法苑珠林 69.26

69.26

Regarding the twelfth intermediate existence: Because of ignorance, beings receive animal bodies of immeasurable varieties, receiving bodies of birth and death for hundreds of thousands of koṭis of times, falling into the hells, hungry ghosts, and animals, transmigrating in the world without end. Through residual wholesome karma, dying among animals, they are reborn in two heavenly realms: either in the Heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings or in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. When the painful retribution in the evil realm of animals is about to end and they are about to attain release, signs appear. When approaching the end of life, they see light appear. Through residual wholesome karma, their ignorant mind becomes faint and slight, or seeing a place of pleasure, they run towards it as if seen in a dream. Running towards it, they are instantly reborn in heaven. This is called the twelfth intermediate existence.