According to Buddhism, everyone inevitably takes rebirth after death, unless they transcend the cycle of birth and death by attaining enlightenment through meditation. 

Once you have attained fully enlightened buddhahood, you will never again be reborn in any of the mundane worlds, since you will no longer be subject to the karmic cycle that causes rebirths. You will remain in the everlasting union of buddha-wisdom and buddha pure land, the ultimate body (dharmakaya) and enjoyment body (sambhogakaya) of buddhahood. It is the utmost peaceful, supremely joyful, and omniscient state. 

Thereafter, others will be able to see your manifested body (nirmanakaya), which will appear on earth in various forms, visible to those who are mentally and karmically open toward you. 

This manifestation as a fully enlightened being is not due to any karmic causality, but rather arises from your compassionate aspirations to serve the beings in samsara. 

Attaining enlightenment in this lifetime (or during one of the three other phases in the journey of our cyclical existence) is the accomplishment of advanced masters of meditation. 

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If you are an ordinary being—not a highly accomplished master, and not enlightened or fully enlightened—then after death you are bound to take rebirth according to your own karmic consequences. 

Once again you will begin another passage of life. 

In his book entitled Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth, Tulku Thondup looks at why and how we take rebirth, whether in a pure land or in one of the six realms: the realms of (1) gods, (2) demigods, (3) human beings, (4) animals, (5) hungry ghosts, and (6) hell-beings. 

Even if you are not a highly accomplished master and are under the control of karma, if you have accumulated the positive karma of virtuous or meritorious deeds, you will take rebirth in a pure land or in a human realm endowed with precious qualities. In this way, you will be able to provide beneficial service to others. 

Gradually, the ultimate goal of enlightenment might also be reached. If you take rebirth in a pure land, it will be a manifested pure land. This is not the same as the ultimate pure land of buddhahood. 

You take rebirth in a pure land because of your positive karmas. You will still have a dualistic mind, enjoying positive emotions and joyful sensations. But after taking rebirth in a pure land, you will never waver from your journey toward the goal of enlightenment. The attainment of buddhahood will be certain. 

Also in his book (Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth), Tulku Thondup presents some descriptions of the Blissful Pure Land in the chapter entitled, “The Buddha of Infinite Light and His Blissful Pure Land.”

If you take rebirth in one of the six realms, you will be trapped in (1) a particular physical body (human or otherwise), (2) environmental influence, and (3) social culture. Then, as long as you are alive in that body, you can still make karmic improvements in order to have a better present or future life. 

However, it will be almost impossible to attain the ultimate state of everlasting oneness, which is the quality of buddha-bodies in absolute buddhahood. 

For one who is ready, such a total transformation will be easier after death, when one is unencumbered by this gross physical body.

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Source: Based on the following book — Thondup, Tulku. Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist Guidebook. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, 2005.

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