Which karma is greater: creating karma with a deliberate mind or creating karma without a deliberate mind?

Having mind means being prepared, having a goal and a purpose—it is intentional. Having no mind means being without preparation, without a goal and without a purpose—it is unintentional. When karma is created with mind, the mind is not empty; when wholesome karma is created with mind, the karma is small and the merit is small. When good is done without mind, the mind is empty, the karma is great and the merit is great. When unwholesome karma is created with mind, the mind is unwholesome, the karma is great and the offense is great. When unwholesome karma is created without mind, there is no unwholesome mind, the karma is small and the offense is small. Having mind or having no mind must be understood and observed from the standpoint of purpose and mental activity; whether there is a purpose, and what kind of purpose there is, is also crucial. When sentient beings do good with mind and with purpose, the goodness is small; when they do good without purpose, the goodness is great. When evil is done without mind, the evil is small; when evil is done deliberately with mind, the evil is great.

Creating karma from the depths of the heart means that the manas intends to create wholesome or unwholesome karma, and both wholesome and unwholesome karma are then great, because the sovereign fundamental mind is of a wholesome or unwholesome nature. When sentient beings do good without mind—that is, when they originally had no thought of doing good, and the mind was not wholesome yet by a coincidental convergence of conditions they happened to do good—their merit is small. This is not the same principle as the Buddha's having no mind, nor is it on the same level. Doing good without considering the retribution also counts as having no mind, and the merit is then great. Because the power of wholesome dharmas is great, it can temporarily prevent the conditions for unwholesome karma from ripening; great unwholesome karma is never allowed to ripen—this is the power of great vows. Without this power, at the time of death one will surely be carried away by the force of unwholesome karma; this is the case for most people. The tathāgatagarbha at all times, toward any person or affair, has no mind—it has neither merit nor offense, yet its merit and virtue are the greatest. The Buddha does all things without mind, and His merit is boundlessly great.