Not Blind to Cause and Effect

📝Reflection

A famous tale. Someone, for wrongly saying "the enlightened do not fall under cause and effect," was reborn in an animal's body for ages. Baizhang freed him with one phrase: not "do not fall under cause and effect," but "do not be blind to cause and effect." A one-character difference, yet worlds apart. The first is the arrogance of thinking one can flee consequences; the second is the humility of living while seeing cause and effect clearly. We often wish to be the exception — "my intentions were good," "surely I'm fine" — hoping the law of cause and effect spares us alone. But no enlightenment erases the ripples a thrown stone makes. To be awake is not to ignore cause and effect, but to see it most clearly and take responsibility.