"The Pitṛputra Samāgama Sūtra: Selected Expositions"

The Buddha said: "Indeed, O King, it is so. Foolish ordinary beings, lacking in learning and wisdom, upon encountering agreeable contact, give rise to delight and affection. Their minds become defiled and attached, creating such karma: three types of bodily karma, four types of verbal karma, and three types of mental karma. They perform that karma, which perishes in an instant. Once this karma ceases, it does not abide in the east, south, west, or north, nor in the four intermediate directions, above, below, or in the middle. At the end of life, they see their past actions appear in their thoughts and mental perceptions, just as one, upon waking, recalls the events of a dream. When the final consciousness ceases, their own karma manifests before them."

Where do the karmic actions created by sentient beings go after they cease? They do not abide in the east, south, west, or north, nor in the four intermediate directions, above, below, or in the middle. One cannot find a place where karma disappears or exists. If there were a place storing karmic actions, that would be disastrous. Wherever karma was stored, it would inevitably erupt one day. Whoever the karma followed would suffer misfortune. Karma has no place of storage; it comes without a trace and leaves without a shadow. Although karmic actions have no place of storage, when life ends, all the karma created in that lifetime flashes rapidly through the mind. The conscious mind can perceive it, distinctly discern it, and fully comprehend it, missing nothing. At that moment, one knows where they are going. Therefore, the mind desperately wishes for relatives to help liberate them from their karmic obstructions, but by then, one can no longer speak and cannot express it. When in the intermediate state (antarābhava), one may want to tell their loved ones, but separated by the boundary of life and death, communication is impossible; people of two different worlds cannot understand each other's language.

After the consciousness ceases, that lifetime concludes, drawing a close to the dream of that human life. Thinking about it now, real life truly seems like a dream. After the six consciousnesses cease, one follows the karma in the cycle of rebirth. Because the mental faculty (manas) desires a five-aggregate body, the storehouse consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) cooperates and manifests the intermediate state body. Those of extreme virtue or extreme evil have no intermediate state. The extremely evil fall into hell without an intermediate state; as soon as the breath ceases here, the hell body manifests. The extremely virtuous, after death, immediately manifest the body of a heavenly being, directly reborn in heaven to enjoy blessings. Once the hell body appears, even if one regrets creating evil karma and wishes to repent and remedy it, there is no opportunity. In the intermediate state, repentance is still possible; relatives might still be able to offer remedial help. Without the intermediate state, there is no way; the karmic seeds are fixed. Unless one is highly awakened and, while in hell with a hell body, repents with sufficient strength and powerful mental resolve, they may still escape hell. If one has greater merit, after death, Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva might await them at the gates of hell, instructing them in repentance or verses from the Buddha Dharma. If they can recite along, it can eliminate hellish karma and liberate them from hell. Those who have taken the Bodhisattva precepts, if they fall into hell and realize which precept they violated, a single moment of repentance in their mind can also eliminate karma and free them from hell.

Therefore, in our daily practice, we should accumulate much merit and cultivate much wisdom. When undergoing retribution for evil deeds, there will be many opportunities for liberation. The fear is lacking in merit, not knowing how to apply the Dharma, and not understanding how to repent for one's karmic actions. By listening extensively to the sutras and hearing the Dharma, one can gain more wisdom for liberation.