What are the functions and roles of the tathāgatagarbha's mental factor of volition (cetanā)?

The function of the mental factor of volition (cetanā) is mainly to make choices, to make decisions and determinations, and then to begin actual action. All eight consciousnesses have the mental factor of volition, all have the capacity for choice, and all can make decisions; it is only that the content of their choices differs, and the extent of their authority differs. On what basis do the eight consciousnesses make their choices? Before making a choice, each of the eight consciousnesses has its own distinct mental activities; without any mental activity, no choice can be made. The five universally present mental factors are mental activities possessed by all eight consciousnesses: attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā) directed toward the object-aspect (nimitta). When these mental activities run their course to the end, a decisive mind arises toward the dharma that has been discerned, preparing to engage in some activity and action.

For example, consider the activity of the volition mental factor of the tathāgatagarbha: when the tathāgatagarbha creates a portion of the ear faculty, He must constantly decide how to create the remaining portion in the next instant. How to create it, where to create it, what it should be created to look like, what color and what shape it should have—the tathāgatagarbha must continually make decisions about all of this. These decisions are made when the tathāgatagarbha discerns the karmic seeds and the state of the ear faculty. In the process of this discernment, there are mental activities of attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition directed toward the karmic seeds, as well as activities of attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition directed toward the portions of the ear faculty that have already been transformed and created. Then, in the corresponding locations, He outputs the seeds of the four great elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—corresponding to the karmic seeds, and the ear gradually takes shape and becomes complete.

Take another example: when an overweight person wants to lose weight, the tathāgatagarbha must comply with the manas, and based on the karmic seeds and presently manifest karmic conditions, decide to output the seeds of the four great elements, absorb the subtle particles of the four great elements from the material body, and continually alter the proportional structure and arrangement of the seeds of the four great elements, while at the same time cooperating with the seven consciousnesses in bodily movement and the regulation of dietary structure, and finally the body undergoes change. Of course, the tathāgatagarbha has no concepts of the five aggregates or material form, nor does He specifically discern the appearance of material form; He only discerns the karmic seeds and the volition mental factor of the manas, and then, based on the four great elements absorbed by the material body and the karmic conditions, perhaps the body can gradually become thinner. If the karmic seeds do not permit it, and the karmic conditions are not complete, then losing weight is very difficult.

For the operation of all dharmas, the tathāgatagarbha must have the volition mental factor making decisions; and before making a decision, He certainly has mental activities—attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition—but ordinary people are unable to understand this. The seventh consciousness only knows that it has decided the body should become thinner; the sixth consciousness only knows that it wants the body to become a certain appearance; as for how specifically to change it, the manas does not know. In any case, changing the material body is not something the manas changes either. Although the manas believes it is all its own doing, in reality it is not; and when the sixth consciousness lacks sufficient wisdom of observation, it also does not know how specifically the body became thinner. After the tathāgatagarbha helps the body lose weight, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses feel that they themselves have become thinner, as if they had paid some price, when in fact the manas merely made a decision, and everything else was accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha.

The tathāgatagarbha discerns the mental activities of the manas the way a robot discerns a person's instructions, the way a computer reads data, the way a computer recognizes the operations of a human hand; the tathāgatagarbha discerns the karmic seeds the way a computer reads a program; the tathāgatagarbha outputs and actualizes the karmic seeds the way a computer completes a certain program. Therefore, although the tathāgatagarbha creates all dharmas, it is as if He has done nothing at all. His discernment is not at all a discernment of the specific appearances of people, things, and affairs, but rather an abstract discernment, like discerning symbols; just as a musician who reads a musical score can compose music.