Are Karmic Seeds and the Seeds of the Seven Elements Independent of Each Other?

Are karmic seeds and the seeds of the seven great elements independent? First, let us look at how karmic seeds are formed. Karmic seeds are formed through the bodily, verbal, and mental actions that the seven consciousnesses create upon the material body. The mastermind behind the creation of karma is the manas; it is the manas that directs, instigates, and commands the six consciousnesses to use the material body to perform bodily, verbal, and mental actions. These actions are then stored in the tathāgatagarbha in the form of seeds. When the causes and conditions ripen in the future, the seeds take root and sprout, and the retributive results will manifest, actualizing the law of cause and effect.

The seven consciousnesses are formed from the consciousness seed among the seeds of the seven great elements; the material body is formed from the five great seeds of earth, water, fire, wind, and space among the seeds of the seven great elements; and there is also the seed of the great element of seeing, which is the tathāgatagarbha's function of seeing all dharmas. When the seeds of the seven great elements operate in combination, they create karmic actions and form karmic seeds—this entire process can be said to be entirely the function of the tathāgatagarbha.

The relationship between karmic seeds and the seeds of the seven great elements is extremely close; without the seeds of the seven great elements there would be no karmic seeds. But karmic seeds are independent of the seeds of the seven great elements. For example, when the five great seeds of earth, water, fire, wind, and space return to the tathāgatagarbha, they cannot carry karmic actions back with them, nor do the five great seeds create karmic actions or karmic seeds. When the seed of the great element of seeing returns to the tathāgatagarbha, it likewise does not carry karmic actions or karmic seeds. Do the consciousness seeds of the seven consciousnesses carry karmic seeds and karmic actions back into the tathāgatagarbha? Certainly they do not carry karmic seeds or karmic actions either. Because the Buddha said in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra that the consciousness seeds themselves are pure, being neither wholesome nor unwholesome in nature, nor even neutral—this is forever so. Therefore the consciousness seeds do not carry karmic actions or karmic seeds. However, when the consciousness seeds return to the tathāgatagarbha, their acts of discrimination and cognition still follow into the tathāgatagarbha in the form of seeds, only not together with the consciousness seeds.

Karmic actions are distinguished as wholesome, unwholesome, and neither wholesome nor unwholesome. It is only after the consciousness seeds arise and form the seven consciousnesses, with the mental factors (caittas) operating in conjunction, that the consciousness-minds possess the three natures of wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral (avyākṛta); the consciousness seeds themselves do not have these three natures. When the mental factors operate, the consciousness-mind then has karmic actions of the three natures—wholesome and unwholesome—and karmic seeds are formed. Thus the karmic seeds will not be mixed together with the consciousness seeds; the consciousness seeds retain their original pure attribute, and when they are again transmitted outward, they are still pure consciousness seeds. It is only that the mental factors which emerge to accompany the consciousness seeds have the three natures of wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral, which makes it appear that the consciousness-mind has the three natures of wholesome and unwholesome.

Since it is only when the mental factors operate in conjunction with the consciousness-mind that there are the three karmas of wholesome and unwholesome, and since the mental factors have the three natures of wholesome and unwholesome, while the consciousness-mind formed from the consciousness seeds itself lacks these three natures of wholesome and unwholesome, then the karmic seeds are related to the mental factors. When the mental factors change, the karmic seeds change; when the mental factors are pure, the karmic seeds are pure. Therefore, the seeds of the seven great elements and the karmic seeds are two separate mechanisms; although they are greatly related, they cannot be conflated.

Then, when the seeds of the seven great elements are transmitted out by the tathāgatagarbha, do they carry the information of karmic seeds? They cannot, because the seeds of the seven great elements are pure and are not mixed together with karmic seeds. The seeds of the seven great elements of all sentient beings, including the Buddha's, are equal and identical, without any difference. The difference lies in the mental factors. Karmic seeds are related to the mental factors, and whether the consciousness-mind is pure or not is also related to the mental factors. The key to cultivation is to change the mental factors—not to change the seeds of the seven great elements, nor to change the consciousness seeds. These seeds cannot be changed; only the mental factors can be changed, and consequently the karmic seeds change, becoming absolutely pure. Only then can one be a World-Honored Buddha as pure as the tathāgatagarbha.