1 00:00:00,333 --> 00:00:02,966 < Ji Yibi > Mathematically proves that "the self is an illusion" 2 00:00:03,766 --> 00:00:04,766 1979 3 00:00:05,100 --> 00:00:08,566 A 34-year-old American cognitive scientist wrote a curious book 4 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:11,100 This book tells the story of three people simultaneously 5 00:00:11,933 --> 00:00:16,266 One was the logician who proved that mathematics can never hold its own 6 00:00:16,300 --> 00:00:19,733 One was the printmaker who made the impossible staircase. 7 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:23,566 One is that you can take a melody and fold it six times over, and you still feel like you're in one piece. 8 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:24,100 The composer 9 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,133 They were called Gödel, Escher and Bach. 10 00:00:29,066 --> 00:00:33,533 And the name of this book is "Gödel, Escher, Bach" 11 00:00:33,533 --> 00:00:35,100 The Dacheng of Gathering Different Bi > 12 00:00:35,100 --> 00:00:37,200 The writer is Douglas Hofstadter. 13 00:00:38,533 --> 00:00:40,833 It won a Pulitzer Prize when it came out. 14 00:00:40,866 --> 00:00:44,566 It is still considered the most important intellectual work of the twentieth century to this day 15 00:00:44,566 --> 00:00:44,700 one 16 00:00:45,666 --> 00:00:47,900 But most people will tell you when they finish reading it 17 00:00:47,933 --> 00:00:49,766 He wasn't quite sure what the book was really about 18 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:51,533 Hello 19 00:00:51,566 --> 00:00:52,566 Hello. 20 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:53,266 I am Wang Lijie 21 00:00:54,333 --> 00:00:56,166 I'm going to do something today 22 00:00:56,166 --> 00:00:57,666 With the key to Buddhism 23 00:00:57,700 --> 00:01:00,100 Open this supposedly most difficult book to understand 24 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:02,266 You will find 25 00:01:02,266 --> 00:01:04,100 Hofstadter spent over 700 pages 26 00:01:04,133 --> 00:01:09,433 The central conclusion that has been repeatedly demonstrated through mathematics, logic and art 27 00:01:09,466 --> 00:01:12,800 The Buddha said it in two words 2,500 years ago. 28 00:01:13,633 --> 00:01:14,533 That is. 29 00:01:14,533 --> 00:01:14,833 selflessness 30 00:01:15,966 --> 00:01:17,600 But don't feel that Buddhism has won 31 00:01:18,333 --> 00:01:19,366 It's not that simple 32 00:01:20,166 --> 00:01:22,533 The path taken by Hofstadter and the path taken by Buddha 33 00:01:22,533 --> 00:01:24,433 Although the endpoints are very similar 34 00:01:24,466 --> 00:01:25,800 But the paths are completely different. 35 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:27,866 Understand the difference 36 00:01:27,900 --> 00:01:29,533 More important than understanding the conclusion itself 37 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:32,933 Let's start with Hofstadter's core weapon 38 00:01:32,966 --> 00:01:34,400 Gödel's incompleteness theorem 39 00:01:35,133 --> 00:01:36,500 1931 40 00:01:36,500 --> 00:01:40,333 The Austrian logician Kurt Gödel published a paper 41 00:01:40,366 --> 00:01:41,500 It blew up the whole mathematics community. 42 00:01:41,966 --> 00:01:43,200 Before Gödel 43 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:45,033 Mathematicians had a big dream. 44 00:01:45,566 --> 00:01:50,300 They hoped to base all mathematics on a complete and self-consistent system of axioms 45 00:01:50,933 --> 00:01:53,633 All true propositions can be proven within the system 46 00:01:53,933 --> 00:01:56,000 There are no conflicts within the system. 47 00:01:56,633 --> 00:01:59,500 The leader of this dream is a man called David Hilbert. 48 00:01:59,900 --> 00:02:04,266 He famously posed 23 mathematical problems in 1900. 49 00:02:04,300 --> 00:02:05,900 The second of these is 50 00:02:05,900 --> 00:02:08,233 Prove that the system of arithmetic axioms is self-consistent 51 00:02:08,666 --> 00:02:10,333 Gödel did something brilliant. 52 00:02:10,933 --> 00:02:13,300 He constructed a proposition in the language of mathematics 53 00:02:13,300 --> 00:02:15,400 The translation of this proposition into human language is 54 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:17,800 This sentence cannot be proven in this system 55 00:02:18,266 --> 00:02:19,700 You taste this sentence 56 00:02:20,266 --> 00:02:21,900 If this statement is true 57 00:02:21,900 --> 00:02:23,600 Then it cannot be proven 58 00:02:23,633 --> 00:02:25,266 Indicates that the system is incomplete 59 00:02:25,266 --> 00:02:27,466 There are true propositions that cannot be proved 60 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:29,433 If this sentence is false 61 00:02:29,500 --> 00:02:31,633 That means it can be proven 62 00:02:31,633 --> 00:02:34,166 But it says I can't be proven. 63 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:36,066 A false proposition has been proven 64 00:02:36,066 --> 00:02:37,600 The system is conflicting 65 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:39,166 self-consistent collapse 66 00:02:39,366 --> 00:02:40,633 No matter what 67 00:02:40,633 --> 00:02:41,566 You all lose 68 00:02:41,866 --> 00:02:44,566 This is the heart of Gödel's incompleteness theorem 69 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,200 Any sufficiently powerful formal system 70 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:48,866 If it is self-consistent 71 00:02:48,900 --> 00:02:50,666 It's necessarily incomplete. 72 00:02:51,066 --> 00:02:52,066 In other words 73 00:02:52,066 --> 00:02:54,166 The system cannot fully understand itself 74 00:02:54,166 --> 00:02:55,433 Hou Shida is in < Jiyibi > 75 00:02:55,433 --> 00:02:58,733 Li distilled this discovery into a deeper concept 76 00:02:58,766 --> 00:02:59,866 It's called a circle. 77 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:01,633 What is a vicious circle? 78 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,566 When a system attempts to describe itself 79 00:03:04,566 --> 00:03:07,366 It will inevitably get involved in a cycle 80 00:03:07,666 --> 00:03:09,166 In this cycle 81 00:03:09,166 --> 00:03:11,566 The hierarchy is broken. 82 00:03:11,566 --> 00:03:14,900 The descriptor and the described are entangled 83 00:03:14,900 --> 00:03:17,700 You can't tell who's up there and who's down there. 84 00:03:17,966 --> 00:03:20,333 Gödel used logic and mathematics. 85 00:03:20,433 --> 00:03:22,500 Escher uses vision 86 00:03:23,333 --> 00:03:25,800 You must have seen his famous print 87 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:27,600 Drawing a staircase 88 00:03:27,633 --> 00:03:30,100 The monks on the stairs keep going up 89 00:03:30,100 --> 00:03:32,433 After walking around, I returned to the starting point 90 00:03:32,433 --> 00:03:35,500 But it does seem that every step is going up 91 00:03:35,500 --> 00:03:37,833 Your eyes tell you that he is climbing 92 00:03:37,833 --> 00:03:40,000 But reason tells you it's impossible. 93 00:03:40,533 --> 00:03:41,466 Bach used music. 94 00:03:42,166 --> 00:03:43,366 His fugue 95 00:03:43,366 --> 00:03:45,933 The same melody at different speeds in different parts 96 00:03:46,666 --> 00:03:48,766 Simultaneous expansion of different tonalities 97 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:49,833 echo each other 98 00:03:49,833 --> 00:03:50,900 Chasing each other 99 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:53,700 You're hearing a complete melody. 100 00:03:53,700 --> 00:03:55,033 But take it apart 101 00:03:55,033 --> 00:03:58,033 Each part is operating its own logic independently 102 00:03:58,366 --> 00:04:00,000 A sense of unity emerges 103 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:01,400 It's not preset. 104 00:04:01,733 --> 00:04:03,533 Hofstadter's core argument is 105 00:04:03,533 --> 00:04:06,200 These three circles are not three different phenomena 106 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:08,900 But three expressions of the same phenomenon 107 00:04:09,333 --> 00:04:10,366 And this phenomenon 108 00:04:10,633 --> 00:04:11,733 It's the nature of consciousness. 109 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:14,066 His chain of argument goes like this 110 00:04:14,900 --> 00:04:17,000 The human brain is a physical system 111 00:04:17,166 --> 00:04:18,933 Consists of tens of billions of nerve cells 112 00:04:19,166 --> 00:04:21,766 Each nerve cell is meaningless on its own 113 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:24,233 It's an electrochemical switch. 114 00:04:24,233 --> 00:04:26,633 Either discharge or not discharge 115 00:04:26,900 --> 00:04:29,800 It's essentially the same as the ones and zeros in a computer. 116 00:04:30,166 --> 00:04:34,200 But when these meaningless switches form networks through mass connections 117 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,133 When the complexity of the network reaches a certain critical point 118 00:04:37,300 --> 00:04:39,100 A strange thing happened 119 00:04:39,366 --> 00:04:41,100 The system starts pointing at itself. 120 00:04:41,500 --> 00:04:43,733 It's a system of meaningless symbols. 121 00:04:43,933 --> 00:04:46,133 Through sufficiently complex recursion and self-referencing 122 00:04:46,500 --> 00:04:48,966 Emerging is the ability to see yourself. 123 00:04:49,300 --> 00:04:50,100 This ability 124 00:04:50,500 --> 00:04:51,533 What you call me 125 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,733 But Hofstadter then said something that made everyone uncomfortable 126 00:04:56,100 --> 00:04:56,900 This me 127 00:04:57,133 --> 00:04:57,800 It's an illusion. 128 00:04:58,666 --> 00:04:59,900 It's not a soul 129 00:04:59,900 --> 00:05:01,900 It's not some permanent thing. 130 00:05:02,266 --> 00:05:06,233 It's a feeling that the symbolic system produces in a cycle of self-reference. 131 00:05:06,266 --> 00:05:07,133 It's an illusion. 132 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:09,500 It's like Escher's staircase. 133 00:05:09,500 --> 00:05:11,033 You feel like it's going up all the time. 134 00:05:11,266 --> 00:05:12,700 It's really just a closed loop. 135 00:05:13,433 --> 00:05:15,133 It's like Gödel's thesis. 136 00:05:15,133 --> 00:05:17,500 You think it speaks a profound truth. 137 00:05:17,500 --> 00:05:19,833 In fact, it's just pointing at itself and saying 138 00:05:19,833 --> 00:05:21,033 I'm pointing at myself. 139 00:05:21,033 --> 00:05:22,533 I am not a thing 140 00:05:22,700 --> 00:05:24,166 I am a process 141 00:05:24,433 --> 00:05:27,166 A system sees itself as a mirage 142 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:28,400 So much for that. 143 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:29,900 I'm going to ask you to just stop for a second. 144 00:05:30,100 --> 00:05:32,166 If you are a regular viewer of our channel 145 00:05:32,166 --> 00:05:35,266 You must have heard an extremely familiar voice 146 00:05:35,500 --> 00:05:39,333 Hofstadter used mathematics and logic for more than 700 pages to reach this conclusion 147 00:05:39,366 --> 00:05:42,200 It's almost exactly the same thing as the idealism. 148 00:05:42,333 --> 00:05:45,766 We dismantled this structure in detail in the Consciousness-Only issue 149 00:05:46,366 --> 00:05:49,300 What is the core function of the seventh consciousness? 150 00:05:49,566 --> 00:05:50,433 constant review and consideration 151 00:05:51,100 --> 00:05:55,466 It constantly examines the content of the eighth consciousness, the Alaya consciousness, twenty-four hours a day 152 00:05:55,500 --> 00:05:57,400 Then apply these contents as 153 00:05:57,400 --> 00:05:58,366 This is me. 154 00:05:58,966 --> 00:06:00,433 What Mornai did 155 00:06:00,466 --> 00:06:01,466 Precisely 156 00:06:01,466 --> 00:06:03,500 It's what Hofstadter calls a vicious circle 157 00:06:04,066 --> 00:06:07,600 It's a continuous self-referential operation of the conscious system on itself. 158 00:06:08,033 --> 00:06:10,100 And the result of this self-referencing operation 159 00:06:10,133 --> 00:06:11,400 It's how I feel. 160 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:13,766 Buddhism calls this self-determination. 161 00:06:13,766 --> 00:06:16,733 Hofstadter called this the illusion of the circle 162 00:06:17,266 --> 00:06:18,166 Different names 163 00:06:18,166 --> 00:06:19,733 Point to the same thing 164 00:06:19,900 --> 00:06:22,166 But that's where the differences begin to emerge. 165 00:06:22,166 --> 00:06:24,166 And that difference is crucial. 166 00:06:24,766 --> 00:06:27,100 Hofstadter comes to the point where the self is an illusion 167 00:06:27,333 --> 00:06:28,033 Stopped 168 00:06:28,633 --> 00:06:30,233 It's not that he doesn't want to keep going 169 00:06:30,366 --> 00:06:32,100 It's that the tools he uses can't move 170 00:06:32,500 --> 00:06:36,566 Logic and mathematics can help you prove that the system cannot fully understand itself 171 00:06:36,966 --> 00:06:38,200 But it can't tell you 172 00:06:38,566 --> 00:06:41,000 What happens when you see through this illusion? 173 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:45,700 In the second half of the book, Hofstadter exudes a very typical 174 00:06:45,700 --> 00:06:47,700 The Sorrow of the Molecular Formula of Western Knowledge 175 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:50,033 He realized I was fictional. 176 00:06:50,033 --> 00:06:52,733 But he couldn't imagine his life without me 177 00:06:53,466 --> 00:06:54,766 Buddhism doesn't stop here 178 00:06:55,300 --> 00:06:56,300 Buddhism 179 00:06:56,300 --> 00:06:57,700 See that I am fictional 180 00:06:57,733 --> 00:06:58,700 Not the end 181 00:06:58,733 --> 00:06:59,733 Is the starting point 182 00:07:01,033 --> 00:07:02,366 This sees through itself 183 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:03,400 It's liberation. 184 00:07:03,866 --> 00:07:05,966 And I'll make that distinction a little bit more precise. 185 00:07:06,566 --> 00:07:08,800 Hofstadter used Gödel's theorem to prove that 186 00:07:09,100 --> 00:07:10,700 The system cannot fully recognize itself 187 00:07:11,500 --> 00:07:12,766 It's a limitation. 188 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:13,866 A kind of ceiling 189 00:07:14,433 --> 00:07:16,333 Buddhism is not about knowing oneself 190 00:07:16,333 --> 00:07:20,000 It's about seeing through and knowing yourself. The need itself is an obsession 191 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:22,500 You taste the difference between the two 192 00:07:23,300 --> 00:07:24,233 Hofstadter says 193 00:07:24,233 --> 00:07:26,166 I will never fully understand myself 194 00:07:26,633 --> 00:07:27,400 And it frustrated me. 195 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:29,300 Buddhism 196 00:07:29,333 --> 00:07:31,700 You don't have to know who you are. 197 00:07:31,700 --> 00:07:33,333 Because the self that wants to know you doesn't exist. 198 00:07:33,666 --> 00:07:35,533 You're not solving an unsolvable problem. 199 00:07:35,533 --> 00:07:38,066 What you're discovering is that the question itself is an illusion. 200 00:07:38,833 --> 00:07:41,400 That's why I also see selflessness. 201 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:43,933 Hofstadter's attitude is that of an intellectual 202 00:07:44,133 --> 00:07:46,133 The attitude of the Buddha was total freedom 203 00:07:46,766 --> 00:07:49,366 Now let's take this contrast a step further 204 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:53,866 A core issue that Hou Shida repeatedly discussed in < Jiyibi > is 205 00:07:54,066 --> 00:07:56,966 Can pure symbolic manipulation lead to true understanding? 206 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:00,200 And he does a lot of elaborate dialogue. 207 00:08:00,500 --> 00:08:03,800 Let Achilles and the tortoise debate this question over and over again 208 00:08:04,366 --> 00:08:07,800 And John Searle came up with this famous Chinese Room thought experiment. 209 00:08:07,833 --> 00:08:09,733 They took it to an extreme. 210 00:08:10,266 --> 00:08:12,066 A person who does not understand Chinese at all 211 00:08:12,333 --> 00:08:15,000 If you give him a good enough rulebook 212 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:17,933 He can respond to all Chinese questions correctly 213 00:08:17,933 --> 00:08:19,733 But does he really understand Chinese? 214 00:08:20,533 --> 00:08:24,566 And that question is particularly acute in today's era of big language models. 215 00:08:25,533 --> 00:08:27,666 A model with a trillion parameters. 216 00:08:27,666 --> 00:08:30,733 Can write poetry, can reason, can talk to you about philosophy 217 00:08:31,166 --> 00:08:33,100 But does it understand what it's saying? 218 00:08:33,500 --> 00:08:36,633 Buddhism has a very precise response to this question 219 00:08:37,066 --> 00:08:39,000 It's a four-point theory of consciousness-only. 220 00:08:39,466 --> 00:08:40,733 We've talked about this before. 221 00:08:40,766 --> 00:08:43,133 Every cognitive moment has four layers. 222 00:08:43,333 --> 00:08:45,266 Parting is the known object 223 00:08:45,533 --> 00:08:47,300 Seeing points is a function of knowing 224 00:08:47,733 --> 00:08:50,466 Self-attestation is the awareness of knowing that one is knowing 225 00:08:50,733 --> 00:08:53,066 The self-proof score is the verification of this awareness 226 00:08:53,633 --> 00:08:55,300 The person in the Chinese room 227 00:08:55,300 --> 00:08:56,433 He is divided 228 00:08:56,466 --> 00:08:57,633 There are points 229 00:08:57,633 --> 00:08:59,033 He's working on symbols. 230 00:08:59,033 --> 00:09:00,133 Outputting the correct answer 231 00:09:00,900 --> 00:09:02,300 But he lacks self-attestation. 232 00:09:02,300 --> 00:09:03,800 He doesn't know what he's doing. 233 00:09:04,166 --> 00:09:06,766 He doesn't have the reflexive awareness that he knows. 234 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:11,666 This is precisely the key intersection of Hofstadter's theory of vicious circles and Buddhism 235 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:13,500 Hofstadter believes 236 00:09:13,733 --> 00:09:16,566 When a symbolic system is complex enough to refer to itself 237 00:09:16,933 --> 00:09:19,033 That's when you can point to yourself. 238 00:09:19,033 --> 00:09:21,700 It generates something like consciousness 239 00:09:22,500 --> 00:09:23,700 Buddhism is more accurate. 240 00:09:24,533 --> 00:09:26,533 Self-reference itself does not equal awareness 241 00:09:26,966 --> 00:09:29,500 Self-reference is just an operation at the last level of consciousness 242 00:09:29,900 --> 00:09:32,033 True awareness is self-proof 243 00:09:32,466 --> 00:09:34,700 It's the ability to know you're talking about yourself. 244 00:09:34,700 --> 00:09:35,966 What does that mean? 245 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:38,966 This means that Hofstadter found the necessary conditions for consciousness 246 00:09:39,166 --> 00:09:40,500 Self-referencing and recursion 247 00:09:40,833 --> 00:09:42,300 But he didn't find the conditions. 248 00:09:43,066 --> 00:09:44,533 What are the sufficient conditions? 249 00:09:44,733 --> 00:09:46,966 And what Buddhism says is consciousness itself. 250 00:09:47,500 --> 00:09:51,133 It's the one that's there before all symbolic operations. 251 00:09:51,166 --> 00:09:52,866 Can see the essence of everything 252 00:09:53,333 --> 00:09:57,300 Hofstadter's circle theory explains how my hallucination came about 253 00:09:57,866 --> 00:10:01,033 But it doesn't explain where the ability to see through hallucinations comes from. 254 00:10:01,900 --> 00:10:04,633 If everything is just symbols recursing 255 00:10:04,666 --> 00:10:06,566 Who's looking at these symbols recursively? 256 00:10:07,166 --> 00:10:09,733 If consciousness is just a by-product of the system 257 00:10:10,033 --> 00:10:12,600 The knowledge that consciousness is a by-product 258 00:10:12,633 --> 00:10:13,733 Whose is it again? 259 00:10:14,766 --> 00:10:15,800 This question 260 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:18,066 Gödel's incompleteness theorem cannot be answered 261 00:10:18,433 --> 00:10:19,900 But Buddhism gives a direction. 262 00:10:20,366 --> 00:10:22,466 Nagarjuna said at the beginning of < Zhonglun > 263 00:10:22,733 --> 00:10:24,066 All laws do not grow by themselves 264 00:10:24,100 --> 00:10:25,433 Nor born of him 265 00:10:25,433 --> 00:10:26,866 No common cause 266 00:10:26,900 --> 00:10:28,300 Therefore, there is no life 267 00:10:28,666 --> 00:10:30,500 Translated into modern language is 268 00:10:30,500 --> 00:10:33,233 Any phenomenon does not arise from itself 269 00:10:33,433 --> 00:10:35,166 It doesn't come from outside. 270 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:37,366 It's not a combination of the two. 271 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:39,666 It didn't happen for nothing. 272 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:41,400 This is not nihilism. 273 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:45,133 It points to our whole framework of causality and origins. 274 00:10:45,133 --> 00:10:46,866 It is all-encompassing 275 00:10:47,300 --> 00:10:48,966 You ask where consciousness comes from 276 00:10:48,966 --> 00:10:50,633 The premise of this question is 277 00:10:50,666 --> 00:10:53,200 Consciousness is something that comes from somewhere 278 00:10:53,733 --> 00:10:55,833 But if consciousness is not a thing 279 00:10:55,866 --> 00:10:57,300 It was an event. 280 00:10:58,300 --> 00:11:00,166 If consciousness doesn't come from somewhere 281 00:11:00,166 --> 00:11:02,300 It's happening all the time. 282 00:11:02,433 --> 00:11:04,466 Hofstadter is trapped in the question of origin 283 00:11:04,500 --> 00:11:07,333 Because his tool was linear reasoning. 284 00:11:07,666 --> 00:11:09,466 Buddhism jumps out of this framework 285 00:11:09,766 --> 00:11:10,500 It says 286 00:11:10,533 --> 00:11:12,833 You don't have to explain the origins of consciousness. 287 00:11:12,833 --> 00:11:16,133 What you need is direct visibility into what's happening. 288 00:11:16,700 --> 00:11:19,600 Just like you don't need to know how mirrors are made 289 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:21,100 To see yourself in the mirror 290 00:11:21,100 --> 00:11:24,066 Now we come back to Escher and Bach. 291 00:11:24,266 --> 00:11:27,000 Because they also have an exact correspondence in Buddhism 292 00:11:27,500 --> 00:11:30,600 Escher's Eternal Rising Staircase 293 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:32,466 It's the visualization of ubiquity. 294 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:35,166 You are walking up the staircase of life 295 00:11:35,166 --> 00:11:39,500 Every step feels like you're making progress, climbing, approaching a goal 296 00:11:40,466 --> 00:11:42,933 But if you can see it from the outside 297 00:11:42,933 --> 00:11:45,666 You'll find that you've been spinning in circles 298 00:11:45,666 --> 00:11:48,433 This doesn't mean that the effort is pointless 299 00:11:48,433 --> 00:11:51,966 Rather, the feeling itself that's going up is 300 00:11:51,966 --> 00:11:53,800 Consciously constructed narratives 301 00:11:54,033 --> 00:11:56,733 You're not going up. You're not going down. 302 00:11:56,766 --> 00:11:57,866 You are experiencing 303 00:11:58,133 --> 00:12:01,833 And ascending and descending are the labels attached to the consciousness 304 00:12:02,033 --> 00:12:04,200 Bach's fugue is more interesting 305 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:06,333 What is the essence of a fugue? 306 00:12:06,500 --> 00:12:10,666 It is the same theme that unfolds in different forms in multiple parts at the same time 307 00:12:11,333 --> 00:12:13,266 No one is the main character. 308 00:12:13,366 --> 00:12:15,633 No voice contains the full meaning 309 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:18,333 Meaning lies in the relationships between the voices. 310 00:12:18,500 --> 00:12:20,466 Not in any separate part 311 00:12:21,166 --> 00:12:22,466 This is the origin 312 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:24,966 Buddhism says the origin of all methods 313 00:12:25,333 --> 00:12:27,633 No phenomenon exists independently. 314 00:12:28,633 --> 00:12:30,766 Meaning is not in any one element. 315 00:12:30,766 --> 00:12:33,266 Meaning emerges from the relationships between elements. 316 00:12:33,733 --> 00:12:35,333 You take apart a fugue. 317 00:12:35,366 --> 00:12:37,500 Each part is incomplete on its own 318 00:12:37,933 --> 00:12:39,466 You tear apart a self 319 00:12:39,466 --> 00:12:41,700 Each of the five aggregates is not me when viewed alone 320 00:12:42,300 --> 00:12:44,733 I am an emergent effect of the relationship between the five aggregates 321 00:12:45,233 --> 00:12:48,500 Just like the beauty of a fugue is an emergent effect of the relationships between the parts 322 00:12:48,766 --> 00:12:52,166 Hofstadter intuitively touched upon this insight in "Ji Yibi" 323 00:12:53,033 --> 00:12:57,300 And he even has a whole book about what it's like to have meaning inside symbols. 324 00:12:57,333 --> 00:12:59,300 Or is it the relationship between the symbols? 325 00:12:59,866 --> 00:13:01,933 His conclusion leans towards the latter 326 00:13:01,966 --> 00:13:03,466 Meaning is in relationships. 327 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,033 But he doesn't push this conclusion to the logical end 328 00:13:07,533 --> 00:13:09,800 If meaning only exists in relationships 329 00:13:09,966 --> 00:13:12,733 Then nothing has an independent self 330 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:14,233 This is emptiness 331 00:13:14,533 --> 00:13:15,700 Empty is not nothing 332 00:13:15,866 --> 00:13:20,266 Emptiness is a way of being without an independent, inherent, and independent relationship 333 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:22,533 And Hofstadter saw the circle. 334 00:13:22,533 --> 00:13:23,800 Saw the emergence 335 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:26,266 I see meaning in relationships. 336 00:13:26,766 --> 00:13:28,366 He stood at the door of emptiness 337 00:13:28,866 --> 00:13:31,466 But his logic tools stopped him at the door 338 00:13:31,733 --> 00:13:34,200 Because logic itself is a formal system 339 00:13:34,433 --> 00:13:36,266 And Gödel proved it. 340 00:13:36,266 --> 00:13:38,966 A formal system cannot completely transcend itself 341 00:13:39,266 --> 00:13:40,233 Buddhism 342 00:13:40,233 --> 00:13:42,133 You don't have to override logic. 343 00:13:42,866 --> 00:13:44,766 What you need is direct experience 344 00:13:45,066 --> 00:13:47,733 Meditation, Vipassana, Meditation 345 00:13:47,766 --> 00:13:49,900 These are not superstitious rituals 346 00:13:49,900 --> 00:13:54,233 These are specific ways to get your conscious system to pause the self-referencing loop 347 00:13:54,666 --> 00:13:56,766 The moment the cycle stops 348 00:13:56,766 --> 00:13:57,966 You will find 349 00:13:58,000 --> 00:13:59,333 I disappeared. 350 00:13:59,333 --> 00:14:00,600 But the awareness is still there 351 00:14:00,933 --> 00:14:03,900 That awareness is what you have been seeking 352 00:14:04,500 --> 00:14:06,666 But you're looking in the wrong direction 353 00:14:06,700 --> 00:14:08,566 You've been looking out. 354 00:14:08,666 --> 00:14:10,300 And it has been waiting for you inward 355 00:14:10,900 --> 00:14:13,166 Hofstadter wrote at the end of < Jiyibi > 356 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:15,433 When he stared at himself in the mirror 357 00:14:15,466 --> 00:14:18,200 What he sees is an infinite recursion circle 358 00:14:18,833 --> 00:14:20,833 A person is looking in the mirror 359 00:14:21,100 --> 00:14:23,933 In the mirror, there is another person looking in the mirror 360 00:14:24,133 --> 00:14:25,633 layer by layer 361 00:14:25,633 --> 00:14:26,466 never ending 362 00:14:26,966 --> 00:14:28,000 Buddhist society says 363 00:14:28,033 --> 00:14:29,600 There's only one thing you need to do. 364 00:14:30,133 --> 00:14:31,033 Put down the mirror 365 00:14:31,500 --> 00:14:33,933 When you stop trying to find yourself in the mirror 366 00:14:33,966 --> 00:14:35,100 You will find 367 00:14:35,133 --> 00:14:36,866 You've always been the one watching 368 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:38,500 Not in the mirror 369 00:14:38,533 --> 00:14:40,266 Not like in image 370 00:14:40,300 --> 00:14:41,533 It's about seeing. 371 00:14:42,466 --> 00:14:45,100 But here's one place I have to be honest about marking. 372 00:14:45,466 --> 00:14:47,533 Hofstadter's contribution is irreplaceable 373 00:14:47,900 --> 00:14:49,233 Buddhism says there is no self 374 00:14:49,233 --> 00:14:51,766 But it's based on mindfulness and understanding. 375 00:14:52,133 --> 00:14:53,533 If you don't have that experience 376 00:14:53,533 --> 00:14:55,200 It's just a concept 377 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:58,466 A philosophical position that you can agree with or disagree with 378 00:14:58,700 --> 00:15:01,666 Hofstadter uses Gödel's theorem and formal system theory 379 00:15:02,133 --> 00:15:03,833 From a completely different direction 380 00:15:04,033 --> 00:15:07,400 Logic and mathematics provide an independent argument for selflessness. 381 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,333 It's not that Buddhism needs science to endorse it. 382 00:15:10,366 --> 00:15:13,933 It's about two completely separate paths pointing in the same direction. 383 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:17,633 When two unrelated paths converge at the same point 384 00:15:17,900 --> 00:15:20,500 The credibility of this point is no longer a matter of belief 385 00:15:21,033 --> 00:15:22,900 That's why I'm doing this series 386 00:15:23,300 --> 00:15:24,666 I'm not preaching. 387 00:15:24,700 --> 00:15:26,066 I'm not doing science either 388 00:15:26,500 --> 00:15:27,833 I was doing something. 389 00:15:28,166 --> 00:15:31,600 Let the deepest insights of different civilizations meet each other 390 00:15:31,633 --> 00:15:34,100 Make them shine brighter in collisions 391 00:15:34,633 --> 00:15:36,166 One last question for you. 392 00:15:36,700 --> 00:15:39,433 Nearly 30 years after Hou Shida wrote < Episode Dibi > 393 00:15:39,466 --> 00:15:41,766 Wrote another book called "I Am a Strange Circle" 394 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:45,633 And in that book he did something that shocked a lot of readers. 395 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:47,100 So he says. 396 00:15:47,133 --> 00:15:49,233 When his beloved wife passed away 397 00:15:49,233 --> 00:15:52,000 He felt that the vicious circle of his wife had not disappeared 398 00:15:52,033 --> 00:15:55,033 But somehow lived in his own brain 399 00:15:55,633 --> 00:15:57,533 Two vicious circles are entangled 400 00:15:57,600 --> 00:15:58,700 Boundaries are blurred 401 00:15:59,300 --> 00:16:02,533 This is a man who has thought scientifically and logically all his life. 402 00:16:02,566 --> 00:16:05,033 The closest you can come to not having an independent self 403 00:16:05,100 --> 00:16:07,033 Consciousness flows through relationships. 404 00:16:07,566 --> 00:16:09,766 He was on the verge of saying no. 405 00:16:10,333 --> 00:16:11,166 But he didn't. 406 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:13,966 There was no framework for it in his language. 407 00:16:14,466 --> 00:16:15,166 What do you think? 408 00:16:15,166 --> 00:16:17,066 If Hofstadter had read Consciousness Only 409 00:16:17,066 --> 00:16:18,066 Read < Middle Theory > 410 00:16:18,100 --> 00:16:19,900 I have read Nagarjuna's Eight Middle Paths 411 00:16:19,933 --> 00:16:21,933 How would he rewrite his theory? 412 00:16:22,233 --> 00:16:24,366 I don't give an answer to this question 413 00:16:24,366 --> 00:16:26,333 Leave it to you to discuss in the comment section 414 00:16:26,700 --> 00:16:27,700 I am Wang Lijie 415 00:16:27,700 --> 00:16:28,566 See you next time.