The Law of Cause and Effect Is True and Never False

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

Sentient beings are not only greedy but also foolish; they insist 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 only care about the tiny so-called benefits right in front of them, while risking rebirth in the three evil destinies. They may seem 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 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 real advantages and disadvantages.

As for cause and effect, many people do not truly believe in it; they always harbor a fluke mentality, thinking that karmic retribution will fall on others' heads and not on themselves. So, for the sake of their own interests, they tell others that if they do not obey their arrangements, some 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 sutras, I read some true stories about cause and effect, and came to believe that cause and effect is real and not false; my bodily, verbal, and mental actions were all carefully guarded. 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 more convenient than before—with a mere 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; their minds are blocked, they blindly follow others, they do not know what is wholesome and what is unwholesome, they commit great evil karma, and they know no remorse.

Some people create 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 retribution and no evil retribution." So some of the mind-blind believe what this person says, thinking that this person can truly bear their karma on their behalf. Little do they know that when cause and effect arrive, each person receives their own retribution—there is absolutely no substituting one for another; even one's own birth parents can do nothing about it.