What Determines Rebirth in the Favorable Realms or the Three Evil Realms After Death?

Some say: When a person dies, the Tathāgatagarbha naturally guides them to a favorable rebirth. But if the Tathāgatagarbha can naturally guide one to a wholesome path, then why have all sentient beings spent immeasurably more time in the three evil paths than in the three wholesome paths since beginningless time? By what means does the Tathāgatagarbha guide the manas (mental faculty) of sentient beings into the wholesome paths? Some say that as long as one has cultivated wholesome dharmas, the Tathāgatagarbha can guide them to a favorable rebirth. However, there are very many people who have cultivated wholesome dharmas, very many who have cultivated the Buddha Dharma, and equally very many who have cultivated correct principles of the Dharma. How many among them, at the moment of death, can be guaranteed not to fall into the three evil paths and instead rely on the Tathāgatagarbha to lead them into the three wholesome paths?

    By what means does the Tathāgatagarbha guide the manas into the wholesome paths? It is by means of the wholesome karmic seeds stored within the Tathāgatagarbha. But the Tathāgatagarbha also contains countless unwholesome karmic seeds, left behind from creating unwholesome karma since beginningless time, which have not yet manifested. What karmic seeds, then, does the Tathāgatagarbha ultimately rely upon to guide the manas towards rebirth? This question is extremely important and crucial. The Buddha in the sutras guaranteed sentient beings six conditions necessary to avoid falling into the three evil paths after death: First, severing the view of self and the three fetters as taught in the Āgama Sūtras; Second, realizing the mind and seeing the nature as taught in the Mahāyāna sutras; Third, the samādhi power of single-minded recitation of the Buddha's name at the time of death as taught in the Amitābha Sūtra; Fourth, accomplishing the third contemplation or higher in the sixteen contemplations of the Contemplation Sūtra, along with the necessary causes and conditions for rebirth in the nine grades; Fifth, the rebirth conditions taught in other Pure Land sutras; Sixth, the wholesome karmic seeds necessary for non-Buddhists to be reborn in the heavens after death.

These conditions explain that it is not merely by cultivating wholesome dharmas and the Buddha Dharma that one avoids the three evil paths and is reborn into the three wholesome paths. Rather, it depends on whether the force of the wholesome karma created in this present life is greater than that of the unwholesome karma, whether the major unwholesome karmic seeds from beginningless time have been eradicated, or whether the conditions for the manifestation of major unwholesome karmic seeds are present. At the time of death, the strength of the wholesome karmic seeds is compared with that of the unwholesome karmic seeds; the stronger force takes precedence. The Tathāgatagarbha pulls sentient beings according to the stronger karma. Where one goes after death is determined by the contest between wholesome and unwholesome karmic forces, or by the power of vows, not by the Tathāgatagarbha itself. The Tathāgatagarbha merely follows the force of the karmic seeds; it fundamentally has no intention of guiding the destination of sentient beings.

Countless people, although having the affinity to cultivate the true Dharma and wholesome dharmas, still possess the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion in full measure. These afflictions are not severed at all, nor are they subdued. This clearly indicates that the force of karmic afflictions is still very strong. At the time of death, they are naturally pulled by the karmic afflictions towards the three evil paths. Facts also show that among Buddhists, still over eighty or ninety percent fall into the three evil paths upon death to suffer retribution. Countless people cultivate wholesome dharmas, but in the process, they also create the unwholesome karma of slandering the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha). The force of this unwholesome karma is extremely great; all the cultivation of wholesome dharmas cannot overcome the power of the karma of slandering the Three Jewels. Therefore, at the time of death, the Tathāgatagarbha naturally follows the force of the slander karma seeds to guide the manas into the three evil paths. Even if one did not create any major unwholesome karma in this present life, if the conditions for unwholesome karma from beginningless time ripen, and the wholesome karmic force from cultivating wholesome dharmas in this life is not strong enough—if the conditions are not mature and insufficient to change the conditions and force of the unwholesome karma—then the Tathāgatagarbha will use the powerful force of the unwholesome karma seeds to guide the manas into the three evil paths.

If the power cultivated through wholesome dharmas in this present life is still not strong enough, being comparatively weak and inferior, and one only intellectually understands and comprehends the wholesome dharmas without cultivating them down to the level of the manas, enabling the manas to realize the wholesome dharmas, then such cultivation of wholesome dharmas cannot be stored as powerful seeds within the Tathāgatagarbha. Lacking sufficient force, it cannot play a significant role, is insufficient to counteract the force of karmic afflictions, and is inadequate to change the fate of falling into the three evil paths in future lives. All bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the five aggregates must be stored as seeds within the Tathāgatagarbha. Although countless people cultivate wholesome dharmas, if their bodily, verbal, and mental actions do not change and they still create karmic afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, then it is the seeds of these karmic afflictions that are stored within the Tathāgatagarbha. At the time of death, the force of the karmic afflictions is very great and will pull the manas into the three evil paths, preventing rebirth in the three wholesome paths.

Who is the master controlling the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the five aggregates? Naturally, it is the manas that is the master controlling the creation. If the wholesome dharmas cultivated by sentient beings in this present life do not penetrate the mind of the manas, and the manas does not genuinely realize the Buddha Dharma to eradicate ignorance and afflictions, then the manas remains unwholesome. It will not act as the master to create wholesome karma, and wholesome karma seeds will not be stored within the essence of the Tathāgatagarbha mind. How, then, could the Tathāgatagarbha guide the manas to be reborn in a wholesome path? In summary, regardless of who cultivates wholesome dharmas, if they do not succeed in transforming the manas through cultivation, if they cannot change the afflicted and defiled nature of the manas, nor alter the mental actions of the manas, then the manas will still act as the master to create defiled karma. Defiled karma seeds will then be stored within the essence of the Tathāgatagarbha mind, causing the Tathāgatagarbha to produce the unwholesome karmic retribution in future lives. Such a person, upon death, cannot go to a wholesome path to receive favorable retribution.