1.  Have the ropes that bound your hands and feet suddenly vanished, making you feel as if someone dead has come back to life?

2.  Have the walls that blocked you on all sides suddenly disappeared, leaving no place to stay, nothing to cling to, and nothing to grasp?

3.  Has what you called "mind" suddenly disappeared, leaving you as unobstructed as empty space?

4.  Is it true that all things exist just as before, yet at the same time, absolutely nothing exists?

5.  Have you gained nothing and know nothing, yet is it always clear, without any doubt or dark corners?

6.  Do you understand that the Buddha's words in the Mahayana sutras and the Patriarchs' words in the records are expedient means with specific effects?

7.  Do you resonate with the words of the Buddha or the Patriarchs that describe the realm of enlightenment?

8.  Has the focus so perfectly become one with one’s true nature that all traces of “mind” and “Dharma” have disappeared, and every arising event is precisely "thus-ness," each one directly revealing the truth of the Dharma?