Retribution of Sins or Blessings

Extracted from 【The Buddha speaks the Rotary Five Realms of Sins and Blessings of Retribution Sutra】
One day, the Buddha walked out of His Abode in Kapilavastu (迦維羅衛國釋氏精舍) and led the Bhikkhus (Buddhist monks) to the Jetavana Vihara (monastery )in Sravasti (舍衛國祇樹給孤獨園). At the junction of the two countries, there was a big tree named Nyagrodha (尼拘類樹). It had a very tall trunk and its fruit was fragrant as well as delicious which tasted like honey. The fruit fell to the ground naturally as soon as it was ripe. People there picked and ate the fruit which could not only cure hundreds of illnesses, but could also make one’s eyes shrewd. The Buddha sat down under the tree and at this time the Bhikkhus picked the fruit and tried. The Buddha said to Ananda (the Buddha’s attendant), “I observe everything in the Universe and find that each has its own predestined causes and conditions.” Going to the front towards the Tathagata (refers to the Buddha) right away, Ananda prostrated (knelt for a long time)and asked, “What’re the predestined causes and conditions of everything in the Universe? Would my Buddha grant us your grand kindness to discourse this in detail?” The Buddha discoursed, “Good indeed, good indeed! You should listen attentively:
Take this tree as an example. Its grain is only a kernel before it takes root and sprouts. Growing up gradually, it blossoms and bears fruit in which the harvest is infinite.
●	People who are powerful and wealthy enough to be kings or elders as they made homage to all Buddhas and severed the Three Jewels (The Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha) sincerely (in past life/lives).
●	People who are millionaires with unlimited treasures is due to the practice of Dana (布施charitable-giving in past life/lives).
●	People who enjoy longevity without having suffered from any diseases, possess a strong body is due to the practice of Sila (持戒taking and upholding precepts in past life/lives).
●	People who are well-featured with superior characters, appearances as well as having moderate temper, earn the respect from others. This is the result of practising Ksanti (忍辱endurance and patience in past life/lives).
●	People who cultivate without slacking-off enjoy the blessed virtues from all good deeds during their practice of Virya (精進perseverance of effort and diligence in past life/lives).
●	People who are calm and serene, behave prudently in words and deeds. This achievement comes from their practising of Dhyana (禪定meditation in past life/lives).
●	People who are talented and sensible, are good at understanding profound Dharma as well as praising the amazing doctrines. They can enlighten the foolish people since no one can resist asking for their advice or accepting their sayings after hearing their words. This ability is attained from the practice of Prajna (智慧wisdom in past life/lives).
●	People who possess a crystal clear voice because they sang sincerely to exalt the Three Jewels (in past life/lives).
●	People who are clean without having suffered from any diseases. They achieve this from the practice of compassionate heart (in past life/lives).
What is “compassion”?
1.	Love all sentient beings like a mother’s love for her son.
2.	Feel sorrow for sentient beings and hope to make them liberated. .
3.	Deal everything with compassion as well as benevolence and keep a delighted mind all the time.
4.	Protect and cherish sentient beings from offending anything wrong.

● People who are tall and big because they respected others(in past life/lives). ● People who are short and small because they looked down upon others(in past life/lives). ● People who are ugly because they always lost their temper and hated others(in past life/lives). ● Born ignorant, such people refused to learn and ask(in past life/lives). ● People who are foolish because they refused to teach others(in past life/lives). ● People who are dumb because they slandered others(in past life/lives). ● People who are deaf as well as blind because they disliked listening to and accepting sutras and doctrines(in past life/lives) ● Becoming slaves, these people refused to pay off their debts(in past life/lives). ● People who are of low position because they rejected to revere the Three Jewels(in past life/lives).

●	People who are hideous (ugly)with dark skin because they blocked the light in front of the Buddha(in past life/lives).
●	Born in the naked states, these people disliked wearing Dharma robe or desecrated Buddhist pagodas, temples and sublime-abodes.
●	Born in the category of horses, these people liked wearing clogs when walking in front of the Buddha.
●	Born in the holed-chest tribe (people who live near the sea where wind and rain are so strong that they can never walk with their bodies straight and later on there is a hole in the people’s chest to overcome the resistance of the oncoming wind), these people felt regret after practising Dana and blessings.
●	Born in the categories of deer, muntjacs, roebucks or hare, these people liked making others fear and frightened.
●	Born as snakes or toads etc. which are lascivious, these people enjoyed molesting others.
●	Having all sorts of malignant sores which were difficult to be cured, these people were fond of scourging sentient beings for no reasons.
●	Being everyone’s favourite person, these people were always filled with joy to meet others in their previous life/lives.
●	Being disliked by others, these people loathed others in their past life/lives. Being detained in prisons or subjected to tortures by instruments of torture, these people were human in their previous life/lives but they had confined sentient beings in cages and refused to follow others’ ideas.
●	Born as a human with a cleft lip, this person did fishing in his/her previous life/lives that made fishes lose their lips.
●	If one has ever listened to invaluable advice but is not happy to listen to that, one gossips about it which in turn disturbs others from listening to doctrines in the sutras. One will fall subsequently to become barking dogs (in one’s afterlife).
●	If one listens to the Dharma but does not believe in it, one will fall subsequently to become the long-eared donkeys or horses.
●	If one is too stingy and greedy to eat food alone without sharing it with hungry people, one will fall subsequently into the realm of hungry ghosts. Even if one can be reborn as a human, one will be so poor and hungry that one is dressed in rag and has no food to eat.
●	If one keeps good food for oneself or gives the bad food to others, one will fall subsequently to become guinea pigs or dung beetles (dung beetles are faeces-eating worms).
●	If one has ever robbed others’ stuffs, one will fall subsequently to become sheep whose skin will be peeled off alive so as to compensate for one’s former sins.
●	If one is fond of killing livestock, one will fall subsequently to become mayfly bugs in water that are ephemeral (being born in the morning and will die at night).
●	If one has ever stolen others’ properties, one will fall subsequently to become salves, maids or even oxen and horses to repay their former debts.
●	If one has ever committed adultery and raped others’ wives or daughters, one will descend into hell after death to suffer from great heat burning one’s body on an iron bed with copper posts. After releasing from the hell, one will probably fall to become chicken or ducks (poultry).
●	If one has ever enjoyed telling lies or propagating others’ evil things (deliberately), one will descend into hell after death where one is not only forced to drink molten copper, but one’s tongue is also pulled by a plough; one will then fall to become Strigidae (family of owls) or mynah after being released from hell. Hearing the sound of these birds, none can avoid feeling so disgusted that they curse the birds to die rapidly.
●	If one is fond of drinking and has ever committed the thirty-six faults after drunk, one will fall into niraya (hell) that is full of boiling piss when dead. After that, one will be fallen to become a gorilla. Even when one can be a man again, one is still stupid and ignorant without knowing anything at all.
●	Couples who are not amiable but have quarrelling and fighting frequently instead or have divorced will fall to become turtledoves or pigeons subsequently.
●	If one has ever coveted others’ strength in order to save energy for oneself, one will fall subsequently to become an elephant.
●	If one is a government civil and military official but has ever done harm to people for no reason. One fastened someone who was innocent and recorded his/her name. He/She was then flogged, beat with a cane and was sent away by force. Whenever there was something that went against one’s wishes, the innocent was locked with shackles and handcuffs. One did show no pity to that and gave the innocent no way to complain. One will subsequently fall into hell to suffer agonies for several hundred billion years. After one’s sin is over, one is released from hell and will sink to become a buffalo which will be forced to wear a muzzle to tow boats and pull carts and one will be whipped by thick sticks. One has to suffer all these to compensate for one’s former sin.
●	One who is unclean but does not realize that one is shameful and loathsome oneself was reincarnated from a pig.
●	One who is stingy as well as greedy and not a man of integrity either was reincarnated from a dog.
●	One who is vicious with a sinister heart was reincarnated from a viper (poisonous snake).
●	One who is a gourmet kills living creatures (for exquisite cuisine) without having any compassionate heart was reincarnated from a jackal, a wolf, a raccoon or an eagle.
●	One who is short-lived, was injured when one was still a fetus (in one’s mother’s womb). This makes one’s life ends early soon after birth and one will then fall into the Three Miserable Realms for ten-millions of kalpa without an exact date of release. One had been a human in one’s previous existence. Such a person was fond of hunting with bows and arrows. He/She had ever burnt forests, probed into nests to break the eggs inside as well as applied net to do fishing. He/She killed all sentient beings for the desire of their skins and meat to eat.
All sorts of meritorious deeds must be done in person. One should not ask someone else to do them for you oneself. Just as the case when you ask someone to eat the food for you, how will you feel full? If one acts personally to do all meritorious deeds by oneself, practises vegetarianism piously, makes offerings of fragrant flowers, joins palms in reverence, chants sutras and mantras, burns lamps for the continuity of brightness, practises Dana whole-heartedly etc. which can all bring about blessings. One is thus blessed and protected everywhere by various Gods and Goddesses in heaven while demons retreat. Seeking ease and comfort at the expense of principle, slack people do not possess the mind of diligence. Once they are sick and are held up by all sufferings, they will think of cultivating goodness by the time to obtain the blessings. However, the Heaven ones are not seen coming while all demons dare to come. The demons vex and do weird things and one will be eventually led away by the black(non-virtuous) karma to experience sufferings, pains for innumerable kalpas. Therefore, one should always be diligent in practice. Moreover, one must understand that sins and blessings follow people like one’s shadow. People who sow blessings are like Nyagrodha tree(尼拘類樹), which is originally planted from a seed, has harvested an unlimited number of good fruits. This is (the principle of) applying one to get ten thousand.”
The Buddha continued to tell Ananda, “Common people have no wisdom because they view life and death with the naked eye without knowing what sins or blessings are. I’ve attained the eye which sees the truth (through the cultivation of Buddha-truth) and have gone through and watched countless kalpas up till today. To me, the retribution of sins or blessings are like viewing glass beads put in palms, which are transparent and clear in both inside and outside. There’s no doubt.”