The Difference Between Doubt Pertaining to Consciousness and Doubt Arising from Mental Faculty

Doubt arising from consciousness is relatively superficial, manifesting only on the surface level and not constituting true doubt. For instance, once an explanation is given and the mind becomes clear, this doubt dissipates. Doubt arising from the manas (ego-mind), however, is deeper in degree. This is because the manas is the master consciousness, the sovereign. All mental activities and decisions made by this master are effective and yield results. Consciousness is not the master; its doubt cannot play a primary role and is easily eliminated. For example, if the manas doubts the wholesome dharmas it has cultivated, this is true doubt. Such doubt will then partially or completely negate the previous mental and karmic actions associated with those wholesome dharmas, causing the merit previously accumulated from those wholesome deeds to vanish or diminish. This occurs because the Tathagatagarbha (Buddha-nature) responds to the manas. The Tathagatagarbha knows all the mental activities of the manas. If the manas doubts and disbelieves in the existence of that merit, the Tathagatagarbha will reduce the merit recorded for those wholesome dharmas, and thus the merit diminishes.

Therefore, heavy doubt is detrimental. Doubt is a defilement, classified as the fetter of doubt among the three fetters we need to sever. Indecision due to doubt prevents liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Thus, we must resolve the doubt within our minds, resolving the lack of clarity and indecision regarding the Dharma of liberation. If the manas doubts the merit it has already accrued, that merit will be reduced. Therefore, having performed wholesome actions, we should harbor no doubt. We must internally recognize them as wholesome deeds, and in the future, we will assuredly receive the corresponding wholesome results.

At the time of our death, if our thoughts are constantly focused on the unwholesome karmas created in this life, the Tathagatagarbha will respond by causing these unwholesome seeds to ripen prematurely, and we will be led by that unwholesome karma to undergo its retribution. We should adjust our state of mind, continuously focusing our thoughts on all the wholesome karmas created in this lifetime. Any unwholesome karmas created should be diligently purified through repentance before death. For those unwholesome karmas that cannot be purified through repentance, we should strive not to let them form strong thoughts in the mind at the time of death. We should try our best not to think of them, but instead focus on wholesome karmas. Then, the Tathagatagarbha may (though not certainly) prevent the unwholesome karmic seeds from ripening and instead ripen the wholesome karmic seeds.

This means that the thoughts at the time of death are the aspirations, and the Tathagatagarbha will respond to you, enabling these thoughts and aspirations to be realized. Therefore, as long as our thoughts at death are wholesome aspirations, the aspiration to be reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, the Tathagatagarbha will respond and enable us to be reborn there. If our final thought at death is unwholesome, corresponding to the unwholesome karmas of this lifetime, then the retribution of that unwholesome karma will manifest, and we may fall into the three lower realms. If at the time of death one harbors doubt towards the Pure Land or Amitabha Buddha, rebirth there will not be achieved. Even if one manages to go, it will only be to the borderland of doubt within the Pure Land, where one will not see the Buddha nor hear the Dharma until the doubt and karmic obstruction of doubt are eliminated. Therefore, the thoughts at the time of death are the most crucial and effective.