What fruits of Hīnayāna do the Mirage Contemplation and the Dream Contemplation respectively correspond to?

Question: To which fruits of the Small Vehicle do the mirage contemplation and the dream-like contemplation respectively correspond?

Answer: When one cultivates to the dream-like contemplation, one has already passed the third barrier of the Chan school. The third barrier corresponds to the third fruit of the Small Vehicle (anāgāmin), where the two afflictions of greed/desire and hatred/ill-will have been eradicated within the meditative concentration of the first dhyāna. After the dream-like contemplation, one enters the first bhūmi and becomes a first-bhūmi bodhisattva, possessing the seed-wisdom (bīja-jñāna) of Yogācāra.

When one cultivates to the mirage contemplation, it corresponds to the second fruit or the third fruit of the Small Vehicle, realizing that any mental state arising from oneself or others is as unreal as the misty phantoms of water vapor over a sandy beach, because at this point one can directly perceive (in direct perception) how the tathāgatagarbha, like a painter splashing ink, conjures up illusory transformations of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses; the creations of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are so unreal, seeming to exist yet not exist.

Every kind of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) requires meditative concentration; only by practicing contemplation within meditative concentration can one realize the Dharma and pass through each barrier—otherwise, not a single barrier can be passed. When realizing the third fruit and eradicating afflictions, one must have the meditative concentration of the first dhyāna; after the third barrier, one must have the first dhyāna. Before the second barrier and before the second fruit, one must have preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi); without preparatory concentration, no Dharma can be realized—one can only gain some intellectual understanding, which is superficial and without real effect.