What Are the Conditioned and the Unconditioned

“为” means to do, to act for a purpose; it is aim, requirement, and seeking.

“Conditioned” (saṃskṛta) means there is seeking, there are demands, there is fabrication, there is gaining, there is pursuit, there is purpose, there is mental activity, there is fabrication, there is self, and there are the four marks. “Unconditioned” (asaṃskṛta) means being without these mental notions—the opposite of the conditioned.

A mind that seeks nothing is unconditioned; a mind that gains nothing is unconditioned; a mind with no mental activity toward the world of the three realms is unconditioned; a dharma that is not born is unconditioned; a mind whose capacity is vast and boundless is unconditioned; a mind without afflictions is unconditioned. A mind that does not need the dharmas of the three realms is unconditioned; a mind that can exist without any conditions is unconditioned; a mind that does not wish to fabricate anything is unconditioned; a mind without self is unconditioned; a mind without the four marks is unconditioned.

Within the unconditioned, the tathāgatagarbha selflessly serves sentient beings; while running all the dharmas of the three realms, its mind is nonetheless unconditioned. Within the unconditioned there is the conditioned; within the conditioned there is the unconditioned. Only when the seven consciousnesses are cultivated to a certain degree do they gradually transform from a conditioned nature into an unconditioned nature. While still centered on the conditioned, the mind is unconditioned, gradually according with the tathāgatagarbha; when it is completely unconditioned and completely in accord, one becomes a Buddha.

Only the unconditioned mind of the tathāgatagarbha can exist apart from all dharmas. The unconditioned of the seven consciousnesses cannot be separated from the dharmas of the three realms, nor from the unconditioned tathāgatagarbha. This unconditioned dharma of the tathāgatagarbha can exist independently even when apart from the conditioned dharmas of the three realms—that is, in nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa). In nirvāṇa without remainder, the tathāgatagarbha abides in quiescent unconditionedness, fabricating not a single dharma, pure and utterly most pure. Therefore, apart from conditioned dharmas, there still exists the unconditioned dharma of the tathāgatagarbha. Hence the patriarch said: 有无先天地，无形本寂寥。