King Shosgyal turned to one of them and said, “What did you do in your life? Did you give to charity? Did you read the holy books? Did you honor your parents? Did you serve the priests? Did you pray regularly? Did you endeavor to be useful to your neighbors by working for their salvation? Did you fast and make the pilgrimages to purify your many sins? And which sins did you commit? Did you murder anyone? Did you damage or desecrate the holy places?  Did you disturb pious people at prayer? Did you break your word, your oath, your vow? Did you rob pilgrims or take anything that was not given to you? Did you commit sins of the word: Did you lie, slander, speak evil words, abuse people? Did you think evil by wishing bad luck on others? Did you keep the faith, or did you leave the religion? ”

The person being questioned answered, “Mercy! I have shown compassion to the poor, turned my prayer wheel.  I wanted to become a monk, but my parents did not permit it.  I obeyed my teachers and looked after the lamas who came to our house as mendicants.  Alas, I had little time to spend on religious duties.  I often sent tea to the abbey, and I brought food to a hermit in the hills for twenty years and gave him clothes, too.  I bought a holy book for a horse and a gold coin.  I looked after my parents in their old age.  I made no enemies among the people.  I never killed; I never stole.  I often fasted, and I partook in the sacrificial meals.”

Turning to the man with the deer head, King Shosgyal ordered, “Check your book!” The deer-head man spoke: “I see here that he has done all the good he has told us.  However, he has stolen a yak with three accomplices, killed it, and eaten it.”  At that moment a man dressed in white appeared.  “This man has performed the following good works,” he noted.  While mentioning each of these deeds, one after another, he dropped a white pebble on the ground until they rose in a heap.

As he vanished, a man dressed in black appeared.  “This man has committed the following sins,” he said, and for each of them reported he dropped black pebbles, until there was a heap on the floor.