Can the Physical Body Go to the Land of Bliss (Sukhāvatī)?

Question: When one recollects the Buddha and is reborn in the land of bliss (Sukhāvatī), is it the physical body that sits on the lotus flower and goes there?

Answer: Rebirth through recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti) does take place by sitting on a lotus flower. This lotus flower is created and fashioned by one's own tathāgatagarbha in accordance with the manas, and it is composed of subtle four great elements. When a practitioner of Buddha-recollection single-mindedly yearns for the land of bliss, and after the mind attains purity, makes the vow to be reborn there, the tathāgatagarbha, in accordance with the manas's aspiration, builds in the lotus pond of the land of bliss a lotus seat that belongs to oneself and matches one's level of cultivation. This lotus seat is made of extremely subtle matter composed of the four great elements; our substantial, coarse physical body cannot sit on it, for a substantial physical body cannot come into contact with the subtle material form of the lotus seat.

At the time of death, it is the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) that sits on the lotus flower and travels to the land of bliss. Because the neutrino-body is also not a substantial, coarse material body, it corresponds perfectly with the lotus seat, and thus the neutrino-body can sit within the lotus flower. Once seated on the lotus, in the snap of a finger the lotus seat and the neutrino-body arrive at the land of bliss, where the neutrino-body is transformed into the celestial form-body of a being in the land of bliss, and is then wrapped in lotus petals, the form-body dwelling in the lotus palace manifested by one's own tathāgatagarbha. Why does the neutrino-body arrive at the land of bliss so quickly? Because the land of bliss is also a dharma within one's own mind's tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha does not need to travel to any location within one's own mind, and the manas, following the tathāgatagarbha, likewise does not need to traverse an infinitely great distance; hence in a snap of a finger one can arrive at the land of bliss within the tathāgatagarbha—in fact, the speed is even faster than a snap of the finger. To speak of "speed" at all is already very slow, for within its own mind the tathāgatagarbha has no time and no distance whatsoever, and therefore there is no speed.

Upon arriving in the land of bliss, the neutrino-body immediately vanishes and is replaced by the beautiful and majestic form-body of beings in the land of bliss, without distinction of male or female; in the land of bliss one is forever young and majestic, never aging, never dying, never ill, never suffering. Because the neutrino-body is an extremely subtle material form-body, it can drift to the land of bliss in an instant, whereas our physical body cannot. The physical body is extremely coarse matter and cannot float; it cannot even rise a few meters into the air, let alone reach the distant land of bliss. This is precisely why humans with physical bodies lack superknowledge, whereas ghosts and spirits, devas, and non-humans, whose form-bodies are composed of subtle matter, possess superknowledge: they can float and fly, and in the blink of an eye reach other worlds.