只因看不见因果全貌

About the powers of the four different types of karma, only the omniscient Buddha knows. Ordinary people or non-Buddhist practitioners possessing some psychic powers and even arhats would not know their intricate workings thoroughly. During the time of the Buddha, there were many non-Buddhist practitioners in India who, with their clairvoyance, saw lifelong virtuous people find rebirth in the hell, hungry ghost, or animal realm instead. They questioned，“If cause and effect was truly infallible，why would virtuous people not end up well?” Hence, they viewed the idea of cause and effect as pure nonsense.

业的这四种不同的能力唯有佛是全知的，其他的普通人乃至具有神通的外道和小乘阿罗汉也不能彻底了解。佛出世时，印度有许多外道，他们用神通亲眼看到一个一生行善的人，死后却去了地狱、做了饿鬼或堕为旁生，如果因果是真实存在的，那么为什么善无善报呢？于是他们认为因果之说完全是骗人的。

How can a person who has practiced virtue the entire life be reborn in the lower realms? Well, although the person may have been virtuous throughout this life, we do not know anything about this person’s previous lives. Maybe the person has been virtuous in this as well as the last two lifetimes, but it may not be so anymore if we could go back even further. Some negative karma might have been committed many lifetimes ago. From the perspective of the three types of immutable karma, virtuous karma that the person has committed in this life happens to ripen not in the current or the next life, but in the yet known future lives. That is, it may not come to fruition until perhaps hundreds or even thousands of years later.

一个一生行善的人为什么会堕落呢？因为，虽然他今生行善，没有造什么恶业，但是，我们并不知道他过去世是怎样的。也许他今生是行善之人，他的上一世和上上一世还是行善之人，但再往前推就不一定了，可能在很多世以前他造了恶业。从三种定业分别来看，他今生所做善业不属于现世报应和下一世报应的业，而是属于第三种定业，即它有果报，但也许在几千年、几万年，甚至于几百万年之后才会发生。

In our innumerable past lives, had we ever committed this type of immutable karma? The answer is yes. Therefore, we can be as virtuous as we would like in this life, retribution may still await us if we cannot purify all our negative karma of the past. Once this type of karma matures, there is no escape but to bear its effect albeit temporarily. Does this mean that virtuous karma we have accumulated in this lifetime will go to waste? It certainly won’t. They also bear their own fruit. However, if virtuous karma is not powerful enough and ripens slowly，it is possible that we may have to suffer first before enjoying any reward.

在生生世世当中，我们有没有造这种业呢？答案是肯定的。所以，虽然现在做得很好，但如果不能清除过去世所造的恶业，其果报就会一直等着我们，这种业一旦发生果报，是没法回避的，只有暂时堕下去了。但是今生所做的善业是不是空耗了呢？当然不是，它也有果报。如果这个业的能力不是很强、成熟很慢，就有可能先堕落再上升。

Apparently, even non-Buddhist practitioners with some spiritual realization may still be confused about the workings of cause and effect, not to mention people without any right view or understanding. The complexity of the cycle of cause and effect and how it passes through the past, present and future make it possible only for the Buddha to comprehend entirely its causal relation. Others merely glimpse different parts of the cycle. These non-Buddhist practitioners are usually well learned; some may even have acquired certain clairvoyance over worldly matters. However, they jumped to a conclusion only based upon what they saw - virtuous people took rebirth in the lower realms - and from it the conclusion was drawn that cause and effect could not have existed. Then books were written and theories developed based on this conclusion, which gradually formed into a sect after attracting enough followers. This is how nihilistic view was established.

所以，不要说一点正知正见都没有的人，就连修证比较不错的那些外道仙人，他们在因果知见上都是迷惑的。这是因为因果循环错综复杂、贯穿三世，唯有佛彻底知道前后的一切来龙去脉，而其他人只能知道中间的一部分。这些外道仙人通常很有学问，也有一些世间神通，他们往往根据自己看到的某些情形，如某人前世行善，后世堕落，便轻下结论，说因果是不存在的，并因此著书立说，迷惑了很多人，从而渐渐形成一个教派，断见便由此产生了。