The Problem of Karmic Seeds

Karmic seeds are not composed of the seeds of the four great elements; they are a kind of information, an intangible archive. A karmic seed is like a document in a computer—it has no physical form; when it is retrieved, it manifests, and when it is not retrieved, it simply is not there. Moreover, even if a karmic seed has disappeared, a person with supernatural powers can still retrieve it and examine that information.

The questions concerning these seeds are extremely profound dharma principles. At present we can only speculate and imagine, unable to engage in direct contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā). Only after attaining the first bhūmi and acquiring the wisdom of the seeds of consciousness-only (yogācāra) can we gradually resonate with and progressively observe these contents.

Karma is distinguished into pure karma and defiled karma. Only an arhat in nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa) creates no karma; the Buddha also creates karma, but the karma the Buddha creates is pure karma, not karma born of ignorance. In nirvāṇa without remainder, since there is no arhat present, no karma is created. As long as there is no manas, no karma will be created, for the manas is the creator of karma. In the final analysis, all karmic actions are created by the tathāgatagarbha.