The Difference Between Bacteria and Cells

Some people say that bacteria can divide spirit—here "spirit" of course refers to the conscious mind, the seven consciousnesses. If bacteria could divide spirit, splitting into multiple mind consciousnesses and multiple five-sense consciousnesses, then they would have the ability to manifest duplicate bodies, mind-made bodies (manomaya-kāya), and transformation bodies (nirmāṇa-kāya)—that would be a great supernatural power, making them more capable than humans. But if they were more capable than humans, why would they be bacteria at all? Bacteria are the lowest and most ignorant sentient beings; they have a material body composed of the four great elements, along with weak and inferior functions of the conscious mind. Each bacterium possesses one tathāgatagarbha to sustain its body. 

Cells are inanimate objects; they have no functional operations of the seven consciousnesses, nor does a tathāgatagarbha sustain them, because a cell is not a material body—it is a basic component of a sentient being's material body, a tiny particle on the material body of a sentient being, composed of the seeds of the four great elements. Cell division is one of the most basic functional operations of a sentient being's tathāgatagarbha, and is a characteristic of the arising, ceasing, and transformation of sentient beings' material bodies. Any change in the material body—arising, abiding, altering, or ceasing—is a functional operation of the sentient being's tathāgatagarbha. Bacteria can invade cells and destroy them, thereby causing sentient beings to fall ill or die.