Who is in Samsara?

The delusional thinking of the manas lies in mistaking the false for the real—regarding the illusory images manifested by the Tathagatagarbha as genuine, and treating the reflections within the mirror of the Tathagatagarbha as inherently existent external realities. By substituting illusion for truth, it deceives itself and others life after life. The manas controls and directs the six consciousnesses to ceaselessly manipulate the people, events, and objects within the mirror, perpetually creating karma on the surface of the mirror. When this karmic creation becomes severe, and the accumulation of karmic seeds grows numerous and substantial, it ultimately affects the entities outside the mirror, thereby altering the fundamental reality and causing changes in cause and effect.

After the manas eradicates ignorance and realizes that all phenomena are illusory, it continues to function within the six realms and the threefold world. Yet, it remains unattached to the people, affairs, and phenomena of the threefold world. In this way, it is freed from the suffering of birth, death, and rebirth within the threefold world and the six realms, and the mind is no longer inverted.

However, from the perspective of ultimate truth, is there such a thing as rebirth? Is there a person who reincarnates? No. At the moment of death, the physical body ceases to exist and does not undergo rebirth. Consciousness and the five sensory consciousnesses also cease and vanish at death, so they certainly do not undergo rebirth. The manas itself never perishes across lifetimes—it has no past or future lives, so it cannot be said to undergo rebirth or not. The eighth consciousness (alaya-vijnana) certainly does not undergo rebirth; likewise, it has no past or future lives. Moreover, the six realms have no relation to it, and it does not experience suffering. So, who is it that undergoes rebirth? There is no one who reincarnates.