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 has no 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 the third gate of the Chan school—the heavy gate 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 combined operation of the manas and the eighth consciousness, thereby breaking through the heavy gate of birth-and-death. That requires, after attaining enlightenment and cultivating the first dhyāna concentration, and after passing the contemplation of the mirage-like heat-haze, to investigate the gong'an of the third gate. When investigating this gong'an, 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 both 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 can break through the heavy gate and attain liberation? If, upon reaching the third gate of the Chan school, one still has not realized the manas and can only observe very roughly a little of the manas's operation, then one cannot investigate the gong'an of the third gate, cannot break through the heavy gate, cannot transcend the cycle of birth-and-death, and cannot attain liberation. At this point, the self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana) of the manas will necessarily become even stronger. When the manas has self-knowledge, it will necessarily abandon its attachments—not only will it no longer grasp at the five-aggregate body and the six consciousnesses, it will also not grasp at itself, nor at the eighth consciousness. If it grasped at the eighth consciousness, it still could not transcend the three realms and attain liberation.

The more dharmas the manas realizes, and the deeper those realizations, the greater the merit of liberation. If even the most subtle dharmas are realized as ultimate reality, then all subtle grasping at dharmas can be severed, attaining great liberation and ultimate liberation, accomplishing the Buddha Way, and from then on no longer needing to cultivate. Therefore, 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 naturally it does not grasp at the eighth consciousness, and thus need not pass the third gate of the Chan school—no gate at all needs to be passed. As long as one completely realizes that the five aggregates are without self, one can sever the grasping at self, attain liberation, and transcend the three realms. Some people insist that the manas of all ordinary sentient beings grasps at the eighth consciousness as self. Just think: how serious this misunderstanding is! If the manas of an ordinary person knew of the existence of the eighth consciousness, would that person still be an ordinary being? Without knowing the eighth consciousness, how could one grasp at the eighth consciousness? The Buddha, on the contrary, wishes that all ordinary sentient beings could grasp at the eighth consciousness, for then they would not grasp at the five-aggregate body, and there would be no segmented birth-and-death (pariccheda-maraṇa).