What Are the Conditioned and the Unconditioned?

Conditioned action is for the sake of something, it is purposeful, it is demanding, it is seeking. Conditioned action entails seeking, demanding, fabrication, attainment, purposeful intent, mental activity, fabrication, the sense of self, and the four marks. Unconditioned action is the absence of these mental states, opposite to conditioned action.

A mind that seeks nothing is unconditioned. A mind that attains nothing is unconditioned. A mind that has no mental activity towards the three realms is unconditioned. The dharmas that are not born are unconditioned. A mind whose capacity is vast and boundless is unconditioned. A mind free from afflictions is unconditioned. A mind that has no need for the dharmas of the three realms is unconditioned. A mind that can exist without any conditions is unconditioned. A mind that does not wish to fabricate is unconditioned. A mind without self is unconditioned. A mind without the four marks is unconditioned. Conditioned actions belong to the mundane dharmas of the seven consciousnesses, while unconditioned action is the Tathāgatagarbha, the true suchness, the Buddha-nature.

Within unconditioned action, the Tathāgatagarbha selflessly serves sentient beings. While operating all dharmas of the three realms, its mind remains unconditioned. Within the unconditioned, there is the conditioned; within the conditioned, there is the unconditioned. Only when the seven consciousnesses are cultivated to a certain degree do they gradually transform from a conditioned nature to an unconditioned nature. While engaged in conditioned actions, the mind-ground remains unconditioned, gradually becoming attuned to the Tathāgatagarbha. When it becomes completely unconditioned and fully attuned, Buddhahood is attained. Only this unconditioned mind of the Tathāgatagarbha can exist apart from all dharmas. The unconditioned state of the seven consciousnesses cannot exist apart from the three realms, nor can it exist apart from the unconditioned Tathāgatagarbha. However, this unconditioned dharma, the Tathāgatagarbha, can still exist alone apart from the conditioned dharmas of the three realms, which occurs during the state of Nirvana without remainder. In Nirvana without remainder, the Tathāgatagarbha is quiescent and unconditioned, not fabricating a single dharma, utterly pure, the most supreme purity. Even when apart from conditioned dharmas, the unconditioned dharma, the Tathāgatagarbha, still exists. Therefore, the Patriarch said: "There exists a thing prior to heaven and earth, formless, fundamentally serene and still."

All dharmas depend on the mind for their existence. Since all dharmas are divided into conditioned and unconditioned aspects, the mind is likewise divided into conditioned and unconditioned types. Conditioned dharmas are conjointly transformed and produced by the conditioned seven consciousnesses and the unconditioned Tathāgatagarbha, such as all dharmas of the three realms, like bodily, verbal, and mental actions. Unconditioned dharmas are also conjointly transformed and manifested by either the conditioned or unconditioned seven consciousnesses and the unconditioned Tathāgatagarbha, such as the four dhyānas, the cessation of perception and feeling (nirodha-samāpatti), the state of no-thought (asaṃjñā-samāpatti), etc., like the attainments from the first to the fourth fruition (of Arhatship), like realizing the mind and seeing the nature (enlightenment), like the unconditioned nature of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. Only this innate unconditioned dharma, the Tathāgatagarbha, is not born or manifested by the conditioned or unconditioned seven consciousnesses, nor is it born or manifested by the Tathāgatagarbha itself. However, if it is to be manifested, it still relies on the contrast provided by the mundane conditioned dharmas of the seven consciousnesses.