Black Box World (Fifty)

Every sentient being's tathāgatagarbha takes in the external object-aspect (nimitta) and transforms it into its own inner object-aspect, and this must be done in accordance with the being's own karmic conditions, taking in according to its own karmic seeds. When participating in the transformation of the external object-aspect, because each being's karmic seeds differ, the four great elements output will certainly differ from those of other sentient beings; that is to say, the shares invested in the transformation differ, and thus the karmic retribution differs. The external object-aspects that each being attracts should also differ. Therefore, the object-aspects taken in by each being's tathāgatagarbha differ, and the inner object-aspects transformed also differ — this is the first point.

The second point: because sentient beings' karmic forces differ, even when there is the same external object-aspect, once the tathāgatagarbha takes it in, the inner object-aspect it transforms will also differ. This is due to sentient beings' karmic seeds: the six faculties have obstructions, and in between, the four great elements' subtle particles cannot be transmitted and received normally. The tathāgatagarbha then cannot normally transform the corresponding inner object-aspect, and thus the inner object-aspect is distorted. Consequently, what the six consciousnesses discriminate is the distorted inner object-aspect, yet they take it to be the true external object-aspect outside, and so the six consciousnesses make abnormal, distorted discriminations of the six sense objects. In addition, because the six consciousnesses have the afflictions of greed, aversion, and delusion, their wisdom is narrow and inferior, and they also cannot discriminate the inner object-aspect normally; therefore they frequently make erroneous discriminations.