The Third Gate of Chan Buddhism

When there is no dreaming, the six consciousnesses do not exist; only the manas and the eighth consciousness remain. When there is no thought, the six consciousnesses are also absent; only the manas and the eighth consciousness are operating together, while the mind consciousness is without awareness or cognition—there is no mind consciousness. Even if there were a mind consciousness, without profound wisdom it would not know exactly how the manas and the eighth consciousness operate together.

Then, after enlightenment, in order to pass through the third gate of Chan—the impenetrable barrier of birth and death—and attain liberation, gaining the ability to transcend the three realms, the mind consciousness must possess great wisdom and be able to observe directly and truthfully the harmonious operation of the manas and the eighth consciousness, thereby breaking through the impenetrable barrier of birth and death. That requires, after attaining enlightenment and cultivating the first dhyāna, and after passing through mirage contemplation, to investigate the koan of the third gate. When investigating this koan, the mind consciousness must still investigate together with the manas; and of course the eighth consciousness must also participate, otherwise the sixth and seventh consciousnesses would cease and could not function.

Then why is it that investigating and realizing the true reality of how the eighth consciousness operates together with the manas when there is no dreaming and no thought enables one to break through the impenetrable barrier and attain liberation? If, upon reaching the third gate of Chan, one has not yet realized the manas and can only observe very roughly a little of how the manas operates, then one cannot investigate the koan of the third gate, cannot break through the impenetrable barrier, cannot transcend the cycle of birth and death, and cannot attain liberation. At this point, the self-validating cognition (sva-saṃvitti-saṃvitti-bhāga) of the manas will necessarily become even stronger. When the manas has self-knowledge, it will necessarily eliminate attachments—not only will it no longer cling to the five aggregates and the six consciousnesses, it will not cling to itself, nor to the eighth consciousness. If it still clung to the eighth consciousness, it could not transcend the three realms and attain liberation.

The more dharmas the manas realizes, and the deeper they are, the greater the merit of liberation. If it realizes the true reality of even the most subtle dharmas, it can sever all subtle attachments to dharmas, attain great liberation and ultimate liberation, accomplish the Buddha Way, and from then on need cultivate no more. So in our cultivation, we must be absolutely clear in our minds about what is most important; we must not be muddled.

The Small Vehicle does not realize the eighth consciousness, so of course it does not cling to the eighth consciousness, and there is no need to pass through the third gate of Chan—no gate at all needs to be passed. As long as one completely realizes that the five aggregates are without self, one can sever attachment to self, attain liberation, and transcend the three realms. Some people insist that the manas of ordinary sentient beings all clings to the eighth consciousness as self. Just think how serious this misunderstanding is. If the manas of an ordinary being knew of the eighth consciousness, would that being still be an ordinary being? Without knowing the eighth consciousness, how could one cling to it? The Buddha, on the contrary, would wish that all ordinary sentient beings could cling to the eighth consciousness, for then they would not cling to the body of the five aggregates, and there would be no segmented birth-and-death.