What do vipāka-vijñāna (the retributive consciousness), vipāka habit-energy, and niṣyanda habit-energy mean?

The vipākavijñāna (retributive consciousness) is another name for the ālayavijñāna after the eighth bhūmi bodhisattva stage, indicating that the karmic seeds within the mind-substance can cause sentient beings to be born at different times, in different places, in different worlds, and among different kinds of beings. The ālayavijñāna stores the seeds of sentient beings' segmented birth-and-death, while the vipākavijñāna stores the seeds of sentient beings' transformational birth-and-death—that is, the subtle seeds of birth-and-death.

Vipāka habit-energy is also called the habit-energy of the flow of birth-and-death, the habit-energy of ignorance, or the habit-energy of afflictions. It is extremely subtle, generally referring to the habit-energy of ignorance of bodhisattvas after the eighth bhūmi, and it may also be said to be the habit-energy of afflictions of bodhisattvas from the first bhūmi onward. Where there is habit-energy, there is birth-and-death; when habit-energy is completely severed, one becomes a Buddha. As for the habit-energy of homogenous flow (niṣyanda-vāsanā): "homogenous" (niṣyanda) means equal and identical, and "flow" means flowing onward, indicating the habit-energy of the continuity of the same consciousness, or the habit-energy of the continuity of the same sentient being.