The Seven Great Seeds Are the Same in the Tathagatagarbha of Sentient Beings, Yet Their Karmic Seeds Differ

Question: Are the seven fundamental seeds contained within the Tathagatagarbha of all sentient beings identical? Are the consciousness seeds of all sentient beings the same? What do consciousness seeds encompass, and are there many classifications? Are karmic seeds formed by the combination of the fundamental seven seeds?

Answer: The seven fundamental seeds within the Tathagatagarbha of each sentient being are identical, without any difference; the consciousness seeds are also identical, without any difference. What differs are the karmic seeds, the mental factors, and the manifestations of the five aggregates and the conscious mind.

Consciousness seeds are categorized into seeds of eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, mind-consciousness, and the seventh consciousness, respectively forming the seven consciousnesses. Karmic seeds are left behind after actions of body, speech, and mind are performed. They are formless and shapeless, recording the true facts of the actions performed by the five aggregates through body, speech, and mind. The activities of mental factors are also stored in the form of karmic seeds.