  At the BCS level of chiral symmetry breaking, the mass gap equation for
quark-antiquark condensation only uses the kernel of the Bethe-Salpeter
equation. We introduce coupled channels with ladder mesons in the mass gap
equation. Consistency is insured by the Ward Identity for axial currents, and
the $\pi$ remains a Goldstone boson in the chiral limit. We find that bare
mesons with confined quarks do not contribute to the mass gap equation, and
estimate that the contribution of full mesons may be large.
