Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (99)

The karmic retribution of the ten unwholesome deeds all manifests at the time of death

Original text: 佛言大王。如是如是。愚夫异生。眼见是色。迷惑不了。造痴业行。身业三种。语业四种。意业三种。最初造作。刹那灭谢。是业灭已。不依东方。南西北方。四维上下。中间而住。最后边际。命根灭时。自分业报。皆悉现前。犹如梦觉。念梦中事。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, indeed it is so, well said. When foolish ordinary beings (pṛthagjana) see evil forms with their eyes, anger and vexation immediately arise in their minds; aversion and the mind to abandon arise, and they wish to destroy the evil form and denounce its various faults. In this way they create volitional formations of wrath—three kinds of bodily karma, four kinds of verbal karma, and three kinds of mental karma. The karmic formations first created perish instant by instant; after these formations perish, they do not abide in the east, south, west, or north, the four intermediate directions, above and below, or in between. At the final limit, when the life faculty perishes, the karmic retribution of one's own deeds all manifests, just like awakening from a dream and still recollecting the events of the dream.

The karmic formations first created perish instant by instant. After this karma perishes, it does not abide in the east, west, south, or north, the four intermediate directions, above and below, or in between—karma has no place of abiding. For example, the verbal karma of my speaking: before it arises there is no place where it abides, and when it disappears there is no destination to which the disappearance goes. Yet after my life faculty finally perishes, this verbal karma manifests, and I know it and follow the karma to receive retribution.

At the time of death, the karmic retribution of oneself and others manifests, just like recalling the events of a dream after waking. When one is about to die at the end of life, the deeds of an entire lifetime flash through the mind, like recollecting the events of a dream. After that, there is only following karma to receive retribution, delusively undergoing the suffering of transmigration through the six realms.