廣弘明集 8.83

8.83

The sūtras state that karma has three kinds of retribution: first, retribution in the present life; second, retribution in the next life; and third, retribution in subsequent lives. Retribution in the present life means that good or evil begins in this body, and suffering or pleasure is experienced in this very body. Retribution in the next life means that it is experienced immediately in the subsequent body. Retribution in subsequent lives means that it is experienced in two, three, or hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of lives thereafter. The experiencing of it has no independent master; it must stem from the mind. The mind has no fixed office; it must respond to external affairs. Conditions have degrees of strength and weakness; therefore, retributions have slowness and swiftness. Hence a sūtra says: 'Just as when in debt, the strongest creditor pulls first.' Such are the rewards and punishments of cause and effect, the profound import of the three retributions. Unless one has comprehensive talent and penetrating discernment, one rarely enters their gateway. In the world, there are those who accumulate good yet meet with calamity, or those who are vicious and perverse yet attain good fortune. All these occur because their present karma has not yet ripened while their former retribution has already responded. Therefore it is said: 'The virtuous encounter disaster, while the monstrous enjoy fortune.' The suspicions of doubt reside right here! Thus Yan Hui's short life was due to his lot cast in the past, while the virtue he accumulated in this life will bear fruit in the future. Robber Zhi's longevity was a recompense for past good deeds, while his current wanton evil will bring ruin in lives to come. (The commentary states: King Mu of Chu, styled Shangchen, was the crown prince of King Cheng of Chu. He committed the guilt of parricide, yet he was given the posthumous title of Mu. The divergence between name and reality began here.) These are all retributions of the next or subsequent lives, not retributions of the present life. Hence a sūtra says: 'Due to mixed karma, there are mixed retributions.' For instance, when King Kali dismembered Kṣāntivādin, he was struck by lightning in this very life; Lady Mallikā made offerings to Subhūti and was seen to become a queen in that very life. Cases such as these are all retributions in the present life. You said that great cruelty is the cause of wealth and honor, and that observing precepts is the root of disease and suffering. The scriptures have established explanations; this can be addressed. In some cases, evil conditions trigger good karma, so that committing many killings leads to rank. In other cases, good conditions trigger evil karma, so that much meditation and morality results in illness. Illness is brought on by evil karma; how could it be obtained by cultivating good? Nobility arises from good karma; it is not induced by cruelty and slaughter. Therefore a treatise says: 'Conditions are indefinite, but what is experienced is not indefinite.' That 'what is experienced is definite' means that causes cannot be changed. It is like planting rice to get rice—it will certainly not yield wheat. Even though wheat is not produced, [rice] cannot be planted on dry land: the soil is the condition, and the rice seed is the cause. However, cause and effect are vast and manifold, truly difficult to examine in full. Following the scriptural teachings, two kinds may be briefly indicated: first, generative karma; second, receptive karma. Simultaneously practicing the ten good deeds and together attaining a human body is generative karma. Poverty, wealth, nobility, baseness, intelligence, dullness, short life, or longevity are receptive karma. Thus, giving yields great wealth, while stinginess brings poverty; patience yields handsome appearance, while anger invites ugliness. These are corresponding causes and effects. The principle of karmic retribution is so subtle that even accomplished men are obscured by it; thought cannot reach it, and false views arise. Some claim that when a person dies, the spirit is annihilated and there is no future life (this is the view of annihilationism). Some say that assembly and dispersion are endless, and the mind-spirit continues without interruption (this is the view of eternalism). Some state that good and bad fortune, suffering and pleasure, are all caused by heaven (the non-Buddhist school of other-cause). Some reckon that all dharmas exist naturally, not obtained through causes (the non-Buddhist school of non-cause). Indeed, the measures of misfortune and fortune alternately decline and flourish in the six viscera, and the retributions of suffering and pleasure run side by side in turns. Consequently, those who encounter them fail to see the direct correlations, and thus claim that the books of Confucian teaching have no fundamental authority above, and that the retributions of good and evil have no verification below. If one can examine the three retributions to observe the divisions between adversity and success, then the reason Confucius did not answer Zilu can be clearly understood! For this reason, Wenzi cited the words of the Yellow Emperor: 'The physical form may rot, but the spirit does not transform; riding upon transformation with the untransformed, its changes are inexhaustible.' Furthermore, concerning the burial at Ying and Bo, it is said: 'Bones and flesh return to the earth, while the spirit and qi go everywhere.' The Buddhist scriptures state: 'The conscious spirit has no form; it temporarily rides upon four serpents. The form has no constant master, and the spirit has no constant home.' These are all clear proofs that the spirit roams through the six paths, and lucid expositions that the form exhausts a single lifetime. If you cannot yet believe the sūtras, pray examine the pronouncements of the Yellow Emperor! Viewed from this perspective, the reason the Buddhist scriptures surpass the Six Classics and excel the Nine Schools of thought—is it not because they elevate the spirit, reach the essentials, mold the spiritual palace, exhaust the source, fully comprehend transformations, and are boundless like a clear mirror?