How Tathagatagarbha Records Karma Actions and Outputs Karma Seeds (Part VIII)

The process of consciousness seeds being emitted and then retrieved is akin to a circulating water pump. The entire process by which the Tathagatagarbha records karmic seeds, stores them, and emits them is one of spontaneous functioning. It has no mental activities, no subjectivity, and is entirely non-active in nature. While it may seem active—superficially, the Tathagatagarbha is constantly functioning and generating all phenomena—in reality, it operates spontaneously without subjective initiative, without autonomy, and its mental activities are entirely non-active. Because it lacks mental activities and makes no choices, it does not discriminate between good and evil, nor does it select between them. Whether the karma is virtuous or non-virtuous, it stores it all impartially. Its storage of karmic seeds is not an active process; rather, when consciousness seeds are emitted, they engage with the six dusts (objects of sense), and after the actions of body, speech, and mind are performed, the consciousness seeds naturally bring back the content of that engagement and performance, returning the entire karmic activity of body, speech, and mind.

The mental activities involved—whether characterized by greed, hatred, delusion, or purity—are all brought back and stored spontaneously, naturally, and thus it is by nature. It is not that the Tathagatagarbha actively stores or collects them; rather, it is a process that is thus by nature, spontaneous, and inherently so. The entire process is stored without missing a single detail. What does "without missing a single detail" mean? It means that every bit of content engaged by each consciousness seed is retrieved without the slightest omission. It is not that the Tathagatagarbha itself decides to leave nothing out or intentionally omits something; it does neither. Instead, the consciousness seeds naturally bring everything back. The Tathagatagarbha is incapable of making any kind of choice and does not engage in selection. Once the actions of body, speech, and mind of the six consciousnesses are performed, the Tathagatagarbha has no selectivity whatsoever—no choice to store or not store, no selection of what to store or not store. It simply does not have such a function.

Therefore, we must be extremely cautious in our actions of body, speech, and mind. Whatever we create, whether virtuous or non-virtuous, even the slightest good or the slightest evil, is stored as seeds. In the future, there will come a day when these seeds are emitted and bear their karmic results. This is because the consciousness seeds return, coming back into the Tathagatagarbha, and the mental activities are faithfully brought into it. It is like water flowing along a path: whatever it passes through and whatever it erodes, it naturally brings back with it. Similarly, the Tathagatagarbha makes no selection; it simply stores what comes in spontaneously. Then, like a pump, it naturally emits whatever has been brought back—whether it be diamond dust, ordinary sand, or soil—storing it all and then emitting it again.