共业和个业的二者果报的关系
In the last chapter, I mentioned collective karma – a karmic consequence that is brought about by the cumulative bad deeds of many individuals. The best example of this is the ongoing and widely discussed greenhouse effect, in which we are unable to hold a specific person accountable because we all play a part in it. The seeds of bad karma that were sowed, like the emission of exhaust fumes from automobiles, industrial pollution, excessive deforestation and so on, all played their roles in the creation of even greater negative karma. Similarly, in accordance with the law of cause and effect and heavenly principles, the negative karma will be automatically arranged and scheduled for retribution in the future.
Once the seeds of negative karma are sown, they will not simply remain dormant and cause no effects. Rather, they can affect the weather, and geography, and will continue to accumulate until retribution comes to fruition. You might have noticed the changes brought about by the greenhouse effect, including rises in global temperature, dramatic changes in weather, the melting of the glaciers, holes in the ozone layer, and so forth. These are all caused by the cumulation of bad deeds. The resulting and foreseeable karmic consequences are rising sea levels, reductions in land mass, the submerging of coastal cities, and many more unpredictable losses to humanity.
When natural disasters of this type strike, who will be the most adversely affected by these karmic retributions? Is it true that all of the casualties of natural disasters are predestined to suffer from collective karmic retributions? The answer is no. Not every victim is predestined to suffer in such disasters. In fact, many of them are predestined to have a longer lifespan and many more karmic rewards or retributions are scheduled in their lives. However, all of them have something in common; namely, they were predestined to encounter calamity at that time. A calamity is an outbreak of a significant and concentrated karmic obstacle. If we look at it from the perspective of energy fields, what it means is that there is a higher concentration of dark energy at that particular time and place. The negative consequences brought forth by the collective negative karma is in the form of dark energy that permeates the external environment. A natural disaster is just a state in which collective karma has matured fully and needs to break out. Usually, it presents in a relatively large and dense coverage of dark energy. If a person with a predestined calamity and high levels of dark energy were to be present at that moment in time, it would be difficult for them to escape.
However, it is possible for those with a great number of blessings or merits to survive. That is the case even if they are predestined to encounter a calamity, or they are present at the scene. For instance, even if they have already bought their plane tickets, there will be an array of various reasons preventing them from boarding the plane and thereby avoiding disaster. Nevertheless, enduring the tragedies that feel like hell on earth is, in itself, a very painful experience that is caused by collective karma.
