Selected Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (102)

The three bodily actions, four verbal actions, and three mental actions together constitute the ten karmic actions; body, speech, and mind follow and accord with one another. After the ten karmic actions are performed, these karmic formations cease instant by instant. When the seeds of karmic formations are sent out to function, they cease; that instant of karmic formation is gone, and finally the entire action and formation disappears—yet the karmic seeds remain, having been recorded. Who does the recording? It is the ālayavijñāna, which is closest to us, that records them, because He sends out seeds and then withdraws them, and the karmic formations created by the seeds are thereby simultaneously stored in the ālayavijñāna. The ālayavijñāna is impartial and selfless. He would not say, "The five aggregates were created by me and belong to me; I must surely conceal their evil deeds"—refusing to record karmic seeds or output karmic seeds no matter what evil karma the five aggregates commit, so that the five aggregates would not have evil retribution. The ālayavijñāna has no such mental activity; like a video camera, He is honest and without deception. All karmic formations created by the five aggregates are automatically recorded mechanically, without any selection, faithfully recording every action and formation, down to the smallest detail. After being recorded, they are stored as seeds in the mind-substance; when the conditions of causes and effects are complete, the karmic seeds are output, and the seeds will take root and sprout, and will bear fruit—thus the retribution appears. There are extremely many actual examples that illustrate how the ālayavijñāna faithfully actualizes the karmic results of sentient beings. For instance, if in a previous life A had an evil karmic affinity with B, and B is reborn in this life into A's family, that counts as the conditions ripening and the seed sprouting; when the child grows up, that counts as blossoming; and when the time comes, B will harm and take revenge upon A, and A's retribution appears. The preceding stages are all flowers, sprouts, branches, and leaves; when the retribution arrives, A may possibly come to understand what this child came to do—turns out he came to collect a debt, came for revenge. The vast majority of people, even after undergoing retribution, do not understand this principle; before that, they have no awareness at all and simply do not know that such a special karmic affinity existed. Because of the evil affinity from a previous life, the two people are brought together in one place to settle the karmic seeds, and neither of them knows it.