What Are Seeds?

Seeds, as the name implies, have both "seed" and "offspring"—that is, the aspect of generative capacity. For example, the seed of a plant can grow into a plant, and the seeds of all dharmas can give birth to all dharmas. Seeds include the seven intrinsically existing great seeds (earth, water, fire, wind, space, seeing, consciousness) and the seeds of karmic power. When the karmic seeds mature, the seven great seeds can generate all the dharmas of sentient beings. Apart from karmic seeds, the seven great seeds are of no use to sentient beings. When the karmic seeds of sentient beings mature, the tathāgatagarbha uses the seven great seeds to create their karmic retributions.

Karmic power, as the name implies, is the force of karmic actions. This force is immense; most sentient beings find it hard to resist and can only drift along with it, unable to extricate themselves. This force is the power of the manas. The manas represents karma; the manas has power because it is the sovereign consciousness, able to do as it pleases, and in many cases the mind consciousness cannot withstand it. Moreover, there is the tathāgatagarbha uniformly complying with the manas, releasing the karmic seeds, so sentient beings can only struggle bitterly within karma, bobbing up and down in the great ocean of birth and death. This is why one must rely on the mind consciousness to study and cultivate wholesome dharmas, continuously accumulating strength in order to guide and counteract the karmic power of the manas. Only in this way can karma be gradually turned around, with unwholesome retribution gradually lightening and wholesome retribution gradually strengthening.