The Realm of Passing Through the Final Barrier

Chan Master Huanglong has a verse that says: “春有百花秋有月，夏有凉风冬有雪，若无闲事挂心头，便是人间好时节。” This describes the state of Chan masters who have passed through the heavy pass (the final barrier). Those who have passed through the heavy pass have attained purity of mind, and their minds no longer crave or cling to the world; they live in the world without being entangled by a single affair, without lingering attachment to a single dharma, no longer grasping at their own five aggregates, nor clinging even to the true mind (tathatā) they have realized. Their minds are open and upright, retaining nothing. Although they live in the human world and still pass through the four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—there is not a single dharma in their minds that stands before their feelings: scenery is just scenery, forms are just forms, people are just people, things are just things; all dharmas each abide in their own dharma-position and have nothing to do with me. While living in the world, they eat and drink as usual, yet they do not crave or grasp at the world, because their minds have already attained liberation and are free from all constraint and attachment.