Quote from sutta: But when someone who is attached has laid down this body and has not been reborn in one of the realms, what does Master Gotama say is their fuel then?”
“When someone who is attached has laid down this body, Vaccha, and has not been reborn in one of the realms, I say they’re fueled by craving. For craving is their fuel then.”
the sutta SN44.9 seems very clear that it’s not in any realms.
Quote from Ven. Sujato.
Rather than a “re-linking consciousness” the EBTs speak of the “stream of consciousness” or the “onflowing consciousness” that flows from one life to the next. Rebirth is a process, like leaving a house, walking down the street, and entering another house.
my comments:
As this in-between state is also impermanent, suffering, how can it be regarded as self?
it’s only if someone thinks after parinibbana something is leftover, then that something could be called a self. As parinibbana is permanent, not sufferring, if there’s anything leftover, that would be worth calling a self.
Before that, the 5 aggregates, rebirth etc, however we choose to label things, it can work in anyway and still also is not considered self.