Degree of merit

There are degrees of offenses and degrees of merit. Smoking a joint on the New York subway will get you a violation while plotting and carrying out the murder of your spouse gets you life without parole. Hitting mud with your fist gets you dirty while hitting a rock with your fist gets you a fractured hand. Helping a little old lady across the street gets you a thank you while inventing a cure for leukemia gets you the Nobel Prize in medicine. In the realm of  Buddhist Law, loving kindness leads one to the Brahma Heaven [repeated rebirth in the Realm of Rapture]. Defending the True Law leads to Buddhahood and rebirth in the realm of Buddha.