The Relationship Between Pure Karma and Defiled Karma

The tathāgatagarbha inherently contains the seeds of the seven consciousnesses. When these seeds are output and discriminate the six sense objects, they then return, bringing back the content of the discrimination and activity along with them; the tathāgatagarbha stores this on file, and at the same time comes to know what the seven consciousnesses have done. If the seven consciousnesses have performed karma of greed, aversion, and delusion, the returning seeds are defiled; after being stored, when they are output again they are defiled seeds, and the seven consciousnesses will naturally carry the nature of greed, aversion, and delusion. If what the seven consciousnesses have engaged in is pure karma, the returning seeds are pure, and when they are output again, the mental activities of the seven consciousnesses will be pure. These seeds, following our bodily, verbal, and mental actions, must constantly switch between purity and defilement: the more the pure, the fewer the defiled; the more the defiled, the fewer the pure. Purity and defilement cannot increase together or decrease together—the two always stand in a relationship where one increases as the other decreases.

From this it can be seen that the number of seeds of the seven consciousnesses is fixed and cannot undergo any increase or decrease in quantity; otherwise, sentient beings' wholesome nature would increase while their unwholesome nature also increased, or their wholesome karma would decrease while their unwholesome karma also decreased—and this is impossible.