The Six Unconditioned Dharmas

The first is unconditioned emptiness (ākāśa-nirvāṇa). This means that the mental activities are like empty space, doing nothing, pure and clean, with not a single dharma to confront, not a single dharma to discriminate; the capacity of the mind is vast, able to contain all things, containing all things yet not discriminating among them, and this neither affects its capacity nor the capacity of the mind; suchness is immovable (tathatā-acalita), allowing the myriad phenomena to unfold, arising and ceasing, coming and going, while one's own mind is not stirred in the slightest. Such unconditionedness refers to the eternal unconditionedness of the tathāgatagarbha. However, through cultivation, the consciousness of the seventh and sixth consciousnesses can ultimately also accomplish such unconditionedness; at that point, cultivation is ultimately and thoroughly complete.

The second is unconditionedness through discriminating 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 the conditioned dharmas, and the mind-ground becomes pure and unconditioned, with the mind being empty, signless, and wishless. This unconditioned dharma arises after some selection and discrimination has been made, choosing not to create 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, as this unconditioned dharma, have the mental activity of discriminating cessation? The tathāgatagarbha has no discriminating nature toward worldly dharmas, and thus does not make selections among them; He only discriminates seeds, having 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 birth 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, as if it were an automated program—this is a manifestation of great wisdom. When great wisdom has reached its limit, it is like a fixed program, with no change in mental activity, wisdom neither increasing nor decreasing, mental activity neither increasing nor decreasing. The tathāgatagarbha also cognizes the mental activities of the seventh consciousness, and makes some selection regarding the mental activities of the seventh consciousness: when conditions permit, He accords with them; when there are no causes, conditions, and seeds, He does not accord with them, and at such times the seventh consciousness cannot have its 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 discriminating cessation.

The third is unconditionedness through non-discriminating cessation (apratisaṃkhyā-nirodha). In summary, the tathāgatagarbha possesses the nature of unconditionedness through non-discriminating cessation; the tathāgatagarbha's unconditionedness does not appear through discriminating cessation, but is unconditioned from the very beginning; His mental activities neither increase nor decrease, and no matter what, He will not 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, the mind-ground becomes ever purer and more unconditioned, forming wholesome, pure habitual tendencies, to the point where, without needing to make selections, they can be unconditioned with the cessation of mental activity.

The fourth is unconditioned immovability (āniñjya). This unconditionedness is divided into two kinds: one refers to the unconditioned nature of the tathāgatagarbha's mind not being turned or moved by the various dharmas, suchness being immovable; the other refers to the unconditioned nature of the deluded mind of the seventh consciousness not being turned or moved by the realms of the six sense objects, usually referring to the state of motionlessness of body and mind attained when meditative concentration reaches the fourth dhyāna.

The fifth is unconditionedness through the cessation of perception and feeling (saṃjñā-veditā-nirodha). This refers to the extremely pure unconditioned nature of the mind-ground in the cessation attainment (nirodha-samāpatti), where the six consciousnesses have ceased, and the manas has further extinguished the two mental factors of perception and feeling, having no perception and no feeling toward the realm of mental sense objects.

The sixth is tathatā unconditionedness (tathatā-nirvāṇa). This refers to the fact that tathatā is completely unconditioned with respect to the mundane world, suchness is immovable, without any mental activity. Because He lacks the nature of seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing that the seventh consciousness has, 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.