Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas have utterly relinquished all mundane phenomena of the Three Realms; their letting go is complete and thorough. Yet, they still have not realized the Self-Nature's Intrinsically Pure Mind. In the four dignified deportments of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, they maintain a state of non-arising thought at all times. When the eye sees form, the eye-consciousness contacts the form and stops there; it does not proceed further. It does not generate subsequent mental activities such as sensation, perception, or volition, nor any bodily, verbal, or mental actions. It does not discriminate that form, nor does it give rise to thoughts. The other five sense faculties function similarly. The six sense faculties merely contact the six dusts (sense objects) and then withdraw, maintaining the purity of the mind. Who could be more accomplished than they? Yet, they only attain the Nirvana of the Lesser Vehicle.
Bodhisattvas, however, are unafraid of the realms of the six dusts. They clearly understand that the six dusts are all illusory appearances transformed by their own minds and fundamentally do not cling to them. They still utilize the six dusts when appropriate, yet the six dusts are fundamentally unable to disturb the Bodhisattvas' minds.
Therefore, to realize the Way and ultimately attain Buddhahood, one must practice the Dharma of the Bodhisattvas. By cultivating the Six Paramitas of the Bodhisattvas, accumulating merit and virtue, upholding precepts, diligently cultivating Prajna Wisdom, and possessing the corresponding meditative power to investigate the Hua Tou (critical phrase), one can realize that Mind. This is the most orthodox and fundamental practice.
The phrase "atop a hundred-foot pole" signifies still being on the pole, at the pinnacle of worldly phenomena. This is landing on an emptiness of nothing whatsoever, which is still not ultimate. One must further find the substantial essence behind the Five Aggregates (Skandhas) of the mundane world – that which supports and reveals the illusory existence of the Five Aggregates. Some people, having no thoughts arising within their minds, consider this to be emptiness. This is not the True Reality (Bhūtatathatā) realm; it is a state of meditative concentration (Samādhi). There is still a real existence, unborn and unceasing, capable of producing all dharmas; one must realize and verify It. Thus, one needs to go one step further from the top of the hundred-foot pole. Only then does one realize that truly existent Mind of Emptiness Nature (Śūnyatā), thereby "falling from emptiness into existence."
"Originally not a single thing exists" describes the state at the top of the hundred-foot pole. Only later, upon realizing the Mind of Non-Abiding (Apadhāna), does one know that this Mind is not empty but capable of producing all dharmas. This is the verification of True Reality.
3
+1