The Arising and Functioning of the Original Mind: Distinctions between Defiled and Pure

It functions daily yet we are unaware of it. The fundamental mind arises and functions at every instant, but sentient beings, due to ignorance, cannot know this, much less understand how He functions. The fundamental mind is functioning at all times; He Himself knows how to operate, how to give birth to the myriad dharmas, and He will function accordingly according to His own operating laws, without our needing to use Him or manipulate Him. In fact, we cannot manipulate Him at all—we have absolutely no way to intervene in His operating rules. However, at the stage of ordinary beings, our fundamental mind is now helping us to create defiled karmic actions, to engage in very vulgar undertakings; we create unwholesome karma more often, yet He Himself never complains about any of this.

On the contrary, the fundamental mind of a Buddha functions extremely well—reaching the ultimate, reaching perfection, without the slightest deficiency, functioning in an infinitely good and infinitely great way. The more tranquil our own seventh-consciousness mind is, the better the fundamental mind functions; the more defiled the seventh-consciousness mind is, the worse the fundamental mind functions. Since this fundamental mind is functioning at all times, then we should find a way to locate Him and understand exactly how He functions, how He can function better, more perfectly, more ultimately, and how one can achieve functioning like that of all the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones—this is precisely the goal we have been pursuing for countless kalpas.