俱舍論疏 9.19

9.19

[On the Śāstra's statement:] "Among these states, the distinctions are […] the intermediate lacks, having three": This immediately clarifies the four existences along with the distinctions among realms. The *Nyāyānusāra* states: "For what reason is there no intermediate existence in the formless realm? Because karma [conducive to] that [realm] cannot induce an intermediate existence. For what reason is karma [conducive to] that [realm] incapable in this regard? Because one is born there only after arising fetters are severed." Many explanations are given like this. "Another master says: An intermediate existence is posited in order to go to the place of rebirth and manifest the shape of the destiny; it is not that the formless realm has a place or a shape. If so, then when one dies and is reborn inside one's own corpse at the place where the physical faculty ceases, without going elsewhere, of what use is an intermediate existence? Here an intermediate existence is posited to manifest the shape of the destiny, since one of the two conditions previously explained is present. This defense is illogical, because manifesting the shape of the destiny has no superior function regarding rebirth in that destiny. However, the Sthavira said: If one is reborn at the very place of death, the intermediate existence would be absent. His statement is not good; it is not that the intermediate existence is induced only at the stage of the death-existence—how could one say that if one is born at the place of death, an intermediate existence is not induced? One has definitely already performed and increased the karma that feels an intermediate existence beforehand; who can now be an obstacle preventing the fruit of intermediate existence from arising in the present? Or again, the intermediate existence and the birth-existence are fruits of the same karma, and the intermediate existence is also the beginning of a single life-span's rebirth; if the intermediate existence did not exist, the birth-existence could not continue, just as one certainly cannot bypass the kalala and produce the arbuda, because it is the beginning of that. However, regarding the determined characteristics spoken of for the intermediate existence: there is no birth-existence without having abandoned attachment to the desire and form realms; [birth-existence] does not arise except after the intermediate existence; nor is there an intermediate existence whose fruit is not pulled by the same karma as the destiny to which it goes; nor can an intermediate existence enter non-mind, become a bodily witness, attain liberation in both parts, or give rise to a worldly heterogeneous mind. While abiding in the intermediate existence, there is no changing of physical faculties, nor is one able to sever defilements to be severed by seeing, nor does one sever the latencies of the desire realm to be severed by cultivation. Such avenues should all be contemplated." Fascicle 68 of the *Vibhāṣā* states: "Question: If one dies in this place and is reborn in this same place—just as it is heard that some die and are reborn inside their own corpses—since there is no going or coming, why is an intermediate existence required to link the two existences continuously? Answer: When sentient beings die, some are born in evil destinies and so forth. For those born in evil destinies, consciousness ceases at the feet. For those born among humans, consciousness ceases at the navel. For those born in the heavens, consciousness ceases at the head. For those who attain parinirvāṇa, consciousness ceases at the heart. For those who, after dying, are born inside their own corpses as worms and the like, before they died they mostly cherished their own faces; therefore, after dying, they are born on their own faces. Since one comes from the feet to be born on one's own face, if there were no intermediate existence, who could connect them? There is no case of dying in this place and being reborn in this same place, because discarding a body and receiving a body necessarily involves displacement. Question: When one dies in the formless realm and is born into the desire or form realm, since the intermediate existence appears right according to the place of prospective birth, and there is no coming and going, of what use is an intermediate existence? Answer: They have previously created karma that feels an intermediate existence; although there is no coming and going, they still undergo an intermediate existence, because what is drawn by karmic power must inevitably arise."