How the Tathāgatagarbha Records Karmic Actions and Outputs Karmic Seeds (9)

After a water pump sends water out, it will certainly carry the diamond sand out with it, carrying out sand, soil, mud, rotten grass, and the like, transporting them out of the pump together with the water. Once transported out, the water is divided into the pure and the defiled. Our bodily, verbal, and mental actions are just like this: when the tathāgatagarbha sends out the karmic seeds it has stored, it certainly carries along purity and defilement, for the karmic seeds themselves are divided into wholesome, unwholesome, and defiled. The bodily, verbal, and mental actions of our six consciousnesses, or the mental activities of the seventh consciousness, the manas, carry wholesomeness and unwholesomeness, carry purity and defilement, and then create karma and store it again. If only unwholesome karma were created, sentient beings would have no way to escape the ocean of suffering of birth-and-death saṃsāra.

If our karmic conditions are relatively good and we have a certain amount of merit, we will encounter wholesome conditions, and our bodily, verbal, and mental actions will follow along in creating wholesome karma, at the same time perfuming and transforming the manas, converting its defilement. The seeds will then be replaced and renewed, the mind-ground will gradually settle into tranquility, and in the future we will receive wholesome retribution. When the six consciousnesses encounter a good condition, a pure external environment, it is like a water pump sending water to a place with diamond sand, a place with jewels: the water current will carry back some diamond sand and jewels, casting off some of the sand, soil, and rotten grass, and the contents of the water will undergo a transformation. When our six consciousnesses encounter a pure environment, wholesome states, they will create pure and wholesome karmic actions, and the seeds of consciousness will carry those pure and wholesome karmic actions back into the tathāgatagarbha to be stored, and in the future wholesome retribution will be received.

If there are no wholesome conditions, and the environment the six consciousnesses encounter is bad, the states unwholesome, then our six consciousnesses may follow the evil environment and create unwholesome actions of greed, hatred, and delusion. The unwholesome karma will be recorded and stored, and in the future it will be output, and evil retribution will be received. It is like the water current carrying back that sand, soil, and filth: the filth will be stored in the water pump in ever greater quantities, and when it is output again, it is all dirty things, all pollution. If the creation of our bodily, verbal, and mental actions becomes more and more defiled, the karmic seeds are all stored in the tathāgatagarbha, and what is sent out is entirely defilement; there will only be the result of receiving evil retribution, with no wholesome retribution, and then in the cycle of birth and death, life will be lived in considerable suffering.

Having understood the entire process by which the tathāgatagarbha records, stores, and outputs karmic seeds, we must create our bodily, verbal, and mental actions with care. If our mental activities possess the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, being extremely vile, they will be stored as seeds of unwholesome karma, and when the conditions ripen, evil retribution will be received—defiled retribution. Hatred has hatred's retribution, greed has greed's retribution, delusion has delusion's retribution; as long as karmic actions are created, there will be corresponding retribution. Karmic cause and effect is without the slightest omission, because all actions and creations are stored in the tathāgatagarbha, and He will sooner or later one day send them all out; it is impossible for them to remain forever stored in the tathāgatagarbha. When they are sent out, that is the time of receiving evil retribution.

Therefore, when creating our bodily, verbal, and mental actions, we must be careful and careful again, cautious and cautious again. Whatever the body is about to do must be carefully considered; whatever the mouth is about to say must be carefully considered; whatever the mind is about to think must be carefully considered. Do not carelessly and inattentively create unwholesome bodily, verbal, and mental actions, bringing upon yourself bad and evil retribution—that would not be worth the loss. Even if we encounter disagreeable and vile states, we should endure them as much as possible, contemplate carefully, act cautiously, not be swayed by the vile states, keep a firm hold on our own minds, and not create unwholesome actions. Once the manas has been perfumed by wholesome conditions to a sufficient degree, then even when encountering any evil states, one will be able to refrain from creating unwholesome karmic actions—only then will things be well.