The Less Attachment, the Closer to Liberation

Internal organs freshly removed from a living body are each vividly alive and full of vitality; the nerve cells are still moving, and the signs of life are very evident. Why do the organs remain fresh and alive after being separated from the body? Because of the grasping of the manas, the tathāgatagarbha will output seeds to sustain the survival of the internal organs.

Looking at the degree to which each person's manas grasps at the body at the time of death: the more one grasps at the body, the slower the death and the more numerous and severe the feelings of suffering; the lighter one's grasping at the body, the faster the death and the fewer and milder the feelings of suffering—except for beings destined for the hells. Those who grasp severely at the body are all people with heavy afflictions. Such people have meager merit (alpa-puṇya) of wholesome karma, and often at the time of death there are no auspicious signs; not knowing where they are going, they will grasp severely at the body, and the more they grasp, the more they suffer. This is a vicious cycle, and ordinary people without cultivation cannot break out of it. Those with abundant and great wholesome karma often have some auspicious signs and good omens at the time of death, so they do not grasp much at the body, and their death comes quickly.

Therefore, train yourself regularly to reduce as much as possible your attachment to people, affairs, and material things; then at the time of death there will be few feelings of suffering, and in daily life the feelings of suffering will also be very few. The less one grasps, the closer one is to liberation, and the more easily one lives. No matter what one is attached to, it is a burden and a weight. Grasping itself is a manifestation of foolishness. A person with wisdom can see this clearly and can let go; such a person will not attach to any people, affairs, or material things so as to add to their own burden.