Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (83)

Why is the ālayavijñāna the master of karma creation? Because without the ālayavijñāna there would be no five-aggregate body, and thus no karma could be created. When the manas wishes to create karma, the ālayavijñāna knows this and cooperates with the manas, outputting various seeds to complete the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the five-aggregate body. All activities of the five aggregates are realized through the seeds outputted by the ālayavijñāna; therefore the five aggregates are the ālayavijñāna, and are the nature of the tathāgatagarbha. The karma created by the five-aggregate body serves as a contributing condition; together with the ālayavijñāna, these two—karmic conditions—serve as the causes and conditions for the birth of the next life's five aggregates. Once the six consciousnesses of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind of the next life arise, the retribution of karma begins to be experienced.

For example, for one destined to be reborn as a human, the six consciousnesses of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind arise again, and with the five aggregates complete, there is feeling, and human retribution appears. When there are no consciousnesses, feelings of suffering and happiness cannot be experienced, as if no retribution had been received. In fact, being conceived in a human womb and dwelling in the womb for ten months is itself a form of retribution, and this retribution must be received by the manas; the tathāgatagarbha does not receive retribution, is not sealed off, and is not confined within the womb. Before the fourth or fifth month in the mother's womb, a person has no mind consciousness and cannot feel suffering or happiness. Strictly speaking, that does not count as truly receiving retribution; yet saying it does not count as receiving retribution, it actually does count, because that physical body is the retribution body—it simply has no mind and does not know feelings of suffering or happiness, while the feelings of the manas are unknown to our mind consciousness.

If one is reborn into hell, once the hellish bodily form manifests, the mind consciousness immediately appears and instantly experiences the suffering of hell—the retribution of suffering has appeared. Or if one is reborn among animals, as soon as the animal's perceiving mind arises, it feels suffering and happiness—the retribution of suffering has appeared. Or if one is reborn into the realm of Yama or the realm of ghosts, reborn into the asura realm, or born among humans, or born in the heavens, only when the mind consciousness is born does one formally begin to receive retribution. Once the mind consciousness arises, wholesome karma brings wholesome retribution and unwholesome karma brings unwholesome retribution: a deva, upon birth, feels happiness; one reborn into the animal realm, the hell realm, or the ghost realm feels suffering. But even when there are no six consciousnesses to feel anything, it still counts as retribution.