The Manas's Craving and Grasping for All Dharmas of the Three Realms

The functioning of the five aggregates and the eighteen dhātus is entirely the functional operation of the seven great seeds delivered by the tathāgatagarbha. The operation of the seven great seeds upon the six sense faculties and six sense objects—the operation of earth, water, fire, wind, and space upon the material body, and the operation of the seeds of consciousness upon the conscious mind—all manifest in the functioning of the five aggregates. When the seeds of consciousness, the four great element seeds, the space element seed, and the seeing element seed operate together, the five aggregates come into being. When the tathāgatagarbha delivers the seeds out, the functional operation of the seeds is formed; the functional operation of the seeds is also the functional operation of the tathāgatagarbha, yet it differs from the tathāgatagarbha—the two are neither the same nor different. The seeds inherently possessed by the tathāgatagarbha conjure up all dharmas; the seeds and all dharmas belong to the tathāgatagarbha, and the tathāgatagarbha can gather them in and release them out, so all dharmas belong to the tathāgatagarbha.

However, the tathāgatagarbha does not have the mental activities of the seven consciousnesses; it is completely devoid of self-nature, grasping at no dharma whatsoever, its mind-ground intrinsically pure. The manas, on the other hand, grasps all the dharmas conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha as "self," "mine," and "belonging to me," grasping the functions of the six consciousnesses as self and mine, not knowing that they are all born of the tathāgatagarbha and belong to the tathāgatagarbha. He grasps at the dharmas conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha, yet does not know of the existence of the tathāgatagarbha and its conjuring function. The tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the five aggregates and the eighteen dhātus in accordance with karmic seeds and karmic conditions—not a single dharma is not brought forth by His operation—yet the manas believes they all belong to itself and develops craving and attachment. Because of its craving and grasping nature, it is bound and wrapped up within the three realms, unable to escape and attain liberation. It is the manas that is bound and wrapped up, not the six consciousnesses, for it is the manas that seizes upon the myriad dharmas and refuses to let go.