Bīja

Various schools of Buddhist thought held that karmic effects arose out of seeds that were latent in an individual's mindstream or psycho-physical continuum.

[1] Rupert Gethin describes the theory thus: When I perform an action motivated by greed, it plants a 'seed' in the series of dharmas [phenomena] that is my mind.

In the course of time this modification matures and issues in a particular result, in the same way as a seed does not produce its fruit immediately, but only after the 'modifications' of the shoot, stem, leaf, and flower.

[3] The Sautrantika Sthavira Srilata held a conception of "subsidiary element" (anudhatu or *purvanudhatu) which also corresponds to this theory of seeds.

[1] The seed theory was defended by the Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu in his Abhidharmakosha who mentions that is the view of the “old teachers” (purvacarya).

In some tantric traditions, the Bija of the 'Varnamala' (Sanskrit; English: "garland of letters"; which may be rendered as alphabet) are understood as aniconic representations and sound embodiments of the matrikas (a group of goddesses).

Elkin cites what he in his professional opinion is evidence that traders from Indonesia brought fleeting contact of Buddhism and Hinduism to areas near modern-day Dampier.