Only When Sila, Samadhi, and Prajna Are Fully Attained Can the "Bottom of the Bucket" Fall Off

In the past, when Chan practitioners engaged in meditation reached the point of realizing the eighth consciousness and attaining enlightenment, it was described as "the bottom of the bucket falling off." What is this bucket? In the Shurangama Sutra, the Buddha metaphorically likened the human body to a "flesh bucket," shaped just like a bucket. Sentient beings mistakenly take this flesh bucket as themselves, believing it to be a real, permanent self.

When the Chan practitioner realizes the eighth consciousness, they come to understand that the eighth consciousness is real, eternal, and indestructible—it is the true self. The body of the five aggregates is merely an illusory shell manifested by the eighth consciousness; it is neither real nor the self, yet it is not separate from the self that is the eighth consciousness. Thus, they cease to identify the five aggregates as the self, renouncing the flesh bucket of the five-aggregate body and shedding the heavy burden of the aggregates. At this moment, both body and mind become empty, and they experience incomparable lightness and ease—this is metaphorically described as "the bottom of the bucket falling off."

The prerequisite for the bottom of the bucket to fall off is that one must have fully cultivated precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom; merit and virtue must be complete; the six paramitas of a bodhisattva must have been practiced; and the provisions for entering the path must be fully prepared. Only when the time and conditions are ripe can the bottom of the bucket fall off. At this point, one simultaneously attains the first fruit of the Hinayana path, severs the three fetters, and will never again fall into the three lower realms.

This is because the first fruit of the Hinayana path involves realizing the suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self of the five aggregates and eighteen elements. Upon realizing the eighth consciousness, one also comes to know that the five aggregates and eighteen elements are not the self—they are false, illusory, 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 the principle that the Mahayana teaching encompasses the Hinayana teaching.