The Arising, Abiding, Change, and Ceasing of All Dharmas Is Governed by Karmic Seeds.

In the boundless kalpas of birth-and-death saṃsāra, who is the one in charge for sentient beings? Some say the tathāgatagarbha is in charge, some say the manas is in charge; both statements can be considered correct. The tathāgatagarbha is in charge in a passive way, the kind of being-in-charge that does not take charge, because the tathāgatagarbha has no mind to dominate anything; He would not actively take charge and make sentient beings undergo birth-and-death saṃsāra for boundless kalpas. Yet after all, it is the tathāgatagarbha that manifests all dharmas and birth-and-death saṃsāra, so the tathāgatagarbha can also be regarded as the master of sentient beings' birth-and-death saṃsāra. The manas, on the other hand, has mental activities of domination; it is the active one in charge in sentient beings' birth-and-death saṃsāra, and its mind and karma dominate all dharmas and birth-and-death saṃsāra.

But in my view, sentient beings' birth-and-death saṃsāra is governed and dominated by karmic seeds. Being governed by karmic seeds means being governed by the tathāgatagarbha; it is the tathāgatagarbha that stores and releases karmic seeds, and realizes sentient beings' causes, conditions, and retributions according to those karmic seeds. So being governed by karmic seeds is in fact being governed by the tathāgatagarbha; the tathāgatagarbha being in charge is the karmic seeds being in charge. Although karmic seeds have no agency and are not the master of the house, they actually play the leading role.

Being governed by karmic seeds is at the same time being governed by the manas. The manas corresponds with karmic seeds: whatever karma there is, there is such a manas; whatever manas there is, there is such karma; the two match and are consistent with each other. Although many karmic seeds are disliked by the manas, after all it was the manas that took charge and created them. There are many things the manas wants to take charge of, but corresponding karmic seeds and karmic conditions are still needed; without corresponding karmic seeds, the manas cannot take charge either and can only drift along with the karmic seeds. Therefore, being governed by karmic seeds is being governed by the manas, and the manas being in charge is being governed by karmic seeds. Karmic seeds unify the tathāgatagarbha and the manas: both are in charge and yet not in charge. The tathāgatagarbha gives birth to all dharmas in accordance with karmic seeds—this is passive being-in-charge; the manas, although actively in charge, still conforms to and accords with the karmic seeds. So all dharmas are still decided by the karmic seeds.

Although it is the karmic seeds that have the final say, if the manas' power of vow is extremely great, it can also transcend the karmic seeds, with the power of vow taking charge, and all dharmas manifesting in accordance with the power of vow. For example, after an arhat has cultivated the fourth dhyāna of meditative concentration, whereas previously he clearly would have died and departed at the normal time of his life's end, now he can depart earlier or later; the length of his life is decided by the arhat himself. At this point it is the manas that takes charge, or the power of vow of the manas that takes charge. But analyzed carefully, it is still the karmic seeds that take charge, because having cultivated the fourth dhyāna, the karmic seeds have changed; when the karmic seeds change, the retribution changes, and he gains freedom over birth-and-death—it merely looks as if the manas can take charge.

In fact, the manas, at every moment, in every life and every world, corresponds with the karmic seeds; all dharmas are still governed by the karmic seeds, which determine their arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing. Sentient beings' transmigration through the six realms is originally determined by karmic seeds; if through cultivation one makes great pure vows, the karmic seeds change and the retribution will change. On the surface it looks as if the manas takes charge—the manas wants such-and-such, and in the end it turns out such-and-such—but in fact it is still the karmic seeds that take charge and play the decisive role.

For example, a person in a vegetative state lies in bed for decades, unable to move his body. In our view, his manas should long ago have chosen to leave that unusable body; yet because he still has that bit of merit in the human realm—the merit of being human has not yet been exhausted, and the karmic seeds of being human have not yet disappeared—he continues to live as a vegetative patient, wanting to enjoy this bit of merit to the end, lacking the wisdom to make longer-term plans, to reserve merit for future lives so that they may live more comfortably. If the karmic seeds of his merit are gone, the manas will immediately decide to leave; even if it does not decide, it will passively have no choice but to leave, because he cannot survive any longer—there is no merit or karmic seed left to sustain his life.

Another example: in the past, some people, after attaining realization of the fruits, no longer wished to live and chose to commit suicide in order to leave the human world early, so that in their next life they would be born in the heaven realm to continue cultivation. In such a case, one may say the manas takes charge; but because they had eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), there were corresponding wholesome karmic seeds supporting them in being able to abandon the human world and go to the heavenly realm to cultivate. With merit and wholesome karma supporting them, they could enjoy in advance the wholesome retribution and merit of having eradicated the view of self, and so if the manas wanted to commit suicide, the suicide would succeed. If they had not eradicated the view of self and the karmic seeds had not changed, even if the suicide succeeded, after death they would not be reborn in the heavenly realm, nor would they enter Nirvāṇa without remainder; they would inevitably be reborn in accordance with their original evil and unwholesome karma, perhaps reborn in the three evil realms to suffer. Therefore, all dharmas are still governed and decided by the karmic seeds.

Karmic seeds are stored in the tathāgatagarbha; the tathāgatagarbha discerns the karmic seeds and creates all dharmas according to them, so as to manifest sentient beings' causes, conditions, and retributions. Then all dharmas are still governed by the tathāgatagarbha. The manas appears to be in charge on the surface, but it may not necessarily be able to dominate, because it is restricted by karmic seeds; He has no way to truly take charge. From this it can be seen that all dharmas are within cause and effect, not outside cause and effect; there is no dharma that violates cause and effect.