How Does the Antarābhava Arise and Enter the Womb?

Question: If a sudden event such as an explosion causes the physical body to be blown to pieces, or instantly vaporized, leaving no corpse or bones behind, will the antarā-bhava (intermediate body) manifest suddenly or gradually? How does the antarā-bhava grasp the fertilized egg to enter the womb?

Answer: Each time the antarā-bhava arises, it is because the previous physical body has broken down and can no longer be used, and the manas needs another physical body for its own use; there can be no gap in between, so the antarā-bhava arises swiftly. The manas needs the activity of the five aggregates to deal with the myriad dharmas of the world, because the mind of the manas is not empty—it has self-view and self-grasping, has view of dharmas and grasping at dharmas. Because of this grasping, it is unwilling to abandon the world and unwilling to abandon the five aggregates. While alive, one has accumulated karmic seeds for future lives; with these seeds, after death there will be a future life, and there will be no annihilation. When the sudden event of a great explosion occurs and the physical body is blown apart and can no longer be used, at that moment, supported by karmic seeds, the manas wants to have another physical body for its own use. The tathāgatagarbha, in response to this wish of the manas, according to the karmic seeds from before death, manifests once again a temporary physical body called the antarā-bhava, in order to temporarily satisfy the manas's needs.

If a real, substantial physical body were to arise, it would take a long time for the four great elements to gradually gather together, but the manas cannot wait, so only a temporary, insubstantial body of the four great elements can manifest; this is what distinguishes it from a human body. Because it is not a gathering of real seeds of the four great elements, it lacks the material obstructive quality that a body formed from the real seeds of the four great elements possesses; therefore the antarā-bhava has the five minor superknowledges. Because the manas urgently needs it, the antarā-bhava cannot arise slowly but must arise rapidly.

Because death from a sudden accident comes without psychological preparation, legend says that such a death leaves one unable to be reborn, and one can only exist in a spiritual form, drifting about like a ghost in the air, with no substantial physical body to rely on—extremely distressed. In order to be reborn again, one can only seize another deceased spirit, using it as a substitute so that one can go on to rebirth. Thus such a being will linger at the site of its death, waiting for a chance to create the same kind of sudden accident so that someone else dies and it can go on to rebirth. Therefore, in the world we find that wherever an accidental death has occurred, the same kind of accident will occur repeatedly over a number of years—this is the notion of "seizing a substitute."

If the death is a normal one, the antarā-bhava exists for at most seven periods of seven days—forty-nine days. Generally, one goes on to rebirth by the third seven-day period. The more distinct a person's wholesomeness or unwholesomeness was while alive, the more certain the result, and the earlier the rebirth. For those whose good and evil are truly hard to distinguish, forty-nine days is the limit, and they too will go on to rebirth. When the conditions for rebirth appear, the antarā-bhava rushes to the parents of the next life and enters the womb along with the fertilized egg, and the antarā-bhava immediately disappears. Because there is no manas, the antarā-bhava disperses. Wherever the manas is, there will be a physical body.

How does the manas within the antarā-bhava grasp the fertilized egg to enter the womb? Because the manas has not severed desire, when it encounters the conditions of the parents within the antarā-bhava, it is attracted by the parents' sexual desire and participates in it. If karmic force dictates a male, it develops craving toward the mother; if karmic force dictates a female, it develops craving toward the father, taking the parents' sexual act as its own sexual union with them. At the instant the parents' sperm and egg combine into a fertilized egg, it enters the mother's womb along with the fertilized egg. One who is to have a male body faces the mother in the womb; one who is to have a female body faces away from the mother in the womb. Thus, when the fetal body grows, a female fetus shows its pregnancy, while a male fetus does not.

When encountering a sudden accident, not only does the physical body fall apart, but the conscious mind, greatly frightened, is also scared out of its wits—what scatters are the first six consciousnesses; without a physical body to rely on, they cease and vanish. Only the manas flies out of the physical body, separated from it, becoming a solitary loner, with the tathāgatagarbha following behind—it is His entire treasury of jewels, yet He does not know it. At this point the manas has no choice but to want another physical body and five aggregates for its own use, to pursue worldly dharmas again, while the maṇi jewel behind it goes unheard and unseen. In learning Buddhism, as long as one has grasped the manas, one has grasped all dharmas; not knowing there is a tathāgatagarbha is, for the time being, no problem. From this we can see: is it not childish and laughable for the mind consciousness to realize the fruits and to awaken to the true mind? Is it not foolish to place one's hopes on dharmas that can be reduced to ashes in an instant? What wise person would place their treasures in an illusory city, in a castle in the air?

Rebirth in the land of bliss (Sukhāvatī) also takes place from within the antarā-bhava; so without extremely great superknowledge, who could see the antarā-bhava seated on a lotus flower flying off to the land of bliss? What worldly people call rebirth in the Pure Land is all conjecture and imagination, not what is seen in direct perception/valid direct cognition.

Within the antarā-bhava there are also gender differences, and gender differences are also karma. The manas, at whatever time and whatever stage, always accords with karma, karmic seeds, and karmic force; as long as there is male or female karma, there will be male or female gender. The gender of the future life is not fixed; it is determined by karmic seeds. Whether one performs the karmic actions of a man or of a woman in this life determines the gender of future lives. These karmic actions also include mental actions and mental disposition; karmic actions accord with mental actions and mental disposition, changing in close accordance with mental disposition. Therefore, if a person has the mental disposition of a man, they will manifest a male body in a future life; if they have the mental disposition of a woman, they will manifest a female body in a future life—except for those with the power of vows. In our monastic precepts, the restrictions on bhikṣuṇīs are many and heavy, precisely to restrain the habits and tendencies of women, to gradually depart from the tendencies of women and draw near to the tendencies of men, in preparation for transforming the female body. In real life, we also find that some women are very bold and magnanimous, generous and broad-minded, with a manly spirit and a man's bearing—they were men in a previous life and may become men again in a future life. Conversely, the same applies: some men are born with the tendencies of women; they were women in a previous life and may transform into female bodies again in a future life.

Gender is also determined by merit. From the form realm heavens upward there are no gender differences, no division into male and female; that is supported and determined by the merit of the four dhyānas and eight samādhis—the merit of meditative concentration is very, very great, capable of letting sentient beings temporarily escape the three evil destinies, escape the human body, and escape the desire realm heavens. The state of the form realm heavens is simply too enjoyable; the desire realm heavens cannot compare. When I cultivated to the first dhyāna, I was happy every day like an immortal—an indescribable joy that language cannot express, a happiness unimaginable to worldly people; the joy of dhyāna far surpasses worldly happiness. Before I learned Buddhism, my mood was heavy every day, as if a large stone were pressing on my heart, weighing it down; from the age of thirteen I contemplated the word "death." After the first dhyāna, it was like going from hell to heaven.

In the land of bliss there is also no division into male and female; that too is supported and determined by great merit. Therefore, in learning Buddhism and recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti), if one has not cultivated merit, there are obstacles everywhere—how then could one be reborn in the land of bliss and gather together with all the superior good people?