The Tathāgatagarbha: Storing and Emitting Karmic Seeds, and Realizing Karmic Retribution

The tathāgatagarbha can directly actualize the karmic retribution of sentient beings without going through the deliberation (manasikāra) of the manas; the recompense of cause and effect is not decided by the seven consciousnesses. The tathāgatagarbha directly causes the material body to grow and age, not decided by the seven consciousnesses; the tathāgatagarbha directly causes the material body to arise, cease, and change, altering the living environment and karmic conditions, not decided by the seven consciousnesses.

The karmic actions that sentient beings create in this life are all stored by the tathāgatagarbha, including every detail of body, speech, and mind, without leaving out a single trace—all recorded and stored in the form of karmic seeds. When the conditions ripen in later lives, the tathāgatagarbha outputs the karmic seeds, and sentient beings must live and receive retribution according to their own karmic seeds.

These karmic seeds all correspond to the manas, because the manas exists life after life without perishing, continuously carrying these karmas into future lives until the retribution is complete and the karmic seeds disappear. The six consciousnesses, however, are newly born and do not carry karmic seeds, but they are influenced by the manas' perfuming and manifest various habitual tendencies and afflictions.