To explain through simile the sense of what was just related:

The foolish man who has a pleasant dream
Is still desirous when waking up.
And likewise, though the karmic act has ceased
And lacks reality, it has results. (6.40)

As stated in the Transmigration Sutra:

Great King. Take for instance a man who is asleep and dreams of having intercourse with a beautiful lady, and on waking keeps yearning for her. What’s your opinion, Great King? Would such a man as this, who first dreams that he has intercourse with a beautiful lady and then having awoken still yearns for her, be a wise man?

He replied: No, Illustrious One, he would not. And why? Illustrious One, that dream-woman is non-existent; she cannot be perceived, let alone be a partner in intercourse. That man has nothing in store for him but misery and fatigue.

The Illustrious One said: It is similar, Great King, for immature and uninformed ordinary beings who on seeing material things crave material enjoyment. Craving these things they become attached. With attachment they bring about physical, verbal and mental karmic actions through desire, anger and confusion. When those karmic acts have been consummated, they cease. Having ceased they do not remain in the east … (and so forth), or in the intermediate directions. At a later time, when the moment of death arrives, the associated karma is activated as the final moment of consciousness ceases. At that time, it is just as in the example of the beautiful lady of he who awoke from sleep: one will tend towards that very mental karma. Thus, Great King, as that final moment of consciousness ceases, the first moment of consciousness belonging to the next birth determines whether one appears among the gods … (and so forth), or among the deprived spirits. As soon as that first moment of consciousness ceases, Great King, a mindstream that accords with the resultant manifest experience arises. While there are no phenomena whatsoever, Great King, that are transferred from this world to the next, death and rebirth are still evident. Great King, the ceasing of the final moment of consciousness is what we call ‘death’, while the initial moment of consciousness belonging to the next birth is what we call ‘rebirth’. But, Great King, as the final moment of consciousness ceases it doesn’t go anywhere. And the initial moment of consciousness belonging to the next birth doesn’t come from anywhere either. How can that be so? Because it is devoid of inherent existence. That final moment of consciousness Great King, is empty of a final moment of consciousness; death is empty of death; karma is empty of karma; the initial moment of consciousness is empty of an initial moment of consciousness; rebirth is empty of rebirth; and karmas do not disappear.¹