The Power of Adhimukti in Tathāgatagarbha

Samadhi, wisdom, and the power of understanding are mental factors (caitasika) of the discerning mind (vijñāna). They are the functions of the discerning mind and belong to the category of the five object-specific mental factors. For the seventh consciousness (manas), they manifest distinctly and intermittently, not continuously. What manifests continuously are the five universal mental factors. However, the seventh consciousness of all Buddhas constantly possesses samadhi and wisdom everywhere; they are not intermittent but perpetually manifest. The samadhi, wisdom, and decisive understanding (adhimokṣa) of the Tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature), however, manifest continuously, moment by moment, everywhere, even within the state of nirvana without residue (nirupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa).

If, at the moment when the Tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the ear faculty, the five-aggregate body, and all phenomena, its power of concentration (samadhi) is suddenly insufficient, its power of wisdom (prajñā) is also insufficient, and it does not know the nature of the karmic seeds, what would happen? The result would be that the Tathāgatagarbha, through a moment of carelessness, might deliver an insufficient quantity of the four great elements (mahābhūta) seeds, miscalculate their proportional structure, or deliver the wrong seeds. Consequently, the phenomena produced would be mismatched, everything would become utterly distorted, and the world would descend into chaos. If the Tathāgatagarbha lacked an extremely powerful decisive understanding (adhimokṣa-bala) and could not comprehend the intentions of the seventh consciousness (manas), what would happen? All phenomena would fail to arise appropriately or as desired. The aspirations of sentient beings would be rendered useless, all thoughts would be ineffectual, and the five-aggregate world would cease to function normally.