1 00:00:00,264 --> 00:00:01,334 Nagarjuna proved emptiness 2 00:00:01,784 --> 00:00:03,515 and nearly proved Buddhism out of existence 3 00:00:03,744 --> 00:00:04,775 he spent his whole life 4 00:00:05,064 --> 00:00:06,054 proving one thing 5 00:00:06,583 --> 00:00:08,994 nothing in this world has a fixed essence 6 00:00:09,064 --> 00:00:10,234 everything is empty 7 00:00:10,663 --> 00:00:12,875 this discovery changed all of Buddhism 8 00:00:13,144 --> 00:00:14,455 but what Nagarjuna never expected 9 00:00:14,784 --> 00:00:15,994 was that once the proof was done 10 00:00:16,103 --> 00:00:17,754 Buddhism itself ran into trouble 11 00:00:18,554 --> 00:00:18,906 hello 12 00:00:19,235 --> 00:00:19,706 everyone 13 00:00:20,154 --> 00:00:21,286 I am Leo Wang 14 00:00:21,674 --> 00:00:23,845 last time we told the story of two brothers 15 00:00:24,075 --> 00:00:26,273 Asanga sat in a cave for twelve years 16 00:00:26,275 --> 00:00:27,325 waiting for an answer 17 00:00:27,595 --> 00:00:29,566 Vasubandhu was called the master of a thousand treatises 18 00:00:29,714 --> 00:00:32,486 he went from opposing the Mahayana to devoting himself to Consciousness Only 19 00:00:32,874 --> 00:00:34,486 their story is the stuff of legend 20 00:00:34,634 --> 00:00:36,685 but I deliberately left one question unanswered 21 00:00:37,203 --> 00:00:38,633 what problem were they actually trying to solve 22 00:00:39,283 --> 00:00:41,573 why did Buddhism at that exact moment in history 23 00:00:41,603 --> 00:00:42,914 absolutely need Consciousness Only 24 00:00:43,603 --> 00:00:44,774 today's episode 25 00:00:44,802 --> 00:00:48,613 is the most important turning point in this series so far 26 00:00:48,883 --> 00:00:51,642 what we are looking at is not one man's legend 27 00:00:51,643 --> 00:00:53,613 but an entire system of thought 28 00:00:53,722 --> 00:00:57,454 and why it was forced into existence in fourth century India 29 00:00:57,945 --> 00:00:59,715 the story starts with Nagarjuna 30 00:00:59,904 --> 00:01:01,135 Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka philosophy 31 00:01:01,504 --> 00:01:03,355 we covered across two episodes 32 00:01:03,544 --> 00:01:05,616 what he did comes down to one thing 33 00:01:06,105 --> 00:01:06,596 dismantling 34 00:01:06,985 --> 00:01:09,556 anything you think has a fixed essence 35 00:01:09,784 --> 00:01:11,584 he could show you with logic 36 00:01:11,584 --> 00:01:12,435 that it does not 37 00:01:12,784 --> 00:01:14,135 a table has no tableness 38 00:01:14,584 --> 00:01:16,036 a person has no personhood 39 00:01:16,265 --> 00:01:20,476 even the dharma itself has no fixed unchanging nature 40 00:01:20,744 --> 00:01:23,676 everything is a temporary appearance of causes and conditions coming together 41 00:01:23,905 --> 00:01:24,855 conditions gather and it arises 42 00:01:25,224 --> 00:01:27,118 conditions scatter and it perishes 43 00:01:27,346 --> 00:01:28,458 is this theory precise 44 00:01:29,012 --> 00:01:29,812 it is 45 00:01:30,107 --> 00:01:30,738 is it profound 46 00:01:31,232 --> 00:01:32,032 it is 47 00:01:32,306 --> 00:01:34,437 but it left behind an enormous blank 48 00:01:34,826 --> 00:01:35,877 let me give you an analogy 49 00:01:36,427 --> 00:01:39,118 Nagarjuna was like an extremely good auditor 50 00:01:39,546 --> 00:01:41,437 a company had been running for centuries 51 00:01:41,466 --> 00:01:42,998 its books had grown more and more tangled 52 00:01:43,227 --> 00:01:44,998 plenty of people had been cooking them 53 00:01:45,026 --> 00:01:46,838 creating a pile of fake assets 54 00:01:47,227 --> 00:01:48,097 Nagarjuna walked in 55 00:01:48,427 --> 00:01:49,797 spent a few years 56 00:01:49,906 --> 00:01:52,758 and audited out every single fake asset 57 00:01:53,026 --> 00:01:54,037 not one left 58 00:01:54,466 --> 00:01:55,138 when the audit was done 59 00:01:55,507 --> 00:01:56,797 he dusted off his hands and walked away 60 00:01:57,266 --> 00:01:59,558 leaving a room full of people staring at each other 61 00:02:00,343 --> 00:02:01,822 the fake assets were gone 62 00:02:01,822 --> 00:02:03,914 but the company still had to keep running 63 00:02:04,182 --> 00:02:06,034 you cannot finish the audit and just close the doors 64 00:02:06,408 --> 00:02:07,207 after that 65 00:02:07,222 --> 00:02:10,553 three unavoidable problems slowly surfaced inside Buddhism 66 00:02:10,910 --> 00:02:11,342 the first one 67 00:02:11,630 --> 00:02:12,361 cause and effect 68 00:02:12,670 --> 00:02:15,241 Buddhism has taught cause and effect from day one 69 00:02:15,630 --> 00:02:16,502 plant a good cause 70 00:02:16,790 --> 00:02:17,461 get a good result 71 00:02:17,910 --> 00:02:18,581 plant a bad cause 72 00:02:18,830 --> 00:02:19,761 get a bad result 73 00:02:20,110 --> 00:02:22,602 this is the foundation of the entire path of practice 74 00:02:22,991 --> 00:02:25,241 but Nagarjuna said everything is empty 75 00:02:25,271 --> 00:02:27,041 nothing has a fixed essence 76 00:02:27,271 --> 00:02:28,861 so where does cause and effect hang 77 00:02:29,648 --> 00:02:30,160 think about it 78 00:02:30,409 --> 00:02:31,739 you do a good deed 79 00:02:31,768 --> 00:02:34,299 that good force has to be stored somewhere 80 00:02:34,448 --> 00:02:36,487 if nothing has a fixed essence 81 00:02:36,488 --> 00:02:38,080 then where is that force kept 82 00:02:38,569 --> 00:02:39,839 you say causes and conditions come together 83 00:02:40,168 --> 00:02:40,660 fine 84 00:02:40,689 --> 00:02:43,160 then what keeps that coming together running 85 00:02:43,729 --> 00:02:45,648 imagine a CEO telling the staff 86 00:02:45,648 --> 00:02:48,327 our company has no fixed rules or structure 87 00:02:48,328 --> 00:02:50,059 everything is dependent origination and empty of nature 88 00:02:50,167 --> 00:02:50,928 an employee asks 89 00:02:50,928 --> 00:02:52,920 then which account did last month's salary go to 90 00:02:53,328 --> 00:02:53,880 the CEO says 91 00:02:54,168 --> 00:02:55,459 the account is empty too 92 00:02:55,569 --> 00:02:57,160 how many days do you think that company lasts 93 00:02:58,415 --> 00:02:58,886 the second one 94 00:02:59,214 --> 00:02:59,905 accumulation 95 00:03:00,214 --> 00:03:02,185 practice does not happen all at once 96 00:03:02,415 --> 00:03:03,245 you sit once 97 00:03:03,614 --> 00:03:04,826 you watch the breath once 98 00:03:04,894 --> 00:03:06,106 you plant one good cause 99 00:03:06,214 --> 00:03:09,085 where exactly do these tiny efforts get stored 100 00:03:09,894 --> 00:03:11,785 I have felt this myself 101 00:03:12,135 --> 00:03:15,266 for a while I was deep into reading Madhyamaka 102 00:03:15,415 --> 00:03:17,946 and I thought emptiness was a brilliant idea 103 00:03:18,415 --> 00:03:19,585 but the more I read 104 00:03:19,614 --> 00:03:21,285 one day a thought suddenly hit me 105 00:03:21,695 --> 00:03:23,745 I sit in meditation an hour every day 106 00:03:23,894 --> 00:03:25,046 by Nagarjuna's account 107 00:03:25,334 --> 00:03:26,745 even I am empty 108 00:03:26,815 --> 00:03:29,366 so who is the one making that hour of effort 109 00:03:29,855 --> 00:03:32,046 and where does the result of that effort get stored 110 00:03:32,575 --> 00:03:34,694 if there is no place to store it at all 111 00:03:34,695 --> 00:03:37,486 then practice is just pouring water into a bucket with no bottom 112 00:03:38,774 --> 00:03:40,946 back then this was a very real problem 113 00:03:41,054 --> 00:03:44,666 many practitioners sat on the cushion practicing seriously for decades 114 00:03:44,734 --> 00:03:46,733 then a Madhyamaka scholar comes and tells them 115 00:03:46,734 --> 00:03:50,386 everything you practiced has no fixed place where it is stored 116 00:03:50,734 --> 00:03:52,726 how do you think that practitioner feels 117 00:03:53,329 --> 00:03:54,800 the third problem cuts deepest 118 00:03:55,088 --> 00:03:55,819 rebirth 119 00:03:56,288 --> 00:03:58,300 Buddhism has taught rebirth from the very beginning 120 00:03:58,729 --> 00:04:01,020 what you do this life shapes the next one 121 00:04:01,528 --> 00:04:04,060 but in his very first teaching the Buddha taught non self 122 00:04:04,489 --> 00:04:06,539 there is no permanent unchanging soul 123 00:04:06,929 --> 00:04:08,060 so here is the problem 124 00:04:08,408 --> 00:04:09,659 if there is no soul 125 00:04:09,769 --> 00:04:12,360 then who exactly jumps from this life to the next 126 00:04:12,881 --> 00:04:14,812 you cannot say a soul is doing the running 127 00:04:14,881 --> 00:04:17,532 because that turns into the Brahmin doctrine of the eternal self 128 00:04:17,681 --> 00:04:20,371 the very thing the Buddha spent half his life arguing against 129 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:22,332 and you cannot say nothing is running either 130 00:04:22,361 --> 00:04:24,280 because that means rebirth is fake 131 00:04:24,280 --> 00:04:25,571 and cause and effect is fake 132 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,051 and the whole Buddhist path collapses 133 00:04:28,361 --> 00:04:31,251 I know some of you in the comments have been asking this for a long time 134 00:04:31,481 --> 00:04:32,751 Buddhism says non self on one hand 135 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:34,212 and rebirth on the other 136 00:04:34,241 --> 00:04:35,472 is that not a contradiction 137 00:04:36,241 --> 00:04:38,452 fifteen hundred years ago Buddhist practitioners 138 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:40,532 were tormented by the very same question 139 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:42,719 these three problems were like three nails 140 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:44,732 driven into the floor of the Madhyamaka school 141 00:04:45,041 --> 00:04:46,551 everyone knew emptiness was right 142 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:47,852 but emptiness alone 143 00:04:47,905 --> 00:04:48,714 was not enough 144 00:04:48,969 --> 00:04:50,421 in fact before Asanga 145 00:04:50,529 --> 00:04:53,020 someone had already tried to answer these questions 146 00:04:53,250 --> 00:04:54,541 the Sarvastivada 147 00:04:54,769 --> 00:04:58,341 the school we once called the physicists of Buddhism 148 00:04:58,529 --> 00:04:59,680 their answer was blunt 149 00:05:00,130 --> 00:05:01,341 dharmas exist eternally 150 00:05:01,649 --> 00:05:03,781 they said the basic elements of everything 151 00:05:03,810 --> 00:05:06,301 those basic units of existence called dharmas 152 00:05:06,329 --> 00:05:07,781 exist permanently 153 00:05:07,930 --> 00:05:10,620 past dharmas present dharmas future dharmas 154 00:05:10,690 --> 00:05:12,101 the substance of a dharma never changes 155 00:05:12,169 --> 00:05:13,868 only its function changes 156 00:05:14,298 --> 00:05:15,409 where does cause and effect hang 157 00:05:15,858 --> 00:05:17,949 on these permanently existing dharmas 158 00:05:18,298 --> 00:05:19,569 where does practice accumulate 159 00:05:20,017 --> 00:05:21,788 in the continuity of those dharmas 160 00:05:22,337 --> 00:05:23,129 who is reborn 161 00:05:23,697 --> 00:05:26,149 the endless recombination of dharmas is what is reborn 162 00:05:27,439 --> 00:05:29,249 the answer sounds clean enough 163 00:05:29,278 --> 00:05:30,689 but it has one fatal flaw 164 00:05:31,198 --> 00:05:32,877 if dharmas exist permanently 165 00:05:32,879 --> 00:05:34,970 then they have a fixed unchanging essence 166 00:05:35,198 --> 00:05:36,929 and Nagarjuna had already proved 167 00:05:37,078 --> 00:05:40,730 that anything with a fixed essence cannot survive logical scrutiny 168 00:05:41,038 --> 00:05:43,078 so the Sarvastivada answer 169 00:05:43,078 --> 00:05:45,410 was really a retreat to the days before Nagarjuna 170 00:05:45,919 --> 00:05:48,037 the surgery Nagarjuna had worked so hard to finish 171 00:05:48,038 --> 00:05:50,078 and they put the tumor right back in 172 00:05:50,078 --> 00:05:51,929 Buddhism needed a new answer 173 00:05:52,239 --> 00:05:54,170 an answer that could not deny emptiness 174 00:05:54,239 --> 00:05:56,809 and could not drop cause and effect in the name of emptiness 175 00:05:57,119 --> 00:05:59,489 it had to stand between emptiness and existence 176 00:05:59,598 --> 00:06:00,889 and fall to neither side 177 00:06:01,981 --> 00:06:04,032 this was not a purely philosophical debate 178 00:06:04,381 --> 00:06:07,712 confusion had already spread among practitioners in India 179 00:06:08,181 --> 00:06:10,991 some heard Madhyamaka and gave up practice entirely 180 00:06:11,181 --> 00:06:12,912 saying if everything is empty 181 00:06:12,981 --> 00:06:13,491 what is there to practice 182 00:06:14,181 --> 00:06:16,592 others fell back and clung to the Sarvastivada 183 00:06:16,741 --> 00:06:17,832 saying emptiness is emptiness 184 00:06:17,981 --> 00:06:20,951 but the things we practice have to be really real 185 00:06:21,381 --> 00:06:23,472 Buddhism was splitting from the inside 186 00:06:24,529 --> 00:06:27,380 this is the real backdrop for Asanga stepping in 187 00:06:27,688 --> 00:06:31,539 he did not sit in a study and dream up a pretty philosophy 188 00:06:31,929 --> 00:06:33,419 he was forced into it 189 00:06:33,929 --> 00:06:37,380 the whole history of Buddhist thought had hit a crossroads 190 00:06:37,649 --> 00:06:39,380 without solving these three problems 191 00:06:39,688 --> 00:06:43,219 Buddhist philosophy would contradict itself logically 192 00:06:43,481 --> 00:06:45,151 Asanga's answer was one word 193 00:06:45,721 --> 00:06:46,211 consciousness 194 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:47,851 all things are consciousness only 195 00:06:48,161 --> 00:06:49,572 everything you experience 196 00:06:49,601 --> 00:06:52,531 is not an independent world out there waiting to be seen 197 00:06:52,721 --> 00:06:56,611 it is your consciousness refreshing the experience moment by moment 198 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:58,731 this is not saying the world does not exist 199 00:06:58,921 --> 00:07:00,291 it is saying your experience 200 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:02,761 is entirely a product of conscious activity 201 00:07:02,790 --> 00:07:04,870 to make this answer actually land 202 00:07:04,870 --> 00:07:07,201 Asanga built an architecture of consciousness 203 00:07:07,591 --> 00:07:09,721 the bottom layer is the alaya consciousness 204 00:07:09,990 --> 00:07:10,841 the storehouse consciousness 205 00:07:11,350 --> 00:07:12,521 which is literally a warehouse 206 00:07:12,711 --> 00:07:15,802 every act you have done every thought you have had 207 00:07:15,910 --> 00:07:18,562 leaves a seed inside that warehouse 208 00:07:18,951 --> 00:07:20,062 a seed is not a thing 209 00:07:20,670 --> 00:07:21,949 it is a potential 210 00:07:21,951 --> 00:07:23,201 a possibility 211 00:07:23,511 --> 00:07:24,302 when the conditions ripen 212 00:07:24,591 --> 00:07:25,922 the seed sprouts 213 00:07:25,990 --> 00:07:27,641 and becomes your experience right now 214 00:07:27,990 --> 00:07:32,322 and your present experience plants new seeds back in the warehouse 215 00:07:32,670 --> 00:07:33,461 in and out 216 00:07:33,831 --> 00:07:34,961 turning forever 217 00:07:35,151 --> 00:07:36,081 like a river 218 00:07:37,067 --> 00:07:38,225 do you feel it 219 00:07:38,227 --> 00:07:39,857 you have actually seen this picture before 220 00:07:40,506 --> 00:07:43,677 your computer refreshes the screen dozens of times a second 221 00:07:43,826 --> 00:07:44,658 with every refresh 222 00:07:44,987 --> 00:07:46,425 the previous frame is gone 223 00:07:46,427 --> 00:07:48,038 and a new frame appears 224 00:07:48,227 --> 00:07:50,398 not a single frame is fixed 225 00:07:50,506 --> 00:07:52,518 yet what you see is one continuous picture 226 00:07:52,867 --> 00:07:55,317 that is exactly what the alaya consciousness does 227 00:07:55,667 --> 00:07:58,398 it is not a fixed soul standing there 228 00:07:58,547 --> 00:08:00,833 it is a process that never stops turning 229 00:08:01,061 --> 00:08:02,672 the three problems Nagarjuna left behind 230 00:08:02,862 --> 00:08:05,552 are all solved at once inside this framework 231 00:08:06,181 --> 00:08:07,292 where does cause and effect hang 232 00:08:07,741 --> 00:08:08,873 on the seeds 233 00:08:09,302 --> 00:08:11,513 a good cause is simply a good seed 234 00:08:11,662 --> 00:08:14,472 it does not need to hang on a fixed unchanging entity 235 00:08:14,621 --> 00:08:18,792 it only has to exist as potential in the seed stream of the alaya 236 00:08:19,542 --> 00:08:20,852 where does practice accumulate 237 00:08:21,302 --> 00:08:22,552 in the seed store 238 00:08:22,741 --> 00:08:24,540 every time you look with mindfulness 239 00:08:24,542 --> 00:08:27,393 you plant one new seed in that store 240 00:08:27,662 --> 00:08:29,753 and that seed will sprout later on 241 00:08:30,342 --> 00:08:31,333 who is it that is reborn 242 00:08:31,941 --> 00:08:33,592 not a fixed soul 243 00:08:33,662 --> 00:08:37,193 but the never ending waterfall of seeds inside the alaya 244 00:08:37,581 --> 00:08:38,532 the water keeps changing 245 00:08:38,902 --> 00:08:41,032 but the pattern of the river continues 246 00:08:41,504 --> 00:08:43,034 then come the three natures 247 00:08:43,423 --> 00:08:44,743 the details of this idea 248 00:08:44,744 --> 00:08:48,394 we already unpacked over several episodes in our sutra series 249 00:08:48,783 --> 00:08:51,695 today on the historical thread I will say only one thing 250 00:08:51,943 --> 00:08:53,274 what problem did it solve 251 00:08:53,704 --> 00:08:57,955 the three natures explain how the world you see gets assembled 252 00:08:58,183 --> 00:09:00,154 the actual working of causes and conditions is one layer 253 00:09:00,344 --> 00:09:03,355 the assumptions and judgments you add on top are another 254 00:09:03,584 --> 00:09:06,874 and what you see once those are peeled away is a third 255 00:09:07,303 --> 00:09:09,274 emptiness and existence stop contradicting each other 256 00:09:09,504 --> 00:09:13,435 emptiness means the assumptions you add have no fixed essence 257 00:09:13,823 --> 00:09:17,075 existence means causes and conditions really are at work 258 00:09:17,384 --> 00:09:20,274 the two point at different sides of the same reality 259 00:09:21,353 --> 00:09:24,364 this is one of the most elegant rescues in the history of thought 260 00:09:24,633 --> 00:09:26,643 Asanga did not overturn Nagarjuna 261 00:09:26,792 --> 00:09:28,803 he waited until Nagarjuna finished demolishing 262 00:09:28,873 --> 00:09:31,604 and built a new building on the rubble 263 00:09:31,832 --> 00:09:33,683 and the foundation of that building 264 00:09:33,712 --> 00:09:36,004 is precisely the emptiness Nagarjuna left behind 265 00:09:37,247 --> 00:09:41,618 on the framework his brother built Vasubandhu did something even more extreme 266 00:09:41,968 --> 00:09:45,819 he compressed all of Consciousness Only into thirty verses 267 00:09:46,328 --> 00:09:47,338 six hundred characters 268 00:09:47,808 --> 00:09:48,899 six hundred characters 269 00:09:48,928 --> 00:09:53,539 describing how consciousness works from the deepest layer to the surface 270 00:09:53,968 --> 00:09:58,138 ten great commentators then spent centuries annotating those six hundred characters 271 00:09:58,527 --> 00:10:02,138 a thousand years later Xuanzang crossed the desert into India 272 00:10:02,208 --> 00:10:03,579 studied for five full years 273 00:10:03,728 --> 00:10:06,338 then carried them home and translated them into Chinese 274 00:10:06,647 --> 00:10:08,039 this was not a simple abridgement 275 00:10:08,527 --> 00:10:09,338 this was distillation 276 00:10:10,065 --> 00:10:12,276 the young Vasubandhu had written on the seventy five dharmas 277 00:10:12,384 --> 00:10:14,036 he was a Sarvastivada man 278 00:10:14,384 --> 00:10:16,955 his brother later talked him into Consciousness Only 279 00:10:17,224 --> 00:10:19,663 a man jumps from the old camp to the new one 280 00:10:19,665 --> 00:10:22,636 and then writes the new camp its most refined manifesto 281 00:10:23,104 --> 00:10:26,235 that is extremely rare in the entire history of ideas 282 00:10:26,785 --> 00:10:30,796 the first time I read the Thirty Verses I had a very strange feeling 283 00:10:31,185 --> 00:10:34,595 you can feel that every character was squeezed out under pressure 284 00:10:34,785 --> 00:10:36,304 not one wasted word 285 00:10:36,305 --> 00:10:37,996 and not one lazy word 286 00:10:38,425 --> 00:10:42,595 as if someone compressed a whole library onto a business card 287 00:10:43,641 --> 00:10:44,472 have you noticed 288 00:10:44,881 --> 00:10:47,011 that from Nagarjuna to Asanga and Vasubandhu 289 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:51,311 Buddhist philosophy walked almost exactly the road of modern science 290 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:52,972 first you break 291 00:10:53,481 --> 00:10:55,011 overturn the old framework 292 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:58,372 prove that what you took to be true is not 293 00:10:58,721 --> 00:11:00,252 that is what Nagarjuna did 294 00:11:00,680 --> 00:11:02,852 that is what Einstein did too 295 00:11:03,361 --> 00:11:05,771 that is what quantum mechanics did too 296 00:11:06,401 --> 00:11:07,452 then you build 297 00:11:07,881 --> 00:11:11,092 raise a workable theory on the ruins 298 00:11:11,481 --> 00:11:12,551 one that explains the phenomena 299 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:14,171 that makes predictions 300 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:15,572 that guides practice 301 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:17,492 that is what Asanga did 302 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:21,291 and what the physicists after Newton did too 303 00:11:21,598 --> 00:11:22,228 breaking is easy 304 00:11:22,558 --> 00:11:23,248 building is hard 305 00:11:23,517 --> 00:11:25,929 saying nothing is the way you thought it was 306 00:11:25,958 --> 00:11:26,929 is step one 307 00:11:27,198 --> 00:11:29,348 saying what it actually is 308 00:11:29,598 --> 00:11:30,569 is step two 309 00:11:30,877 --> 00:11:33,049 step two is always harder than step one 310 00:11:33,397 --> 00:11:35,169 Nagarjuna spent a lifetime breaking 311 00:11:35,358 --> 00:11:37,089 Asanga spent a lifetime building 312 00:11:37,277 --> 00:11:39,929 Buddhist philosophy needed both steps finished 313 00:11:39,958 --> 00:11:43,163 before practitioners had a complete map 314 00:11:43,432 --> 00:11:45,102 but is that map perfect 315 00:11:45,631 --> 00:11:47,670 this whole series has been doing one thing 316 00:11:47,672 --> 00:11:50,351 looking back at what the Buddha originally taught 317 00:11:50,351 --> 00:11:51,183 and then asking one question 318 00:11:51,792 --> 00:11:53,030 does this later development 319 00:11:53,032 --> 00:11:55,763 take us closer to what the Buddha saw under the bodhi tree 320 00:11:55,832 --> 00:11:57,342 or further away from it 321 00:11:57,991 --> 00:12:00,082 the answer from Consciousness Only is rather subtle 322 00:12:00,256 --> 00:12:01,057 on one hand 323 00:12:01,072 --> 00:12:05,082 the alaya and the seed theory really did solve cause and effect and rebirth 324 00:12:05,271 --> 00:12:08,763 making the Buddhist path logically consistent again 325 00:12:08,991 --> 00:12:11,082 that deepens the insight of the Buddha 326 00:12:11,271 --> 00:12:12,023 but on the other hand 327 00:12:12,231 --> 00:12:13,311 do you get the feeling 328 00:12:13,312 --> 00:12:15,943 that Consciousness Only had become extremely complicated 329 00:12:16,351 --> 00:12:21,122 eight consciousnesses three transformations three natures six aspects of seeds four divisions 330 00:12:21,912 --> 00:12:25,763 what the Buddha saw under the bodhi tree was dependent origination and non self 331 00:12:26,111 --> 00:12:26,962 two words 332 00:12:27,511 --> 00:12:29,883 now it is an entire tower of theory 333 00:12:30,271 --> 00:12:31,822 the tower is precise 334 00:12:32,072 --> 00:12:33,202 and it is self consistent 335 00:12:33,951 --> 00:12:35,542 but the Buddha once said 336 00:12:36,032 --> 00:12:37,190 even the dharma must be let go 337 00:12:37,191 --> 00:12:38,282 how much more everything that is not the dharma 338 00:12:38,591 --> 00:12:40,343 even the dharma itself is only a raft 339 00:12:40,791 --> 00:12:42,042 made for crossing the river 340 00:12:42,232 --> 00:12:43,963 and once across you put it down 341 00:12:44,392 --> 00:12:47,083 the Consciousness Only raft was built too beautifully 342 00:12:47,272 --> 00:12:48,223 can you bear to let it go 343 00:12:48,911 --> 00:12:49,751 that tension 344 00:12:49,752 --> 00:12:52,642 has been there since the day Consciousness Only was born 345 00:12:52,951 --> 00:12:54,323 and many later debates 346 00:12:54,352 --> 00:12:56,843 were essentially circling this same question 347 00:12:57,386 --> 00:12:59,996 Asanga and Vasubandhu solved the Madhyamaka problems 348 00:13:00,586 --> 00:13:02,876 but they left new problems of their own 349 00:13:03,266 --> 00:13:05,416 where did that first flicker of ignorance come from 350 00:13:05,866 --> 00:13:08,156 if the alaya is not a permanent entity 351 00:13:08,185 --> 00:13:10,656 then how does it carry on life after life 352 00:13:11,145 --> 00:13:11,896 and more importantly 353 00:13:12,226 --> 00:13:14,036 in the very years they were alive 354 00:13:14,106 --> 00:13:17,276 another sutra had been circulating in India for centuries 355 00:13:17,506 --> 00:13:19,676 this sutra does not belong to the Prajna tradition 356 00:13:19,706 --> 00:13:21,477 nor to the Consciousness Only tradition 357 00:13:21,586 --> 00:13:23,717 it makes a far bolder claim 358 00:13:23,986 --> 00:13:24,376 it says 359 00:13:24,665 --> 00:13:26,876 all those separate paths you are arguing over 360 00:13:26,986 --> 00:13:29,105 the path of the arhat and the path of the bodhisattva 361 00:13:29,106 --> 00:13:31,025 the lesser vehicle and the great vehicle 362 00:13:31,025 --> 00:13:33,156 are in fact one and the same path 363 00:13:33,346 --> 00:13:35,197 that sutra is the Lotus Sutra 364 00:13:35,586 --> 00:13:38,357 and it would completely reshape Mahayana Buddhism 365 00:13:38,784 --> 00:13:41,834 now that Consciousness Only has solved the Madhyamaka problems 366 00:13:41,903 --> 00:13:44,214 what new puzzles do you think it left behind 367 00:13:44,704 --> 00:13:47,074 share your thoughts in the comments 368 00:13:47,304 --> 00:13:47,974 I am Leo Wang 369 00:13:48,344 --> 00:13:49,099 see you next episode