What is the Meaning of Avyākṛta?

Non-definitive mental formations are those that belong neither to wholesome nor unwholesome karma. These mental formations cannot be recorded as wholesome karma nor as unwholesome karma. For example, all mental formations of the eighth consciousness cannot be categorized as wholesome or unwholesome karma. Whatever mental formations the eighth consciousness may have, they are not stored as karmic seeds and bear no karmic retribution.

Then, can the mental formations of the manas be stored as karmic seeds, resulting in wholesome or unwholesome retribution? The Śūraṅgama Sūtra states that in the immeasurable past kalpas, the living being consisted only of two consciousnesses: the eighth consciousness and the manas. Although the manas possesses ignorance as well as wholesome and unwholesome mental factors, its mental formations cannot manifest. It cannot create karmic actions by itself, has no karmic seeds, and thus bears no karmic retribution whatsoever—neither wholesome nor unwholesome.

It was only when the eighth consciousness, due to the manas’ outward grasping, gave rise to the material world and the body of the six consciousnesses with its five aggregates that karmic actions began. The eighth consciousness then started to record karmic actions, storing them as karmic seeds, and the five-aggregate body began to experience wholesome and unwholesome retributions. However, these karmic actions of the six consciousnesses are entirely directed and influenced by the ignorance and wholesome/unwholesome mental formations of the manas. Although the manas itself possesses wholesome and unwholesome mental formations and can direct the six consciousnesses to create wholesome and unwholesome karma, it itself cannot create any karmic actions. Therefore, it is designated as non-definitive. Although non-definitive, it possesses wholesome and unwholesome mental factors and can prompt the six consciousnesses to create wholesome and unwholesome karma.

All mental formations of the six consciousnesses belong to karmic actions, are stored as karmic seeds, and bear karmic retribution. This includes wholesome mental formations, unwholesome mental formations, and mental formations that are neither wholesome nor unwholesome. All mental formations of the manas during the sleep of the five aggregates at night are not stored as karmic seeds and bear no retribution. Even if one dreams after falling asleep and creates wholesome or unwholesome karma within the dream, it is not stored as karmic seeds and bears no retribution. However, the mental formations of the manas can influence the behavior of the six consciousnesses. They are the dominant and primary factor in wholesome and unwholesome karma, the master that creates karma. Therefore, it is truly the manas that experiences the retribution. Superficially, it appears that the six consciousnesses experience the retribution, but in essence, it is the manas that experiences it. The six consciousnesses can cease, can be replaced with new ones, and even in the absence of the six consciousnesses, such as during sleep, death, the state of no-thought concentration, unconsciousness, or the state of cessation concentration, it is the manas alone that experiences the retribution.