Can the Eighth Consciousness Take Unripened Karmic Seeds as Its Objects?

Can the eighth consciousness cognize karmic seeds that have not yet matured? Of course it can cognize them, and can also discern them. The supernatural powers of a doubly liberated arhat can know events within eighty thousand great kalpas before and after; why can an arhat know things that will only occur after such a long time? Because the arhat's manas, relying on his own tathāgatagarbha, discerns the karmic seeds that will only mature in future lives, and the mind consciousness, relying on the manas, can thereby also discern the state of activation of karmic seeds in future lives. What the bodhisattvas on the bhūmis with supernatural powers can know far surpasses the arhats, exceeding even this range of time; the Buddha's supernatural powers are incomparably more excellent than those of the bodhisattvas, able to know events one or two asaṃkhyeya kalpas later. For example, the Buddha predicts to an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva that he will become a Buddha at a certain time one asaṃkhyeya kalpa later, and occasionally also makes predictions to first-bhūmi bodhisattvas.

How do Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and arhats discern events so far in the past or future? This is all the result of combining meditative concentration (samādhi) with wisdom. Which conscious mind among the Buddha, bodhisattvas, and arhats knows events from long ago and long after? It is the mind consciousness that knows; the mind consciousness knows it from the manas, the manas knows it from the tathāgatagarbha, and the tathāgatagarbha knows it by discerning the karmic seeds within its own substance. However, what the tathāgatagarbha knows differs from what the sixth and seventh consciousnesses know.

If the Buddha observes sentient beings, He can observe their experiences from three asaṃkhyeya kalpas ago, or even from countless asaṃkhyeya kalpas ago—how does this happen? Events that occurred long kalpas ago appear as if right before His eyes, just like watching events happening right now; this is direct perception, a directly perceived realm. This includes events that will occur long kalpas later, appearing as if right before His eyes. The karma of events that occurred long kalpas ago may have long since vanished and perished, and the karmic seeds of events to occur long kalpas later are far from mature—how does the Buddha know this, and which conscious mind knows it? Some karmic seeds have not yet even formed, and the karmic actions have not yet been committed—how does the Buddha know, how do the bodhisattvas know, how do the arhats know?

A non-Buddhist with supernatural powers can also know events that will occur one or two years or several years later, and likewise those karmic seeds have not matured—which consciousness of his knows future events? A fortune-teller can also know what will happen before the end of one's life. Even a person without supernatural powers—the tathāgatagarbha can still cognize immature karmic seeds, and the manas, relying on the tathāgatagarbha, can realize what will happen in future lives; it is only that one cannot know it from the manas at that moment.

Only an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva can achieve the interfunctioning of the six faculties, and a doubly liberated great arhat can achieve the interfunctioning of the six faculties. Ordinary supernatural powers are still extremely far from the interfunctioning of the six faculties, yet they can also know events of future lives. This knowing is the knowing of the mind consciousness—so can the mind consciousness know immature karmic seeds of future lives? The mind consciousness clearly cannot know karmic seeds, whether present, past, or future. But the manas, relying on the great function of seeing of the tathāgatagarbha, definitely knows, and the mind consciousness, relying on the manas, can know events of future lives. In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Buddha said that the manas silently encompasses all dharmas; "encompass" means to contain and receive, and "all dharmas" refers to all the dharmas seen by the tathāgatagarbha, all of which the manas can accordingly see.