How Does the Tathāgatagarbha Gradually Withdraw from the Material Body at the Time of Death?

The physical body is formed from the seeds of the four great elements within the tathāgatagarbha. At death, the seeds of the four great elements within the body must disperse and return, so that there is no need to arise in birth again; only thus can the physical body perish and cease to function. At the moment of death, the seeds of the four great elements decompose and disperse, and the seeds are reset within the tathāgatagarbha. This process is not completed all at once; the waiting time varies, depending on wholesome and unwholesome karma. The decomposition of the four great elements means that the seeds of the four great elements in the physical body withdraw from the body bit by bit, the body's functions recede bit by bit, and it stiffens bit by bit. This process is conventionally described as the tathāgatagarbha withdrawing from the physical body and no longer upholding it, so that the body no longer possesses vitality. In reality, it is not that the tathāgatagarbha withdraws or changes, but that the physical body within the tathāgatagarbha undergoes change.

The tathāgatagarbha is formless and without characteristics; no one can see Him entering or withdrawing from the physical body. The seeds of the four great elements are likewise formless and without characteristics; no one can see the seeds of the four great elements forming the physical body or their decomposition as they withdraw from it. One can only see the changes in the physical body, and from the changes in the body one can observe the changing functions of the seeds and the functional operations of the tathāgatagarbha. When the physical body is sustained by the tathāgatagarbha, there is lifespan, warmth, and consciousness; without the tathāgatagarbha's upholding, there is no lifespan, warmth, or consciousness. At the moment of death, lifespan fades away bit by bit, the body's temperature disappears bit by bit, the body feels colder and colder and increasingly stiff, the conscious mind gradually weakens and fades, the mind grows more and more dull and sinking, until there is no awareness at all, and finally one enters the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava). The place where the tathāgatagarbha finally leaves the physical body is the place where the four great elements finally decompose, the place where lifespan finally comes to rest, and the place where body temperature finally disappears; this spot determines the karmic destiny of rebirth in the next life. This is the final place of the body's decomposition: the higher up it is, the more wholesome the karmic destiny of the next life; conversely, the lower it is, the more unwholesome the karmic destiny.

The dharma that sentient beings cannot see is the true one, while the dharma they see is false. Seeing the false but not the true is called ignorance. If one could see the true at all times and in all places, then there would be no worldly affairs at all; everything would be empty, not a single dharma could entangle the mind, the world would not exist, the mind would fully return to self-nature, and wisdom would be complete—this is called wisdom. Wisdom is not sentiment; where there is sentiment, there is no wisdom.