The Correspondence between Manas and Karmic Seeds

The number of seeds of the seven great elements is fixed and unchanging, although they cannot be counted. The tathāgatagarbha uses these many fixed seeds to transform and give rise to all dharmas; when a dharma ceases, the seeds all return to the tathāgatagarbha, and then arise again within other dharmas, transforming and generating other dharmas. The seeds, in relation to dharmas, arise and cease moment by moment and return; all dharmas arise, cease, and change moment by moment—they are not permanent and unchanging—therefore they are impermanent.

The manas corresponds with karmic seeds, but the manas's wisdom does not need to be drawn out and manifested from the seeds; wisdom is always corresponding with the manas, which is to say the manas always possesses wisdom. For example, once we have learned how to cook, at any time in this life, whenever we encounter the conditions for cooking, we will be able to cook—this skill has always been stored in the manas. The dharmas that the manas has been habituated to have always remained in the mind; He has always understood them, so His wisdom is always carried along with Him, without needing to specifically go to the tathāgatagarbha to retrieve seeds, yet He has always been corresponding with the seeds.