After Death, One Cannot Attain Enlightenment

Question: Some people believe that one can become enlightened after death. They say that after death, when the five aggregates disintegrate and the four great elements separate, the gap before the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) has not yet arisen is the true suchness (tathatā). I feel that this situation he describes seems like nirvāṇa without remainder. Master, please explain in detail: could this person be enlightened?

Answer: If the gap when the five aggregates disintegrate and the four great elements separate, before the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) has arisen, were the true suchness (tathatā), then at that time there should be nothing but the true suchness—no manas, no six consciousnesses, no material body, only the true suchness. That would be the state of nirvāṇa without remainder, already liberated from the suffering of birth and death in the three realms. If everyone, after death, were in the state of nirvāṇa without remainder, then what would be the point of our painstaking cultivation and study of the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness, of studying the principle of the four noble truths, and of eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) in pursuit of liberation? Would the Buddha's coming to this world to expound and transmit the Āgama sūtras, teaching sentient beings to attain liberation, likewise be entirely meaningless? Clearly this is a very grave error.

In the gap after death when the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) has not yet arisen, the material body and the six consciousnesses have all ceased, but the manas certainly cannot cease; otherwise, how could the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) appear a moment later? How could there be the five aggregates and the world of subsequent lives? It is because the manas needs the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) that the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) to satisfy the manas's need. Since the manas of ordinary beings and of those before the stage of anāgāmin cannot cease, then within this gap there exist the seventh and eighth consciousnesses. How can it be said that this is the true suchness? To concede the utmost—even if at this time there were only the true suchness, were the true suchness, were the state of nirvāṇa without remainder—then who would be the one to become enlightened? With no sixth and seventh consciousnesses, who would there be to awaken? Could it be that the true suchness awakens to itself? Clearly not.

Since within this gap after death the manas still exists, with the seventh and eighth consciousnesses coexisting, neither able to be apart from the other, can enlightenment occur at this time? If enlightenment were possible, it would be the manas awakening alone, without the assistance of the mind consciousness, without the mind consciousness leading the manas by saying "this is the true suchness." Could the manas, entirely on its own, possess such great wisdom as to discern the true suchness? Clearly it could not; otherwise, the probability of beings becoming enlightened after death would be enormously high, and many people would then hope to die early in order to attain sagehood. After the above deliberation and analysis, whether this person has awakened or not, judge for yourself; there is no need for me to state it explicitly.