Great wrongs push us into the three evil realms; small faults also bring us great hardship

There are grave wrongs that push us into the three evil realms: hell, hungry ghosts and animals. For example, we meet a dog and stroke it fondly, but if we had the eye of the Way to look back at its past, we would see that when it was a human being it too caused terrible trouble, was ungrateful and betrayed kindness, deceived its teacher and its friends, sold out its country and harmed the people... We would be horrified at once and could not bring ourselves to love it. It is the same among human beings: if we understood everything about a person, knowing that they are good in one respect but bad in another, that yesterday they cheated here and the day before they made trouble there, we would not be able to love them either. Fortunately, we do not know it all, so let us simply live together by the principles of the Way.

But there are also small, petty faults that do not amount to a criminal or civil offence, yet unexpectedly bring very great karmic results, even extremely harsh ones. Here are a few such faults:

Wastefulness

Perhaps some of us have at times been extremely wasteful without knowing it. For example, we buy a bottle of purified water, drink only part of it and throw away all the rest. Of course no one dares drink the leftover water, while a great deal of the earth's resources was used up to make it. Or we go into a restaurant for a bowl of phở, and many people eat only the noodles and meat and leave the broth, thinking that leaving some is classy and finishing it all is not. Whether it is really classy, I do not know, but this waste will lead us to be reborn in a place of famine or in a desert where water is scarce, our throats burning dry, to suffer this punishment in return.

Or a wealthy person buys a plot of land that already has a house on it. Finding the house not to their liking, they have it torn down to build a new one, though the old house is still sound and was built carefully by its former owner with all their heart. So in this life, even if no other heavy karma is made, with only the karma of demolishing a house that could still be used, in the next life this person will go many years without a home, living on others' charity. And if in this life they make some other heavy wrong as well, then in the next life they will wander all their life, under bridges or in a slum where the roof leaks and the posts sag. The karmic result is that harsh; it is not simple at all.

Obstructing traffic

Some people, in this life, break a leg in an accident; the break heals afterwards but they limp for the rest of their lives. They would not have guessed that this result comes from a small fault long ago.

In the past, when they tapped a water source from across the road and led it to their home, they dug across the road, laid a pipe through it and filled the earth back in, but filled it in carelessly, so that the road was no longer as smooth as before. Everyone who passed over that stretch was jolted a little. So over so many years, with so many people passing, the total number of times they were jolted is the number of times this person will have to limp. For example, suppose that before the road was properly repaired, people had been jolted a million times. But this person limped only three hundred thousand times before dying; then seven hundred thousand more times remain to be paid in the following lives.

Reflect on it: digging a road to lay a water pipe across and filling it in carelessly. Is this fault big? Very small. No one would prosecute it. Yet the law of cause and effect misses not even a small detail. There are always things that seem petty but bring very unpleasant karmic results later.

Mistaken giving

In America there was once a very rich woman who, before she died, wrote a will leaving her entire estate of ten million dollars to her cat. After she died, her lawyer carried out the will faithfully, hiring a caretaker and providing for the cat in every way so that it could enjoy life until the ten million dollars was gone. Leaving her whole estate to a cat is a very grave wrong, because she gave in an utterly mistaken way.

For example, when a mango seed is sown in good soil, then once the tree bears fruit it yields several thousand mangoes each season, for several decades. So in cause and effect, one sown yields thousands, tens of thousands, but on the condition that the seed is planted in fertile soil and tended, with the pests carefully removed. If it is sown in barren soil, the tree will be short and bear little fruit. And if a mango seed is thrown into the fire, the tree will never grow at all. So fertile soil is extremely important.

Good soil stands for the person who receives the gift. The merit of the one who offers and gives will reach as far as the character of the one who receives. In the same way, if we take money to give, to help people who are genuine and do worthy things, then later our fortune becomes tenfold, a hundredfold. That is, if we make offerings to a sage, it is like sowing a mango seed in exceedingly fertile soil, and life after life we will be wealthy. If we make offerings to a true practitioner who has not yet attained a sacred fruit, we also enjoy good results for some dozens of lives. If we give to ordinary people who, though not practitioners, still live well, we will also receive wealth as our karmic result for several lives. But if we take money and give it to people who are dissolute and wasteful, we ourselves lose merit.

If we give rightly, the money returns to us as wealth; if we give mistakenly, it becomes a wrong, and our money vanishes, leaving us in poverty and want. But why do we give mistakenly? Because of personal sentiment, like the woman who wrote a will leaving all ten million dollars to her cat. In the world she lived only with her cat, loved it so much that she no longer had the wisdom to see how many people in the whole of society were in misery, and so she poured her entire fortune into it. That was an extremely sentimental act, and surely in her next life she will be extremely poor because of the wrong of mistaken giving in this one.

We too, not infrequently, because of personal sentiment, fail to judge what the person we help will do with the money. In many cases parents indulge their children excessively. The child pesters and gets whatever they want, and they think that this is what loving a child means. They do not know that such love is purely sentiment. They do not know that sometimes, with too much money, the child tries to keep up with their friends, is sometimes led on by bad friends, then falls into addiction, drug injecting and degradation. Even if the child simply takes the money to shop and have fun, they too exhaust their merit through personal indulgence, grow weak-willed, and never learn the value of money or to love work... They do not realise that every coin given to the child makes them lose merit and spoils them more, and the parents themselves lose merit. When the whole family has run out of merit, the estate of a whole family, a whole lineage, is squandered.

Parents bring a child into the world with the goal of raising them to be a decent person, not to wait on them and indulge them until they are spoiled. Worldly law does not convict them, but the Law of Cause and Effect spares no one. Loving the child, spoiling the child, giving the child whatever they want... These are like small, even negligible faults, yet in truth their consequences are not small at all.

Indifference

In the same way, indifference does not constitute an offence under the law, but it is a wrong in terms of cause and effect. For example, in our neighbourhood we see a house with flimsy doors, a leaking corrugated-iron roof, and an owner who goes out every day to work for hire; the family is in difficulty and has no means to repair it properly. Every day we walk past and see the leaking house, and now and then someone from the house has to climb up to mend the roof... Then we walk on and carry on with our own lives. Is that a wrong? No one charges us, but the law of cause and effect convicts us, because we were indifferent to another's suffering and struggle. And of course we cannot escape the karmic result. First, because we saw things that called for calculation and thought, and we did not calculate or think, in the next life our wisdom will be somewhat limited, and we will naturally be a dull person, not quick and perceptive. Second, because Heaven gave us eyes to see the suffering in the world and we pretended not to see, in the next life our eyes will be somewhat blurred and weak. When our eyes passed over that leaking house, our hearts should have been concerned, wondering whether we could help in some way, and not been able to bear just walking by.

So a disciple of the Buddha who has wisdom and compassion should not let anything pass before his eyes and be overlooked. There was a teacher who once walked along a dyke road and saw a small old woman carrying a load of vegetables on her shoulder, walking with a heavy gait. The dyke road was long; he did not know where she had started carrying from to reach the market, or whether she would make it in time to sell at the market. The old woman was at such an age and still had to carry a very heavy load of vegetables to market to sell every morning; it was truly pitiful. The teacher thought of the Association of the Elderly that the State has established to help old people like her, but perhaps because her karma was still heavy, she had not received help. His heart was troubled, and he hoped our country would become better so that the elderly would no longer have to toil so hard, could go to the temple to practise, and when they left this world would go to a better place.

And it is not only that one old woman with her vegetables; in the world there are so many fates, so many injustices that we have seen with our own eyes. All of them should make us worry, think and look for ways to help, or at the very least send a good prayer to the person. Indifference, though not an offence in law, is a great wrong in the Dharma.

Spreading depraved cultural products

A book with vulgar words, a film with sexually suggestive scenes... if spread, only stain people's minds and corrupt the morals of society. The more widely they are spread, the more the wrong of the people who produced such cultural products is multiplied geometrically. Those who help circulate them may think their act small, but the wrong is not small at all, and the karmic result will be exceedingly unpleasant: later, they will suddenly be gripped by heavy sexual desire without understanding why. The mind of sensual desire is always agitated and restless, and it is very painful. A person of heavy sexual desire who then goes far beyond the bounds of propriety is already close to an animal. There are people afflicted with the karma of sexual desire who in fact are not wicked or base; it is only that in some life they unintentionally gave others books, magazines, or writings and poems with vulgar stories to read. Just that, and in this life they bear the karmic result of heavy sexual desire. As for those who deliberately spread such depraved cultural products, the karmic result later is truly harsh: the causes of animal and hell rebirth have already opened.

Or walking along the road we see everywhere advertising signs printed with images of models in revealing clothes that strike the eyes of passers-by. So whoever proposes the idea, designs and displays them, all of them will suffer the karmic result of heavy sexual desire, because the advertisement they helped create has aroused desire in far too many people, especially in children just entering adolescence.

Looking at society as a whole we see this: culture must be controlled and given direction in order to guide people's minds; it cannot chase so-called cultural freedom and stir up base animal instincts. Spreading vulgar cultural products may not be an offence in law, but it is a great wrong in morality and in the law of cause and effect, because they destroy people's aspiration for the Way and their pure mind. Later, those who took part in spreading such cultural products will have a mind of craving that is stirred and unsettled, will find it very hard to practise, and of course will be unable to leave home or to realise the Way.

Believing false statements

For example, we believe a slander of someone, a story that is not true; merely believing it, we already lose merit. If the person slandered is a true practitioner of virtue and we believe it, we lose all the merit we have made in our lives.

With slander born of misunderstanding or personal malice, if we hear it and believe it, even though nothing big happens afterwards, just by that we lose merit. And in serious matters, rumours and public opinion deliberately fabricated to harm someone, or to harm the country, our lives will become extremely wretched. The law of cause and effect will punish us fittingly. Sometimes, to slander someone, people invent stories, distort and twist the truth, turn white into black with details and words that are “extremely plausible”, which, if we are credulous, we easily believe and join in with. So be careful when you hear gossip and slander!

For example, to overthrow a regime, hostile forces must find ways to slander the leadership and the regime. They plan, prepare personnel and media to smear the leaders, speak ill of the regime, and attack the State's line and policies, using fine words of praise for another regime, another country, on every front of public opinion (daily life, the internet, social media...), to stir discontent among the people; only after that do they gather people to demonstrate... If we are credulous and believe the embroidered opinions, become dissatisfied with the State and lose faith in the leaders, we have helped throw the country into turmoil. Just because at times we were not alert, we become traitors to the country, wreckers of the nation, without knowing it. Merely believing, which seems small, and we did not imagine that it is an enormous wrong, the wrong of betraying the country. That is why the Buddha taught that we must have the wisdom to “see the danger in every small fault”.

So, living in the world, we must be extremely alert and careful at every moment, especially when receiving information; do not let yourself become a victim of those who sabotage the State. Making merit takes toil and hardship, yet destroying that merit is far too quick: merely believing evil words is enough to shatter the merit we have so laboriously created over time.

Liking to stand out

Some people stand out naturally when they appear in a crowd, because their merit “draws” everyone's attention. But some people lack that merit; driven by ego and personal ambition, they fuss about looking for ways to stand out, trying every means to show an attitude, to speak, to do something so that others will notice them.

However, anyone who wants to show off among many people easily becomes a spoiled, unrestrained and lax person in moments when no one is beside them, because their ego is too big. This is a very hidden psychology, a very dangerous personal ambition. But those who live quietly, humbly, with restraint, not wishing to stand out, will surely still keep good control of their inner life and conduct when alone, because their ego is very light and very virtuous. So let us be humble and respect everyone, and not wish to stand out, so that even when no one is around we remain a person who exercises restraint and keeps within proper bounds.

Helping people beyond their merit

For example, a person deserves only a motorbike but we give them a car. That is, because of our own sentiment, some intention of our own, we let that person enjoy more than their merit. The consequence is that both that person collapses and we ourselves run out of blessings. So in dealing with one another, let us weigh each other's merit, that is, look at how much or how little merit the other person has, how much they deserve to enjoy, and then, after the difficulty has passed, how they must practise and make merit to stand on their own feet... Never give to others only out of personal sentiment.

In addition, wrap some moral teaching into every act of help; do not just give a few coins and leave, because material things are temporary while moral teaching is sacred and eternal. To give someone a piece of bread so that their stomach is full for a day, this blessing is not as great as giving them a book of moral teachings, because sometimes through it their spirit is raised up for this whole life and the lives to come. That is why the blessing of one who gives material things is short, while the blessing of one who gives the moral teaching is lasting and greater. However, in practice, to sit calmly and read a book, a person must first have a full stomach. So both the piece of bread and the book, both material things and moral teaching, are needed, but remember how different the value of each kind of merit is.

Today in some Western countries, the State is seriously insolvent, and the taxes paid by the people are not enough for national expenses. When the State limits spending, the people compete to demonstrate, believing that the State has made their lives hard and miserable. So where does the real cause lie? Only that for many years before, the State served the people beyond their merit. The people paid little in taxes but the State built too many public welfare works to serve them. We admire them, seeing them so rich and their people so comfortable, but we do not realise that they are enjoying more than their merit. The State kept borrowing from abroad to serve the people, but the people's merit did not keep pace, as shown by the fact that the taxes paid in are not enough for national spending. When no one will lend any more, and there is no more money to repay the debts, that is, when the common merit of the whole people has collapsed, the whole nation goes bankrupt.

The view that the State should serve the people is right, but to meet their demands to the maximum is not truth but harmful. The right view, the Middle Way, is: care for the people in proportion to their merit; serve them as far as their merit extends; and above all, make the people know how to live a moral life and have a spirit of service and sacrifice, in order to raise up the merit of the whole nation.

Blaming others excessively, hating others for a long time

To blame others excessively means to condemn another heavily, beyond their fault. For example, someone absent-mindedly buttons their shirt wrongly, the upper button put into the lower hole. That is all, but a friend says: “You are so slovenly; I feel sad for your parents for having given birth to you...” The remark is like a joke but is also very insulting, only because that person made a very small slip. That is blaming others excessively. If we exaggerate another's fault to gratify our own ego, the karmic result is that for many lives afterwards we will be truly miserable. Some blame causes us in a later life to lose all honour and have our reputation and standing collapse.

And hating others for a long time makes the evil in our heart grow bigger. Once we have set out to practise, our wholesome mind should flourish day by day and bring us ever closer to the rank of a sage. But only because we have nurtured a smouldering, long-lasting hatred, an evil mind quietly rises, and the qualities of a sage cannot sprout and grow. Harbouring ill will toward someone seems a very small fault, yet it destroys the wholesome mind in our heart. So blaming others excessively and hating others for a long time, this fault seems petty but is truly dangerous.

Superstition

Superstition means believing blindly and spending money senselessly on a mistaken belief. For example, the burning of votive paper. Sometimes after the offering, people burn the paper money into a whole heap of ash, and may even build an entire structure just for burning votive paper. We regret a single grain of rice that falls, we feel pity over a little leftover water that someone has not finished drinking. Yet this votive paper is money, is paper, is forest, is raw material, is labour... and we burn it because of a senseless belief that our relatives will receive these things.

We once heard a singer tell this: a composer who had died came back in a dream to tell her that in the underworld he had no instrument to play. When she woke up, she immediately ordered a guitar made of paper to offer to him. The composer appeared again and said that because the guitar was made of paper, he could not play it! That was the story; but must she buy a real guitar to burn? That is in the underworld.

However, in the realms of the devas there are instruments much larger and grander than the instruments of this realm. When an artist plays, it becomes a whole magnificent orchestra, the sound so gentle and enchanting that people in the world cannot imagine it. In this human realm, any musician who often writes music that shapes people's minds and sows what is lofty and beautiful in their hearts, and who also lives rightly will, after death, be reborn in the heavens as a deity of music playing for the devas, and sometimes playing as an offering to the Bodhisattvas. Gradually, when they have enough merit, they will even have extremely subtle and magnificent instruments.

Back to the story above: the singer burned a paper guitar but the composer could not play it. So can we burn a small paper television that a person in the underworld can watch? Burn a small motorbike? Burn a stack of underworld dollars, and can people in the underworld use them?

So elaborate superstition only makes us spend money senselessly and exhausts our blessings, and later our life will fall into want and hardship. No one will arrest us for our superstition, but our blessings will run dry very fast. Someone once lamented: “Before, people told me that if I served at the temple of the spirits, the saints would help me to become rich and comfortable, but after several years of offering as much as a hundred million, I saw no wealth anywhere, only my property gone, ruined and withered away.”

And there are countless other tiny things in this life, things that seem small, that seem like nothing, whose consequences are truly unforeseeable, lingering, heavy and unpleasant. So throughout our lives we must be vigilant toward ourselves and practise diligently to have the wisdom to “see the danger in every small fault”, perfecting our personal morality so as to walk on the path of the sages.