The axiom of the law of cause and effect

The law of cause and effect contains the following axiom:

"Every thought, every word and every deed of ours brings a result back to ourselves. That is, the owner of the thought, the owner of the word and the owner of the action each receives a corresponding result."

So karmic causes take three forms: first, thought; second, speech; third, action.

Among these three karmic causes we can distinguish two kinds: those that do not affect other people and those that do. These two kinds produce different results.

For example, if we stand in an open field and shout "I am a king, I am a king", that is verbal karma. These words concern no one, because we are standing alone in an open field talking to ourselves. This verbal karma affects no one, so is there any cause and effect? Because it affects no one, the cause and effect is very weak, but it is still there. We are ordinary people with nothing special, yet all day long we daydream of being a leader. And when no one will acknowledge us as a leader, we go out into an open field and shout to satisfy our ambition and fantasy. That is the cause of conceit, of wanting to be better than others, and the corresponding result is that our life is no longer as normal as before. Before, people were cheerful when they met us, but after we have planted that verbal karma, they suddenly look down on us, even rapping us on the head or snapping, "Always so insolent." We see that only that person knew of that arrogant act, yet they still lost merit, so that others lost their affection for them and came to despise them. How strange!

Above we considered a cause which, although it affects no one, still has a result, though not a large or lasting one. But if the cause affects other people, the karmic result will last for a very long time. For instance, our family is fairly well off while the neighbours are poor, and we look down on them with words and a contemptuous attitude that make them feel humiliated. We do not realise that once we have made another person feel humiliated and ashamed, the karmic result that comes is terrifying, not as simple as when we talk to ourselves in an open field. While our merit lasts, we may enjoy another 10 or 20 years of ease, but when the merit runs out, when we are old and frail, our livelihood has collapsed and we have become poor, everyone will look down on us in return. That contempt will not stop there; it will extend to our children and grandchildren, who will not be able to get ahead. So the karma of looking down on others creates a very frightening cause and effect. The misery and discomfort will return to us persistently for many years.

Or suppose we are an official with authority. One day a poor, homeless person comes and says, "Please give me a charity house so that I have a place to shelter from the rain and sun." Just then we are angry with someone or busy with other matters, and in our irritation we shout, "There are so many things to attend to, so many things to settle. Go home." We pass over that destitute person without helping and send them away in humiliation, to continue enduring poverty and a house with a leaking roof and crooked posts. With such an attitude, we will later receive a very miserable karmic result. Not only in this life but in later lives too, we will be someone to whom no one gives anything whatever we ask, whose requests for help are always refused, whose life is poor and whose house leaks and sags... The period of undergoing the karmic result is very long. That is, when cause and effect acts on other people, the karmic result that returns to us is a hundred times greater than what we sowed. If we slap someone in front of a crowd, later we will be tormented and humiliated for a whole year in return for a single slap. It is just like planting one mango seed and getting several thousand fruits. Over so many years and seasons, the tree bears many times more fruit than the single seed that was its cause. In the same way, when we make someone suffer, the karmic result of suffering will return to us many times over. Conversely, when we bring someone joy, we will also receive joy in return for a very long time.

Suppose, for example, we are travelling along a deserted road and suddenly see a person rolling on the ground. Although we are in a great hurry with our work, moved by compassion we stop and ask what is wrong. When we learn that the person has abdominal pain and may have appendicitis, we quickly help them into our vehicle and take them straight to hospital. Thanks to timely emergency treatment, they escape death. Just from that, our health later improves and our lifespan lengthens, and if misfortune later befalls our children and grandchildren, they too will be helped by others. The karmic result comes back very long and very plentiful, even though we helped someone in peril only once.

Cause and effect is always like this. One rice seed sown becomes a rice plant, and one rice plant yields many grains. One mango seed planted, and five or ten years later we harvest thousands of mangoes, more than we can ever eat. That is the fairness of cause and effect. We must understand cause and effect truly deeply and subtly so as to keep control of each action, each thought and each word of our own throughout our lives.