Six Asaṃskṛta Dharmas

The first is the Non-Action of the Void. This means that mental activity is like the void, acting without deliberate effort, utterly pure and clear, with no dharmas (phenomena) to grasp or cling to, and none to differentiate. The mind's capacity is vast, able to encompass all things. While encompassing all things, it does not differentiate them, nor is its capacity or mental scope affected. Unmoving like the void itself, it allows all phenomena to arise, function, cease, and depart freely, while the fundamental mind remains utterly undisturbed. Such non-action refers to the eternal non-action of the Tathagatagarbha (Buddha-nature). However, through cultivation, the seventh consciousness can ultimately also achieve such non-action. At this point, the practice is completely and perfectly fulfilled.

The second is the Non-Action of Selective Cessation. This means that when the sixth and seventh consciousnesses interact with dharmas, after engaging in a process of wise discrimination, they cease a portion of conditioned dharmas, resulting in a mind that is pure and non-active, characterized by emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness. This type of non-action arises through discrimination and selection, by choosing not to create certain dharmas. It is non-action emerging from non-existence, non-action characterized by arising and ceasing, non-action that can increase or decrease. It is not the innate, unchanging non-action of the Tathagatagarbha.

So, does the Tathagatagarbha possess mental activity involving selective cessation? The Tathagatagarbha has no discriminatory nature towards worldly dharmas and thus does not engage in selection or rejection. It only differentiates seeds; it differentiates whether seeds are mature or not, and whether they need to manifest. Only after this differentiation does it select whether to give rise to dharmas. The Tathagatagarbha's selection is not deliberative like that of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses; rather, it makes choices extremely swiftly, almost without process, like an automated program. This is the manifestation of great wisdom. When immense wisdom reaches its ultimate limit, it is like a fixed program, with no fluctuation in mental activity. Wisdom neither increases nor decreases; mental activity neither increases nor decreases. The Tathagatagarbha also cognizes the mental activities of the seven consciousnesses and makes selections regarding them. It accommodates them when possible, but when causes, conditions, and seeds are absent, it does not accommodate them, and thus the seven consciousnesses cannot have their way. Although the Tathagatagarbha makes selections, it does not extinguish any dharmas. Because it is devoid of a discriminating mind, it does not extinguish any of its own mental activities. Therefore, the Tathagatagarbha does not possess the Non-Action of Selective Cessation.

The third is the Non-Action of Non-Selective Cessation. As summarized above, the Tathagatagarbha possesses the characteristic of Non-Selective Cessation. The non-action of the Tathagatagarbha does not arise through selective cessation; it is inherently non-active. Its mental activity neither increases nor decreases; it will never extinguish any conditioned mental activity, nor will it add any. However, through cultivation, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses continuously increase in meditative concentration (samadhi) and wisdom. Their minds become increasingly pure and non-active, forming wholesome and pure habits, to the extent that without needing deliberate selection, their mental activity ceases, achieving non-action.

The fourth is the Non-Action of Immovability. This non-action is of two kinds. One refers to the Tathagatagarbha's non-active nature of immovability and unwaveringness towards all dharmas. The other refers to the non-active nature where the deluded seventh consciousness remains unmoving towards the objects of the six senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, thought). This usually refers to the state attained in the Fourth Dhyāna (meditative absorption), where body and mind are immovable.

The fifth is the Non-Action of the Cessation of Perception and Feeling. This refers to the non-active state in the Cessation of Perception and Feeling Samādhi (nirodha-samāpatti), where the six consciousnesses cease, the manas (seventh consciousness) further ceases the two mental factors of perception (saṃjñā) and feeling (vedanā), resulting in a mind utterly pure, non-active, without perception or feeling towards objects of the mental sense (dharmas).

The sixth is the Non-Action of Suchness (Tathatā). This refers to Suchness being completely non-active towards the mundane world, unmoving like the void, without any mental activity whatsoever. Because it lacks the knowing, hearing, perceiving, and cognizing nature of the seven consciousnesses, it does not differentiate the mundane world, does not know the mundane world, does not know dharmas, and has no attachment to or aversion towards any dharmas. Its fundamental nature is purely non-active.