Bodhidharma on the Three Conditions for Entering the Path

The Patriarch Bodhidharma taught the method of Chan practice: "Externally cease all conditions; inwardly the mind does not pant; the mind like a wall—thus one may enter the Path." The first three phrases are the conditions and method, and the last is the goal and result; without the three sufficient and necessary conditions, there is no such result. Whatever in one's practice does not quite accord with the conditions for entering the Path taught by Patriarch Bodhidharma, and deviates considerably from these three conditions, must be adulterated with the emotional sentiments and intellectual interpretations of the mind consciousness; the realization will then be untrue, the seeing of the Path will be off-kilter, like viewing flowers through fog, hazy and indistinct—true wisdom will not manifest, and one's progress on the Path will mark time in place. "Externally cease all conditions": when applying effort in investigating Chan, one must screen out all the conditions of the six sense objects outside the mind; the mind does not attach to the marks of the six sense objects, is not turned by the realms of the six sense objects—seeing mountains as not mountains, seeing waters as not waters, not discriminating the marks of mountains and waters—then the mind does not abide on mountains and waters, does not abide on worldly conditioned dharmas. "Inwardly the mind does not pant": within the mind there should likewise be no various cravings and afflictions, no various thoughts and notions, no emotional moods.

"The mind like a wall": in the process of investigating Chan, cultivate the mind to be calm and tranquil, tight and sealed, airtight like a wall—external sense objects do not enter, the eight winds cannot invade, no scattered thoughts arise within, no afflictions or distress, meditative concentration firm as a mountain, and no realm of experience can subdue it.

In the process of investigation there is no language, writing, or sound; this corresponds to the subsequent stage of investigation (vicāra) in Chan practice—like a cat stalking a mouse, quietly watching for the opportunity, waiting for the moment to act, awaiting the appearance of the object being investigated, then seizing it in one grab, whereupon one can enjoy the fruits of victory. This state of applied effort described by Patriarch Bodhidharma is not purely a meditative state of one thought not arising: the mind consciousness indeed has no thoughts in it, but the manas is deeply deliberating (manasikāra), the questioning doubt is at its thickest, the deliberation at its heaviest—thought after thought is doubt, thought after thought never slackening, thought after thought is the Path, with no worldly thoughts, relentlessly pursuing the object of investigation, single-mindedly determined to clarify the root of birth-and-death since beginningless kalpas.

Only when one's skill reaches this level can one realize the Path and enter the Path; only then is it called the personal realization of the manas. From then on, the wisdom of subsequent attainment and the differentiated wisdom can gradually arise; one can observe directly in present experience the eighth consciousness operating within the five-aggregate body, can observe directly the unconditioned nature and conditioned nature of the eighth consciousness, and the seven consciousnesses can learn both the unconditioned mind-nature of the eighth consciousness and its conditioned mind-nature. If one relies on the mind consciousness's understanding, one can only imagine the unconditioned nature of the eighth consciousness, cannot observe its conditioned nature, and cannot directly observe how exactly the eighth consciousness is unconditioned; the wisdom of observation then cannot appear.

Whoever enters the Path through profound meditative concentration has personally investigated with the manas and personally realized it—only then is it called personal realization; otherwise it is all realization by the mind consciousness, and saying "personal realization" would be superfluous. The meditative concentrations capable of entering the Path include preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) and the first dhyāna; moreover, it must be a complete preparatory concentration—if the preparatory concentration is not complete, the enlightenment will be shallow; with the first dhyāna it is even better, and the enlightenment will be deep and thorough.