As for leaving home there are two kinds: first, mentally leaving home; second, leaving home by appearance.
As for leaving home by appearance (xiàng相), one leaves the home of one’s father and mother who gave birth to one, the home of one’s blood relatives. One maintains the precepts (prohibitions), shaves off one’s hair, dyes one’s clothes [black], [upholds] the Four Noble Truths and the dignified deportment [proper for a monk]. There is still cultivation, there is gain and attachment, and there are defiled actions; this is referred to as monk by appearance (xiàngsēng 相僧).
As for mentally (xīn 心) leaving home, one leaves the home of the Five Skandhas, Six Thieves, and Eighteen Realms [of the senses and attachment]. As for its form, it may be a monk (dào 道) or a layman (sú 俗). As for practice, there is no cultivation, no virtue, no profit, no benefit. Both objects [of perception] and wisdom disappear—utterly disappear (disappear once and for all). Transcending the distinction between principle and phenomena, everything is in a state of purity. This is referred to as monk by essence (tǐsēng 體僧 ) and is the leaving home in an unconditioned way (wúwéi chūjiā 無為出家).