The Most Correct and Fundamental Path of Practice

Arhats and pratyekabuddha-buddhas have let go of all worldly dharmas of the three realms; no matter how thoroughly they let go, they still have not awakened to the self-natured pure mind. In the four postures of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, they never give rise to thoughts. When the eye sees form, the eye consciousness makes contact with the form and stops there, not proceeding further; they no longer produce bodily, verbal, and mental actions such as feeling and perception, much less discriminate that form or give rise to mental activity. The other faculties are the same as well. When the six faculties encounter the six sense objects, they merely touch and then withdraw, maintaining the purity of the mind. Who could have more cultivation than they? Yet they can only attain the nirvāṇa of the small vehicle. The bodhisattvas, however, do not fear the realms of the six sense objects, for they clearly understand that the six sense objects are all illusory appearances transformed by one's own mind, and they do not grasp at them at all. When the six sense objects are needed, they use them as usual, yet the six sense objects cannot invade or disturb the bodhisattva's mind in the slightest.

Therefore, if one wishes to awaken to the Way and ultimately become a Buddha, one must cultivate the bodhisattva's dharma. By cultivating the bodhisattva's six pāramitās, possessing merit, upholding the precepts, diligently cultivating prajñā wisdom, and having the corresponding power of meditative concentration to investigate the huatou, one can awaken to that mind—this is the most correct and fundamental practice.

The meaning of "one hundred feet up the pole" is that one is still on the pole, at the very top of worldly dharmas; this is falling into an emptiness of having nothing at all, which is still not ultimate. One must go further to find the substantial thing behind the world of the five aggregates, that which can support and bring forth the illusory existence of the world of the five aggregates. Some people have no thoughts in their minds and consider this to be emptiness, but this is not the realm of true reality; it is a state of meditative concentration. There is still a true existence—unborn and unceasing, capable of producing the myriad dharmas—which one must realize. That requires going one step further from the top of the hundred-foot pole; only then does one realize that true existing mind of emptiness (śūnyatā), falling from emptiness into existence. "Originally there is not a single thing" is being at the top of the hundred-foot pole; only later, upon awakening to the mind that "should abide nowhere," does one know that this mind is not empty and can produce the myriad dharmas. This is realizing true reality.