What is Avyākṛta?

In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Buddha states that before the appearance of the five aggregates and the mundane world for sentient beings, only the manas and the Tathāgatagarbha exist in a state of profound obscurity—a murky, indistinct condition where beings are unaware of the vastness of heaven and earth. The manas is characterized by ignorance and delusion, but without the cooperation of the six consciousnesses and the five aggregates, it cannot create any karmic actions. Consequently, there are no good or evil deeds and no corresponding karmic retribution for such deeds. This is the non-defined nature of the manas.

When the five-aggregate body of sentient beings manifests, even if the manas harbors intentions—whether wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral—it remains incapable of acting independently while the six sense faculties cannot interconnect or function mutually. It can only realize its intentions and fulfill its mental activities through the six consciousnesses. Therefore, all mental activities of the manas belong to non-defined karma, bearing no karmic fruit. The reason sentient beings experience retribution is that the manas, through the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses, actualizes its intentions. These actions are recorded as karmic seeds, and only when these seeds mature does retribution manifest.

Within the non-defined karma of the six consciousnesses—which is neither wholesome nor unwholesome—if joy, delight, or craving arises, it becomes a bondage to birth and death, entangling one in the cycle of rebirth. This is karmic retribution. Even if the six consciousnesses lack craving or aversion, their non-defined karma, being neither wholesome nor unwholesome, is still stored as karmic seeds within the Tathāgatagarbha. As long as karmic seeds exist, retribution will follow. When Buddhas and Bodhisattvas manifest in this world, their wholesome and non-defined actions are free from craving and delight; thus, they are not bound by the fetters of birth and death and remain unentangled in the six realms of rebirth. Even when performing the same actions, some act with intention, others without—the karmic retribution differs accordingly.