Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (107)

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

Original text: 佛言大王。如是如是。愚夫异生。闻可意声。起于爱乐。而生染着。造作恶行。身三语四。意业三种。作是业已。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, it is indeed so. Foolish ordinary beings (pṛthagjana), upon hearing agreeable sounds, give rise to delight and develop defiled attachment, committing evil deeds—three bodily actions, four verbal actions, and three mental actions. After committing these deeds, they vanish in an instant; and after the deeds vanish, the karmic formations do not abide in the east, south, west, or north, the four intermediate directions, above and below, or the middle—they disappear without a trace. Yet at the final moment when the life faculty ceases, all the karmic retribution created in this very life manifests in full, just like awakening from a dream while the mind still dwells upon the events of the dream.