The Relationship Between Karmic Seeds and the Seeds of the Seven Great Elements

Are karmic seeds and the seven great seeds independent of each other? First, let us look at how karmic seeds are formed. Karmic seeds are formed through the bodily, verbal, and mental actions that the seven consciousnesses create upon the physical body. The mastermind behind the creation of karma is the manas: it is the manas that directs, instigates, and commands the six consciousnesses to use the physical body to perform bodily, verbal, and mental actions. These actions are stored in the tathāgatagarbha in the form of seeds; when the conditions ripen in the future, the seeds take root and sprout, manifesting karmic retribution and realizing the law of cause and effect.

The seven consciousnesses are formed from the seeds of the consciousness element among the seven great seeds; the physical body is formed from the five great seeds of earth, water, fire, wind, and space among the seven great seeds; and there is also the seed of the seeing element, which is the function of the tathāgatagarbha. The seven great seeds operate in harmony, creating karmic actions and forming karmic seeds. This entire process, one may say, is all the function of the tathāgatagarbha.

The relationship between karmic seeds and the seven great seeds is extremely close: without the seven great seeds there would be no karmic seeds. Yet karmic seeds are independent of the seven great seeds. For example, when the five great seeds of earth, water, fire, wind, and space return to the tathāgatagarbha, they cannot carry karmic actions back with them; the five great seeds do not create karmic actions or karmic seeds. When the seed of the seeing element returns to the tathāgatagarbha, it likewise does not carry karmic actions or karmic seeds. Do the seeds of the consciousness element of the seven consciousnesses carry karmic seeds and karmic actions back into the tathāgatagarbha? Certainly they do not carry them either. The seeds of consciousness are themselves pure; they are neither wholesome nor unwholesome, nor are they neither-wholesome-nor-unwholesome—this is forever so, and therefore they carry no karmic actions or karmic seeds. Karmic actions are distinguished as wholesome, unwholesome, or neither-wholesome-nor-unwholesome. It is only after the seeds of consciousness give birth to and form the seven consciousnesses, and the mental factors (caittas) operate in conjunction with them, that the consciousness mind comes to possess the three natures of wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral (avyākṛta); the seeds of consciousness themselves do not have these three natures. Once the mental factors operate, the consciousness mind has karmic actions of the three natures—wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral—and karmic seeds are formed. Thus the karmic seeds do not follow the seeds of consciousness into the tathāgatagarbha. The seeds of consciousness retain their original purity, and when they are again transmitted outward, they are still pure seeds of consciousness.

Since it is only when the mental factors operate in conjunction with the consciousness mind that the three karmas of wholesome and unwholesome arise, and since the mental factors possess the three natures of wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral, while the consciousness mind formed from the seeds of consciousness does not possess these three natures, the karmic seeds are related to the mental factors. When the mental factors change, the karmic seeds change; when the mental factors are pure, the karmic seeds are pure. Therefore, the seven great seeds and the karmic seeds are two separate mechanisms; although they are greatly related, they must not be conflated.

Then, when the seven great seeds are output by the tathāgatagarbha, do they carry the information of karmic seeds? They cannot, because the seeds are pure. The seven great seeds of all sentient beings, including the Buddha's, are equal and identical, without any difference. The difference lies in the mental factors. Karmic seeds are related to the mental factors, and whether the consciousness mind is pure or not is also related to the mental factors. The key to cultivation is to change the mental factors—not to change the seven great seeds, nor to change the seeds of consciousness. These seeds cannot be changed; only the mental factors can be changed. Consequently, the karmic seeds change and become absolutely pure, and only then can one be a Buddha as pure as the tathāgatagarbha.