Enlightenment Cannot Be Attained After Death

Question: Some people believe that one can attain enlightenment after death. They claim that the interval after the five aggregates disperse and decay, the four great elements separate, and before the intermediate state body is born, is Suchness (True Thusness). I feel like what they describe resembles the state of Nirvana without remainder. Master, please explain in detail—could this person actually be enlightened?

Answer: If it is said that the interval after the five aggregates disperse and decay, the four great elements separate, and before the intermediate state body is born, is Suchness, then at that moment, there should be nothing but Suchness—no mental faculty (manas), no six consciousnesses, no physical body—only Suchness. That would be the state of Nirvana without remainder, already liberated from the suffering of birth and death in the three realms. If everyone were to enter Nirvana without remainder after death, then what would be the point of our diligent practice of the contemplation on the four foundations of mindfulness, the study of the Four Noble Truths, and the severing of self-view to seek liberation? Would the Buddha’s coming to this world to expound and propagate the Āgama scriptures to guide sentient beings toward liberation also be utterly meaningless? Clearly, this is profoundly erroneous.

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 later? How could there be the five-aggregate world of future existences? It is because the mental faculty requires an intermediate state body that the Tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature) gives birth to the intermediate state body to fulfill its need. Since the mental faculty of ordinary beings and those below the third fruit of sainthood cannot cease, then during this interval, the seventh and eighth consciousnesses are present. How can it be said that this is only Suchness? Even if we go ten thousand steps back and assume that at this moment only Suchness exists—that it is Suchness, the state of Nirvana without remainder—then who is it that attains enlightenment? Without the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, who would realize it? Could it be that Suchness enlightens itself? Clearly not.

Since the mental faculty remains present in this interval after death, and the seventh and eighth consciousnesses coexist—inseparable from one another—is it possible to attain enlightenment at this time? 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 Suchness," would the mental faculty alone possess sufficient wisdom to recognize Suchness? Clearly not. Otherwise, the probability of sentient beings attaining enlightenment after death would be exceedingly high, and many would eagerly anticipate early death to attain sainthood. Based on the above analysis and reasoning, whether this person is enlightened or not—you may judge for yourself; I need not say more explicitly.