The arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing of all dharmas is governed by karmic seeds

In the boundless kalpas of birth-and-death transmigration, who is it that governs for sentient beings? Some say the tathāgatagarbha governs, some say the manas governs; both statements can be considered correct. The tathāgatagarbha governs in a passive sense rather than actively, because the tathāgatagarbha has no mind to dominate anything; He would not actively take charge and cause sentient beings to transmigrate through birth and death for boundless kalpas. Yet after all, it is the tathāgatagarbha that manifests all dharmas and the transmigration of birth and death, so the tathāgatagarbha may also be regarded as the governing force behind sentient beings' birth-and-death transmigration. The manas, on the other hand, has mental activities of domination; in sentient beings' birth-and-death transmigration it governs actively, and its mind and karma dominate all dharmas and the transmigration of birth and death.

As I see it, sentient beings' birth-and-death transmigration is governed by karmic seeds, dominated by karmic seeds. Karmic seeds governing implies that the tathāgatagarbha governs: it is the tathāgatagarbha that stores and releases karmic seeds, and realizes sentient beings' causes, conditions, and retributions according to those karmic seeds. So karmic seeds governing is in fact the tathāgatagarbha governing, and the tathāgatagarbha governing is karmic seeds governing. Although karmic seeds have no agency and are not the master of the house, they do indeed play the leading role.

Karmic seeds governing is at the same time the manas governing. The manas corresponds with karmic seeds: whatever karma there is, there is such a manas; whatever manas there is, there is such karma. The two are mutually matched and consistent. Although many karmic seeds are disliked by the manas, they were nevertheless created under the manas's active governance. There are many things the manas wishes to take charge of, but corresponding karmic seeds and karmic conditions are still needed; without corresponding karmic seeds, the manas cannot take charge either, and can only drift along with the karmic seeds. So karmic seeds governing is the manas governing, and the manas governing is karmic seeds governing. Karmic seeds unify the tathāgatagarbha and the manas: both govern and yet do not govern. The tathāgatagarbha gives birth to all dharmas in accordance with karmic seeds—this is passive governance. Although the manas governs actively, it also conforms to and accords with the karmic seeds, so all dharmas are still decided by the karmic seeds. Yet although karmic seeds have the final say, if the manas's power of vow is extremely great, it can transcend the karmic seeds, letting the power of vow take charge, and manifest all dharmas in accordance with the power of vow. For example, after an arhat has cultivated the fourth dhyāna, whereas previously he was clearly going to die a normal death at the end of his lifespan, he can now leave the world earlier or later—the length of his life is decided by him. At this point it is the manas that governs, or the manas's power of vow that governs. But upon careful analysis, it is still the karmic seeds that govern, because once the fourth dhyāna has been cultivated, the karmic seeds have changed; when the karmic seeds change, the retribution changes, and one gains freedom over birth and death—it merely appears as if the manas can take charge.

In fact, the manas, at every moment, in every life, corresponds with the karmic seeds; all dharmas are still governed by the karmic seeds, which determine their arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing. Sentient beings' transmigration through the six realms is originally determined by karmic actions; if through cultivation one makes great pure vows, the karmic seeds change and the retribution changes. On the surface it seems that the manas takes charge—that the manas wants such-and-such, and in the end it turns out such-and-such—but in fact it is still the karma that governs and plays the decisive role.

For example, a person in a vegetative state lies in bed for decades, unable to move his body. In our view, his manas should long ago have chosen to leave that unusable body. Yet because he still has that bit of human merit—his merit of being human has not yet been exhausted, and the karmic seeds of the human realm have not yet disappeared—he continues to live as a vegetative state patient; he must enjoy this bit of merit to the end, lacking the wisdom to make long-term plans and reserve merit for future lives so that they may live more comfortably. If the karmic seeds of his merit are gone, the manas will immediately decide to leave; even if it does not decide, he will passively and inevitably have to leave, because he can no longer survive—there is no merit or karmic seed left to sustain his life.

Take another example: in the past, some people, after realizing the fruits, no longer wished to live and chose to end their lives to leave the human world early, and in subsequent lives they would be reborn in the heavens to continue cultivation. In such a case, one may say the manas takes charge. But because they had eliminated the view of self and had corresponding wholesome karmic seeds supporting them, they were able to abandon the human world and go to the heavens to cultivate; with merit and wholesome karma supporting them, they could enjoy in advance the wholesome retribution and merit of having eliminated the view of self, and so when the manas wished to end its life, the suicide succeeded. If they had not eliminated the view of self and the karmic seeds had not changed, even if the suicide succeeded, after death they would not be reborn in the heavens, nor would they enter nirvāṇa without remainder; they would inevitably be reborn in accordance with their original evil and unwholesome karma, perhaps falling into the three evil realms to suffer. So all dharmas are still governed and decided by the karmic seeds.

Karmic seeds exist within the tathāgatagarbha; the tathāgatagarbha discerns the karmic seeds and creates all dharmas according to them, so as to manifest sentient beings' causes, conditions, and retributions. Then all dharmas are still governed by the tathāgatagarbha. The manas appears to take charge on the surface, but it may not actually be able to dominate—constrained by the karmic seeds, He can do nothing about it. Therefore all dharmas exist within cause and effect, never outside of cause and effect; there is no dharma that violates cause and effect.