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Returning to the Quintessence of Buddha
All of us have a transient-invisible-body (Antara-bhava). While
we are alive this is called mind-consciousness. It is commonly
referred to as the soul. When we are asleep, this
mind-consciousness does not sleep. Instead, it combs through the
past records that are stored in the eighth mind-consciousness (All
of us have eight consciousness. In addition to the six
sense-consciousness, namely, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and
mind, there are the seventh [Klista-mano-vijnana] and eighth
[Alaya-vijnana] mind-consciousness. The eighth consciousness is the
planting field of the mind. The seeds of all our encounters, both
virtuous and evil, of our aeons of many past lives are planted
here. The seventh mind-consciousness gives rise to the
transient-invisible-body.) When a person is dead, his six
sense-organs, namely, the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind
stop functioning. His sense of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch
and perception also cease to function. Thereafter, the seventh
mind-consciousness no longer resides in the body. It leaves the
body and begins to search for the right conditions for rebirth to
the next life. (At this stage, the mind-consciousness is called a
transient-invisible-body. It is an intermediate existence between
death and rebirth to the next life.) The right conditions of
rebirth are found within a period of 49 days, on each of the seven
cycles of the seventh day after the person has passed away ( i.e.
7th, 14th, 21st, 28th,
49th day).
It is for this reason that dharma practices are made at seven days
interval during these 49 days to transfer merits to the deceased.
These dharma practices should be preceded by a well cultivated
Buddhist teacher in order to help to guide and elevate the deceased
to liberation or to a virtuous realm in his next life.
The only way to understand the principle of birth and death is by
cultivating the Great Dharma (Dharma of the Origin of Great Wisdom
(????). Practitioners of the Pure Land Sect who cultivate by
reciting the name of the Buddha still have this
transient-invisible-body for rebirth to take place in the Western
Pure Land where they are reborn by means of the lotus flower.
However, each individual arrives at the Western Pure Land with
their own degree of cultivation and merit. At the highest level
they immediately become awakened to the Buddha. If it is at the low
level, one needs to cultivate for a very long time before his
wisdom blossoms and he awakens to his Buddha-nature and realizes
non-arising of the mind.
In contrast, when we are cultivating the Great Dharma, during
meditation we extinguish this transient-invisible-body. By the
non-arising (and therefore non-cessation) of the mind the sentient
being inside you no longer exists. We thereby awake our own
Buddha-nature. At this point the transient-invisible-body is
extinguished by the brightness of Buddha-nature. This is because
the transient-invisible-body gathers darkness, and when we have
awakened our Buddha-nature, brightness will manifest and the
transient-invisible-body naturally disappears.
The human beings seventh mind-consciousness is the I. Because of
I, it gives rise to my. Because of me, it gives rise to
self-attachment, followed by attachment of perception such as I
like it this way
or I like it that way
In the end, people
become attached to everything, be it right or wrong. This is the
root cause of distress and suffering. Ignorance means darkness
and without brightness. People lose their temper because of
ignorance. If we investigate the reason for being angry, at the
beginning most people will blame it on others. On further
investigation, we will discover that the anger stems from
self-ignorance. When we have understood this principle, we will
realize that these are due to this I (seventh mind-consciousness,
transient-invisible body). Therefore if we allow it (the ignorance)
to further develop and lead according to the wishes of this I, we
will certainly descend to a lower realm of life, because the root
of this I is ignorance.
Originally, sentient beings and the quintessence of Buddha were the
same in pureness and brightness. However, when the conditions for
the initiation of ignorance begin to fan like the wind, it
eventually produces ignorance. The ignorance becomes more serious
as it gathers momentum and leads to the transmigration in the Six
Realms. Ignorance, just like the wind, is invisible and one may not
be able to touch them, yet it packs with power so immense that it
can destroy houses and uproot trees.
In the beginning when sentient beings started to transmigrate in
the Six Realms, they were in the realm of Heaven. Then, they
descended to the Human realm. Human beings have seven types of
emotion and six types of lust and because of these they continually
commit negative karma. These led them to descend to the realm of
Asura. Why is the realm of Asura considered to be a good realm? It
is because even heavenly beings can be inflicted by ignorance,
causing them to fight among themselves. The more aggressive
fighters eventually descend to the realm of Asura.