Which Consciousness Perceives the Wholesome and Unwholesome Karmic Actions of One's Life at the Moment of Death?

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra teaches that all worldly beings continue in the cycle of birth and death: at birth they follow their habitual tendencies, and at death they follow the flow of transformation. At the time of approaching the end of life, before the warmth of the body is relinquished, all the wholesome and unwholesome deeds of one's entire life suddenly appear simultaneously; death is resisted while birth is welcomed, and these two habitual tendencies intersect. Here it says "before the warmth is relinquished at the time of approaching the end of life"—"approaching" means close to 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 since the Buddha said the warmth has not been relinquished, there is still the warmth of the body, and there is the feeling of that 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; all the sensations of the material body still exist and can all be perceived, and the six consciousnesses are all still present and have not yet ceased. What is the feeling at this time? The Buddha compared the disintegration of the four great elements of sentient beings to a live turtle having its shell peeled off—how much suffering and pain would that be?

Since there is perception at this time and the mind consciousness has not ceased, the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) can also manifest. What does the solitary 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 lifetime, like playing a movie—and it is played rapidly, at extremely fast speed, and can be played out in an instant, because the tathāgatagarbha exports it extremely quickly. To the mind consciousness it is like rapid recollection; the solitary consciousness has no room to think of 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 tell the people around it.

At the time of approaching the end of life, although the mind consciousness is somewhat drowsy and muddled, 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 will go to in order to undergo retribution. There is no need for anyone to explain the principle of karmic retribution to oneself—not at all necessary.

At the time of approaching the end of life, the mind consciousness and the manas have no choice but to accept the retribution of the future life. This is the power of karma—the force of a lifetime's karmic actions—which allows no resistance from the mind consciousness and no resistance from the manas; both must submit to the arrangement and summons of karmic force, without complaint. Even if one is judged by Grandpa Yama in the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava), one will not argue, complain of suffering, or cry out injustice. Why? Because the facts are laid out right there, clearly 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 fate. How is fate formed? Fate is created by oneself. The karma one has created must of course be borne by oneself—otherwise what? Who will bear it for you? Even your own father, mother, or son cannot bear it in your place. Each person's karma is borne by that person; no one can bear it for another.

If you do not want others to know, do not do it yourself. All the deeds, great and small, that one performs throughout one's life are recorded in full detail by the tathāgatagarbha; 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 will be able to know completely everything one has done, thought, and considered—no one can be deceived, and committing evil can by no means be concealed from heaven. Matters of karmic retribution happen naturally, and no one can be blamed; the hells and the three evil realms are also transformed and created by one's own tathāgatagarbha according to one's own evil karma, having nothing to do with others—others cannot create a hell for you. Therefore one's own fate 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, treat themselves as well as possible, and not create even the tiniest bit of evil karma for themselves. Such selfishness even the Buddha approves of—this is the selfishness of the wise.

In order to avoid suffering 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. Spoken, they appear on the surface to hurt others, but in reality they hurt oneself; the retribution is thousands upon thousands of times greater and will be extremely difficult to bear when it comes. A single sentence can completely send one into the hells to suffer for countless kalpas—such is the retribution. The mind should not have greed, hatred, 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, much less by one's karmic creditors and sworn enemies—they are all the doing of one's own tathāgatagarbha. If you want to complain, go complain to the tathāgatagarbha, and see whether the tathāgatagarbha listens to your complaints.

Those who dare to commit evil karma, those who do not care about committing evil karma, those who commit evil karma lightly—all are foolish people without wisdom; the more foolish they are, the bolder they become. The foolish do not consider the consequences, do not know the consequences, do not fear karmic retribution, and cannot think that far ahead; only by following their own ignorance and afflictions do they feel comfortable. Committing evil karma 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 erupts and feels good, that is enough. As soon as cause and effect are mentioned, people with heavy afflictions are unwilling to listen, saying it is all fabricated, merely used to scare people, and they are unwilling to believe any of the true accounts of cause and effect recorded in the Buddhist sutras. But disbelief is disbelief—the retribution will still appear, whether you believe it or not.