Not Yet Time to Appear

 

In our study of the Buddhadharma, we will have often heard that everything is subject to causality. But as ordinary people, we are unable to deeply believe and awaken. Why? We have seen many people who have committed wrongdoings escape retribution, while others who have done good deeds are not rewarded with good fortune. So we do not believe that one who practices virtue will receive good fortune and one who commits wrongdoings will receive their just retribution.

There is a profound principle here. We do not reflect deeply enough and our foresight is shallow. We do not know that a karmic reward passes through time, through the past, present, and future. It has been explained that cause and effect continues in an eternal and endless cycle. This cycle does not begin and end in one lifetime. In other words: “It does not mean there is no karmic effect, rather the time has not yet come for it to manifest.” We need to understand and affirm this principle to be able to completely understand the true reality of life and the universe.

Many of us continue to have good fortune even after we have committed misdeeds in this lifetime. This is because of our having cultivated vast good fortune in our previous lifetimes. Although we have currently committed misdeeds, the remaining good fortune, which we already had, is not yet exhausted. This good fortune resulted from previous lifetimes, not from the present lifetime. If we had not committed wrongdoings, our good fortune would have been even greater.

For example, a wealthy person who indulges his every whim while still committing bad deeds, would find that the great enjoyment in this daily life was because of the good fortune amassed in previous lifetimes. If this person was not currently committing wrongdoings, he might be even wealthier! The underlying principle is that when we do not experience immediate downfall when we enjoy good fortune and commit misdeeds at the same time, it is because of our past accumulation of good fortune. But, as the accumulation of wrongdoings increases, there will come a time when all of our good fortune will be depleted and the negative karmic retribution will come into effect. At this point it will be too late for regret.

On the other hand, we see others who seemingly do not receive good karmic rewards in return for their kind deeds and, in fact, they face many hardships. Their kind deeds seem to be repaid with unkind results. The Buddha explained why this happens many times in the sutras.

In their past lifetimes, these people committed countless serious offenses. If they were not currently performing good deeds, they would be suffering even more. Fortunately, they can stop all wrongdoings and cultivate virtue, and thus avoid even more troubles. As the teachings often tell us: “A serious wrongdoing has been transformed into a light retribution.”

So if we meet difficulties while cultivating good deeds, we should realize that such hardships are not the result of our current cultivation of good deeds. In addition, we need to be even more diligent in ending wrongdoings and in cultivating virtuous deeds. Through our endurance of hardship, we will undoubtedly experience prosperity, our transgressions will be eliminated, and we will receive good fortune.

Sunflowers in April

If you come to France in April, you will not see any sunflowers. But in July, the area around Plum Village has so many sunflowers. Where are the sunflowers in April? If you come to Plum Village in April and look deeply, you will see sunflowers. The farmers have ploughed the land and sown the seed, and the flowers are just waiting for one more condition to show themselves. They are waiting for the warmth of May and June. The sunflowers are there, but they have not fully manifested.

Look deeply at a box of matches. Do you see a flame in it? If you do, you are already enlightened. When we look deeply at a box of matches, we see that the flame is there. It needs only the movement of someone’s fingers to manifest. We say: “Dear flame, I know you are there. Now I shall help you express yourself.”

The flame has always been in the box of matches and also in the air. If there were no oxygen, the flame could not express itself. If you lit a candle and then covered the flame with something, the flame would go out for lack of oxygen. The survival of the flame depends on oxygen. We cannot say that the flame is inside the box of matches or that the flame is outside the box of matches. The flame is everywhere in space, time and consciousness. The flame is everywhere, waiting to manifest itself, and we are one of the conditions that will help the flame to manifest. However, if we blow on the flame we shall help the flame stop showing itself. Our breath, when we blow on the flame, is a condition that stops the manifestation of the flame in its present form.

We can light two candles from the match and then blow out the flame on the match. Do you think the flame from the match has died? The flame is not of the nature to be born or to die. The question is, is the flame on the two candles the same flame or two different flames? It is not the same and it is not different. Now another question: is the flame of the match dead? It is both dead and not dead. Its nature is not to die and not to be born. If we leave the candle burning for an hour, will the flame remain the same or become another flame? The wick, the wax and the oxygen are always changing. The part of the wick and the wax that is burning is always transforming. If these things transform, the flame must change too. So the flame is not the same, but it also is not different.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh, no death, no fear

When Can We be Helped?

In the Earth Treasure Sutra, we see that it is difficult to save sentient beings who have already descended into the hell realms. Earth Treasure Bodhisattva has great wisdom and great extraordinary abilities, thus he can help the sentient beings in the hell realms to even reach the Western Pure Land. But, because of our habitual behavior, when we are able to move up to the heaven realms, we continue to commit wrongdoings. And after life in the heaven realms has ended, we will again fall into the hell realms. But to Earth Treasure Bodhisattva it is as if we have returned after only having been gone for a few days!

Once in the hell realms, as we experience continuous suffering we will be unable to cultivate. Thus, our hatred and resultant negative karma will increase and become more binding. The sutras clearly explain this for us. From this, we can begin to understand how difficult it is to help sentient beings who have descended into the hell realms.

When can we be helped?

After we have committed wrongdoings, but before we pass on and descend into the hell realms. During this time, we must awaken so that through feelings of intense remorse and fear, we will diligently forgo thinking, saying, or doing anything that is bad and only do that which is good. In this way, we will maintain purity of mind. And in this way, we can change our present conditions and transform a bad situation into a good one.

It would be even better if we could bring give rise to the great Bodhi mind. If at the moment of death, we sincerely regret as we recite “Amituofo” one to ten times and we seek birth into the Pure Land, we will be reborn there. And we will do this even though we had been about to go to the lowest of the hell realms. We will be born in the Pure Land as non-retrogressive bodhisattvas, beings who will never fall back in their practice. Once there, we will have the opportunity to return to our world to help those whom we have an affinity with to transcend the hell realms.

Bodhisattvas Fear Causes

It is said that bodhisattvas fear causes while sentient beings fear effects. So, bodhisattvas fear negative effects and take steps to avoid creating any negative cause. In doing so, they eradicate their debts—the karmic obstacles created from their previous wrongdoings. They also accumulate perfect merits and virtues until they reach the state of buddhahood. Whether worldly phenomena or the teachings of the Buddhas, nothing is beyond the law of cause and effect. Everything is empty and unreal, an eternally impermanent element. But the law of cause of effect is unchangeable and real, an eternally permanent element.

Cause and effect are closely related as they coexist mutually. A cause becomes an effect, which in turn results in another cause. From this endless cycle, we can see that a particular cause is not fixed. Neither is a single effect the only effect. The combination of cause and effect forms a continuous cycle, the cycle of rebirth.

Bodhisattvas are awakened, understanding beings and are therefore well aware that every single cause produces an effect. Because of this, they are mindful of their every thought, word, and action. They understand that a negative cause will become a future negative karmic effect, which they themselves will have bear.

Unlike bodhisattvas, sentient beings do not understand the principles and the realities of life. The little knowledge that we may have is limited and vague, far from complete. So, we carelessly commit causal actions and do not understand, when the effects occur later, why they happened. It is then too late for regret. Cause and effect are continuously played out all around us. If we are unable to connect the events, it is because we are not mindful. Rather we are impulsive and careless, not yet truly understanding.

For our own sake, we should not want to create any more bad causes but, instead, only cultivate those that are good. This is what the ancient masters and patriarchs tried so hard to encourage us to do.

So Where's My Garden?

 

For something to happen, we need the right conditions. What do I mean by conditions?

To attend college, I need the right conditions: study, good grades, and money to pay the tuition. To advance in my career, I need the right conditions: hard work that places me above the average, a supervisor who values my efforts, and an ability to get along well with my fellow employees. To be reborn in the Pure Land, I need the right conditions: faith, vows, and practice.

How do we create the right conditions?

We work hard planting the right seeds.

We figure out what is the cause that will bring about the wished for condition. And then we do the hard work of planting those causes, just like we work hard at planting and then nurturing seeds if we wish to have a garden. Sure we can watch the birds dropping seeds and see seeds being blown onto our barren plot of ground, but just watching this happen won't make a garden.

We need to carefully choose and then attentively and diligently tend our seeds. We need to make sure they are safe from adverse conditions like not enough water or too much sunlight or the onslaught of hungry insects. We don't wait around for someone else to wander along and do all the planting, watering, and weeding for us because if someone else does all the work, it will become their garden. Wonderful for them, but it will leave us still without a garden.

The law of cause and effect assures us that if we plant the cause, we will have the result. There is no doubt about this. Be assured that it will happen. Exactly when, I do not know. But I do know that without planting the cause, we will not have the conditions we wish for. Also, the more causes we plant, the better our chances for quickly getting the wished-for conditions.