The Yogacarabhumi Sastra one hundred volumes
just to fully take apart your consciousness
have you ever had this kind of experience
you are reading a book
and as you read on
you suddenly realize this book is not about anything else
it is about you
not about your life
not about your psychology
but about the very thing that is doing the reading
your consciousness
seventeen hundred years ago
there was a treatise
that did exactly this
it tells no stories
uses no metaphors
across one hundred volumes
it tried to write the complete operating manual of human consciousness
from the instant you open your eyes and see light
to the deepest point where you close your eyes and enter meditation
to every single step from ordinary being to buddhahood
all of it written in
this treatise is called the Yogacarabhumi Sastra
hello
everyone
I am Wang Lijie
if you have been following this series
you will notice
in the earlier episodes we have been doing one thing
taking apart the components
the Samdhinirmocana Sutra
we took apart the three natures and the verses on the alaya consciousness
the Cheng Weishi Lun
we took apart the six meanings of seeds the four-part theory and transforming consciousness into wisdom
like taking apart a precision instrument
each episode we took apart one core module
and looked at its internal structure
but today is different
today we are going to step back
no longer looking at the parts
but at the whole blueprint
the Yogacarabhumi Sastra is the largest treatise in Yogacara
without exception
one hundred volumes
if you read it from start to finish
without eating drinking or stopping
it would take about seven days
its length is nearly two hundred times that of the Diamond Sutra
but the length is not the point
the point is it did something no other scripture had ever done
it tried to take the whole matter of practice
from start to finish from bottom to top
and turn it into an operable systems engineering
you know how in software development today
there is a document called the technical specification
it is not a user manual for customers
nor a business plan for the boss
it is for the engineers
what it writes down is
how each module works
how the modules communicate
what you input and what you get
what the boundary conditions are
and what process to follow when an exception occurs
the Yogacarabhumi Sastra is the technical specification of practice
its author
is traditionally said to be dictated by Maitreya and recorded by Asanga
we told Asanga's story in our history series
the man who practiced hard in a cave for twelve years and nearly gave up
you can imagine Maitreya as the chief architect of this field
and Asanga as the engineer who turned the architecture into complete documentation
whether or not you believe Maitreya really came down from Tusita Heaven to teach
one thing is certain
the engineering precision of this treatise
has almost no rival in the entire history of human thought
alright
now let us look at the structure of this blueprint
the Yogacarabhumi Sastra is divided into five major parts
the first part is called the Fundamental Section
from volume one to volume fifty
taking up half of the whole treatise
this is the core of the entire work
and what we will focus on taking apart today
the second part is called the Section of Analysis
from volume fifty to volume eighty
it is a deep discussion of the key concepts in the Fundamental Section
the third part the Section of Explanation
is only two volumes
a glossary of terms
the fourth part the Section of Synonyms
also two volumes
a table of synonyms
the fifth part the Section of Topics
from volume eighty-five to one hundred
is a set of special topics
you can think of the last four parts as an appendix
deep discussion and technical Q and A
the core is the Fundamental Section
and the structure of the Fundamental Section
is called the Seventeen Grounds
the Seventeen Grounds
are seventeen levels seventeen pieces of a puzzle
it takes the entire world of practice
from the senses to meditation
from hearing the teaching to becoming a buddha
and cuts it into seventeen precise modules
let us look at how these seventeen puzzle pieces fit together
the first five pieces
are called the ground of the five sense consciousnesses the ground of the mind
the ground with coarse and subtle thought the ground with only subtle thought and the ground with neither
the names sound convoluted
but the logic is very clear
it starts from the very bottom
your five senses
eyes ears nose tongue and body
after receiving a signal
how does consciousness start to work
when the signal comes in
what is your attention doing
is it coarse analysis and judgment
or subtle awareness
or has even awareness stopped
you can try it right now
you are listening to me speak
your ear consciousness is receiving sound
your consciousness is following my logic
in this process
there is coarse mental activity
you are understanding judging associating
you may even be saying inside
hmm I agree with this
that one I disagree with
this kind of mental activity carrying language
is called with coarse and subtle thought
xun is coarse grasping
si is subtle discernment
every day while you are awake
you spend most of your time in this state
but occasionally
like when you play music and lose yourself
or when you stare at a flower for a long time and suddenly think of nothing
the coarse mental activity stops
but a subtle awareness is still operating
you know you are here
you know the flower is there
but you are not saying a single word about it
this is called with only subtle thought
if even that subtle awareness quiets down
entering a pure state undisturbed by any concept
this is called with neither coarse nor subtle thought
most people in their whole life
may only touch this state in deep meditation
this is not about meditative attainment
although it is related to meditation
it is describing the operating modes of consciousness itself
like describing a computer's processor
not what software it is running
but at what frequency it works
the next two pieces
the ground of meditative equipoise and the ground of non-equipoise
that is the state in meditation and the state out of it
what your consciousness is like inside meditation
and what it is like outside of it
the features differences and switching conditions of the two states
all written out clearly
the next two pieces are even more interesting
the ground with mind and the ground without mind
the state with mental activity
and the state without mental activity
note
without mind is not a coma
not falling asleep
in Buddhism there is an extremely deep meditative state called the cessation attainment
the activity of consciousness stops completely
but the vital signs remain
what these two grounds describe
is the boundary condition between the presence and absence of conscious activity
these first nine grounds
from receiving sense signals to the coarse-to-subtle spectrum of thought
to switching between meditation and non-meditation to the boundary of conscious activity
map out the hardware layer of consciousness
starting from the tenth ground
the scene switches
the ground of wisdom from hearing from reflection and from practice
wisdom built through hearing
wisdom built through thinking
wisdom built through actual practice
these three grounds map the learning path
how you go from hearing a principle
to thinking it through
to finally living it out on the level of the body
a viewer once asked a great question
why is it that I understand all the principles
but just cannot do them
the Yogacarabhumi Sastra's answer is
because you are stuck between hearing and reflecting
or between reflecting and practicing
here is an example
you hear me say
the essence of anger is a seed being triggered
you understand it
this is hearing
then you think it over again and again
you recall what happened the last time you lost your temper
you start to verify this claim on yourself
you think it through
this is reflection
but the next time someone insults you
you still snap in an instant
right
because you have not yet practiced
what is practice
practice is that in the instant you are insulted
your body already starts to respond differently on its own
not by suppressing it with willpower
but the old pattern has truly been rewritten
understanding is not the same as thinking through
thinking through is not the same as living it out
these three grounds
precisely define what exactly the gaps between these three steps are
and how to cross them
then come the sravaka ground the pratyekabuddha ground and the bodhisattva ground
three paths of practice
the sravaka who learns from a teacher
the pratyekabuddha who awakens alone
plus the bodhisattva path of the Mahayana
the Yogacarabhumi Sastra does not belittle any of these paths
it simply lays out the entry conditions of the three paths
their practice content and their final destinations
all spread out for you to see
the bodhisattva ground alone takes up a full fifteen volumes
the thickest chapter in the Fundamental Section
Asanga clearly believed
this path needs the most explanation
why
because the practice of the sravaka and pratyekabuddha
has a relatively simple goal
once you cut off your own afflictions you reach the end
but the bodhisattva path is different
you not only have to cut off your own afflictions
you also have to help others in a world full of afflictions
it is like you not only have to escape from a burning building
you also have to turn back and bring others out one by one
so the bodhisattva ground has the most to explain
how to practice the six paramitas how to use the four means of gathering how to walk the ten grounds
all of it is inside
the last two grounds
the ground with remainder and the ground without remainder
you have already realized awakening
your afflictions are cut off
but is your body still there or not
if the body is still there
you are still alive
still walking eating and speaking in this world
this is called with remainder
although the mind is already free
it still depends on this body
once the body is also let go
when even this vessel is no longer needed
it is called without remainder
the seventeen grounds
from the signal processing of the five senses
to finally transcending even the body
from the coarsest to the subtlest
from the very bottom to the very top
all drawn into a single map
did you notice
these seventeen grounds are not seventeen parallel topics
they are one complete architecture
the bottom layer is the hardware
the operating modes of consciousness
the middle is the software
the path of learning and practice
the top layer is the output
three modes of liberation and the final nirvana
remember the Hundred Dharmas Treatise we took apart before
Vasubandhu grouped the hundred dharmas into five categories
mind dharmas mental factors form dharmas non-associated formations and unconditioned dharmas
that classification system like a periodic table
was actually distilled from the Yogacarabhumi Sastra
in the Fundamental Section of the Yogacarabhumi Sastra
descriptions of several hundred dharmas are scattered about
what Vasubandhu did
was to compile these scattered parts into an index
so the Hundred Dharmas Treatise is the table of contents
and the Yogacarabhumi Sastra is the main text
this is why I say it is a technical specification
it does not tell you to let go of attachment
that is what the Diamond Sutra does
it does not tell you that everything is created by mind
that is the perspective of the Avatamsaka Sutra
what it does is
take every stretch of the road from ordinary being to buddhahood
every fork every place where things might go wrong
and survey all of it
and tag it with coordinates
but there is a paradox here
such a precise treatise
why was it almost shelved for over a thousand years in Chinese Buddhist history
Master Xuanzang brought back the Sanskrit text from India
organized more than twenty assistants
and spent nearly two years translating it into Chinese
it was the largest project of his translation career
but after it was finished
the Faxiang school in China declined after only two or three generations
Xuanzang passed it to Kuiji
Kuiji to Huizhao
Huizhao to Zhizhou
and after Zhizhou
hardly anyone carried it on
twelve hundred years later
until the late Qing when Yang Renshan brought back the lost Yogacara texts from Japan
that this treatise was read again
the reason is not complicated
it is too precise
so precise that you must read it through practice
not through thinking
someone who has never meditated reading the Yogacarabhumi Sastra
is like someone who has never written code reading an operating system kernel's source
you recognize every word
but put together you have no idea what it means
a lofty and steep gate
this is how later generations judged the Faxiang school
the threshold is too high
not a threshold of knowledge
but a threshold of experience
think about it
the Chan school says do not rely on words
point directly to the mind
how concise
the Pure Land school says just recite Amitabha's name
how direct
but the Yogacarabhumi Sastra tells you
come
first we divide the workings of consciousness into seventeen levels
then cut each level into several sub-modules
and I will mark the input output and boundary conditions of each sub-module clearly
first understand this map
and then set out
most people give up before even finishing the table of contents
but its value lies precisely here
the map is complex
because the terrain is complex
consciousness is not a simple thing
if you try to sum it up in three sentences
either you are being lazy
or you are deceiving people
the Yogacarabhumi Sastra is not lazy
and does not deceive
it simply lays you open exactly as you are for you to see
this is also what our series has been doing all along
we use modern language to translate these ancient descriptions
not to simplify them
simplification distorts
but to install a compiler for you
so you can take these descriptions from seventeen hundred years ago
and match them to your own experience
you do not need to know Sanskrit
you do not need to become a monk
you only need when you hear a concept
to shine it on yourself
and see whether it describes what you are experiencing
if it does
then seventeen hundred years is not a distance
it is an echo
today we drew the panoramic map
next episode
we will step into the most practical part of the Yogacarabhumi Sastra
the four investigations and the fivefold consciousness-only contemplation
that is the practice guidance Asanga left behind
the key step where this treatise turns from a map into navigation
if you have never heard of the Yogacarabhumi Sastra
that is fine
knowing one thing today is enough
seventeen hundred years ago
someone tried to write the complete operating manual of consciousness in pure words
and actually finished it
one hundred volumes
seventeen levels
from the instant you blink to the endpoint of nirvana
all of it inside
this fact itself
whether or not you believe in Buddhism
is worth your curiosity
do you think a treatise from seventeen hundred years ago
can cover all of modern people's conscious experience
is there anything it missed
share your thoughts in the comments
I am Wang Lijie
see you next episode