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 will 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, will cancel 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 needs to be gradually removed through practice. If doubt is not resolved, birth and death will not end, so we must find ways to resolve the doubts in our minds. If we have already performed merit and then doubt ourselves, the quantity and degree of that merit will be reduced. Once we have genuinely 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 will cancel the record of that merit, and the meritorious nature will be 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. 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 be forgotten. It is best not to recall it at the time of death, and then the tathāgatagarbha may not let that karma manifest, because the conditions for the 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 will always try to accord with it—whatever one thinks of is almost what one gets. Think of the land of bliss (sukhāvatī) and one goes to the land of bliss; be mindful of Sahā and one remains in Sahā. All dharmas are born from mind and thought. Whatever thought the manas holds at death, whatever power of vow it has, the tathāgatagarbha will cooperate as much as possible, striving to realize that power of thought and power of vow. Therefore, at the time of death, as long as we have a wholesome vow—a vow 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 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. So 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.