In this monumental work, which represents essen-
tially the position of the Mulasarvastivada school,
Vasubandhu compiled all previous arguments in favor
of interim existence and offered descriptions of the
intermediate state and the liminal entity who abides
there. His presentation can be encapsulated in six ba-
sic points:
- The duration of the intermediate state is divided
into seven short phases, each lasting no more
than a week, for a total of up to seven weeks or
forty-nine days; - The entity that abides in this interim state is de-
fined as a being that arises between the moment
of death and the next state of birth on its way to
a new existence; - Because this being subsists on fragrance it is
called a gandharva,meaning literally “that which
eats (arvati) odors (gandham)”; - The shape and form of this liminal entity re-
sembles that of the beings in the realm where it
is to be reborn; - Its senses are intact, though in subtle forms; no
one can resist it, it cannot be turned away, and
it can only be seen by those of its own class and
by those with pure divine eyes; - Rebirth occurs when the mind (mati) of the
gandharvais troubled by the sight of its future
parents having sexual intercourse and when the
emotional quality of that mind propels it into a
new existence. Accordingly, when the gandharva
enters the womb it becomes male if it is attracted
to its future mother and repulsed by its father,
or female if attracted to its future father and
repulsed by its mother. These agitated thoughts
of desire and repulsion cause the mind to co-
here to the semen and blood mixed in the womb
just prior to conception. At the point of con-
ception, the psychophysical SKANDHA(AGGRE-
GATES) gradually become coarse and coagulate,
the intermediate-state being dies, and a new life
is conceived.
There are three conditions, therefore, necessary for
conception: The mother must be healthy, the parents
must be engaged in sexual intercourse, and a gandharva,
an intermediate-state being, must be present. These six
basic components of the Buddhist intermediate-state
doctrine had been formalized by at least the fifth cen-
tury C.E.
The doctrine is expounded also in a number of
Buddhist MAHAYANA sutras influenced by Abhi-
dharma interpretations, most notably the Garbhava-
krantinirdes ́a-sutra(Sutra on Entering the Womb) and
the Saddharmasmrtyupasthana-sutra(Sutra on Stabil-
ity in Mindfulness of the True Dharma). The Gar-
bhavakrantinirdes ́a-sutrais extant in four recensions,
the earliest being a Chinese translation. The later ver-
sions from the MULASARVASTIVADA-VINAYAdetail the
progression of the intermediate-state being from the
final moment of death, to conception in the future
mother’s womb, and subsequently through each week
of fetal development. This particular version of the
Garbhavakrantinirdes ́aappears to have been the primary
source for the descriptions of the intermediate state
found in the Yogacarabhumi(States of Yoga Practice).
The Saddharmasmrtyupasthana-sutrais noteworthy in
that it includes elaborate discussion of as many as sev-
enteen individual intermediate states. Some features of
this exposition accord with earlier Abhidharma formu-
lations, while others resemble later tantric descriptions
similar to those found in Tibetan literature.
Over time the doctrine of the intermediate state was
reformulated and embellished within the soteriologi-
cal framework of Tantric Buddhism. A distinctive fea-
ture of the tantric reinterpretation of the doctrine was
the proliferation of the intermediate state, originally a
single period, into a series of distinct and separate
phases. Some Buddhist tantric systems enumerated as
many as three, four, five, and even six individual in-
termediate states. This expansion of the concept of in-
terim existence was derived in part by a conflation of
the earlier Abhidharma doctrine of the intermediate
state with the Mahayana idea of a buddha’s three
bodies (trikaya): truth body (dharmakaya), enjoy-
ment body (sambhogakaya), and emanation body
(nirmanakaya). The combination of these conceptual
elements was grafted onto an advanced twofold yogic
system, which the Tibetans were later to classify as
Supreme Yoga Tantra (Sanskrit, anuttarayoga-tantra;
Tibetan, rnal ’byor bla na med pa’i rgyud), involving
the successive stages of generation (Sanskrit, utpan-
nakrama; Tibetan, bskyed rim) and completion (Sanskrit,
sampannakrama; Tibetan, rdzogs rim). This particular
tantric program does not appear to have been intro-
duced into China or Japan, but it did enter Tibet as
early as the eleventh century through the efforts of
Tibetan disciples of Indian tantric adepts (siddha).INTERMEDIATESTATES