Next, let me talk about ignorance. Ignorance doesn’t mean a lack of education. A person may be called ignorant yet have read many books—but that doesn’t make them wise. No matter how much they’ve studied, it doesn’t mean they’ve cultivated well or reached a high spiritual state. Conversely, someone who seems ignorant isn’t necessarily uneducated. Ignorance means fixating on one tiny detail while missing the bigger picture. What do I mean by “tiny detail”? It means only seeing what’s right in front of you without understanding the whole picture. That’s ignorance. For example, someone sees another person win the lottery and thinks, “Why didn’t I win?” So they start buying tickets every day—that’s the root of their ignorance, isn’t it?
So when I speak of ignorant people, I’m referring to those who may be educated but get caught up in the ideas of good and evil, tangled in karmic conditions, unable to tell right from wrong—that’s ignorance. Seeing good as bad or bad as good—that’s ignorance. Tell me, what does that have to do with formal education? If you study physics, chemistry, or dentistry, does that mean you understand true goodness? If you’re a postgraduate researching missiles or nuclear bombs, do you understand the law of karma in this human world? No—you can’t. That’s why you must learn to see things clearly.
You need to recognise good and evil. A person who can distinguish right from wrong has the foundation of past karma. What does that mean? “Past karma” doesn’t only refer to negative karma—it refers to all the karma you’ve accumulated over past lives, both wholesome and unwholesome. If you can recognise good and evil in this life, it means you were someone who cultivated in your past lives. But someone who can’t tell good from bad in this life is clouded by the negative karma they created before. That heavy karma now blocks their potential for awakening. That shows they didn’t cultivate in their past life. Do you understand? So: those who commit evil are ignorant; those who do good are wise; those who practise Buddhism awaken. Remember, only through Buddhist practice can wisdom arise. If someone says, “I’m awakened,” at most, it’s a partial awakening—perhaps they’ve realised one small truth, but it doesn’t mean they understand everything.
All the karmic obstacles from the past arise because of the karma created in this life. The good and bad causes from your past lives are like fuses waiting to be lit—they’re triggered by your actions now. If you did good in the past and are destined to receive wealth, but you stop doing good in this life, that wealth will not come. If you did evil in the past and are due for retribution, but you dedicate yourself to good deeds, that retribution may not manifest. So what truly matters is controlling the karma you create in this life—that’s what draws consequences to you. It’s like seeing a landmine’s fuse: you can choose not to light it, and it won’t explode. Likewise, if a lucky opportunity comes your way, you can choose to seize it. All of this depends on the karma you’re creating right now—it no longer has much to do with your past lives. Do you understand? So, the most important thing is to seize the moment. In Buddhism, we call this living in the present.
Practising Buddhism is no easy task—you need to have the eyes of wisdom. Only with such eyes can you tell whether someone is truly good or not. There’s an old saying: “It’s fine if you can’t read books, but you can’t afford to misread people.” If you can’t tell whether someone is good or bad, you’re bound to be deceived. Think of people who’ve been through a divorce—they often say, “I was blind back then, and now I’m full of regret.” Exactly. You were blind because you lacked the eyes of wisdom, the insight to see clearly. You believed the other person’s boasting and lies, mistaking them for truth—that’s ignorance. And this karmic outcome arises because in past lives you didn’t study Buddhism—you lacked wisdom. What sentient beings lack most are the eyes of wisdom.
You must avoid clinging to rigid judgements. To be attached to judgement means to hold tightly to one fixed opinion. Many people fall into this trap because, in past lives, they planted bad causes and now reap bad results. When the King of the Underworld judges them, they may be reborn into a harsh family where the parents constantly argue, yell, and fight. A child raised in that environment absorbs those patterns, becoming quick to curse or brawl. Parents like that raise children with bad tempers—or perhaps we should say “odd” tempers. The parents sow the causes, and the child bears the retribution. That’s why some people get upset when you mention their parents: “Why bring my mum into this?” Because she gave birth to you. Many of your habits are inherited from your parents. If you have good habits, people praise your parents; if you have bad ones, they criticise your upbringing. That’s why people say a rude person is a child without proper upbringing.
All karma arises from the mind. As the saying goes, actions follow the mind. Everything you do—every action you take—comes from your own mind. A person who harbours extreme malice, someone truly vicious, will be reborn as a snake. Since ancient times, people have said, “Nothing in the world is more poisonous than a wicked human heart.” That’s why we say such people have hearts as toxic as snakes and scorpions. Let me tell you something: generally speaking, humans remain human, and animals remain animals. If someone behaves like an animal in this life, they’ll be reborn as one in the next, because actions follow the mind. The cruel become snakes. Those who are quick to anger—always losing their temper or exploding in rage—may be reborn as tigers. Ever wonder why we call hot-tempered people “tigers”? It’s not something I made up; these ideas have existed since ancient times. Don’t wait until you experience retribution yourself before realising, “Ah, the ancients were right.” If you don’t learn, you won’t understand. Had you learned earlier, you’d know who to trust and who to avoid, what kind of people are destined for which realms in the next life, who has a good heart and who doesn’t, and what actions are right or wrong. You’d have avoided a great deal of trouble. But because of ignorance, you can’t tell good from evil—and that has nothing to do with formal education. Does a skilled doctor always know right from wrong? Can a scientist truly distinguish good from evil? Sometimes, an old grandmother understands morality better than a scholar.
When karmic force becomes too heavy, it can immediately alter a person’s form. Someone constantly consumed by anger is already a tiger among humans. Someone filled with malice is already a poisonous snake in human form. When karma grows too strong and fierce, that person is practically an animal even before death. Do you understand? Moreover, karma can transform—it changes according to circumstances. A past misdeed doesn’t necessarily remain bad forever, and a past good deed doesn’t necessarily remain good in every context. Karma shifts with time, place, and people. Think about it: in the past, drink-driving wasn’t illegal in some countries, but now it’s a crime—as it should be. Such harmful behaviour should have been stopped long ago. Drink-driving is reckless; it endangers lives. After drinking, people lose judgement—they no longer know what’s right or wrong, or how fast they’re going.
“Disasters don’t fall from the sky.” Many of the world’s calamities aren’t sent down from above—isn’t that true? Most disasters are caused by people. Even so-called natural disasters often stem from human actions, don’t they? Look at the greenhouse effect and carbon emissions—they’ve upset nature’s balance, haven’t they? Isn’t nuclear radiation caused by humans too? Thousands of years ago, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas already taught that disasters aren’t sent by the heavens—they’re brought on by humans themselves. Some people could live peaceful lives, yet they choose to stir up trouble, gossiping here and there, meddling in everything until they end up in prison. Makes sense, doesn’t it? You must understand this truth: Heaven merely reflects the karma that beings create. Every action and its karmic energy affect the natural order. If everyone commits wrongdoing, the heavenly conditions deteriorate quickly; if everyone does good, the heavenly conditions improve just as quickly. You must recognise how your own actions shape the natural environment. Here’s a simple example: it’s easy to ruin the energy around you. If you come to our practice centre forming cliques, taking sides, giving each other the cold shoulder, what happens? The atmosphere becomes tense. Can you still smile in that kind of environment? If you go about killing or setting fires in this world, aren’t you destroying the Human Realm’s energy field? Think of the Sydney bushfires—didn’t you feel the heat rise even in the city centre? The temperature went up, didn’t it? That’s the result of human actions disturbing the energy of Heaven and Earth.