【Q&A Series】
Having Understood Cause and Effect, Have I Grown Cold?
Since learning the Buddha's teaching, when I see similar news of casualties, my first thought is no longer sympathy but "their karmic retribution has ripened," and I even feel a little that they brought it on themselves. Now, in my heart, roughly 80% is unmoved, 15% is a kind of sentimental pity, and only 5% is sorrow that they are suffering the fruits of their karma without knowing it.
May I ask, Master: could this turn into a wrong view? Have I lost my compassion?
Master Jingben Answers: Namo Amitabha. It is truly praiseworthy that you have shared so candidly the journey of your heart.
1. No Need to Be Troubled
First of all, please do not worry.
That you can see this change in yourself, and still worry whether you have lost your compassion — this in itself shows that your compassionate heart is still there. A truly indifferent person would never ask such a question.
So there is no need to be so tense; this cannot be called a wrong view.
2. The Meaning of Cause and Effect
Cause and effect is real; there is no mistake about that.
But you should know that the Buddha taught cause and effect to help us see clearly the direction of our lives, so that we may reflect on ourselves and find a better way forward — not to judge others, still less to let us grow cold because of it.
Although people often say that "cause and effect spares no one," if, whenever we see the suffering of others, we think "they brought it on themselves," unable to feel for them, and even, without realizing it, take on an attitude of looking down from on high — then this is no longer the true purpose of the Buddha's teaching on cause and effect.
3. Understanding Cause and Effect Should Deepen Our Compassion
One who truly understands cause and effect will in fact feel more heartache. Why? Because beings, sunk deep in ignorance, create karma, and when the retribution comes they do not even know why — this is precisely what moves all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to the deepest compassion.
Master Shandao says: "The great compassion of all Buddhas is for those who suffer; their hearts are especially moved for beings who are forever sinking, and so they urge them to return to the Pure Land. It is like a person drowning in the water, who must be rescued first and without delay; what need is there to rescue one already on the shore?" The Buddha's great compassion falls especially on those who suffer; just as when someone is drowning, the one most urgently to be saved is the person in the water, not the one on the shore.
Let us think: what kind of beings did Amitabha Buddha vow to save? Precisely these beings burdened with wrongdoing and suffering, who create karma, suffer for it, and cannot save themselves. Those whom others regard as having "brought it on themselves" are the very ones Amitabha Buddha is most anxious to save.
And we ourselves are ordinary beings too, also creating karma within the cycle of birth and death. Today it is they who suffer retribution; had we not met Amitabha Buddha, tomorrow it might well be us. Between them and us there is in fact no difference; together in the prison of the Three Realms, you, I and they are all beings to be pitied. Thinking in this way, the heart naturally softens.
4. That Sorrow Is Precious
You say that when you see them suffering the fruits of their karma without knowing it, your heart grieves. This sorrow runs deeper than the feeling, before you learned the Buddha's teaching, that they were "very pitiable," because now you see the cause behind the effect, and you also know where the way out lies. So this is not mere "sentimental pity"; it is a heart of compassion and wisdom arising from the Buddha-Dharma. The tenderness inherent in the human heart is never something the Buddha-Dharma seeks to extinguish; rather, the Dharma gives it a direction.
5. Reciting the Name and Dedicating the Merit
Compassion does not lie in how strongly the heart is stirred, but in whether we are willing to do something for them. The "very pitiable" feeling before you learned the Buddha's teaching usually faded and was forgotten; but having learned the teaching, to know how to do something for them — this is different; this is real growth.
So from now on, when you see such events again, though we ordinary beings have limited ability, why not recite "Namo Amitabha" a few times for them, praying that Amitabha Buddha in his compassion will deliver those who lost their lives, and all beings who suffer. Turn being "unmoved" into "reciting the Name and dedicating the merit" — this is the compassion of one who recites the Buddha's name.
Every recitation of the Name that you make is the entrusting of them to Amitabha Buddha.
6. Touched by the Light, Made Tender
Please rest assured: you have not lost your compassion. Amitabha Buddha's compassion has long since been planted in your heart and has already sprouted; it is only that you have not yet noticed it yourself.
The thirty-third vow in the Infinite Life Sutra says: "If, when I attain Buddhahood, the beings of the immeasurable, inconceivable Buddha-worlds of the ten directions who are touched by my light should not become gentle and tender in body and mind, surpassing devas and humans, may I not attain perfect enlightenment." So long as you often recite this one Name and are always embraced by the Buddha's light, your heart will naturally grow ever more tender. Namo Amitabha
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