Rebirth Is Governed by the Karma or Vow of Manas

The Tathagatagarbha never acts as a sovereign ruler; it does not think about seeking rebirth. It is always the manas that decides to seek rebirth, and only then does the Tathagatagarbha cooperate with the manas to enter the womb. When the manas decides to seek rebirth, it does so entirely by following its habitual karmic forces or by complying with the power of vows. At this point, it depends on whether the karmic force is stronger or the power of vows is stronger. If the manas has not severed the view of self and has not eliminated the three fetters, its karmic force remains extremely powerful, inevitably leading it to the three evil paths, mostly to the ghost realm. This is because one hundred percent of people harbor non-trivial greed, and having greed inevitably leads to the ghost realm. After the karma of the ghost realm is exhausted, one is reborn in the animal realm. After the karmic conditions of the animal realm conclude, one returns to the human realm to be reborn as a human.

Therefore, severing the view of self and realizing the mind's true nature, as well as attaining any Dharma realization, are all achieved jointly by consciousness and manas. If the manas does not attain realization, the binding fetters of life and death in the three evil paths will compel the manas to be born into the three evil paths. Then, the five aggregates and six consciousnesses of the three evil paths are utilized by the manas. Such five aggregates and six consciousnesses differ greatly from those of humans, due to the differences in karmic forces. Regarding the matter of rebirth, consciousness is completely powerless. At the moment of rebirth, consciousness ceases and can no longer serve as an advisor to the manas. The manas acts entirely on its own, which is equivalent to karmic force acting entirely as the sovereign. So, if the manas does not sever the view of self and does not realize the mind's true nature, how could it possibly liberate itself from the karma of life and death?