What is Bīja?

Seeds, as the name implies, carry the meaning of "having the potential to generate." For instance, just as plant seeds can grow into plants, the seeds of all dharmas can give rise to all dharmas. Seeds encompass the seven fundamental seeds and the seeds of karma. When the seeds of karma ripen, the seven fundamental seeds generate all dharmas for sentient beings. If sentient beings were separated from the seeds of karma, the seven fundamental seeds would be useless. When the seeds of karma ripen in sentient beings, the Tathagatagarbha uses the seven fundamental seeds to create the karmic results and retribution for sentient beings.

Karma, as the name implies, is the force generated by actions. This force is immensely powerful, and most sentient beings find it difficult to resist. They can only drift along with the current of karma, struggling to free themselves. This force is the power of the manas (the defiled mind). The manas represents karma; it possesses strength because, as the controlling consciousness, it can act as it pleases, and often the conscious mind (manovijñāna) is unable to withstand it. Furthermore, the Tathagatagarbha unconditionally follows the manas, releasing the seeds of karma. Consequently, sentient beings can only struggle bitterly within the force of karma, bobbing up and down in the vast ocean of birth and death. Liberation relies on the conscious mind cultivating wholesome dharmas, continuously accumulating strength to guide and counteract the karmic force of the manas. Only gradually can karma be reversed, with unwholesome retribution diminishing and wholesome retribution gradually increasing.