THE CONTINUATION OF ANCESTRAL KARMA
Master Jun Hong Lu: Ancestors’ lack of morality, good fortune and virtue contributes to a large scope of karma, which may be affected by factors including the ancestral grave, feng shui and the positive and negative karma of their past lives. If the karma created by the ancestors is not significant, then it may be fully repaid till the second generation.
However, if the negative karma comes from the act of killing, the retributive effects will last until the third and fourth generations. In the case where the karma of killing is more severe, the effects will be more pronounced and can be perpetuated for more generations. This is similar to injuries on the human body. If the injury is light, a short period of rest would suffice. If the injury is severe, a longer break is needed for recuperation.
Descendants’ own negative karma leads them to be reincarnated into a particular family to suffer the karmic retributions of their ancestors. Ancestral karmic debts or ancestral virtues and the environment we live in are all determined by the negative karma, good fortune and virtue we had accumulated in our past lives.
If we had accumulated fortune and virtue in our previous lifetimes, we will be born with a silver spoon in our mouths and we will get to enjoy the protection of our ancestors. On the contrary, if we had accumulated substantial negative karma in our previous lives, the resulting karmic obstacles would cause us to live in poverty in this lifetime.
Thus, we must take responsibility for the well-being of our descendants by performing virtuous and kind deeds and do no evil – one should especially refrain from the act of killing.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s Buddhism In Plain Terms, Volume 1 Chapter 34
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