At the moment of death, which consciousness perceives the wholesome and unwholesome karmic deeds of one's entire life?

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra teaches that all worldly beings continue in the cycle of birth and death: at birth one follows one's habitual inclinations, and at death one follows the flow of transformation. At the time of approaching the end of life, while the vital warmth and touch (of life) has not yet been relinquished, all the wholesome and unwholesome deeds of one's entire life suddenly appear all at once; death is adverse and birth is favorable, and the two habitual tendencies intermingle. Here it says that at the time of approaching the end of life, the vital warmth and touch has not yet been relinquished. "Approaching" means getting close but not yet past, that is, not yet dead. Since one has not yet died, at the very least the mind consciousness and the manas still exist. And the Buddha said the vital warmth has not been relinquished, which means there is still vital warmth, and there is the feeling of vital warmth, so the body consciousness also exists. At this time the four great elements have not yet disintegrated, or have only just begun to disintegrate, and all the feelings of the physical body still exist and can still be perceived; the six consciousnesses are all present and have not yet ceased. What is the feeling at this time? The Buddha compared the disintegration of the four great elements for sentient beings to a live turtle being stripped of its shell—how painful and agonizing that must be!

Since there is perception at this time and the mind consciousness has not ceased, the solitary mental consciousness can also manifest. What does the solitary mental consciousness do at this time? It exclusively receives the information emitted by the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha broadcasts all the wholesome and unwholesome karmic actions one has performed in this life, like playing a movie—and it is played rapidly, at extremely fast speed, so that it finishes playing in an instant; the tathāgatagarbha exports it at an extremely fast speed. For the mind consciousness, it is like a rapid recollection, and there is no room for the solitary mental consciousness to think anything; it only needs to receive. Then the mind consciousness immediately understands and knows where it must go in accordance with these karmic actions, but it can no longer inform the people around it.

Although the mind consciousness is somewhat drowsy at the time of approaching the end of life, it can still very clearly discern the video content that the tathāgatagarbha forcibly stuffs into it, with complete clarity, and it can even judge which realm it is going to in order to receive its retribution. No one needs to explain the principle of karmic retribution to it—it is entirely unnecessary.

At the time of approaching the end of life, the mind consciousness and the manas have no choice but to accept the future retribution. This is the power of karma—the force of a lifetime of karmic actions. It allows no resistance from the mind consciousness, nor from the manas; both must submit to the arrangement and summons of karma, without complaint. Even while undergoing Grandpa Yama's judgment in the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava), one will not argue, complain, or cry out one's grievances. Why? Because the facts are laid out right there, plainly visible to everyone; there is no need for King Yama to investigate and gather evidence. In the face of the facts, what is there left to say? One obediently submits to King Yama's arrangement, submits to the arrangement of destiny. How is destiny formed? Destiny is created by oneself. The karma one has created must of course be borne by oneself—what else could be done? Who would bear it in your place? Even your own parents and your own children cannot bear it for you. Each person's karma is received by that person; no one can bear it in anyone's place.

If you do not want people to know, the only way is not to do it. All the karmic actions, great and small, that one has performed in one's life are recorded in full detail by the tathāgatagarbha, down to the smallest matter. Other tathāgatagarbhas also know of them, and the manas, relying on the tathāgatagarbha, will also know them. When other people's mind consciousnesses attain superknowledge, they can know completely everything one has done, thought, and considered. No one can be deceived; committing evil deeds cannot possibly be concealed from heaven. Matters of karmic retribution happen naturally, and no one can be blamed. The hells and the three evil paths are also manifested and created by one's own tathāgatagarbha according to one's own unwholesome karma; it has nothing to do with others, and others cannot manifest a hell for you. Therefore, one's destiny is entirely one's own responsibility; no one bears it in one's place. If a person is going to be selfish, then let them be responsible for themselves and treat themselves as well as possible, never creating even the slightest unwholesome karma for themselves. Such selfishness is even endorsed by the Buddha—it is the selfishness of the wise.

In order to avoid suffering from evil retribution, one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions should all be strictly guarded. In bodily action, do not harm or violate anyone. In verbal action, do not speak unpleasant words, words that should not be spoken, words that hurt people, words that violate others' interests—and especially do not speak words that slander the Three Jewels. Speaking them may appear to hurt others, but in reality it hurts oneself; the retribution is thousands upon thousands of times greater, and will be extremely difficult to bear when it comes. A single sentence can send one to hell to suffer for immeasurable kalpas—such is the retribution. The mind should not have greed, aversion, or delusion; one's thoughts should be pure and simple.

These laws of cause and effect were not established or created by the Buddha, nor by bodhisattvas and Dharma-protecting deities, and even less by one's karmic creditors and sworn enemies—they are all the doing of one's own tathāgatagarbha. If you want to complain, then go complain to the tathāgatagarbha, and see whether the tathāgatagarbha will listen to your complaints!

Those who dare to commit unwholesome karma, those who do not care about committing unwholesome karma, and those who commit unwholesome karma lightly are all foolish people without wisdom; the more foolish they are, the bolder they become. The foolish disregard the consequences, do not know the consequences, do not fear the retribution, and cannot consider so much. Only by following their own ignorance and afflictions do they feel comfortable. Committing evil is for the sake of a moment's comfort and pleasure, regardless of how uncomfortable and unpleasant it will be later. With insufficient intelligence and insufficient meditative concentration, they cannot control these things—as long as it feels good to vent, that is enough. As soon as cause and effect are mentioned, people with heavy afflictions refuse to listen, saying it is all fabricated, just to scare people, and they are unwilling to believe any of the true accounts of cause and effect recorded in the Buddhist sutras. But unwilling to believe or not, the retribution will still appear, whether you believe it or not.