At the Time of Death, How Does the Tathāgatagarbha Withdraw Bit by Bit from the Physical Body?

The physical body is formed from the four great element seeds within the tathāgatagarbha. At death, the four great element seeds within the physical body must disperse and return, no longer being generated, and only then can the physical body cease and no longer continue to function. At the time of approaching the end of life, the four great element seeds disintegrate and disperse, and the seeds return to the tathāgatagarbha. This process is not completed all at once; the duration required varies, depending on wholesome and unwholesome karma. The disintegration of the four great elements means that the four great element seeds gradually withdraw from the physical body, the body's functions gradually decline, and it gradually stiffens. This process is conventionally described as the tathāgatagarbha withdrawing from the physical body and no longer grasping and sustaining it, so that the body no longer possesses vitality; in reality, the tathāgatagarbha neither withdraws nor changes—it is the physical body within the tathāgatagarbha that undergoes change.

The tathāgatagarbha is formless and without appearance; no one can see how He enters the physical body or withdraws from it. The four great element seeds are also formless and without appearance; no one can see the four great element seeds forming the physical body or their disintegration as they withdraw from it. One can only observe the changes of the physical body, and from the changes in the body observe the changing functions of the seeds and the functions of the tathāgatagarbha. When the physical body has the functioning of the tathāgatagarbha, there is lifespan, warmth, and consciousness; without the tathāgatagarbha, there is no lifespan, warmth, or consciousness. At the time of approaching the end of life, lifespan gradually fades away, the body's temperature gradually disappears, becoming colder and colder, stiffer and stiffer; consciousness gradually weakens and fades, the mind becomes more and more muddled, until there is no awareness or perception, and one enters the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava). The place where the tathāgatagarbha finally leaves the physical body is the place where the four great elements finally disintegrate, the place where lifespan finally lingers, and the place where body temperature finally disappears; this determines the karmic destiny into which one will be reborn in the next life. The higher up the body this final place of disintegration is, the more wholesome the karmic destiny of the next life will be; conversely, the lower it is, the more unwholesome the karmic destiny of the next life will be.

The dharma that sentient beings cannot see is the true; the dharma they see is false. Seeing only the false and not the true is called ignorance (avidyā). If one could see the true at all times and in all places, then there would be nothing to attend to in the world—everything is empty, not a single dharma could entangle the mind, and even the world would not exist; the mind would completely return to self-nature, endowed with wisdom. This is called wisdom (jñāna). Wisdom is not sentiment; the sentient lack wisdom.