The Black Box World (Fifty)

Every sentient being's tathāgatagarbha will absorb the outer representation and transform it into its own inner representation, and this must be done in accordance with the being's own karmic conditions, absorbing it according to its own karmic seeds. When participating in the manifestation of the outer representation, because each being's karmic seeds differ, the four great elements output will certainly differ from those of other sentient beings; that is to say, the shares invested in the manifestation differ, and thus the retributions differ. The outer representations that each being attracts should also be different. Therefore, the representations absorbed by each being's tathāgatagarbha are different, and the inner representations manifested are also different. This is the first point.

The second point is that, because sentient beings differ in karmic power, even when there is the same outer representation, after the tathāgatagarbha absorbs it, the inner representation it manifests will also differ. This is due to sentient beings' karmic seeds: the six faculties are obstructed, so they cannot properly transmit and receive the particles of the four great elements in between. The tathāgatagarbha then cannot properly manifest the corresponding inner representation, and thus the inner representation is distorted. Consequently, what the six consciousnesses discriminate is the distorted inner representation, yet they take it to be the true outer representation outside, and so the six consciousnesses make abnormal, distorted discriminations of the six sense objects. In addition, because the six consciousnesses have the afflictions of greed, aversion, and delusion, their wisdom is narrow and inferior, and they also cannot properly discriminate the inner representation; therefore they frequently make erroneous discriminations.