Why Is the Power of Doubt So Great?

Doubt can be deep or shallow. If the doubting thought is very deep, its force is greater and hard to extricate oneself from; this certainly means that the manas deep within the mind has already given rise to doubt, so both body and mind are unsettled. If only the mind consciousness doubts while the manas does not, this kind of doubt is relatively shallow, and body and mind remain as usual, with no particular change. If the manas gives rise to doubt and does not believe, then the tathāgatagarbha, discerning the deliberation (manasikāra) of the manas, cancels out all previous mental actions, including the wholesome dharmas and merit that have been created, and so heavy doubt is not good.

Doubt is an affliction that we need to resolve and overcome. Doubt and disbelief belong to the afflictions and fetters; they are an obstruction that must be gradually removed through practice. If doubt is not resolved, birth and death cannot be ended, so we must find ways to resolve the doubts in our minds. If we have already created merit and then doubt ourselves, the quantity and degree of that merit will be reduced. Once we have truly created wholesome karma, we should not doubt our own merit; we should acknowledge it as wholesome karma—it certainly is wholesome karma and will have wholesome retribution. Because behind the manas there is the tathāgatagarbha to cooperate with it, the tathāgatagarbha knows all the mental actions of the manas. If the manas doubts and does not believe in that merit, the tathāgatagarbha cancels the record of that merit, and the nature of the merit is diminished.

It is like the time of our death: if thought after thought dwells on the unwholesome karma created in this life, the tathāgatagarbha will cooperate and manifest that unwholesome karma, and we will have to undergo its retribution accordingly. But we can control such thoughts. For the unwholesome karma created over a lifetime, before death we should try our best to repent of it. If it truly cannot be repented, then before death we should not let it form a strong thought in the mind; we should let it fade and forget it, and at the time of death it is best not to recall it. Then the tathāgatagarbha may not allow that karma to manifest, because the conditions for that karma to manifest will not have matured.

The thoughts at the time of death determine our destination in the next life. Whatever the manas is mindful of, the tathāgatagarbha always tries its best to comply; whatever one thinks of is almost what one gets—thinking of the land of bliss (sukhāvatī), one goes to the land of bliss; being mindful of Sahā, one remains in Sahā. All dharmas are generated by mind and thought. Whatever thought the manas holds and whatever vows it makes at the time of death, the tathāgatagarbha tries its best to cooperate and strives to realize that power of thought and power of vow. Therefore, at the time of death, as long as we have wholesome vows—the vow of aspiring to the land of bliss—the tathāgatagarbha will certainly cooperate with us in rebirth in the land of bliss. But if our thoughts at the time of death are not good and correspond to the unwholesome karma of this life, then the retribution of that unwholesome karma will manifest, and we may go to the three evil destinies. Therefore the thoughts at the time of death are most important. Having done wholesome karma, do not doubt your own wholesome karma; be mindful of it and think upon it, and there is a great likelihood of following that wholesome karma to receive a wholesome retribution.