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Zhiyi said

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every method can succeed

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if these five things are in place

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have you ever wondered

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why some people meditate for ten years and never move an inch

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while others hear one sentence and feel electrified

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why the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Huineng heard one line

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let the mind arise without dwelling on anything and was enlightened

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while many people memorize the Diamond Sutra by heart

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and their mind is still a tangled mess

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is it a problem of method

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no

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is it talent

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not entirely

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fourteen hundred years ago

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one man gave an answer

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this answer is not a new method

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it is a diagnostic chart

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hello

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everyone

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I am Leo Wang

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this man is called Zhiyi

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the real founder of the Tiantai school

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one of the most important systematizing masters in Chinese Buddhist history

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he wrote a book called the Small Treatise on Meditation

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don't be fooled by the word small

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this book is a textbook of the entire East Asian meditation tradition

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it shaped practitioners for over a thousand years after

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in the fifth chapter of the Small Treatise

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Zhiyi put forward a concept

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called the Five Practices

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also called the Five Skillful Means

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he said something very bold practice these five methods

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and every path you cultivate can succeed

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notice

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he said every method

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not just one

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not one specific path

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but all methods

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this sentence carries enormous meaning

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he is not saying one method is better than another

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he is saying

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the method itself is not the deciding factor

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the deciding factor is before you use any method

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whether you have set up these five preconditions

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it's like buying a top-spec computer

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the hardware maxed out

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but no operating system installed

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no matter what software you load it won't run

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the Five Practices Zhiyi describes

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are the operating system of practice

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the five are desire

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mindfulness

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diligence

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wisdom

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single-mindedness

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each one is not what you think it means

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let's start with the first

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desire

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isn't Buddhism against desire

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why put desire first

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because this desire is not greed

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it is longing

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Zhiyi is very direct you have to really want it first

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wanting to leave all delusion behind

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wanting to gain meditation and wisdom

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the Buddha's words were for all good things

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desire is the root

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this desire

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translated into modern language

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is inner drive

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psychologists Deci and Ryan have a famous Self-Determination Theory

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they spent decades studying one question

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why people can keep doing something

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the conclusion is

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external rewards can get you started

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but only inner motivation keeps you going

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do you practice because others say you should

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or because you're anxious and want an outlet

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or because you think practice looks classy

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these are all external motivations

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they can make you start

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but won't last three months

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what is real desire

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it's when you see a truth clearly

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a force welling up from your bones I want to see more

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not because someone told you to look

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but because you yourself want to look

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this force may come from a painful experience

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or from a sudden moment of awareness

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or from some late night

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the question that rises as you stare at the ceiling

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what is all this really about

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when the Buddha left his palace

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it wasn't because someone taught him to

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it was after he saw aging sickness and death

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the question inside him could no longer be held down

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that is desire

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without it

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the other four steps are useless

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it is the fuel of the rocket

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no matter how good the engine

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without fuel

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it won't fly a millimeter

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the second

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mindfulness

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not the chanting kind

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it's the remembering kind

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Zhiyi said

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remember that the world is deceptive and worthless

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remember that meditation is honorable and precious

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in other words

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you have to keep reminding yourself

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worldly pleasures are fleeting and unreliable

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while the clarity of meditation and wisdom is real and lasting

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this sounds like brainwashing yourself

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no

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it's a basic mechanism of your brain

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your brain processes massive information every second

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but consciousness can grab very little of it

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what enters your awareness

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only what your brain deems important

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you just bought a red car

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and suddenly red cars are everywhere

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it's not that there are more red cars

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your brain has tagged red cars as important

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their priority has been raised

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mindfulness does exactly this it takes the signal of why I practice

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and keeps nailing it to the top of your attention

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otherwise what happens

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you meditate today

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and feel calm

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tomorrow a funny short video pops up

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the day after a friend invites you to hotpot

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then work has a project to rush

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a week later

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you've completely forgotten why you sat on the cushion

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it's not that your willpower is weak

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it's that the whiteboard in your brain with your original intent

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gets covered layer by layer by more exciting information

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mindfulness is a nail

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that pins the whiteboard of your original intent to the wall

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so nothing can cover it

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the third

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diligence

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keep doing

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don't stop

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but Zhiyi used a metaphor

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extremely precise drilling wood to make fire

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do you know what matters most in drilling wood for fire

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it's not force

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it's continuity

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you drill hard for five minutes

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get tired

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take a break

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just that one break

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the wood cools down

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all the heat you built up goes to zero

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you must drill without stopping

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even if your palms blister

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even if you see no spark

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don't stop

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the heat builds up bit by bit

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stop once

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and start over

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try to picture the scene

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a person kneeling on the ground

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both hands spinning a wooden stick furiously

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palms already burning

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sawdust flying out

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but still no smoke

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he doesn't know if fire comes in the next second or the next hour

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all he can do is not stop

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this matches what we discussed in several earlier videos

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the principle of synaptic plasticity exactly

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your brain can be rewired

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but only with continuous directed stimulation

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you meditate once

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a neural pathway shifts slightly

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meditate a hundred times

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the new pathway starts to form

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meditate a thousand times

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this new pathway becomes the default

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but if you break for too long

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the old pathway instantly takes over again

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the brain gives you no save file

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you can't save halfway and continue next time

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you must keep drilling

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the fourth

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wisdom

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this wisdom is not the great wisdom of enlightenment

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it's the ability to reason

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Zhiyi is very practical you have to do the math

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what math

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worldly pleasure and the joy of meditation

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which is more worth a lifetime of your time

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his exact words were

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worldly pleasure

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little joy much suffering

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false and unreal

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it is loss it is trivial

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the joy of meditation and wisdom

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without leakage without striving

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serene and vast

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forever beyond birth and death

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it is gain it is weighty

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what is this

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as an investor

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I know this all too well

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this is risk-reward analysis

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worldly pleasure

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the return looks high

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but the risk is huge

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you make money

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afraid to lose it

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you find love

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afraid it changes

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you gain fame

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afraid of being smeared

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and every pleasure has a half-life

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you buy a new phone

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happy for three days

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then you get used to it

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then you need the next hit

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psychology calls this hedonic adaptation

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the human threshold for pleasure keeps rising

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you're always chasing

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and never catching up

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and what is the clarity meditation brings

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the ability to rest without relying on any external condition

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it's not that you can't enjoy worldly things

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it's that you're no longer hostage to them

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you sit there

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no phone

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no music

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no external input at all

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you are still at peace

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this peace

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is not numbness

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is not boredom

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it's an extremely lucid stillness

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this ability doesn't depreciate

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doesn't expire

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doesn't shrink with market swings

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in investment terms

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this is the only one you'll ever find

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a zero-risk forever-compounding investment

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Zhiyi placed wisdom fourth

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not at random

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he means

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you can't practice on passion and faith alone

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you have to think it through

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with your reason

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with your life experience

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with every pit you've fallen into

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figure out whether this is really worth doing

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if your reason tells you it's not worth it

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then either your understanding of practice isn't deep enough

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or you just don't need it yet

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in neither case should you force yourself

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real practice never needs blind faith

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the fifth

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single-mindedness

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if the first four are all in place

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the last step is once decided never waver

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Zhiyi's exact words are hardcore

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mind like a diamond

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no demon or heretic can break it

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even if you gain nothing at all

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you never turn back

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listen to this carefully

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he is saying

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even if the sky falls

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even if everyone says you're wasting your time

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even if you've practiced for a very long time

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and feel you've gained nothing you still don't change course

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this is not blind stubbornness

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quite the opposite

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blind stubbornness is when the first step desire and the fourth step wisdom are missing

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you bang your head against the wall in confusion

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if your longing is real

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your original intent stays online

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your action never stops

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your reason tells you this path is right

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then there's no reason to waver

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if you waver

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it only means one of the first four steps went wrong

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it's like the final stage of drilling for fire

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00:09:53,674 --> 00:09:54,713
you've drilled a long time

290
00:09:55,113 --> 00:09:56,233
your palms are raw

291
00:09:56,233 --> 00:09:57,892
but the wood still doesn't smoke

292
00:09:58,074 --> 00:09:59,372
this is the hardest moment

293
00:09:59,633 --> 00:10:02,052
most people give up right here

294
00:10:02,233 --> 00:10:02,752
Zhiyi said

295
00:10:03,153 --> 00:10:03,973
don't stop

296
00:10:04,194 --> 00:10:05,573
fire is one second away

297
00:10:06,437 --> 00:10:06,756
you see

298
00:10:07,237 --> 00:10:09,736
these five steps are not five separate tips

299
00:10:09,916 --> 00:10:11,175
they are one system

300
00:10:11,556 --> 00:10:12,356
desire is the fuel

301
00:10:12,676 --> 00:10:13,516
mindfulness is the navigation

302
00:10:13,876 --> 00:10:15,216
diligence is the engine

303
00:10:15,276 --> 00:10:16,236
wisdom is the dashboard

304
00:10:16,636 --> 00:10:18,336
single-mindedness is the direction lock

305
00:10:18,676 --> 00:10:19,795
all five in place

306
00:10:20,077 --> 00:10:21,496
and the system runs

307
00:10:21,876 --> 00:10:22,795
if any one is missing

308
00:10:23,036 --> 00:10:24,415
the system leaks

309
00:10:25,118 --> 00:10:28,497
we discussed stopping and seeing when we covered the Sandhinirmocana Sutra

310
00:10:28,917 --> 00:10:31,056
Maitreya Bodhisattva asked the Buddha how to practice

311
00:10:31,118 --> 00:10:32,976
the Buddha said first still the mind then observe

312
00:10:33,037 --> 00:10:35,657
settle the mind then see things as they are

313
00:10:36,157 --> 00:10:38,096
that is the answer about what to do

314
00:10:38,317 --> 00:10:43,497
but Zhiyi's Five Practices add a deeper piece before you act

315
00:10:43,518 --> 00:10:45,417
you first have to become a certain kind of person

316
00:10:46,351 --> 00:10:47,891
methods are never lacking

317
00:10:48,152 --> 00:10:51,691
twenty-five hundred years of Buddhism left countless methods

318
00:10:51,951 --> 00:10:56,531
chanting Chan meditation mantras visualization vipassana repentance

319
00:10:56,551 --> 00:10:57,450
too many to count

320
00:10:57,632 --> 00:10:59,131
and it's not just Buddhism

321
00:10:59,351 --> 00:11:01,730
Stoic philosophy has daily self-examination

322
00:11:01,792 --> 00:11:03,570
yoga has breath control

323
00:11:03,671 --> 00:11:05,931
modern psychology has mindfulness-based stress reduction

324
00:11:06,392 --> 00:11:08,811
more methods than you could try in a lifetime

325
00:11:09,191 --> 00:11:11,691
but the question was never which method is best

326
00:11:12,031 --> 00:11:12,830
the question is

327
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whether your inner system is ready to receive any method

328
00:11:17,689 --> 00:11:18,369
think about it

329
00:11:18,610 --> 00:11:20,708
the same teacher teaching the same method

330
00:11:20,769 --> 00:11:23,568
why some students transform in three months

331
00:11:23,569 --> 00:11:25,249
while others study three years and stay put

332
00:11:25,889 --> 00:11:27,229
the method is the same

333
00:11:27,610 --> 00:11:28,828
the difference is the person

334
00:11:29,289 --> 00:11:31,948
the difference is in these five preconditions

335
00:11:32,330 --> 00:11:36,468
Zhiyi said these five make every method you practice succeed

336
00:11:36,850 --> 00:11:38,149
put the other way

337
00:11:38,250 --> 00:11:40,909
if you've practiced long and achieved nothing

338
00:11:41,049 --> 00:11:42,188
don't blame the method

339
00:11:42,450 --> 00:11:44,629
go back and check these five switches

340
00:11:44,769 --> 00:11:46,468
see which one isn't turned on

341
00:11:47,433 --> 00:11:49,732
this reminds me of a viewer's comment

342
00:11:50,073 --> 00:11:51,193
he said he'd practiced for years

343
00:11:51,514 --> 00:11:52,553
he meditated

344
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he read the sutras

345
00:11:53,593 --> 00:11:54,632
he joined the ceremonies

346
00:11:54,914 --> 00:11:57,092
but always felt he was going in circles

347
00:11:57,593 --> 00:11:58,313
I don't know him

348
00:11:58,674 --> 00:12:00,372
I don't know his situation

349
00:12:00,634 --> 00:12:03,252
but through Zhiyi's diagnostic framework

350
00:12:03,394 --> 00:12:05,453
the answer probably isn't in the method

351
00:12:05,833 --> 00:12:09,413
maybe his desire is driven by anxiety not by longing

352
00:12:09,794 --> 00:12:11,573
maybe his mindfulness broke

353
00:12:11,593 --> 00:12:14,653
busy daily life makes him forget why he practices

354
00:12:15,034 --> 00:12:16,732
maybe his wisdom is not enough

355
00:12:16,833 --> 00:12:20,612
he never truly reasoned out whether it's worth it

356
00:12:20,983 --> 00:12:23,361
these five dimensions are a mirror

357
00:12:23,702 --> 00:12:24,662
you don't need to score yourself

358
00:12:25,222 --> 00:12:26,961
you don't need to judge yourself

359
00:12:27,383 --> 00:12:28,481
just take a look

360
00:12:28,903 --> 00:12:30,142
is my longing real

361
00:12:30,822 --> 00:12:32,142
is my original intent still here

362
00:12:32,783 --> 00:12:34,662
has my action ever stopped

363
00:12:35,342 --> 00:12:36,581
have I done the math

364
00:12:37,263 --> 00:12:39,481
have I at some hard moment

365
00:12:39,543 --> 00:12:40,741
quietly changed direction

366
00:12:41,623 --> 00:12:43,721
Zhiyi isn't asking you to be perfect

367
00:12:44,062 --> 00:12:44,861
he's telling you

368
00:12:45,263 --> 00:12:46,802
if something is stuck

369
00:12:46,903 --> 00:12:49,162
the problem is probably in these five places

370
00:12:49,543 --> 00:12:53,481
five lines of code written by a Chinese monk fourteen hundred years ago

371
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are still the best checklist for a practitioner today

372
00:12:58,665 --> 00:13:00,045
and if you think about it

373
00:13:00,065 --> 00:13:02,564
these five dimensions apply beyond practice

374
00:13:02,665 --> 00:13:05,765
startups are the same do you truly love it

375
00:13:05,785 --> 00:13:08,084
do you always remember why you started

376
00:13:08,226 --> 00:13:10,604
do you push past the darkest moment

377
00:13:10,746 --> 00:13:13,485
have you rationally weighed whether it's worth it

378
00:13:13,586 --> 00:13:17,084
do you choose to continue when everyone tells you to quit

379
00:13:17,386 --> 00:13:21,245
scholarship instruments research even love

380
00:13:21,266 --> 00:13:23,625
anything that takes long-term commitment

381
00:13:23,626 --> 00:13:25,204
the underlying logic is the same

382
00:13:25,506 --> 00:13:28,204
Zhiyi describes more than the operating system of practice

383
00:13:28,266 --> 00:13:32,125
he describes the operating system for doing anything hard

384
00:13:32,466 --> 00:13:33,704
truly deep wisdom

385
00:13:33,986 --> 00:13:35,365
never goes out of date

386
00:13:36,065 --> 00:13:38,224
because it cuts into not a culture

387
00:13:38,226 --> 00:13:39,464
not an era

388
00:13:39,466 --> 00:13:40,964
not a methodology

389
00:13:41,305 --> 00:13:44,204
it cuts into the underlying structure of how the mind works

390
00:13:44,466 --> 00:13:45,224
the structure doesn't change

391
00:13:45,545 --> 00:13:46,645
so the wisdom doesn't change

392
00:13:46,803 --> 00:13:47,202
but

393
00:13:47,603 --> 00:13:49,862
there's one question Zhiyi didn't unpack

394
00:13:50,364 --> 00:13:51,362
desire is the first step

395
00:13:51,603 --> 00:13:51,962
right

396
00:13:52,644 --> 00:13:54,183
you have to really want it first

397
00:13:54,803 --> 00:13:55,163
but

398
00:13:55,644 --> 00:13:57,183
wanting itself

399
00:13:57,284 --> 00:13:58,563
can it be trained

400
00:13:59,244 --> 00:14:03,143
if a person simply lacks that longing rising from the bones

401
00:14:03,284 --> 00:14:03,962
what can he do

402
00:14:04,683 --> 00:14:05,803
can he manufacture longing

403
00:14:06,524 --> 00:14:06,962
or is it

404
00:14:07,404 --> 00:14:09,742
that longing itself is a seed

405
00:14:09,884 --> 00:14:12,082
that sprouts only when conditions ripen

406
00:14:13,436 --> 00:14:13,876
this question

407
00:14:14,357 --> 00:14:15,815
I don't have an answer yet

408
00:14:16,117 --> 00:14:17,156
but I think

409
00:14:17,156 --> 00:14:19,695
it may matter more than the Five Practices themselves

410
00:14:20,077 --> 00:14:20,795
what do you think

411
00:14:21,436 --> 00:14:22,195
I am Leo Wang

412
00:14:22,516 --> 00:14:23,564
see you next time