Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (76)

The Tathāgatagarbha's Non-Discriminating Mind Stores and Outputs Karmic Seeds

As long as actions of greed, anger, and delusion are carried out, whether great or small, they are stored as karmic seeds in the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha makes no choices; He does not, because the physical body and five aggregates were created by Himself, refrain from recording the karma of killing when one kills. The tathāgatagarbha has no discriminating mind and equally records and preserves everything. The tathāgatagarbha will not show favoritism toward the five aggregates He Himself gave birth to, storing only wholesome karma and not unwholesome karma; the tathāgatagarbha has no such mental activity—He does not discriminate. As long as there is karmic action, whether great or small, wholesome, unwholesome, or neither wholesome nor unwholesome, He stores it all impartially.

For example, cooking is an action that is neither wholesome nor unwholesome. Once the skill of cooking is learned, it is stored as a seed, and in a future life, upon encountering the right conditions, one will quickly know how to cook. The same is true of driving skills and other skills—He stores everything that is learned: the wholesome is stored, the unwholesome is stored, and the neither-wholesome-nor-unwholesome is also stored. Some people are born with a certain talent because they have karmic seeds and were already proficient at it in past lives; others cannot learn no matter how hard they try because they did not store those karmic seeds in past lives. That is why everyone's special talents differ. Some children understand music from birth and can arrange musical scores; some are born knowing how to dance. Even some dogs can dance very well—all their abilities from past lives are stored in the tathāgatagarbha. These are called habitual tendencies, habits, karma, and seeds. Some people liked to curse at others in past lives, so in this life they are born knowing how to curse without being taught, and cannot be restrained no matter what—this is the manifestation of karmic seeds; habits are just like this.

All actions of greed and anger belong to the category of deluded actions. Not understanding what is good or bad, and not recognizing the wholesome and unwholesome, the true and false, is also delusion, and delusion carries the karmic retribution of delusion. How does one counteract delusion? By using the principles of the Buddha's teachings to break through ignorance and delusion.

When the manas engages with the six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, the mind consciousness will manifest three kinds of mental activity: craving and delight, anger and resentment, and delusion. When the six faculties confront the six sense objects, three kinds of feelings will arise: joy and pleasure, anger and resentment, and neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā). All these feelings are arising-and-ceasing, false and illusory, and should not be attached to.