The Unconditioned Dharmas in the Gateway of the Hundred Dharmas

The Treatise on the Hundred Dharmas elucidates six types of unconditioned dharmas, encompassing both the inherently unconditioned nature of the true mind, Tathagatagarbha, and the unconditioned state cultivated through the seven consciousnesses of the deluded mind, thus encompassing both the true and the false. The unconditioned state of voidness refers to the Tathagatagarbha's fundamental essence, which remains as still as the void while functioning through all dharmas, embodying the nature of the unconditioned. Tathagatagarbha is eternally unmoving; regardless of the circumstances encountered, it never stirs in thought, and its intrinsic nature is unconditioned. The unconditioned state of Suchness refers to the unconditioned nature of Tathagatagarbha, and non-selective cessation also points to the unconditioned nature of Tathagatagarbha. The unconditioned state of immobility refers to the state achieved when the seven consciousnesses cultivate to the level of the four dhyanas, where the mind ceases stirring in thought, thus becoming unconditioned, and the body ceases breathing, pulsing, and heartbeating, also becoming unconditioned and immobile. When both body and mind are unconditioned, it is called the unconditioned state of immobility. Selective cessation and the cessation of perception and feeling both refer to the unconditioned state of the seven consciousnesses. Within the state of cessation (nirodha-samapatti), the mental faculty (manas) is devoid of perception and feeling, retaining only mental attention, contact, and volition, with most mental activities becoming unconditioned.

In reality, Tathagatagarbha is inherently an unconditioned dharma, with an unconditioned intrinsic nature, yet this does not hinder its conditioned functionality in serving sentient beings and the five aggregates. Amidst conditioned functions, its intrinsic nature remains resolutely unconditioned. Is there any dharma surpassing the unconditioned nature of Tathagatagarbha? There is none. The seven consciousnesses can never be more unconditioned than Tathagatagarbha, and the five aggregates can never be more unconditioned than Tathagatagarbha. There exists no dharma more unconditioned than Tathagatagarbha. Only when the seven consciousnesses are cultivated to a considerable degree can they gradually become unconditioned, yet this subsequently cultivated unconditioned state is a dharma subject to arising and ceasing.