The Question of Karmic Seeds

The karmic seeds are not composed of the four great elements; they are a form of information, intangible archives. Karmic seeds are like documents in a computer—formless, manifesting when accessed, and non-existent when not accessed. Even if karmic seeds vanish, those with spiritual powers can retrieve them and examine the information.

These issues concerning seeds are profound Dharma principles. Currently, we can only speculate and imagine, unable to perceive them through direct experiential realization. Only after attaining the Bodhisattva grounds and acquiring the wisdom of vijñāna (consciousness-only) seeds can we gradually resonate with and observe these contents.

Karmic actions are distinguished as pure karmic actions and defiled karmic actions. Only Arhats in the state of Nirvana without residue create no karma. Buddhas also create karma, but it is pure karma, not karmic actions born of ignorance. In Nirvana without residue, there are no Arhats, thus no karma is created. As long as the manas (ego-mind) is absent, no karma is created, for the manas is the primary agent of karma. Ultimately, all karmic activities are created by the alaya-vijnana (storehouse consciousness).