This story is based on the “Biographies of the 33 Patriarchs” as published in the Buddhist journal “Từ Bi Âm” (The Sound of Compassion).
Kumarata, the 19th patriarch of Buddhism in India, after attaining enlightenment, traveled to central India to teach the Dharma. A devout lay Buddhist named Xá-dạ-đa approached him with a question:
- “Master, my parents are virtuous and devout Buddhists, yet they suffer from constant illness and misfortune in all their endeavors. Meanwhile, our neighbor, a butcher, slaughters countless animals, yet he remains healthy and prosperous. I am confused about the principle of karmic retribution. Please enlighten me.”
The patriarch explained:
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“Karmic retribution unfolds across three time periods. One cannot judge someone’s karmic situation based solely on their current fortune or misfortune. Understand that the law of cause and effect is infallible. Cause and effect are like a form and its shadow: a straight form casts a straight shadow, a crooked form casts a crooked shadow. People doubt this principle when they see the virtuous suffering and the wicked prospering. They fail to realize that the wicked enjoy wealth and success due to past good karma, while the virtuous endure poverty and hardship due to past negative karma they are now repaying. Furthermore, present actions sow the seeds for future consequences.”
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“While there are three types of karma, each arises from delusion. Delusion, in turn, stems from consciousness. Consciousness arises from ignorance, and ignorance resides in the mind. However, the true nature of the mind is pure, unborn, undying, and uninvolved in action or retribution. Those who grasp this profound truth see all phenomena, both conditioned and unconditioned, as illusory, not worthy of attachment.
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“Such individuals are akin to Buddhas.”
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