Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (227)

Merit is also brought about by collective karma

This time the Wheel-Turning King wanted to make golden rain fall, and his greed grew ever greater—no longer coveting small things. If his greedy thought could become reality, what does that indicate? It indicates that his merit was complete and abundant; only then could such greedy thoughts be realized. If there were a person who formed a single thought for gold to fall from the sky, and gold actually fell, under what circumstances would that happen? It would require that all people in the world possess such great merit; not only must the person who forms the thought have merit, but all other people involved must also have merit to receive and enjoy it. If those who would share in the enjoyment lack the merit to enjoy it, that golden rain cannot fall; and even if it could fall, those without merit could not obtain it. Without the karmic seeds of merit, the flowers and fruits of merit cannot appear. The completeness of sentient beings' merit is a prerequisite. In the era when the Wheel-Turning Sage King lived, his subjects all had great blessings; only because they had that merit in their destiny could they bring about golden rain falling from the sky.

This was brought about by the collective karma of the Wheel-Turning Sage King and the people of the four continents. Collective karma means having jointly accumulated the same merit, so that together they can enjoy the shared retribution. For example, husband and wife have collective karma; without collective karma they could not come together. Husband and wife have the same wholesome karma or unwholesome karma, and can together bring about wealth and honor or poverty. It is impossible for one to be wealthy and honored while the other is poor—then they could not come together. If the collective karma of the husband and wife is exhausted, one is due to receive the retribution of wealth and honor while the other is due to receive the retribution of poverty, and the two can no longer live together.

Parents and children also have collective karma. If parents and children lack collective karma—for example, if the parents are due to receive the retribution of poverty while the child is due to enjoy the retribution of wealth and honor—then when the child grows up and leaves home, he will prosper and become wealthy elsewhere, and the parents cannot enjoy it, which shows they had no collective karma. Sentient beings live together on Earth; all humans on Earth have collective karma, and those living in a small city also have collective karma among themselves. Therefore, if we wish to obtain the retribution of wealth and honor, there is no need to pray for it; we only need to genuinely practice generosity (dāna) and cultivate merit. Whoever cultivates it obtains it; whoever does not cultivate it does not obtain it. Wholesome karma has no bounds and no limits. It is not the case that if you cultivate this karma of wealth and honor, then I will have none of it—each who cultivates obtains it; if everyone cultivates it, everyone obtains it.

Therefore, collective karma causes sentient beings to gather in one place, while non-collective karma causes sentient beings to separate from one another. For the sentient beings in the Land of Bliss, their collective karma brings about heavenly garments and heavenly food arising naturally, with the seven treasures everywhere and gold paving the ground—that is the collective karma of the sentient beings of the Land of Bliss, whereas people on Earth treat gold as a treasure to wear on their bodies. When the blessings of people on Earth have been enjoyed until little remains, the best thing on Earth will be iron; at that time, humans will treat a piece of broken iron as a treasure to wear on their bodies, because sentient beings no longer have blessings. The collective karma of being without blessings will bring about vile things, with no treasures at all.