Whatever You Wish For: The Frightening Truth Behind Our Secret Wishes

A dharma talk by the Venerable Thích Chân Quang reveals the wondrous law of cause and effect (karmic law): whatever you wish for others, you yourself will receive in return. Be careful with every single wish!

Have you ever wished to be wealthy and successful, only to find that things never turn out as you hoped? Or have you secretly wished misfortune upon someone, only to fall into a similar situation yourself? Life is not always a matter of getting whatever we wish for. Yet there is a frightening truth: every secret wish we hold in our heart plants a seed of cause and effect (karmic law), and one day it will blossom and bear fruit, whether good or bad, whether sooner or later.

Wishing for Others: A Gift That Returns to You

Usually, when we wish for something for ourselves, we must wait a very long time, sometimes many lifetimes, before it comes to fruition. But when we wish something good for others, the karmic results arrive very quickly. The Venerable Thích Chân Quang teaches: "Whatever I wish for others comes to me straight away. It is truly amazing."

For example, a man once saw an elderly woman living alone with no warm Tet, the Lunar New Year, celebration, and he immediately resolved in his heart to help her. Right after that, for the rest of his life he enjoyed warm and joyful Tet seasons, surrounded by children and grandchildren gathered together. Because whatever we give away is exactly what we will receive back, in the very measure that we have given.

A Great Wish: Sowing the Seed of Buddhahood

The scriptures contain vows that seem almost unimaginable: "May all sentient beings attain Buddhahood." The Venerable explains: "Once you have wished that for all sentient beings, the cause and effect (karmic law) you have sown within samsara (cycle of rebirth) can no longer be escaped."

No matter how many lifetimes you drift through birth and death, that seed of enlightenment lies quietly within, guiding you to meet good spiritual teachers, to practice step by step, until the day of fulfillment. That is why each day we should recite this vow with complete sincerity.

Be Careful What You Wish for Others: Cause and Effect (Karmic Law) Spares No One

It is not only good wishes; bad wishes, and even accidental ones, carry a rebounding force as well. The Venerable tells the story of an accomplished meditation master who, just once in playful mischief, transformed himself into a tiger, and thirty years later he had to dwell in a tiger's body for several months, seated upon a throne. Or an elder monk who only wished to try on worldly clothing had to bear the karmic result of ten years without being able to wear his monastic robes. The Venerable emphasizes: "In this life, we wish all kinds of things for other people... and whatever we wish for them will come back to us, every single bit of it."

Therefore, always stay alert and keep your mind/heart pure. Do not let accidental wishes, or wishes made without mindfulness, lead you astray.

Wishing for Your Child to Enter Monastic Life: You Yourself Will Enter It

Many parents wish for their children to become monastics, but the children are not yet willing. The Venerable smiles: "It is that very father or that very mother who will have to become a monastic in the next life. Because when we wish something for another person... there is simply nowhere left to run."

If you often encourage others to do good deeds, know that you are sowing that seed for yourself. So if you wish for your child to become a doctor, be careful: in your next life, you will be the doctor. This is the law of cause and effect (karmic law), and it never fails.

The Greatest Vow: The Sentient and the Non-Sentient Together Attain Buddhahood

The sutras contain the words: "May all beings throughout the Dharma realm, both sentient and non-sentient, together attain Buddhahood." This vow may sound absurd, but in truth it is a profound Zen koan. The Venerable explains: "If someone makes the wish that all beings with consciousness and all beings without consciousness should attain Buddhahood, then their later realization will be absolute, deep in just that way."

When we make this wish for everyone, leaving out no one and no thing, our mind/heart becomes boundlessly vast, and the karmic fruits become measureless as well.

Each day, take a few minutes to listen to the secret wishes within your heart. Nurture only the most beautiful wishes, wishing peace, joy, and enlightenment for others. Because, as the Venerable teaches, whatever you wish for, you will receive, though not in the way we might think, but in the way of cause and effect (karmic law), which is perfectly fair and wondrous.

Begin today: whenever you visit the temple to pay homage to the Buddha, recite the vow "May all sentient beings together attain Buddhahood" with all your heart. You will see your life change in a miraculous way.