འཕགས་པ་ལགས་ཉས་ཀྱ་རྒྱ་དང་འབྲས་བ་བསྟན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 19

19

and the realm of the Lord of Death.¹⁴⁸ Even if they happen to be reborn as humans, they will experience two types of ripened results: always being reborn into households with wrong views and being pursued by devious thoughts.¹⁴⁹

“O heirs to the Buddha, since this is so, the ten negative, nonvirtuous paths of action are the causes and conditions for great heaps of multitudes of sufferings!”

Then, at that moment, those among the great gathering of retinues who had performed the ten negative, nonvirtuous actions heard the Blessed One explain the ripening of the sufferings of the hell realms, and they all wept and cried out to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, what sort of virtue, when practiced, will free us from such suffering?”¹⁵⁰

The Blessed One responded, “Lead all beings toward meritorious actions.¹⁵¹ How is merit created? Anyone who acts as a great, influential leader in this life and constructs stūpas of the thus-gone ones, shrines, and monasteries¹⁵² will, without a doubt, become a king in the future. They will rule over many people and will never be disobeyed by anyone.¹⁵³ Those who, as the heads of towns and villages in this life, are upstanding and rule in accordance with the Dharma will, without a doubt, become ministers to kings in the future. They will have an abundance of clothing, food, and horses and will acquire whatever they desire.¹⁵⁴ Those who encourage many people to create merit in this life will, without a doubt, become heads of rich houses with venerable lineages in the future. They will be respected by everyone and will accomplish all their endeavors throughout the ten directions.¹⁵⁵