Segmented Birth-and-Death and Transformational Birth-and-Death

Those who have not yet realized and entered the first bhūmi are called ordinary beings (pṛthagjana); those who attain the first bhūmi are noble ones, having eliminated the nature of ordinary beings and no longer creating evil karma of birth and death. Sentient beings who have not severed the karmic seeds stained by birth and death all belong to the category of ordinary beings; when this lifespan ends, there will be another life, only born at another time and in another place—perhaps in the heavens, or among humans, in hell, or among hungry ghosts—this is called being born at a different time and in a different place. Both bodhisattvas of the first bhūmi and ordinary beings have segmented birth-and-death (pariccheda-maraṇa). For example, a human lives one lifetime of a hundred-odd years, or a thousand-odd years; when the lifespan ends, there is a next life—birth and death occur in segments, hence it is called segmented birth-and-death. If a bodhisattva of the first bhūmi is reborn in the heavenly realms, the lifespan is extremely long; if reborn in the human world, the lifespan is the same as that of ordinary sentient beings, and there is still segmented birth-and-death; if reborn in the animal realm through the power of vows, the lifespan is as brief as that of animals, and there is also segmented birth-and-death. Besides segmented birth-and-death there is also transformational birth-and-death (parināma-maraṇa). Transformational birth-and-death means that although the lifespan is extremely long, the stained seeds of birth and death within the tathāgatagarbha mind have not all been eliminated, so one can still be drawn by the karma of birth and death and cannot forever extinguish the illusion of birth and death. Before the seeds of arising and ceasing in the mind are eliminated, they cannot be severed prior to the stage of buddhahood; therefore there is transformational birth-and-death.