Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Manifestation of Consciousness (41)

Original text: 佛告贤护。当知皆是。作业之力。作业无形。但智运耳。如是身之机关。以识之力。作诸事业。仙通乾闼婆龙神人天阿修罗等。种种趣业。咸悉依之。识能生身。如工作机关。

Explanation: The Buddha told Xianhu (Bhadrapāla) that the wooden puppet's mechanism is all operated by a force of karmic activity, and this force of activity is formless and without mark; it is merely by means of wisdom that the wooden puppet is set in motion, accomplishing its tasks. The physical body of sentient beings is likewise like a wooden puppet: the operation of the body's mechanism follows the same principle as the wooden puppet's mechanism—there is a force of wisdom causing the mechanism to operate and perform various tasks. The operation of the physical body's mechanism relies on the power of the ālayavijñāna, enabling the physical body to perform all sorts of tasks; all these tasks are the activities of the five aggregates, including all bodily, verbal, and mental actions. "Karma" here refers to karmic activity, not to worldly entrepreneurship or career. Whatever the five aggregates engage in is called "activity."

As for the ṛṣis with superknowledges, gandharvas, nāgas, spirits, humans, devas, asuras, and so forth—the various tasks performed by beings of the various destinies all depend on the ālayavijñāna to exist. The ālayavijñāna can produce the physical body, just like a mechanism that performs work; this work is the operation itself, just like the work of a robot or a washing machine—press a button and it starts running.