The Discriminative and Non-Discriminative Aspects of Tathagatagarbha

The Tathagatagarbha inherently contains the seeds of the seven consciousnesses. When these seeds are projected outward to perceive and discriminate the six dusts (objects of sense), they then return, bringing back the content of that discriminatory activity. The Tathagatagarbha stores this content as an archive and simultaneously becomes aware of what the seven consciousnesses have done. If the seven consciousnesses engage in actions of greed, hatred, and delusion, the returning seeds are defiled. After storage, when projected again, they are defiled seeds, and naturally, the seven consciousnesses will manifest with the nature of greed, hatred, and delusion. If the seven consciousnesses engage in pure actions, the returning seeds are pure, and when projected again, the mental activities of the seven consciousnesses will be pure. These seeds continuously alternate between purity and defilement based on our physical, verbal, and mental actions. More purity means less defilement; more defilement means less purity. Purity and defilement do not increase or decrease simultaneously; they always maintain an inverse relationship—when one increases, the other decreases.

From this perspective, the number of seeds of the seven consciousnesses is fixed and does not undergo quantitative increase or decrease. Otherwise, the wholesome nature of sentient beings would increase while the unwholesome nature also increases, or wholesome karma would decrease while unwholesome karma also decreases—this is not possible.