When the mind is like a wall, one can enter the Path

Answer: This dream was a state of investigating Chan within meditative concentration, possessing both concentration and wisdom, with śamatha and vipaśyanā operating together. You cultivated this kind of meditative concentration in past lives—it was preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi). Your manas experienced it in a previous life and has a memory of it; now your mind yearns for it and wants to experience this state of meditative concentration again. But your present life is rather busy, and the conditions for cultivating concentration are not complete, so the manas has no choice but to dream, enjoying in the dream the bliss of meditative concentration and Chan investigation. It seems the manas is quite pitiable and helpless—modern society is so chaotic that one cannot even shut out the clamor of life to cultivate the Path single-mindedly.

In the dream, the mind consciousness was in a lucid state of no-thought, bright and clear, without thoughts—it should have been in preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi)—while the manas was actively engaged in the state of investigating the meaning of the Dharma, deliberating (manana) on the Buddha's teachings. Only by such deliberation on the Dharma can the fundamental problem be solved and the Path be realized. Investigating Chan is precisely this state: without a single distracting thought in the mind, external objects do not enter the mind, and the mind remains immovable in its suchness like a wall of bronze and iron. When Patriarch Bodhidharma said that a mind like a wall can enter the Path, this is exactly what he meant. If your meditative concentration and contemplation cannot reach this level, do not expect to realize the Path.

This state of deliberation and investigation by the manas can only arise and be sustained continuously under conditions of extreme quietness; only then can one investigate the profound and extremely subtle principles of the Dharma. Therefore, a true practitioner will cut off all external conditions, in absolute solitude and loneliness, alone without companions. Cultivating the Path is a great undertaking done by a solitary person; it cannot be accomplished amid noise and bustle in company. Those who cannot endure loneliness cannot walk the correct path of cultivation. Meditative concentration can subdue and eliminate afflictions, and can bring tranquility, joy, and happiness—nothing brings more happiness than cultivating the Path. Therefore, those who possess meditative concentration do not delight in worldly dharmas; their minds do not cling to the world, they do not pursue wealth, sensuality, fame, food, sleep, or gain and repute, and they do not crave power and status. Being greedy for worldly dharmas is truly unwise conduct.

Some people say that as long as one can contemplate the meaning of the Dharma without distracting thoughts for a dozen or so minutes, one can attain realization and see one's true mind. Such a claim is simply absurd. With only such a short time of contemplating the Dharma, it is utterly impossible to contemplate it in any deep and subtle way, and it is also impossible to cultivate to the state of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā in Chan investigation. It is like boiling a large pot of water, which requires an hour: if you boil it for five or ten minutes and then turn off the fire, and continue boiling it the next day, even boiling it this way for ten years will not bring the water to a boil. Treating the Buddha's Dharma as child's play in this way brings a karmic retribution that is quite unwholesome. If the Dharma were this easy to cultivate and realize, how could there be so many beings in the three evil destinies? People of the world all love to take shortcuts, yet the result of taking shortcuts is that they harm themselves. You reap what you sow: if you wish to achieve anything, you must relinquish body and mind and be willing to put in real effort.