Deep Ignorance and Delusion of Sentient Beings in the Dharma-Ending Age

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

Sentient beings are not only greedy but also foolish, insisting on licking that bit of honey on the tip of a blade—what do they end up gaining in the end? No one considers this. Most people chase after the tiny so-called benefits right before their eyes, while risking falling into the three evil paths. They may seem bold, but in truth it is because of their foolishness and shortsightedness—they cannot think of the great benefits that lie far in the future.

In fact, most people plan and scheme only for their 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, and no one can see it. Why? Because of ignorance and foolishness, because afflictions have blinded their own eyes, so they cannot see themselves clearly and cannot see clearly the true gains and losses, the true benefits and harms.

As for cause and effect, many people do not truly believe in it, always harboring 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, they will surely suffer some evil retribution—never realizing that their own evil retribution is about to arrive, and that they themselves are creating the causes of evil retribution.

When I first began studying Buddhism and reading sutras, I read some true stories about cause and effect, and came to believe that cause and effect is real and not false, so I was careful in all my bodily, verbal, and mental actions. But Buddhists nowadays do not read the 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 flick of the fingers, evil karma spreads across the whole country, which 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 what is wholesome and what is unwholesome, committing great evil karma without any sense of remorse.

Some people create evil karma because they are instigated or 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 they believe what this person says, thinking this person can truly bear the karma on their behalf. Little do they know that when cause and effect arrives, each person receives their own retribution, and no one can substitute for another—even one's own birth parents can do nothing about it.