Are Karmic Seeds and the Seven Great Seeds Independent of Each Other?

Whether karmic seeds and the seven fundamental seeds are independent, first consider how karmic seeds are formed. Karmic seeds arise from the bodily, verbal, and mental actions created by the seven consciousnesses within the physical body. The master of these actions is the mental faculty (manas); it is the mental faculty that directs, incites, and commands the six consciousnesses to utilize the physical body to perform bodily, verbal, and mental actions. These actions exist as seeds within the Tathāgatagarbha (Storehouse Consciousness). When conditions mature in the future, the seeds take root and sprout, manifesting as karmic retribution, thereby actualizing the law of cause and effect.

The seven consciousnesses are formed from the consciousness seeds within the seven fundamental seeds. The physical body is formed from the five fundamental seeds of earth, water, fire, wind, and space within the seven fundamental seeds. There is also the perceiving seed, which is the Tathāgatagarbha's function of perceiving all phenomena. The seven fundamental seeds operate in harmony, creating karmic actions and forming karmic seeds. Thus, this entire process can be said to be the functional activity of the Tathāgatagarbha.

The relationship between karmic seeds and the seven fundamental seeds is extremely close; without the seven fundamental seeds, there would be no karmic seeds. However, karmic seeds are independent of the seven fundamental seeds. For example, when the five fundamental seeds of earth, water, fire, wind, and space return to the Tathāgatagarbha, they cannot carry karmic actions back with them. The five fundamental seeds do not create karmic actions or karmic seeds. When the perceiving seed returns to the Tathāgatagarbha, it also does not carry karmic actions or karmic seeds. Do the consciousness seeds of the seven consciousnesses carry karmic seeds and karmic actions back to the Tathāgatagarbha? Certainly not. Because the Buddha stated in the Shurangama Sutra that consciousness seeds themselves are pure; they are neither wholesome nor unwholesome, nor neutral, and remain so eternally. Therefore, consciousness seeds do not carry karmic actions or karmic seeds. However, when consciousness seeds return to the Tathāgatagarbha, their activities of discrimination and cognition still follow into the Tathāgatagarbha in the form of seeds, albeit not mingled with the consciousness seeds themselves.

Karmic actions are distinguished as wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral. This distinction arises only after the consciousness seeds give birth to and form the seven consciousnesses, and the mental factors (caitta) accompany their operation, endowing the consciousnesses with the three natures: wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral (non-defining). The consciousness seeds themselves do not possess these three natures. Once the mental factors operate, the consciousnesses acquire karmic actions of these three natures, forming karmic seeds. Consequently, the karmic seeds do not mix with the consciousness seeds; the consciousness seeds retain their original pure nature and, when projected out again, remain pure consciousness seeds. It is merely that the mental factors accompanying the consciousness seeds possess the three natures of wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral, making the consciousnesses appear to have these three natures.

Since the mental factors accompany the operation of the consciousnesses, giving rise to the three types of karmic actions (wholesome, unwholesome, neutral), and since the mental factors possess these three natures, while the consciousnesses formed from consciousness seeds themselves lack these three natures, it follows that karmic seeds are related to the mental factors. When the mental factors change, the karmic seeds change; when the mental factors are pure, the karmic seeds are pure. Therefore, the seven fundamental seeds and karmic seeds are two distinct mechanisms. Although they are closely interrelated, they should not be conflated.

So, do the seven fundamental seeds carry information about karmic seeds when projected by the Tathāgatagarbha? They cannot, because the seven fundamental seeds are pure and are not mixed with karmic seeds. The seven fundamental seeds of all sentient beings, including Buddhas, are equally identical, without distinction. The difference lies in the mental factors. Karmic seeds are related to the mental factors; the purity or impurity of the consciousnesses is related to the mental factors. The key to spiritual practice is to transform the mental factors, not to change the seven fundamental seeds or the consciousness seeds. These seeds cannot be altered; one can only change the mental factors, thereby transforming the karmic seeds, making them utterly pure. Only then can one become a Buddha, as pure as the Tathāgatagarbha.