings at all, then how can one turn those bad habits around, and how can sentient beings attain liberation?

Sentient beings are not only greedy but also foolish and deluded—they insist on licking that bit of honey on the tip of a blade. What do they ultimately gain? No one considers this. Most people care only about the tiny so-called benefits right in front of them, while risking rebirth in the three evil paths. They may appear bold, but in reality it is because of their foolishness and shortsightedness—they cannot think of the great and lasting benefits of the distant future.

In fact, most people plan and scheme only for their own personal interests, yet the things they do not only fail to bring them benefit, but often cause them to lose the benefits they already have. Yet no one thinks of this or sees this. Why? Because of ignorance and delusion, because afflictions have blinded their own eyes—they cannot see themselves clearly, nor can they see clearly the true gains and losses, the real advantages and disadvantages.

Many people do not truly believe in cause and effect; they always harbor a fluke mentality, thinking that karmic retribution will fall on others' heads and never on themselves. So for the sake of their own interests, they tell others that if they do not obey their arrangements, some kind of evil retribution will surely befall them—unaware that their own evil retribution is about to arrive, and that they are right now creating the causes of evil retribution.

When I first began studying Buddhism and reading the sutras, I read some true stories about cause and effect, and came to believe that cause and effect is real and not false, and I was careful in all my bodily, verbal, and mental actions. But Buddhist practitioners nowadays do not read the Buddhist sutras at all and do not know what the sutras are teaching; therefore their minds are blind and they do not understand cause and effect.

Now that the internet is so developed, creating evil karma is far easier than before—with a mere flick of the fingers, evil karma spreads across the whole country. It is truly lamentable. No one is alert to what evil consequences will follow after they move their fingers. Only the ignorant are fearless. With their minds blocked, they blindly follow others, not knowing good from evil; they commit great evil karma without any remorse.

Some people commit evil karma because they are instigated and incited by others, without knowing it themselves. For example, someone tells them, "If you do it this way, nothing will happen; I will bear the karma for you—you will have only good results, no bad results." So some of the mind-blind believe what this person says, thinking that this person can truly bear the karma on their behalf. Little do they know that when cause and effect arrives, each person receives his or her own retribution, and no one can substitute for another—even one's own birth parents can do nothing about it.