All Sages and Saints Are Distinguished by the Unconditioned Dharma

Question: How should we understand the statement in the Diamond Sutra that "all sages and saints differ by means of the unconditioned dharma"?

Answer: The unconditioned state of arhats and pratyekabuddhas is to extinguish the body of the five aggregates, extinguishing all activities of the five aggregates, engaging in not the slightest undertaking to benefit and bring joy to sentient beings, and having no wish to continue cultivating the Buddha path. While living in the human world, they mostly abide in meditative concentration, involve themselves little in worldly affairs, and their minds do not attach to states. The unconditioned state of bodhisattvas, however, is to realize the eighth consciousness, the mind that is unconditioned, and relying on the unconditioned nature of the eighth consciousness, they engage in the conditioned activities of studying the Buddha's teachings and benefiting sentient beings—both cultivating merit through conditioned action and, at the same time, minimizing conditioned nature, until finally they carry out the conditioned undertakings of Buddhism with the unconditioned nature of the mind, mingling within the three realms without attaching to the dharmas of the three realms. Arhats and pratyekabuddhas are far from being able to match this kind of unconditioned state. This is the meaning of "all sages and saints differ by means of the unconditioned dharma": their mental activities differ—one seeks liberation from suffering for oneself alone, while the other seeks liberation from suffering for both oneself and sentient beings, so that both oneself and sentient beings may attain buddhahood.