Passages from the Shurangama-sutra...regarding rebirth and karmic retribution ..

E: http://www.buddhism.org/Sutras/2/ShurangamaSutra.htm

"Ananda, each and every being in all these heavens is ordinary. They are still answerable for their Karmic retribution. When they have answered for their debts, they must once again enter rebirth. The lords of these heavens, however, are all Bodhisattvas who roam in Samadhi. They gradually progress in their practice and make transferences to the way cultivated by all sages.

"Ananda, these are the Four Heavens of Emptiness, where the bodies and minds of the inhabitants are extinguished. The nature of concentration emerges, and they are free of the Karmic retribution of form. This final group is called the Formless Realm.

"The beings in all of them have not understood the wonderful enlightenment of the bright mind. Their accumulation of falseness brings into being false existence in the three realms. Within them they falsely follow along and become submerged in the seven destinies. As Pudgalas, they gather together with their own species or kind.

"Furthermore, Ananda, there are four categories of Asuras in the Triple Realm.

"Those in the path of ghosts who use their strength to protect the Dharma and who can ride their spiritual penetrations to enter into emptiness are Asuras born from eggs; they belong to the destiny of ghosts.

"Those who have fallen in virtue and have been dismissed from the heavens dwell in places near the sun and moon. They are Asuras born from wombs and belong to the destiny of humans.

"There are Asura kings who uphold the world with a penetrating power and fearlessness. They fight for position with the Brahma lord, the god Sharkra, and the Four Heavenly Kings. These Asuras come into being by transformation and belong to the destiny of gods.

"Ananda, there is another, baser category of Asuras. They have thoughts of the great seas and live submerged in underwater caves. During the day they roam in emptiness; at night they return to their watery realm. These Asuras come into being because of moisture and belong to the destiny of animals.

"Ananda, so it is that when the seven destinies of hell-dwellers, hungry ghosts, animals, people, spiritual immortals, gods, and Asuras are investigated in detail, they are all found to be murky and embroiled in conditioned existence. Their births come from false thoughts. Their subsequent Karma comes from false thoughts. Within the wonderful perfection of the fundamental mind that is without any doing, they are like strange flowers in space, for there is basically nothing to be attached to; they are entirely vain and false, and they have no source or beginning.

"Ananda, these living beings, who do not recognize the fundamental mind, all undergo rebirth for limitless Kalpas. They do not attain true purity, because they keep getting involved in killing, stealing, and lust, or because they counter them and are born according to their not killing, not stealing, and lack of lust. If these three Karmas are present in them, they are born among the troops of ghosts. If they are free of these three Karmas, they are born in the destiny of gods. The incessant fluctuation between the presence and absence of these Karmas gives rise to the cycle of rebirth.

"For those who make the wonderful discovery of Samadhi, neither the presence nor the absence of these Karmas exists in that magnificent, eternal stillness; even their non-existence is done away with. Since the lack of killing, stealing, and lust is non-existent, how could there be actual involvement in deeds of killing, stealing, and lust?

"Ananda, those who do not cut off the three Karmas each have their own private share. Because each has a private share, private shares come to be accumulated, making collective portions. Their location is not arbitrary, yet they themselves are falsely produced. Since they are produced from falseness, they are basically without a cause, and thus they cannot be traced precisely.

"You should warn cultivators that they must get rid of these three delusions if they want to cultivate Bodhi. If they do not put an end to these three delusion, them even the spiritual penetrations they may attain are merely a worldly, conditioned function. If they do not extinguish these habits, they will fall into the path of demons.

"Although they wish to cast out the false, they become doubly deceptive instead. The Thus Come Ones says that such beings are pitiful, you have created this falseness yourself; it is not the fault of Bodhi.

"An explanation such as this is proper speech. Any other explanation is the speech of demon kings."