The Relationship between Seeds and Mental Factors

The mental factors (caittas) are the modes of operation of the mind, that is, mental states, thoughts, mental activities, wholesome minds, unwholesome minds, neither-wholesome-nor-unwholesome minds, concentrated minds, distracted minds, wise minds, ignorant minds, minds of delusion, and so on—their scope is extremely profound and vast. When these modes of operation of the several consciousnesses run forth, the eighth consciousness records and stores them at all times and places, and they become seeds. The seeds here refer to karmic seeds, not the seeds of the seven great elements.

When body, speech, and mind are in operation, the mental activities and mental factors of the seven consciousnesses must all be recorded in the eighth consciousness, becoming karmic seeds. When the seventh consciousness, the manas, operates without the six consciousnesses, can the manas's mental factors still become karmic seeds?

If the manas alone curses someone or issues a vicious oath, and someone is truly harmed by it, can this become a karmic seed? When the manas enters a relative's dream to seek help, or enters an enemy's dream to intimidate them, or summons someone who has died to come see oneself, and so on—can these all become karmic seeds? In the meditative concentration of no-perception (asaṃjñi-samāpatti) and the cessation of perception and feeling (nirodha-samāpatti), can the manas's mental activities become karmic seeds, such as the length of time in meditative concentration? Can the celestial beings of the No-Perception Heaven entering meditative concentration become karmic seeds?

In a coma there are no six consciousnesses—can this situation become a karmic seed? Does it count as receiving retribution? Sleeping more than ten hours a day, when there are no six consciousnesses during that time—can this become a karmic seed? Does it count as karmic retribution? Celestial beings do not need to enter the womb, but humans must enter the womb—does entering the womb count as karmic retribution? Can it become a karmic seed? Does the length of time entering the womb count as karmic retribution? Can it become a karmic seed? When the manas, together with the tathāgatagarbha, goes to the land of bliss (sukhāvatī) to create a lotus-flower palace, can this become a karmic seed? Is it karmic retribution?

After sleeping through the night, upon waking in the morning, one suddenly understands a matter and comprehends a principle. Does the manas's mental activity throughout that night count as karma? Are seeds stored? Is there karmic retribution? If the manas spent the whole night recollecting the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti), reciting mantras, reading Buddhist sutras, or engaged in Chan contemplation the entire night, does this also count as spiritual practice? Can Chan contemplation produce a result? If the manas went in the middle of the night to discuss the Buddha-dharma with someone, can wisdom grow thereafter? If in the middle of the night it went to ask Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva about the Dharma, and Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva patiently answered, then after waking, would one receive the sweet dew of the Buddha-dharma? If one had a serious illness, and in the middle of the night went to seek medicine from an immortal or a bodhisattva, and after taking it, the illness was cured the next day—does this count as karmic retribution? Can it be stored as a karmic seed? All of the above situations, all of these mental activities, are karma; they will all be stored as karmic seeds, and all have karmic retribution.

The Dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination, the first link\: ignorance conditions volitional formations (avidyā-pratyayāḥ saṃskārāḥ). Although the manas's initial ignorance is not a karmic seed, because of ignorance the manas gives rise to the mind that reaches outward, seeking to apprehend and understand some dharma; the tathāgatagarbha accordingly complies, and together they create the universe of the material world (the vessel-world). Afterwards, each person's tathāgatagarbha then creates the body of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha). Karmic activity thus appears, and thereafter there are karmic seeds.