How Tathāgatagarbha Records Karmic Actions and Outputs Karmic Seeds (Seven)

For example, when I am conversing with someone, during the conversation, whether the mental activities of my manas are pure or defiled will all be stored as seeds into the tathāgatagarbha. All the contents cognized by my first six consciousnesses, all the actions undertaken, all the mental activities—whether accompanied by greed, or by anger, or belonging to neutral (avyākṛta) mental activities that are neither wholesome nor unwholesome—will all be stored as seeds into the tathāgatagarbha. Because the seeds of consciousness return to the tathāgatagarbha moment by moment, the cognized contents and all the mental activities are likewise stored entirely into the tathāgatagarbha.

After the conversation with this person ends, the entire event, the whole process, is stored completely without omission, and finally a comprehensive record is made. The entire event of my conversation with this person—what the specific mental activities were, including the time, the place, the psychological manifestations, the facial expressions, what language was used, and so on. So many details of the process are all stored by the tathāgatagarbha; once stored, they become karmic seeds, and when they ripen, there will be karmic retribution. The deeper the storage—that is, the more attentively the six consciousnesses engage, the more attentively the seventh consciousness engages, the more interested or the more hateful one is—the clearer and more distinct the stored karmic formations become, and the more easily the karmic results ripen.

When the karmic conditions ripen, the tathāgatagarbha delivers these karmic seeds forth. When I meet this person again, because of our past relationship, my demeanor upon meeting will be different, carrying forth the mental activities of the past. The karmic seed then becomes manifest, and once manifest, the expressions of body, speech, and mind will be different. If the original mentality was one of aversion, once this karmic seed is delivered forth, I will feel disgusted upon meeting this person; if the original mentality was one of fondness, upon meeting this person again, when the karmic seed is delivered forth, my mind will carry a feeling of fondness, and I will like this person—the mental activities will be fully expressed. The bodily, verbal, and mental actions when I meet this person are related to the karmic seeds stored in the past, and related to the mental activities of the manas. The tathāgatagarbha delivers these karmic seeds forth, and the manas plays a certain role in the process.