The Fullness of Sīla, Samādhi, and Paññā Leads to the Bucket's Bottom Falling Away

In the past, when Chan practitioners meditated until they realized the eighth consciousness and attained enlightenment, it was described as "the bottom of the bucket falling out." What is this bucket? In the Shurangama Sutra, the Buddha metaphorically likened the human body to a barrel of flesh, shaped like a bucket. Sentient beings mistake this barrel of flesh as their true self, believing it to a real, imperishable "I."

When Chan practitioners realize the eighth consciousness, they understand that the eighth consciousness is genuine, eternal, and indestructible—the true self. The five aggregates body is merely an illusory shell manifested by the eighth consciousness, neither real nor the self, yet not different from the true self of the eighth consciousness. Thus, they cease to identify the five aggregates as the self, renounce the five aggregates body—this barrel of flesh—and shed the heavy burden of the aggregates. At this moment, both body and mind become empty, and they experience incomparable lightness and ease, which is metaphorically described as "the bottom of the bucket falling out."

The prerequisite for "the bottom of the bucket falling out" is the complete cultivation of precepts, concentration, and wisdom, the accumulation of sufficient merit, the fulfillment of the six perfections of a bodhisattva, and the readiness of the provisions for entering the path. Only when causes and conditions mature can the bottom of the bucket fall out. At this stage, one simultaneously attains the first fruit of the Hinayana path, severs the three fetters, and will never fall into the three evil realms.

This is because the first fruit of the Hinayana entails realizing the suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self of the five aggregates and eighteen elements. Upon realizing the eighth consciousness, one also understands that the five aggregates and eighteen elements are not the self—they are illusory, empty, and unreal. Therefore, attaining the Mahayana fruit simultaneously results in attaining the Hinayana fruit, but attaining the Hinayana fruit does not necessarily lead to attaining the Mahayana fruit. This illustrates how the Mahayana path encompasses the Hinayana teachings.