Cessation Is Bodhi

"The meaning of 'cessation is bodhi' is that the mind which rests, the mind that ceases activity, is an unconditioned mind. It does not cling to the dharmas of the three realms of worldly existence; it is without intention toward all dharmas, lacking any volition to create or act. At all times, it abides in a state of cessation and extinction, without the mental activities of the three realms. This is also called the cessation of mental activity. This mind is the eighth consciousness. However, in reality, the eighth consciousness itself still possesses conditioned activity, continuously creating all dharmas of the three realms in accordance with the seventh consciousness (manas), yet it neither grasps at its own creations nor clings to any dharmas. Within its conditioned activity, it is unconditioned at every moment and in every place.

The unconditioned nature of the eighth consciousness is manifested in its functioning spontaneously according to conditions, entering birth and death in accordance with causes and conditions, yet itself being without birth or death. It does not cling to any dharma, does not grasp at any dharma, and does not differentiate any dharma. This mental nature is called the 'resting mind' (xie xin). The resting mind is the intrinsic nature of the eighth consciousness. It is fundamentally at rest, free from mental entanglements regarding affairs, free from affairs within the mind, doing nothing, and utterly unobstructed. This is not the 'resting mind' achieved through the cultivation of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, which later becomes the unconditioned eighth consciousness. Regardless of their state, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are always within the eighth consciousness; they are manifestations of the eighth consciousness and belong to it. Therefore, the question of whether they return to the eighth consciousness or not cannot be said to arise. This means that within all dharmas, there are true dharmas and false dharmas. True dharmas are fundamentally true, and false dharmas are fundamentally false. False dharmas can never become true dharmas, no matter what."