Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (184)

How can one gain more opportunities for liberation?

Karmic actions do not abide in the east, south, west, or north, in the four intermediate directions, above, below, or in between. There is no place where karma disappears or exists. If there were a place where karmic actions were stored, that would be terrible—wherever these karmas were stored, sooner or later one day they would erupt. Whoever karma follows will suffer misfortune. Karma has no place to be stored; it comes without a trace and leaves without a shadow. Although karmic actions have no place to be stored, when one's lifespan comes to an end, all the karma created in this lifetime flashes rapidly through the mind; the mind consciousness can perceive it all, can discern it clearly, the mind knows it all completely, missing nothing. At that moment one knows where one is going, and therefore one deeply hopes in the heart that one's relatives can help oneself attain liberation from karmic obstructions, but by then one can no longer speak or express oneself; in the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) one wants to tell one's loved ones, but the two realms of yin and yang are separated, communication is impossible—people of two different worlds cannot understand each other's language.

After consciousness ceases, this life ends, and the dream of this human life comes to a close. Thinking about it now, real life truly seems just like a dream. After the six consciousnesses cease, one transmigrates according to karma. Because the manas wants a body of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), the Ālayavijñāna cooperates and manifests the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava). Those of extreme goodness or extreme evil have no neutrino-body (antarā-bhava). A person of extreme evil falls into hell without a neutrino-body (antarā-bhava)—as soon as one breathes one's last on this side, the hell body manifests. For a person of extreme goodness, after death the heavenly body of a deva manifests, and one is directly reborn in heaven to enjoy blessings. Once the hell body emerges, even if one regrets having created evil karma and wishes to repent and remedy it, there is no opportunity. In the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) one can still repent, and relatives may perhaps still be able to offer some remedy; without a neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) there is no way, and the karmic seeds are fixed. Unless someone is very awakened and repents with the hell body while in hell—if the power is sufficient and the mental strength very strong, one can also emerge from hell. If one's blessings are greater, after death Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva may be waiting at the gates of hell, teaching one to repent or teaching verses from the Buddha's Dharma; if one can recite along with Him, one can dissolve the karma of hell and leave hell. If one has received the bodhisattva precepts and falls into hell, if one knows which precept one violated and repents in the heart, one can also dissolve the karma and leave hell.

Therefore, in our usual practice, we should accumulate more blessings and cultivate more wisdom. When receiving evil retribution, there will be many opportunities for liberation. What is to be feared is lacking merit, not knowing how to use the Dharma, and not understanding how to repent of one's karmic actions. By listening more to sūtras and hearing the Dharma, one can gain more wisdom for liberation.