The Six Unconditioned Dharmas (asaṃskṛta-dharma)

The first is unconditioned space (ākāśa-asaṃskṛta). This means that the mental activities are like empty space, doing nothing at all, pure and clean, with not a single dharma to be confronted, not a single dharma to be discriminated. The capacity of the mind is vast and great, able to contain all things; it contains all things yet does not discriminate among them, and this neither affects its capacity nor the capacity of the mind. Suchness is immovable, allowing the myriad phenomena to manifest, arising and ceasing, coming and going, while one's own mind is not stirred in the slightest. This kind of unconditionedness refers to the eternal unconditionedness of the tathāgatagarbha. However, the mind of the seven consciousnesses, through cultivation, can ultimately also accomplish such unconditionedness; at that point, cultivation is ultimately, thoroughly, and completely perfect.

The second is unconditionedness through discriminative cessation (pratisaṃkhyā-nirodha). This means that when the sixth and seventh consciousnesses engage with the various dharmas, after making a wise selection, they extinguish a portion of conditioned dharmas, and the mind-ground becomes pure and unconditioned; the mind is empty, without signs, and without wishes. This kind of unconditioned dharma arises through making selections and discriminations, choosing not to fabricate certain dharmas. It is an unconditionedness that goes from nonexistence to existence, an unconditionedness subject to arising and ceasing, an unconditionedness that can continually increase and decrease—not the innate, unchanging unconditionedness of the tathāgatagarbha.

Now, does the tathāgatagarbha, this unconditioned dharma, have the mental activity of discriminative cessation? The tathāgatagarbha has no discriminating nature toward worldly dharmas, and thus does not make selections among them; He only discriminates seeds—He has a discriminating nature regarding whether seeds have matured and whether they need to become manifest, and only after discriminating does He select whether to give rise to the various dharmas. The tathāgatagarbha's selection is not like that of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, which involve deliberation; rather, He makes the choice with extreme swiftness, with almost no process, like an automated program—this is a manifestation of great wisdom. When immense wisdom has reached its limit, it is like a fixed program, with no change in mental activity; wisdom neither increases nor decreases, and mental activity neither increases nor decreases. The tathāgatagarbha also cognizes the mental activities of the seven consciousnesses, and makes selections regarding their mental activities: when conditions allow, He accords with them; when there are no conditions and no seeds, He does not accord, and then the seven consciousnesses cannot have their way. Although the tathāgatagarbha makes selections, He does not extinguish any dharma, because He has no mind and will not extinguish any of His own mental activities; therefore the tathāgatagarbha does not possess the unconditionedness of discriminative cessation.

The third is unconditionedness through non-discriminative cessation (apratisaṃkhyā-nirodha). In summary, the tathāgatagarbha possesses the nature of unconditionedness through non-discriminative cessation; the tathāgatagarbha's unconditionedness does not appear through discriminative cessation, but is unconditioned from the very beginning. His mental activity neither increases nor decreases, and under no circumstances will He extinguish any conditioned mental activity, nor of course will He add any conditioned mental activity. As for the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, through cultivation, meditative concentration and wisdom continually increase, and the mind-ground becomes increasingly pure and unconditioned, forming wholesome, pure habitual tendencies, so that without needing to make selections, they can attain unconditionedness where mental activity ceases.

The fourth is unconditioned immovability (āniñjya-asaṃskṛta). This unconditionedness is of two kinds: one refers to the tathāgatagarbha's unconditioned nature of the mind not turning toward the various dharmas, suchness being immovable; the other refers to the unconditioned nature of the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses not turning toward the objects of the six sense-objects, usually referring to the state of body and mind being unmoving when meditative concentration is cultivated to the fourth dhyāna.

The fifth is unconditionedness through the cessation of perception and feeling (saṃjñā-vedita-nirodha). This refers to the cessation of the six consciousnesses in the cessation absorption (nirodha-samāpatti), where the manas has also extinguished the two mental factors of perception and feeling, having no perception and no feeling toward the objects of the mental sense-objects—a state of extreme purity and unconditionedness of the mind-ground.

The sixth is tathatā unconditionedness (tathatā-asaṃskṛta). This refers to tathatā being completely unconditioned with respect to the mundane world, suchness immovable, without any mental activity. Because He does not have the seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing nature of the seven consciousnesses, He does not discriminate the mundane world, does not know the mundane world, does not know the various dharmas, and has no mentality of craving or aversion toward any dharma; His mind-ground is pure unconditionedness.