The Awe-Inspiring Nature of Karmic Retribution

The afflictions of the manas since beginningless kalpas have perfumed the six consciousnesses, causing the six consciousnesses to involuntarily create karmic actions; the karmic seeds are then stored in the eighth consciousness, which in turn perfumes the manas again. With this repeated perfuming, sentient beings truly have no day of liberation. When sentient beings create karma, they act recklessly and without restraint, fearing neither heaven nor earth—it makes one shudder to behold. A bodhisattva can directly perceive what retributions various karmic actions will bring, and those retributions are truly painful to undergo; even bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis can hardly bear them.