"The Pitṛputra Samāgama Sūtra: Selected Expositions"

Original text: The Buddha said to the king: "Indeed, indeed. Foolish ordinary beings, lacking in learning and wisdom, give rise to delight and attachment upon encountering agreeable contact. Their minds become defiled and attached, creating such karma: three kinds of bodily karma, four kinds of verbal karma, and three kinds of mental karma. Having created that karma, it perishes in an instant. After that karma ceases, it does not abide in the east, south, west, north, the four intermediate directions, above, below, or in the middle. At the time of death, they perceive their previously created actions manifesting in their thoughts and mental images, just as one recalls the events of a dream upon waking. When the final consciousness ceases, their own karma manifests before them."

Where does the karmic action created by sentient beings go after it ceases? It does not abide in the east, south, west, north, the four intermediate directions, above, below, or in the middle. No place can be found where the karma disappears or exists. If there were a place to store karmic actions, that would be disastrous. Wherever such karma was stored, it would inevitably erupt one day. Whomever the karma follows suffers misfortune. Karma has no place of storage; it comes without a trace and departs without a shadow. Although karmic actions have no place of storage, at the end of one's lifespan, all the karma created in that lifetime flashes rapidly through the mind. The conscious mind can perceive it, clearly distinguish it, and fully comprehend it within the heart, missing nothing. At that moment, one knows where they are destined to go. Therefore, one earnestly hopes that relatives can help liberate them from their karmic obstructions, but by then, they can no longer speak or express themselves. When in the intermediate state (bardo), they wish to communicate with loved ones, but separated by the boundary of life and death, communication becomes impossible—people of two different worlds cannot understand each other's language.

After the consciousness ceases, this lifetime comes to an end, marking the conclusion of this dream of human life. Reflecting now, real life truly seems like a dream. After the six consciousnesses cease, one follows the flow of karma. Since the mental faculty (manas) desires a five-aggregate body, the ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse consciousness) cooperates to manifest the intermediate body (bardo). Those of extreme virtue or extreme evil have no intermediate body. The extremely evil fall directly into hell without an intermediate state—as soon as the breath ceases here, the hell body manifests. The extremely virtuous, after death, directly manifest the body of a heavenly being and ascend to enjoy blessings. Once the hell body appears, even if one regrets creating evil karma and wishes to repent and make amends, there is no opportunity. While in the intermediate state, repentance is still possible, and relatives might still be able to provide remedies, but without the intermediate state, there is no recourse—the karmic seeds are fixed. Unless someone is highly awakened and repents while in hell using the hell body itself, if their power is sufficiently strong and their mental resolve vigorous, they may still escape hell. If one possesses greater merit, after death, Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva may await them at the gates of hell, teaching them repentance or verses from the Dharma. If they can recite along, they can eliminate their hell karma and escape. Those who have received the Bodhisattva precepts, if they fall into hell and recognize which precept they violated, repentance in their heart can also eliminate karma and liberate them from hell.

Therefore, in our daily practice, we should accumulate abundant merit and cultivate wisdom extensively. When facing retribution for evil deeds, there will be many opportunities for liberation. What is feared is lacking merit, not knowing how to apply the Dharma, and failing to repent for one's karmic actions. By listening to sutras and hearing the Dharma more frequently, one gains greater wisdom for liberation.