  The theory of seeds in the mental stream thus provides a mode of  talking about causality that does not exclude the notions of latency  and disposition. By applying the organic imagery that is associated with  seeds and sprouting to mind and mental phenomena the  Sautrāntikas open the door for an understanding of mentation as  a dynamic and creative process. A causal account of the mental  conditioning has thus been supplemented by a dispositional account of mental states (even though ultimately these dispositions are not  really true factors of existence). Furthermore, given the association of intentional mental states with consciousness or cognitive  awareness, cognitive events are regarded as the main force sustaining and perpetuating the life cycle, even though Buddhist traditions also admit that in certain states of meditative absorption there is no  mental activity. For the Sautrāntikas it is the body with its  sense organs and various other conditioning factors that are  appropriated in consciousness, ensuring thus that some type of  mentation whether in a conscious, subliminal, or subtle mental form  (viz., dreamless sleep), is always ongoing. A debate only arises when considering the causal mechanism that permits the emergence of  consciousness from cessation.