慈悲道場懺法 3.4

3.4

Today, assembly sharing this karmic endeavor in the bodhimaṇḍa! Humans born in the world are beset by many illnesses and short lives; all kinds of suffering cannot be fully described. All are produced through the fabrication of the three karmic actions, which can cause a practitioner to suffer the retribution of the three wretched paths. The reason there are three wretched paths is that people possess the three poisons: greed, anger, and delusion. Furthermore, there are the three evils: the mouth constantly speaks evil, the mind constantly thinks evil, and the body constantly practices evil. By means of these six things, one's human body can be destroyed, constantly suffering and afflicted without rest. When life ends here, the solitary soul departs alone; compassionate parents and filial children cannot rescue each other. In an instant, one arrives at the abode of Yama. The hell wardens do not ask whether one is noble or base; they only consult the record of sins, inspecting the quantity of good and evil done in life, and the mental consciousness confesses on its own, not daring to conceal anything. By this cause and condition, following one's karma one reaches the destinations of suffering or joy, which one must personally undergo. In the vast gloom, parted for long, their paths differ and there is no date of meeting again. Furthermore, all the devas and spirits record people's good and evil, down to a hair without the slightest omission; a good person doing good obtains an increase of longevity by a hundred million fold, while an evil person doing evil has a short life and prolonged suffering. Transmigrating like this, one again falls into the hungry ghosts; freed from the hungry ghosts, one is born among animals, where the painful retribution is difficult to endure, suffered without end.