What This Concept Is Saying
Let's first take apart the two words—
直截 (zhíjié, "direct and cut through"). "直" (zhí, "straight") means unbending, unswerving; "截" (jié, "cut off") means to sever, to halt, to arrive in a single stroke. Together, "直截" means: no detours, no lingering, no dragging things out—straight to the bottom in one go. These two characters harbor an extremely sharp choice: either you take the detour, or you cut straight through. There is no such thing as "half straight, half detour."
一路 (yīlù, "one road"). This is not "the first road," but rather an emphasis on "there is only this one road"—all the forks, the detours, the winding paths, ultimately converge on a single direction. The "one" in "一路" speaks of essential uniqueness, not a numerical "only one is permitted."
Taken together: 直截一路 (sakṛd-ekamārga, "the direct path that cuts through") is the Chan school's road of no stages, no ladders, no sequential steps—pointing directly at mind-nature, letting people see their true nature in the present moment.
This term carries enormous weight in Chan history. Chan Master Línjì Yìxuán (臨濟義玄, Linji Yixuan) frequently used "直截" to describe his approach—he criticized the fashionable practice in the Chan community of his day of circling around words, circling around subtle exchanges (機鋒, jīfēng), and circling around gōng'àn (公案, kōans), and instead advocated "直截一路，頓超直入" (the direct path, sudden transcendence and immediate entry). This path was not the exclusive doctrine of the Línjì house, but rather the very core self-definition of the entire Chan school: 教外別傳，不立文字，直指人心，見性成佛 (a special transmission outside the scriptures, no reliance on words, directly pointing at the human mind, seeing nature and becoming Buddha).
Its Place Within the Entire Path of Liberation
The entire Buddhist path of liberation, categorized by cultivation approach, can be broadly divided into two types:
- Gradual cultivation path (漸修一路, kramabhāvanā-mārga) : from observing precepts, cultivating concentration, and generating wisdom, to severing delusions and realizing fruits—there are stages, there are ladders. Like climbing stairs, one step at a time. Most of the doctrinal and scriptural approaches follow this path. - The direct path (直截一路, sakṛd-ekamārga) : no climbing through stages, no establishing sequential steps, directly striking at the foundation—and this "foundation" is mind-nature (心性, citta-svabhāva), which is the awakened nature originally inherent in all sentient beings.
These two paths are not opposites; they stand in the relationship of "expedient means (方便, upāya)" and "ultimate truth":
- The gradual cultivation path is an expedient for guiding beings of varying capacities, allowing people to gradually tame afflictions and accumulate merit along the way. - The direct path points straight at the core, letting people see: liberation is not far away, not in the future moment of becoming Buddha, but right here, in the awareness of this present thought.
The "direct" in the direct path is saying something that defies common sense—mind-nature is not waiting for you "up ahead" on your path of cultivation. No matter how long you circle around, you will never arrive, because mind-nature has never left the place where you are. So it is not a "faster path," but rather a path that has never left the starting point nor the destination.
What Is Being Cut Through—Mind-Nature
What does the direct path cut through?
What it cuts through is the inertia of outward seeking (向外馳求, bahirmukha-paryeṣaṇa).
From childhood we are trained to seek outward: seeking knowledge, skills, approval, happiness, methods for solving problems. Our "self" seems forever elsewhere—in some future achievement, in some moment of obtaining an answer, in some state of attaining the fruit of practice.
Mind-nature is precisely that thing "which we are forever seeking outward, yet which we have never left."
Línjì speaks of "一念回光" (a single thought turning the light back); Huángbò (黃檗, Huangbo) speaks of "即心即佛" (this very mind is Buddha). Both point to the same thing: not to obtain something new, but to turn back and see the thing that has always been there.
Thus the "direct" in "directly pointing at mind-nature" is not the spatial "direct" of advancing in a straight line, but rather the "direct" of directly returning—returning to the awareness of this present thought, returning to the "clear awareness (明覺, prakāśa-vijñapti)" itself that is able to see, hear, and feel.
"Direct" Does Not Mean "Fast"
This is the most easily misread point.
Direct does not mean "faster than others." It is not that kind of speed sensation of "enlightenment in three days" or "attaining the fruit in seven days." Direct is about direction—if the direction is correct, then no matter how long the road, it is still straight; if the direction is wrong, then no matter how fast you run, you are still going in circles.
The practice of the direct path is not about racing on the temporal dimension, but about no longer going in circles on the spatial dimension—no longer spinning within the realm of phenomena, no longer struggling inside thoughts and emotions, directly returning to that "awareness nature" which is able to illuminate.
Walking Through It in Everyday Life
The direct path sounds very esoteric, but when applied to real life, its appearance is actually very plain. Let me walk through three common contemporary scenarios.
Scenario One: When Anxiety Hits
Suppose you are working overtime in the office, and suddenly a wave of anxiety washes over you—you start thinking:
1. "Am I developing an anxiety disorder?" (analyzing) 2. "I should go see a counselor." (finding a method) 3. "My colleagues all seem fine—is something wrong with me?" (comparing) 4. "I meditated for a while before, but it didn't seem to work." (looking back) 5. "I should find a better app to practice with." (optimizing the tool)
After this whole loop, you have gone around in a big circle, but the feeling of anxiety has not changed in any substantive way—it has just been wrapped up in a layer of "I have already analyzed this thing."
What is the direct path here?
It is not telling you to stop thinking these thoughts, nor to suppress the anxiety, but rather—directly return to "the you who is anxious" itself.
When anxiety arises, there is something that "knows anxiety is happening." That "knowing" itself—it is not inside the anxiety, and it is not outside the anxiety either. It has no name, no emotion, no story. It is simply "clear awareness"—the most unremarkable form mind-nature takes in daily life.
The direct path is about being directly present with this "clear awareness," rather than continuing to spin inside thoughts, emotions, and stories.
Note: you do not need to first "fix your anxiety" before you can "see clear awareness." Clear awareness has always been there—when you are anxious it is there, when you are not anxious it is there too; when you are lost it is there, when you are clear-headed it is there too.
This is the "direct" of "direct"—you have always been right there; you never left.
Scenario Two: Handling a Relationship Conflict
Suppose you have had a conflict with your partner and your chest feels tight and blocked. You might:
- Vent to a friend (getting someone to analyze it) - Read psychology articles (finding a theoretical framework) - Mentally rehearse how to communicate next time (rehearsing) - Repeatedly think "what is he/she really thinking?" (guessing) - Try to "let it go" but cannot (forcefully suppressing)
Again you have gone around in a big circle, and after all that circling, the "blockage" is still there—just wrapped up in new stories.
What is the direct path here?
Directly feel the "blockage" itself.
Not analyzing "why it is blocked," not resolving "whether it should be blocked," but rather—letting that "blockage" be fully felt.
When you are genuinely present with that "blockage," not fleeing, not analyzing, not suppressing, you will discover: the blockage changes, loosens, flows through on its own. This is not because you "handled" it well, but because you stopped detouring—you no longer expend energy by going in circles, and that energy naturally gains space to flow.
This capacity for "direct feeling" is an expression of mind-nature. Mind-nature is not an abstract thing; it is the very capacity to illuminate and be aware—the thing that can be aware of the "blockage."
Scenario Three: Learning a Brand-New Field of Knowledge
Suppose you want to learn AI. You buy courses, buy books, join communities. A month later:
- You have learned many terms - You have watched many tutorials - You have added many experts on WeChat - Yet the anxiety is still there—you feel you "haven't even gotten started"
What is the direct path here?
It is not telling you to stop learning, but rather—return to "why you want to learn this" itself.
Is it for a raise? To avoid being left behind by the times? For some specific project? For curiosity?
When you directly return to this "why," you may discover: the reason you were detouring is that you were trying to alleviate a deeper anxiety through "learning AI."
When you directly see that anxiety, rather than detouring around "the project of learning AI," you can actually decide more clearly: whether to learn, how to learn, and to what extent is appropriate.
This "direct seeing" is the direct path.
What the Three Scenarios Have in Common
Putting these three scenarios together, you will see what the direct path looks like in contemporary life:
It is not adding a new method; it is stopping the detour.
It is not making you run faster; it is making you realize—you never left.
It is not making you more "impressive"; it is making you face more directly the thing that was always there.
Why Contemporary People Need It
One: In an Age of Method Explosion, What Is Needed Instead Is "Methodlessness"
What is most scarce today may not be "one more method," but rather the capacity to "stop using methods as a way to escape."
We live in an age of method explosion:
- For efficiency there is OKR, GTD, the Second Brain - For relationships there is Nonviolent Communication, attachment theory, the Enneagram - For emotions there are mindfulness apps, meditation courses, ABC emotional therapy - For parenting there is Montessori, Waldorf, PET Parent Effectiveness Training - For learning there is the Feynman Technique, deliberate practice, spaced repetition
The methods themselves are all fine. But the typical predicament of contemporary people is: using methods to detour—using "I am learning a new method" to avoid "I actually do not want to face myself."
The direct path is precisely the scarcest counter-operation in this age—it says: you have already worked hard enough; you do not need to circle anymore. You can directly stop.
This "directly stopping" is, in an age of method explosion, the most revolutionary thing of all.
Two: The Fatigue of "Accumulation-Based Existence"
Contemporary people have a characteristic fatigue, called "accumulation-based existence":
- I am not good enough yet, so I need to keep learning, accumulating, improving - I do not have enough yet, so I need to save money, save experience, save connections - I am not free enough yet, so I need to endure this stretch of overtime, this stretch of confusion, this relationship
This "accumulation-based existence" is effective, but it also produces a deep fatigue: forever "on the road," forever "not yet arrived," forever trading the present self for an imagined future self.
The direct path has a fundamental response to this fatigue: you are already here.
It is not saying "you cannot improve anymore," but rather—you do not need to wait for the "future self" to be worthy of existence. The present you is the entirety of you. Mind-nature is right here, right now; it does not require accumulation to be "obtained."
This perspective is a deep loosening for someone who has long been engaged in "striving to become better."
Three: A Fundamental Response to "Treating Symptoms Rather Than Roots"
All contemporary methods—psychotherapy, meditation apps, efficiency tools, self-growth courses—share a common implicit assumption: I currently have a problem, and I need to fix it.
This assumption is mostly correct. But it also creates a new kind of "detour": using "I am working on fixing it" to avoid genuinely "seeing."
The insight of the direct path is: some things are not a matter of "fixing" but a matter of "seeing clearly."
For example:
- It is not "I need to become non-anxious in order to live well," but rather "in the midst of anxiety, I can directly see it without detouring" - It is not "I need to become wiser in order to make decisions," but rather "in the moment of deciding, I can directly be present with that clear awareness"
"Seeing clearly" and "fixing" are two different paths of liberation. The latter is gradual cultivation; the former is the direct path. Both are effective, but the direct path is more suited to those who have already been exhausted by the detour.
Common Misreadings and Clarifications
Misreading One: Direct = No Effort
Many people think the direct path means "no cultivation needed," just lie flat and be done.
This is the most common misreading of the direct path.
Direct does not mean "no effort," but rather the direction of effort is different. Gradual cultivation is "cultivating from the outside inward"; the direct path is "cultivating right in the present moment."
The Línjì school has the "四料簡" (sì liàojiǎn, "fourfold analysis")—"taking away the person but not the object, taking away the object but not the person, taking away both person and object, taking away neither person nor object"—four modes of guidance, all of them direct and to the point, yet each one requires extremely deep skill. A Chan master who can directly guide students is backed by decades or even a lifetime of practice.
Direct is "not spinning within phenomena," but it is not "no effort"—it is effort applied with greater thoroughness, it is "exerting force at the root."
An analogy: gradual cultivation is like cleaning a dusty room, sweeping one spot at a time; the direct path is like discovering—the light was never turned on, so all you saw was dust. Turn on the light, and there is no need to sweep at all. But this does not mean you do not need to flip the switch—flipping the switch itself is also effort.
Misreading Two: Direct = Rejecting Gradual Cultivation
Another misreading is: since Chan speaks of the direct path, that means all other methods are wrong.
This is a common extremist understanding in Chan history, but it is not Chan's original intention.
Chan speaks of "教外別傳" (a separate transmission outside the scriptures), which does not mean "negating the teachings," but "there is a separate transmission in addition to the teachings." When Bodhidharma came east, he taught "二入四行" (èr rù sì xíng, "two entrances and four practices")—the entrance by principle (理入, lǐrù—the direct path) and the entrance by practice (行入, xíngrù—the gradual path) proceeding in parallel without conflict. The entrance by principle is direct pointing; the entrance by practice is actual implementation. Neither can be dispensed with.
Master Huìnéng (慧能, Huineng) said in the *Platform Sūtra* (《六祖坛经》, *Liùzǔ Tánjīng*, T2008): "法無頓漸，根有利鈍" — *the Dharma itself has no sudden or gradual; it is only that people's faculties are sharp or dull.* *"The Dharma itself has no sudden or gradual; it is only that beings' faculties differ in sharpness or dullness."*
The direct path is a means of guiding those of superior faculties; it does not reject gradual cultivation, but rather acknowledges that sentient beings have different faculties and that the teaching must match the capacity (對機說法, duì jī shuōfǎ). A true Chan master will, according to the student's situation, be direct when directness is called for, and gradual when gradualness is called for.
Misreading Three: Sudden Enlightenment = Done Forever
Many people think: since the direct path speaks of sudden enlightenment, then one enlightenment settles everything, and from then on you are liberated.
This is a typical misunderstanding of "sudden enlightenment."
Línjì speaks of "一念回光" (a single thought turning the light back), but he also speaks of "絕後再蘇，欺君不得" (after death, revived again—you cannot be deceived). Enlightenment is "seeing nature," but after seeing nature there is still "保任" (bǎorèn, "maintaining and sustaining")—maintaining that seeing of nature amid the activities of daily life, not being dragged away by habitual tendencies.
The "sudden" of the direct path is not "instantaneous completion" in the temporal sense, but "no detour" in the directional sense. The direction is straight, but you still have to look at the scenery along the way; the road can be walked directly, but you still have to take each step.
So-called "頓悟漸修" (dùnwù jiànxiū, "sudden enlightenment, gradual cultivation")—sudden awakening in view, gradual cultivation in practice. That is the complete direct path.
Misreading Four: Directly Pointing at Mind-Nature = Mystical Experience
Modern people are easily carried away by the word "mind-nature," imagining it to be something mystical, esoteric, requiring a special state to experience.
In fact, the "mind-nature" spoken of in Chan is precisely the least mystical thing—it is simply "that which is able to illuminate and be aware."
Can you see these words right now?—that capacity of "seeing" is mind-nature. Can you hear the sounds around you?—that capacity of "hearing" is mind-nature. Can you know what you are thinking?—that capacity of "knowing" is mind-nature.
It is not some special state, not something that appears only after enlightenment. It has always been there, so ordinary it cannot be more ordinary.
What is called "direct pointing" is the Chan master directly showing you: the thing you always thought you were searching for is precisely this thing you are using right now—this clear awareness itself that can see, hear, and feel.
The direct path is returning to the most ordinary place. This is the deepest practice, and also the simplest seeing.
A Final Word
The direct path is a gift the Chan school has left for this age—a reminder so simple it is almost crude:
You have always been here.
You do not need to detour to arrive anywhere.
You do not need to become a better self to be worthy of existence.
The awareness of this present thought is the entire entrance.
This reminder, in an age of method explosion, is the hardest to hear. Because we have become too skilled at detouring, so skilled that we forget we can simply stop.
The direct path does not ask you to run faster; it asks you to have the capacity to stop. In the moment you stop, what you see is the thing that has always been there—that thing, Chan calls it mind-nature (心性, citta-svabhāva) , also calls it original face (本來面目, běnlái miànmù) , also calls it your own treasure-house (自家寶藏, zìjiā bǎozàng) .
It does not require you to go find it. It only requires you to—stop, and directly see.