the Buddha called to him, “Manjusri, Manjusri, why do you not enter?”
Manjusri replied, “I do not see myself outside. Why enter?
The gate belongs to mind. If you move above mind there is always Gateless Gate. you always stand in a place where you are neither in or out. We humans always worry by telling that we got into the problem. But you never got into the problem, actually you are never aware that you are always inside the problem. The problems are spread in man made world. We actually never know that the problem is always walking along with us.
If you want enlightenment, you have to renounce everything. You leave the content of the society, then you are automatically ejected out and your only problem will be food, shelter and safety. For a primitive man the society is the door. Whether you walk in through the society door to live in this competitive world or you want to remain like a Primitive man to live outside of the society door ie Forest.
If you drop all your belongings inside the society then there is no door. The choice of inside and outside disappears and you become one with the world.
Here Buddha was not testing his disciples actually he sees through them the height of enlightenment. There was no one to test Buddha when he was searching.. The search came to an end when his disciples started searching him inside of them.
an anecdote
Young Monk, “Master, Where can I find Buddha?”
The Master gave a tight slap on his face..
The Master hit him because there is no door for the younger monk to go through and search for Buddha. Buddha was not outside actually to attain Buddhahood you have to search inside of you. That’s why, The Master gave a tight slap to make him aware, Buddha is living inside of you and you cannot search him outside.
A punishment is only to create an awareness not to inflict pain but the pain arising out of punishment will direct you to look into you and understand you…