What Determines Rebirth in the Favorable Realms or the Three Evil Realms After Death?

Some say: When a person dies, the Tathāgatagarbha naturally guides them to a favorable rebirth. But if the Tathāgatagarbha can naturally guide one to a good destiny, why have all sentient beings spent far more time in the three evil destinies than in the three good destinies throughout beginningless kalpas? By what means does the Tathāgatagarbha guide the manas of sentient beings into good destinies? Some say that as long as one has perfumed wholesome dharmas, the Tathāgatagarbha can guide them to a favorable rebirth. Yet those who perfume wholesome dharmas are numerous, those who perfume the Buddha-dharma are numerous, and those who perfume correct Dharma principles are also numerous. How many among them can truly ensure, at the time of death, that they will not fall into the three evil destinies, relying on the Tathāgatagarbha to lead them into the three good destinies?

By what means does the Tathāgatagarbha guide the manas into a good destiny? It is by relying on the wholesome karmic seeds stored within the Tathāgatagarbha. However, the Tathāgatagarbha also contains countless unwholesome karmic seeds, left behind from creating unwholesome karma throughout beginningless kalpas, which have not yet manifested. On what karmic seeds does the Tathāgatagarbha ultimately rely to guide the manas into rebirth? This question is extremely important and crucial. The Buddha, in the sutras, guaranteed sentient beings six conditions to avoid falling into the three evil destinies after death: First, the eradication of self-view and the severance of the three fetters as taught in the Āgamas; Second, realizing the mind and perceiving the nature as taught in the Mahāyāna sutras; Third, the samādhi power of single-minded Buddha-recitation at the time of death as taught in the Amitābha Sutra; Fourth, cultivating the third contemplation or higher among the sixteen contemplations in the Sutra on the Contemplation of Amitāyus, along with the necessary causes and conditions for the nine grades of rebirth; Fifth, the rebirth conditions taught in other Pure Land sutras; Sixth, the wholesome karmic seeds required for non-Buddhists to be reborn in heaven after death.

These conditions illustrate that it is not merely by perfuming wholesome dharmas or the Buddha-dharma that one avoids the three evil destinies and attains rebirth in the three good destinies. Rather, it depends on whether the force of wholesome karma created in this lifetime is greater than that of unwholesome karma, whether major unwholesome karmic seeds from beginningless kalpas ago have been eradicated, or whether the conditions for the manifestation of major unwholesome karma are present. At the time of death, the strength of wholesome karmic seeds is compared with that of unwholesome karmic seeds—the stronger force takes precedence. The Tathāgatagarbha pulls sentient beings according to the stronger karma. Where one goes after death is determined by the relative strength of wholesome and unwholesome karmic forces, or by the power of vows, not by the Tathāgatagarbha itself. The Tathāgatagarbha merely accords with the power of karmic seeds; it fundamentally has no intention of guiding the destination of sentient beings.

Countless people, though having the affinity to perfume the correct Dharma and wholesome dharmas, still possess complete afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, which remain entirely unsevered and unsubdued. This clearly indicates that the force of karmic afflictions is still strong. At the time of death, they are naturally pulled by afflictive unwholesome karma toward the three evil destinies. Facts also reveal that among Buddhists, over eighty to ninety percent still fall into the three evil destinies upon death to suffer retribution. Countless people, though perfuming wholesome dharmas, simultaneously create the unwholesome karma of slandering the Triple Jewel during the process. This unwholesome karma possesses immense force; all the wholesome karma perfumed cannot counteract the power of slandering the Triple Jewel. Thus, at the time of death, the Tathāgatagarbha naturally follows the force of the slandering karma’s seeds to guide the manas into the three evil destinies. Even if one has not created any major unwholesome karma in this life, if unwholesome karma from beginningless kalpas ago ripens, and the wholesome karma from perfuming wholesome dharmas in this life is not strong enough—if the conditions are immature and insufficient to alter the conditions and force of the unwholesome karma—then the Tathāgatagarbha will guide the manas into the three evil destinies according to the powerful force of the unwholesome karmic seeds.

If the power of perfuming wholesome dharmas in this life is still insufficiently strong and relatively weak—if only the consciousness comprehends and understands wholesome dharmas without perfuming them into the manas, enabling the manas to realize wholesome dharmas—then such perfuming of wholesome dharmas cannot enter the Tathāgatagarbha as potent seeds. Lacking strong force, it cannot exert significant effect, is insufficient to counteract the force of afflictive karma, and cannot alter the destiny of falling into the three evil destinies in future lives. All bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the five aggregates must enter the Tathāgatagarbha as seeds. Though countless people perfume wholesome dharmas, if their bodily, verbal, and mental actions remain unchanged and they still create afflictive unwholesome karma of greed, hatred, and delusion, then what enters the Tathāgatagarbha are the seeds of afflictive karma of greed, hatred, and delusion. At the time of death, the force of afflictive karma is extremely powerful and will pull the manas into the three evil destinies, preventing rebirth in the three good destinies.

Who is the master creating the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the five aggregates? It is, of course, the manas. If the wholesome dharmas perfumed by sentient beings in this life do not enter the mind of the manas, and the manas does not genuinely realize the Buddha-dharma to eradicate ignorance and afflictions, then the manas remains unwholesome. It will not masterfully create wholesome karma, and wholesome karmic seeds will not enter the essence of the Tathāgatagarbha mind. How, then, can the Tathāgatagarbha guide the manas to be reborn in a good destiny? In summary, regardless of who perfumes wholesome dharmas, if the manas is not transformed through perfuming—if the afflictive defilements of the manas are not changed, and the mental conduct of the manas remains unaltered—then the manas will still masterfully create defiled karma. Defiled karmic seeds will enter the essence of the Tathāgatagarbha mind, causing the Tathāgatagarbha to produce unwholesome karmic retribution in future lives. Such a person, upon death, cannot go to a good destiny to receive wholesome retribution.