Can Seeds Be Purified Before Enlightenment?

Purifying karmic seeds generally occurs after afflictions have been eliminated: only when one no longer creates afflicted karma can the seeds become pure. When eliminating afflictive habits, each bit of habit that is eliminated makes the karmic seeds a bit purer. When afflictions have not been exhausted, one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions will still create unwholesome karma, and the karmic seeds cannot be purified. Before enlightenment, because one has not realized the true reality of all dharmas, one still has self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), still grasps at self, and will still create unwholesome karma on account of the self; thus the karmic seeds cannot be purified. After enlightenment, having realized true suchness (tathatā) and knowing that the nature of all dharmas is empty and that the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are without self, one can gradually subdue afflictions, and the unwholesome karma created for the sake of self becomes less and less. Only after attaining the bhūmis can one cease creating overtly unwholesome karma, and the seeds begin to become pure; but since afflictive habits and ignorance still remain, the appearance of subtle unwholesome and unskillful karma is unavoidable.

Buddhist practitioners should cultivate the habit of turning the light inward to observe their own minds; then they can quickly subdue afflictions. Afterwards, they must still strive to eliminate afflictions—only after cultivating the first dhyāna can one begin to gradually eliminate afflictions. Otherwise one is merely suppressing afflictions, and when conditions arise later, one will still create karma of greed, aversion, and delusion. After the elimination of self-view and awakening to the true mind, only with first-dhyāna concentration does one have the capacity to eliminate afflictions; apart from this, everything is merely suppression of afflictions—the grass is not cut at the root. If the root is not removed, the grass of afflictions will grow again. For a pond of filthy water to become clean, at the very least one must stop pouring filthy water into it; only then can one find a way to clean up the dirty water. If one keeps pouring in filthy water, there is no way to make the water clean. Therefore, the purification of seeds happens after enlightenment; before enlightenment, one can only suppress afflictions and, as much as possible, refrain from creating unwholesome karma.