The Most Correct Path and the Fundamental Practice

The arhats and pratyekabuddhas have let go of all worldly dharmas of the three realms; no matter how thoroughly they let go, they still have not realized the self-natured pure mind. In the four postures of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, they never give rise to thoughts. When the eyes see 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, still less do they discriminate that form or give rise to mental activity. The other faculties are the same. The six faculties merely touch the six sense objects 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, are not afraid of the realms of the six sense objects, for they clearly understand that the six sense objects are all illusory manifestations transformed by one's own mind, and they do not grasp onto them at all. When the six sense objects should be used, they use them as usual, yet the six sense objects cannot invade or disturb the bodhisattva's mind at all.

Therefore, if one wishes to realize 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, only then can one realize that mind. This is the most correct and fundamental path of practice. 

The meaning of "at the top of the hundred-foot pole" is that one is still on the pole, at the summit of worldly dharmas; this is falling into an emptiness that has nothing at all, which is still not ultimate. One still needs to go a step further and find the substantial thing behind the world of the five aggregates, that which can support and bring into prominence 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 ultimate reality; it is a state of meditative concentration, and there is still a true existence — unborn and unceasing, capable of producing all dharmas — that must be realized. That requires going one step further up from the top of the hundred-foot pole; only then does one realize that truly existent mind of emptiness (śūnyatā), passing from emptiness into existence. "Originally there is not a single thing" is being at the top of the hundred-foot pole; later, upon realizing the mind that "should abide nowhere," one then knows that this mind is not empty and can produce all dharmas — only this is the verification of ultimate reality.