Can One Attain Enlightenment in the Bardo?

Question: Some say that at the moment of approaching death, when the five aggregates (including the material form body and the deluded mind: namely, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness) illusorily cease, and the intermediate state body has not yet arisen, what remains is the True Suchness. This is said to be the original face before one's parents were born. Actually, couldn’t this be rephrased as contemplating “What is it after death?” or “What is the face after death?” Is this statement also incorrect?

Answer: This statement is certainly incorrect. After death, during the period before the intermediate state body arises, it is not True Suchness, but the combined entity of the seventh and eighth consciousnesses. The mental faculty (manas) absolutely cannot cease, except for a fourth-stage Arhat. At this time, one cannot attain enlightenment; there is no consciousness (mano-vijñāna), and the mental faculty is not that powerful. Both must be investigated simultaneously, and one must also be free from the obstruction of karmic hindrances.

While alive, one can investigate the face after death, but it is relatively difficult because after death, it is also a combination of true and false—not solely true. It is better to contemplate “Who is dragging the corpse?” This meditation topic is easier.

Before the intermediate state body arises, there exist the seventh and eighth consciousnesses. One should not think that only True Suchness exists at this time. When true and false are combined, one must not mistake the false for the true. The combination of true and false is not True Suchness. Such enlightenment is speculative and imagined, and is no different from not being enlightened at all.

Before the intermediate state body arises, only the seventh and eighth consciousnesses exist. At this time, it is impossible to attain enlightenment because the mental faculty alone cannot recognize the eighth consciousness. It cannot even distinctly perceive the six dusts (objects of sense), let alone the extremely subtle eighth consciousness? Even when the intermediate state body appears and consciousness arises, it is still very difficult to attain enlightenment because consciousness is extremely faint and its discernment is very low. How could one possibly attain enlightenment?

For those who have not severed the view of self, after death, during the period before the intermediate state body arises, they experience extreme panic, fearing the annihilation of the self. At this time, they still regard the five aggregates and the eighteen realms as the self. How could the seventh consciousness possibly recognize the gap after the cessation of the five aggregates and six consciousnesses as True Suchness? It is fundamentally impossible. It is even less possible than attaining enlightenment during the gap between the cessation of the previous thought and the non-arising of the next thought, because at that time, after all, there is the knowing of consciousness, and one is still in a state of concentration.