Zhiyi said
every method can succeed
if these five things are in place
have you ever wondered
why some people meditate for ten years and never move an inch
while others hear one sentence and feel electrified
why the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Huineng heard one line
let the mind arise without dwelling on anything and was enlightened
while many people memorize the Diamond Sutra by heart
and their mind is still a tangled mess
is it a problem of method
no
is it talent
not entirely
fourteen hundred years ago
one man gave an answer
this answer is not a new method
it is a diagnostic chart
hello
everyone
I am Leo Wang
this man is called Zhiyi
the real founder of the Tiantai school
one of the most important systematizing masters in Chinese Buddhist history
he wrote a book called the Small Treatise on Meditation
don't be fooled by the word small
this book is a textbook of the entire East Asian meditation tradition
it shaped practitioners for over a thousand years after
in the fifth chapter of the Small Treatise
Zhiyi put forward a concept
called the Five Practices
also called the Five Skillful Means
he said something very bold practice these five methods
and every path you cultivate can succeed
notice
he said every method
not just one
not one specific path
but all methods
this sentence carries enormous meaning
he is not saying one method is better than another
he is saying
the method itself is not the deciding factor
the deciding factor is before you use any method
whether you have set up these five preconditions
it's like buying a top-spec computer
the hardware maxed out
but no operating system installed
no matter what software you load it won't run
the Five Practices Zhiyi describes
are the operating system of practice
the five are desire
mindfulness
diligence
wisdom
single-mindedness
each one is not what you think it means
let's start with the first
desire
isn't Buddhism against desire
why put desire first
because this desire is not greed
it is longing
Zhiyi is very direct you have to really want it first
wanting to leave all delusion behind
wanting to gain meditation and wisdom
the Buddha's words were for all good things
desire is the root
this desire
translated into modern language
is inner drive
psychologists Deci and Ryan have a famous Self-Determination Theory
they spent decades studying one question
why people can keep doing something
the conclusion is
external rewards can get you started
but only inner motivation keeps you going
do you practice because others say you should
or because you're anxious and want an outlet
or because you think practice looks classy
these are all external motivations
they can make you start
but won't last three months
what is real desire
it's when you see a truth clearly
a force welling up from your bones I want to see more
not because someone told you to look
but because you yourself want to look
this force may come from a painful experience
or from a sudden moment of awareness
or from some late night
the question that rises as you stare at the ceiling
what is all this really about
when the Buddha left his palace
it wasn't because someone taught him to
it was after he saw aging sickness and death
the question inside him could no longer be held down
that is desire
without it
the other four steps are useless
it is the fuel of the rocket
no matter how good the engine
without fuel
it won't fly a millimeter
the second
mindfulness
not the chanting kind
it's the remembering kind
Zhiyi said
remember that the world is deceptive and worthless
remember that meditation is honorable and precious
in other words
you have to keep reminding yourself
worldly pleasures are fleeting and unreliable
while the clarity of meditation and wisdom is real and lasting
this sounds like brainwashing yourself
no
it's a basic mechanism of your brain
your brain processes massive information every second
but consciousness can grab very little of it
what enters your awareness
only what your brain deems important
you just bought a red car
and suddenly red cars are everywhere
it's not that there are more red cars
your brain has tagged red cars as important
their priority has been raised
mindfulness does exactly this it takes the signal of why I practice
and keeps nailing it to the top of your attention
otherwise what happens
you meditate today
and feel calm
tomorrow a funny short video pops up
the day after a friend invites you to hotpot
then work has a project to rush
a week later
you've completely forgotten why you sat on the cushion
it's not that your willpower is weak
it's that the whiteboard in your brain with your original intent
gets covered layer by layer by more exciting information
mindfulness is a nail
that pins the whiteboard of your original intent to the wall
so nothing can cover it
the third
diligence
keep doing
don't stop
but Zhiyi used a metaphor
extremely precise drilling wood to make fire
do you know what matters most in drilling wood for fire
it's not force
it's continuity
you drill hard for five minutes
get tired
take a break
just that one break
the wood cools down
all the heat you built up goes to zero
you must drill without stopping
even if your palms blister
even if you see no spark
don't stop
the heat builds up bit by bit
stop once
and start over
try to picture the scene
a person kneeling on the ground
both hands spinning a wooden stick furiously
palms already burning
sawdust flying out
but still no smoke
he doesn't know if fire comes in the next second or the next hour
all he can do is not stop
this matches what we discussed in several earlier videos
the principle of synaptic plasticity exactly
your brain can be rewired
but only with continuous directed stimulation
you meditate once
a neural pathway shifts slightly
meditate a hundred times
the new pathway starts to form
meditate a thousand times
this new pathway becomes the default
but if you break for too long
the old pathway instantly takes over again
the brain gives you no save file
you can't save halfway and continue next time
you must keep drilling
the fourth
wisdom
this wisdom is not the great wisdom of enlightenment
it's the ability to reason
Zhiyi is very practical you have to do the math
what math
worldly pleasure and the joy of meditation
which is more worth a lifetime of your time
his exact words were
worldly pleasure
little joy much suffering
false and unreal
it is loss it is trivial
the joy of meditation and wisdom
without leakage without striving
serene and vast
forever beyond birth and death
it is gain it is weighty
what is this
as an investor
I know this all too well
this is risk-reward analysis
worldly pleasure
the return looks high
but the risk is huge
you make money
afraid to lose it
you find love
afraid it changes
you gain fame
afraid of being smeared
and every pleasure has a half-life
you buy a new phone
happy for three days
then you get used to it
then you need the next hit
psychology calls this hedonic adaptation
the human threshold for pleasure keeps rising
you're always chasing
and never catching up
and what is the clarity meditation brings
the ability to rest without relying on any external condition
it's not that you can't enjoy worldly things
it's that you're no longer hostage to them
you sit there
no phone
no music
no external input at all
you are still at peace
this peace
is not numbness
is not boredom
it's an extremely lucid stillness
this ability doesn't depreciate
doesn't expire
doesn't shrink with market swings
in investment terms
this is the only one you'll ever find
a zero-risk forever-compounding investment
Zhiyi placed wisdom fourth
not at random
he means
you can't practice on passion and faith alone
you have to think it through
with your reason
with your life experience
with every pit you've fallen into
figure out whether this is really worth doing
if your reason tells you it's not worth it
then either your understanding of practice isn't deep enough
or you just don't need it yet
in neither case should you force yourself
real practice never needs blind faith
the fifth
single-mindedness
if the first four are all in place
the last step is once decided never waver
Zhiyi's exact words are hardcore
mind like a diamond
no demon or heretic can break it
even if you gain nothing at all
you never turn back
listen to this carefully
he is saying
even if the sky falls
even if everyone says you're wasting your time
even if you've practiced for a very long time
and feel you've gained nothing you still don't change course
this is not blind stubbornness
quite the opposite
blind stubbornness is when the first step desire and the fourth step wisdom are missing
you bang your head against the wall in confusion
if your longing is real
your original intent stays online
your action never stops
your reason tells you this path is right
then there's no reason to waver
if you waver
it only means one of the first four steps went wrong
it's like the final stage of drilling for fire
you've drilled a long time
your palms are raw
but the wood still doesn't smoke
this is the hardest moment
most people give up right here
Zhiyi said
don't stop
fire is one second away
you see
these five steps are not five separate tips
they are one system
desire is the fuel
mindfulness is the navigation
diligence is the engine
wisdom is the dashboard
single-mindedness is the direction lock
all five in place
and the system runs
if any one is missing
the system leaks
we discussed stopping and seeing when we covered the Sandhinirmocana Sutra
Maitreya Bodhisattva asked the Buddha how to practice
the Buddha said first still the mind then observe
settle the mind then see things as they are
that is the answer about what to do
but Zhiyi's Five Practices add a deeper piece before you act
you first have to become a certain kind of person
methods are never lacking
twenty-five hundred years of Buddhism left countless methods
chanting Chan meditation mantras visualization vipassana repentance
too many to count
and it's not just Buddhism
Stoic philosophy has daily self-examination
yoga has breath control
modern psychology has mindfulness-based stress reduction
more methods than you could try in a lifetime
but the question was never which method is best
the question is
whether your inner system is ready to receive any method
think about it
the same teacher teaching the same method
why some students transform in three months
while others study three years and stay put
the method is the same
the difference is the person
the difference is in these five preconditions
Zhiyi said these five make every method you practice succeed
put the other way
if you've practiced long and achieved nothing
don't blame the method
go back and check these five switches
see which one isn't turned on
this reminds me of a viewer's comment
he said he'd practiced for years
he meditated
he read the sutras
he joined the ceremonies
but always felt he was going in circles
I don't know him
I don't know his situation
but through Zhiyi's diagnostic framework
the answer probably isn't in the method
maybe his desire is driven by anxiety not by longing
maybe his mindfulness broke
busy daily life makes him forget why he practices
maybe his wisdom is not enough
he never truly reasoned out whether it's worth it
these five dimensions are a mirror
you don't need to score yourself
you don't need to judge yourself
just take a look
is my longing real
is my original intent still here
has my action ever stopped
have I done the math
have I at some hard moment
quietly changed direction
Zhiyi isn't asking you to be perfect
he's telling you
if something is stuck
the problem is probably in these five places
five lines of code written by a Chinese monk fourteen hundred years ago
are still the best checklist for a practitioner today
and if you think about it
these five dimensions apply beyond practice
startups are the same do you truly love it
do you always remember why you started
do you push past the darkest moment
have you rationally weighed whether it's worth it
do you choose to continue when everyone tells you to quit
scholarship instruments research even love
anything that takes long-term commitment
the underlying logic is the same
Zhiyi describes more than the operating system of practice
he describes the operating system for doing anything hard
truly deep wisdom
never goes out of date
because it cuts into not a culture
not an era
not a methodology
it cuts into the underlying structure of how the mind works
the structure doesn't change
so the wisdom doesn't change
but
there's one question Zhiyi didn't unpack
desire is the first step
right
you have to really want it first
but
wanting itself
can it be trained
if a person simply lacks that longing rising from the bones
what can he do
can he manufacture longing
or is it
that longing itself is a seed
that sprouts only when conditions ripen
this question
I don't have an answer yet
but I think
it may matter more than the Five Practices themselves
what do you think
I am Leo Wang
see you next time