When the dharma of arising and ceasing is seen through to the end, it is the unarisen, neither-arising-nor-ceasing dharma, tathāgatagarbha.

All dharmas are divided into conventional truth and ultimate truth. Conventional truth can be observed from the aspect of marks; these marks are illusorily projected, transformed false appearances, possessing extremely many illusory functions. Although they have functions on the level of surface phenomena, they are still unreal and false. For example, the five aggregates of sentient beings: the aggregate of form has its illusory functions, which is undeniable; yet although it has functions, it is still conditioned dharma subject to arising and ceasing, not true dharma—it cannot be taken as real, and one must not cling to it. The aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of volitional formations, and the aggregate of consciousness are all like this: they have undeniable illusory functions, yet are equally unreal and illusorily transformed.

These illusorily transformed false appearances are merely aggregated together by various conditions—dependent origination and emptiness by nature (pratītyasamutpāda-śūnyatā). Who aggregated them together? It is the tathāgatagarbha that aggregated them. In accordance with the karmic seeds of sentient beings, the tathāgatagarbha uses the seeds of the four great elements and the seeds of the six great elements to aggregate all the dharmas of the five-aggregate world; on the surface, of course, they all appear subject to arising and ceasing. But in essence, these arising-and-ceasing dharmas are all created from the materials within the tathāgatagarbha; their essence all belongs to the tathāgatagarbha, and not a single one of them falls outside the tathāgatagarbha. Therefore, from the perspective of essence, all arising-and-ceasing dharmas are in fact the non-arising, non-ceasing tathāgatagarbha, and by relying on the tathāgatagarbha they do not arise or cease, because the seeds of the six great elements that form these arising-and-ceasing dharmas do not arise or cease and can forever transform and fabricate these arising-and-ceasing dharmas. Thus, ultimately, arising-and-ceasing dharmas are also non-arising and non-ceasing.