Patriarch Bodhidharma's Teaching on the Three Conditions for Entering the Path

The method of Chan practice taught by Patriarch Bodhidharma: "Outwardly cease all conditions, inwardly the mind has no panting, the mind like a wall—thus one may enter the Path." The first three phrases are the conditions and method, and the last is the goal and result; without the three sufficient and necessary conditions preceding it, there would be no such result. Whenever one's practice does not quite accord with the conditions for entering the Path that Patriarch Bodhidharma described, and deviates considerably from these three conditions, it must be mixed with the sentiments and intellectual interpretations of the mind consciousness; the awakening will then be untrue, the seeing of the Path will be deviated—like viewing flowers through fog, dim and hazy, with true wisdom not manifesting—and one's progress on the Path will mark time in place. "Outwardly cease all conditions": when applying effort in Chan investigation, one must screen out all the conditions of the six sense objects outside the mind, so that the mind does not attach to the marks of the six sense objects and is not turned by the realms of the six sense objects. Seeing mountains as not mountains, seeing waters as not waters, without discriminating the marks of mountains and waters, the mind will not dwell on mountains and waters, and will not dwell on worldly conditioned dharmas. "Inwardly the mind has no panting": within the mind there should likewise be no various cravings and afflictions, no various thoughts and notions, no emotional moods.

"The mind like a wall": in the process of investigating Chan, cultivate the mind to be calm and tranquil, tight and airtight like a wall, so that outer sense objects cannot enter and the eight winds cannot invade; inner scattered thoughts do not arise, there is no vexation or affliction, meditative concentration is like a mountain, and no state can subdue it.

In the process of investigation there is no language, writing, or sound—this corresponds to the sustained examination (vicāra) that is the later stage of Chan investigation, like a cat stalking a mouse, quietly watching for the opportunity, waiting to act, awaiting the appearance of the object of investigation, then seizing it in one grab, whereupon one can enjoy the fruits of victory. The state of applying effort that Patriarch Bodhidharma described is not a purely thought-free state of meditative concentration. The mind consciousness indeed has no thoughts in it, but the manas is deeply deliberating (manana), the questioning doubt is at its thickest, the deliberation at its heaviest; thought after thought is doubt, thought after thought does not relax, thought after thought is the Path, with no worldly thoughts, relentlessly pursuing the object of investigation, single-mindedly determined to clarify the root of birth-and-death from beginningless kalpas.

Only when the effort reaches this level can one realize the Path and enter the Path—this is called the manas's personal realization. From then on, the wisdom of subsequent attainment and the differentiated wisdom can gradually arise; one can observe in present manifestation the eighth consciousness operating within the five-aggregate body, and can observe in present manifestation the unconditioned nature and the conditioned nature of the eighth consciousness. Since the seventh consciousness can then learn both the unconditioned mind-nature of the eighth consciousness and the conditioned mind-nature of the eighth consciousness. If one relies on the mind consciousness's understanding, one can only imagine the unconditioned nature of the eighth consciousness, cannot observe its conditioned nature, nor can one observe in present manifestation exactly how the eighth consciousness is unconditioned, and the wisdom of observation cannot appear.

All who enter the Path through profound meditative concentration have personally investigated with the manas and personally realized it—only then is it called personal realization; otherwise it is all realization by the mind consciousness, and to speak of "personal realization" would be superfluous. The meditative concentrations capable of entering the Path are preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) and the first dhyāna; moreover, it must be a fully accomplished preparatory concentration. If the preparatory concentration is not fully accomplished, the awakening to the Path will be shallow; with the first dhyāna it is even better, and the awakening will be deep and thorough.