Can Enlightenment Be Attained at the Moment of Death?

Question: Some say that one can attain enlightenment after death. They claim that the interval after the five aggregates disintegrate, the four great elements separate, and before the intermediate state body is born, is the true suchness (tathatā). I feel like what they describe resembles the state of Nirvana without remainder. Master, please explain in detail whether this person could actually be enlightened.

Answer: If it is said that the interval after the five aggregates disintegrate, the four great elements separate, and before the intermediate state body is born, is the true suchness, then at that moment, there should be nothing but true suchness—no mental faculty (manas), no six consciousnesses, no physical body—only true suchness. That would indeed be the state of Nirvana without remainder, liberation from the suffering of birth and death within the three realms.

If it were true that everyone enters the state of Nirvana without remainder after death, then what would be the point of our diligent practice of the four establishments of mindfulness, the study of the Four Noble Truths, and the effort to eradicate the view of self to seek liberation? Would the Buddha’s coming to this world to teach the Āgama scriptures and guide sentient beings to liberation be equally meaningless? Obviously, this is a grave fallacy.

In the interval after death before the intermediate state body is born, the physical body and the six consciousnesses have ceased. However, the mental faculty (manas) certainly cannot cease; otherwise, how could the intermediate state body appear shortly afterward? How could there be subsequent worlds of the five aggregates? It is because the mental faculty requires the intermediate state body that the eighth consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) gives rise to the intermediate state body to fulfill its need. Since the mental faculty of ordinary beings and those below the third stage of sanctity (anāgāmin) does not cease, then during this interval, the seventh and eighth consciousnesses are both present. How then can it be claimed that this is solely true suchness?

Even if we entertain the notion that at this moment only true suchness exists—that it is true suchness, the state of Nirvana without remainder—then who is it that attains enlightenment? Without the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, who realizes it? Could true suchness realize itself? Obviously not.

Since the mental faculty and the seventh and eighth consciousnesses coexist in this interval after death—inseparable from one another—could enlightenment occur then? If enlightenment were possible, it would have to be the mental faculty realizing it alone, without the assistance of the sixth consciousness (mano-vijñāna). Without the sixth consciousness guiding the mental faculty to recognize “this is true suchness,” would the mental faculty alone possess the wisdom to recognize true suchness? Clearly not. Otherwise, the probability of sentient beings attaining enlightenment after death would be exceedingly high, and many would eagerly await death to achieve sainthood. Based on the above contemplation and analysis, whether this person is enlightened or not—you may judge for yourself. I need not explicitly state it.