www.jenchen.org.sgReturning to the Quintessence of BuddhaAll of us have a “transient-invisible-body (Antara-bhava)”. While we are alive this is called “mind-consciousness”. It is commonly referred to as the “soul”. When we are asleep, this mind-consciousness does not sleep. Instead, it combs through the past records that are stored in the eighth mind-consciousness (All of us have eight consciousness. In addition to the six sense-consciousness, namely, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind, there are the seventh [Klista-mano-vijnana] and eighth [Alaya-vijnana] mind-consciousness. The eighth consciousness is the planting field of the mind. The seeds of all our encounters, both virtuous and evil, of our aeons of many past lives are planted here. The seventh mind-consciousness gives rise to the “transient-invisible-body”.) When a person is dead, his six sense-organs, namely, the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind stop functioning. His sense of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and perception also cease to function. Thereafter, the seventh mind-consciousness no longer resides in the body. It leaves the body and begins to search for the right conditions for rebirth to the next life. (At this stage, the mind-consciousness is called a “transient-invisible-body”. It is an intermediate existence between death and rebirth to the next life.) The right conditions of rebirth are found within a period of 49 days, on each of the seven cycles of the seventh day after the person has passed away ( i.e. 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, … 49th day).
It is for this reason that dharma practices are made at seven daysÂ’ interval during these 49 days to transfer merits to the deceased. These dharma practices should be preceded by a well cultivated Buddhist teacher in order to help to guide and elevate the deceased to liberation or to a virtuous realm in his next life.
The only way to understand the principle of birth and death is by cultivating the Great Dharma (Dharma of the Origin of Great Wisdom (????). Practitioners of the Pure Land Sect who cultivate by reciting the name of the Buddha still have this “transient-invisible-body” for rebirth to take place in the Western Pure Land where they are reborn by means of the lotus flower. However, each individual arrives at the Western Pure Land with their own degree of cultivation and merit. At the highest level they immediately become awakened to the Buddha. If it is at the low level, one needs to cultivate for a very long time before his wisdom blossoms and he awakens to his Buddha-nature and realizes non-arising of the mind.
In contrast, when we are cultivating the Great Dharma, during meditation we extinguish this transient-invisible-body. By the non-arising (and therefore non-cessation) of the mind the sentient being inside you no longer exists. We thereby awake our own Buddha-nature. At this point the transient-invisible-body is extinguished by the brightness of Buddha-nature. This is because the transient-invisible-body gathers darkness, and when we have awakened our Buddha-nature, brightness will manifest and the transient-invisible-body naturally disappears.
The human being’s seventh mind-consciousness is the “I”. Because of “I”, it gives rise to “my”. Because of “me”, it gives rise to self-attachment, followed by attachment of perception such as “I like it this way …” or “I like it that way …” In the end, people become attached to everything, be it right or wrong. This is the root cause of distress and suffering. “Ignorance” means darkness and without brightness. People lose their temper because of ignorance. If we investigate the reason for being angry, at the beginning most people will blame it on others. On further investigation, we will discover that the anger stems from self-ignorance. When we have understood this principle, we will realize that these are due to this “I” (seventh mind-consciousness, transient-invisible body). Therefore if we allow it (the ignorance) to further develop and lead according to the wishes of this “I”, we will certainly descend to a lower realm of life, because the root of this “I” is ignorance.
Originally, sentient beings and the quintessence of Buddha were the same in pureness and brightness. However, when the conditions for the initiation of ignorance begin to fan like the wind, it eventually produces ignorance. The ignorance becomes more serious as it gathers momentum and leads to the transmigration in the Six Realms. Ignorance, just like the wind, is invisible and one may not be able to touch them, yet it packs with power so immense that it can destroy houses and uproot trees.
In the beginning when sentient beings started to transmigrate in the Six Realms, they were in the realm of Heaven. Then, they descended to the Human realm. Human beings have seven types of emotion and six types of lust and because of these they continually commit negative karma. These led them to descend to the realm of Asura. Why is the realm of Asura considered to be a good realm? It is because even heavenly beings can be inflicted by ignorance, causing them to fight among themselves. The more aggressive fighters eventually descend to the realm of Asura.