How did John Locke explain the tabula rasa view of the mind?

In his seminal work, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke utilized the concept of tabula rasa to argue against the doctrine of innate ideas, which suggested that humans are born with pre-existing knowledge of moral, logical, or religious truths.12

Locke famously described the mind’s initial state as "white paper, void of all characters," asserting that all materials of reason and knowledge are derived from experience. He identified two primary sources for these materials, which he called "ideas":1

• Sense experience: The mind receives simple ideas through the senses, such as the color of a rose or the taste of salt.23
• Reflection: The mind’s internal awareness of its own operations, such as thinking, feeling, or perceiving.12

Locke did not argue that the mind is literally empty, as he acknowledged an innate capacity for reflection and the ability to combine simple ideas into complex ones. By rejecting innate knowledge, Locke emphasized that human understanding is built entirely upon the foundation of sensory input and the mind's subsequent processing of that information.123