Does the subjectively imagined realm have seeds?

When a person with cerebellar atrophy experiences visual and auditory hallucinations, these belong to the subjectively imagined realm without substance. A person who does not exist at all, yet he can see him while others cannot; a sound that does not exist at all, yet he can hear it while others cannot. The forms and sounds he encounters arise out of nothing, like wind from an empty cave. If a person with cerebellar atrophy clearly sees person A but takes him to be person B, then B is a subjectively imagined realm with substance, carrying a certain substance of A; B does not exist apart from A, and apart from A there is no B.

Do such subjectively imagined realms have seeds? Cerebellar atrophy is karmic retribution; there are karmic seeds, and when the karmic seeds mature, the retributive result of cerebellar atrophy appears, which is also suffering—not only does the mind suffer torment, the body suffers torment as well. After hallucinating for a long time, one becomes extremely fatigued, and sedative-type drugs must be used to control it. Thus the subjectively imagined realm consumes brain cells and brain energy. The dharma sense-objects of the subjectively imagined realm are not formed by the tathāgatagarbha outputting seeds of the four great elements from the mind-essence, but they do require a certain amount of subtle particles of the four great elements within the brain's nerve cells. Beings without a supreme faculty (indriya) would not exhibit the phenomenon of cerebellar atrophy, and would not need to consume brain cells and brain energy.

The manas corresponds with karmic seeds and corresponds with karmic retribution. When karmic retribution manifests, the manas is in a pathological state, thinking wildly and randomly; the tathāgatagarbha follows along and manifests the karma in accordance with conditions, conjuring up the realms that the manas has wildly imagined. When the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) sees them, it takes them to be real, and so in the eyes of others the person appears deranged and mad, abnormal.

As for the subjectively imagined realm with substance, it is the tathāgatagarbha, based on presently existing sense-objects, taking a portion of the four great elements to conjure up another subjectively imagined realm, which seems unrelated to the existing realm. After the mind consciousness apprehends it, it takes it to be real, and to others the person appears deranged and mad. The root of the illness lies in the manas, in the karmic actions of past lives; the retributive result obtained in this life is illusory and false.

Ordinary beings of normal mind are not so different from those with cerebellar atrophy or the mentally ill: all the dharmas they see are also neither true nor real—induced by karmic power, arising out of nothing, like wind from an empty cave. They do not see the true dharma, yet upon the true dharma they falsely see the illusory implicative realms, subjectively imagined realms, and objective realms. All these realms carry the substance of the tathāgatagarbha, the truth of the tathāgatagarbha, the essence of the tathāgatagarbha—yet they do not know it; they see only the false, the illusory—truly inverted and deluded.

The root of the illness lies in the manas, summoned by the karmic power of ignorance. When the karma is dissolved and the illness recedes, what is seen is restored, and one will then see the true and the real; the false marks vanish and the illusory appearances recede, and without illness there is naturally coolness and peace.

Who is not an ill person? If there is one who is not ill, let him come forth and be seen.

Slap! With one slap of the palm, the illness recedes and the obstructions dissolve, returning to the original state—just as it always was!