How should i understand "Stored up kamma"? I'm reading the book "The Noble Eightfold Path" by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi. I'm currently reading about "Right View" and i have a question regarding an explanation by the author.

The quote can be found on p. 19. The highlight in the quote is made by me:


  "Kamma can operate across the succession of lifetimes; it can even remain dormant for aeons into the future. But whenever we perform a
  volitional action, the volition leaves its imprint on the mental continuum, where it remains as a stored up potency. When the stored up kamma meets with conditions favorable to its maturation, it awakens from its dormant state and triggers off some effect that brings due compensation for the original action."


How should "stored up potency" or "stored up kamma" be understood?
It's somewhat sloppy language... "stored up potency" doesn't really mean anything; it's a concept, the concept that certain experiences will somehow be related to other experiences. There is nothing in Theravada Buddhism, AFAIK, even hinting at karma being stored up, or of a continuum being imprinted.

So, it should probably be understood as conventional language, similar to explaining how a seed from one tree makes a new tree - the potency of the first tree is stored in the seed, creating a tree continuum. In ultimate reality, the continuum doesn't exist, nor the potency, the tree, or the seed.