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The Sutra of Complete Enlightenment

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If you are already awake

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why do you still need to practice

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Have you ever experienced this

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You understand all the principles

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even more than the people around you

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But once you face real life

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you still feel anxious

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and you still feel conflicted

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You know you should not cling

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yet your hand just cannot let go

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You sit there telling yourself to release it

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but the more you say it the tighter you grip

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A viewer left a comment saying

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after watching the last episode

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I knew I was awake all along

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yet I still could not wake up

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Someone else asked

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my mind will not stop

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I keep thinking even when half asleep

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how should I practice stillness

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These very questions

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were asked for you over thirteen centuries ago

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Hello

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everyone

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I am Leo Wang

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Last time we discussed the first half of the sutra

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It made one key point

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awareness is originally complete

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you have always been awake

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Recognize illusion and you leave it

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with no other method needed

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The moment you recognize an illusion

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you have already stepped out of it

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But one question was left unexplored

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If we are already awake

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why do we still need to practice

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More importantly

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how do we practice

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Today we continue with the second half of the sutra

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which answers this exact question

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First let me point out something often overlooked

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Unlike many sutras this is not one long discourse by the Buddha

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It is structured as a dialogue

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Twelve bodhisattvas rise in turn to ask questions

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Their names appear at the beginning

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Manjushri Samantabhadra Universal Vision Vajragarbha

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Maitreya Pure Wisdom Majestic Virtue Discernment of Sound

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Purifier of Karmic Obstructions Universal Enlightenment Complete Enlightenment and Worthy Excellence

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Each bodhisattva approaches from a different angle

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and each question becomes more concrete

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The first ask what awakening is and how to leave illusion

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The later questions become more practical

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How exactly do we practice

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How many methods are there

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What if we practice incorrectly

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So the second half of the sutra

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is essentially a practical manual for cultivation

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and a remarkably grounded one

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because every question they ask

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is something you will encounter on the path

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Everything you want to ask

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was already voiced over thirteen centuries ago

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and with even greater precision

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You may be thinking

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last time you said awareness is already present

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so no practice is needed

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Now you are explaining how to practice

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Is that not a contradiction

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No it is not

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The sutra explains this very clearly

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Good practitioners

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The pure complete enlightenment of all Tathagatas has no practice or practitioner

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Yet bodhisattvas and beings in the final age practice through the illusory force of nonawakening

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and thus there are twenty five wheels of pure concentration

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Listen carefully to this

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Originally there is no practice

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and no separate person who practices

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But because you have not awakened to that point

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you need an illusory method to break illusion

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This is what practicing illusion through illusion means

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Two pieces of wood are rubbed to make fire

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Once the fire catches

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the wood is also consumed

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The method and the problem vanish together

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With this premise understood

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let us see what methods the sutra offers

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Bodhisattva Majestic Virtue asks this for you

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The Buddha replies

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skillful means are countless

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yet when gathered to their source

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they fall into three according to disposition

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There are countless methods

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but in summary

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according to different dispositions

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they form three main categories

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The first

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is shamatha

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The sutra says

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Good practitioners

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When bodhisattvas realize pure complete enlightenment

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with a mind of pure awareness

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they take stillness as their practice

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By settling all thoughts

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they recognize the agitation of consciousness

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and quiet wisdom arises

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The guest dust of body and mind disappears

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and serene ease arises within

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Because of this stillness

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the minds of all Tathagatas appear within

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like images in a mirror

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This method is called shamatha

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Shamatha means calming or stopping

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Take stillness as your practice

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and make quiet itself the entrance

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You may have experienced something similar

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Find a quiet place and sit down

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Do nothing

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and simply watch your thoughts

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At first thoughts are everywhere

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like water boiling wildly in a pot

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But you do not interfere

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You simply watch

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Gradually

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the surface becomes still

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The sutra says that after resting in stillness

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the guest dust of body and mind disappears

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What is guest dust

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It is the impurity that never truly belonged to you

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These things are guests

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not the host

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When you become still

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the guests leave on their own

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Then something happens within you

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like an image in a mirror

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Your mind becomes a clean mirror

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and awareness appears within it

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Let me offer a simple analogy

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Your phone has thirty apps open at once

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and can barely function

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Shamatha closes those background apps one by one

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It does not smash the phone and replace it

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It restores the smoothness that was already there

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After closing them you realize

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the phone did not become faster

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it was always this fast

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The apps were slowing it down

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That is why the sutra uses the image of a mirror

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You do not create the mirror by polishing it

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Once the dust is removed

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the mirror was there all along

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The second

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is samapatti

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The sutra says

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Good practitioners

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When bodhisattvas realize pure complete enlightenment

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with a mind of pure awareness

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they know that mind sense and objects arise through illusion

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They raise illusions to remove illusion

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transforming illusion to awaken illusory beings

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Through this great compassion and ease arise within

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All bodhisattvas begin their practice here

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and progress step by step

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The one who observes illusion is not the same as illusion

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and even that observation is itself illusory

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so illusion is finally left behind

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This is the complete wondrous practice of bodhisattvas

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like a sprout growing from soil

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This method is called samapatti

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In this sutra samapatti is close to contemplation

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It is called contemplation of illusion

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It is the opposite of shamatha

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Shamatha brings everything to a stop

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Samapatti walks directly into it

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You do not flee from thoughts

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You watch them with lucid awareness

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You know everything before you is illusory

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and you practice within illusion

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The sutra offers an analogy

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like a sprout growing from soil

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A seed is buried in soil

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but the seed does not become soil

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and the soil does not become the seed

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The seed grows with the help of the soil

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You practice within an illusory world

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The world is illusory

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but the awareness growing within it is not illusion

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Here is another analogy

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You are watching a movie

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Shamatha turns the movie off

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so you can become quiet

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Samapatti keeps watching

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while knowing clearly that it is a movie

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When the hero cries you are not truly devastated

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When the villain wins you are not truly enraged

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You remain inside the movie

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without being carried away by it

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The third

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is dhyana

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The sutra says

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Good practitioners

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When bodhisattvas realize pure complete enlightenment

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with pure awareness they grasp neither illusion nor stillness

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and know body and mind as obstructions

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Unconditioned luminous knowing depends on no obstruction

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and forever transcends both obstruction and nonobstruction while engaging world body and mind

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remaining within the realm of dust

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like the resonance of a bell sounding beyond the vessel

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Affliction and nirvana no longer obstruct each other

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and serene extinction wondrous awareness and effortless accord arise within

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beyond the reach of self and other body and mind

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while the lives of beings are seen as floating thoughts

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This method is called dhyana

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Dhyana is the hardest to explain

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because it does not grasp illusion

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or the appearance of stillness

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It does not seek quiet like shamatha

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or practice within illusion like samapatti

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It releases both sides

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The sutra compares it to resonance leaving a bell

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The term means the resonant tone of an ancient bronze bell

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The sound comes from the vessel

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but the sound is not the vessel itself

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Awareness shines through your body and mind

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but awareness is not your body or mind

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If shamatha closes background apps so the phone runs smoothly

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and samapatti uses the phone with awareness

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then dhyana is the sudden realization

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that you are not the phone

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You are the person holding it

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Whether the phone lags

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has nothing to do with who you are

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That completes the three methods

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But what follows is crucial

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Bodhisattva Discernment of Sound asks a practical question

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How should these three methods be combined

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Which should come first

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The Buddha says

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the three may be practiced individually

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or arranged in sequence

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or two may be practiced together before the third

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or all three may be integrated at once

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making twenty five wheels of pure concentration

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Twenty five methods

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What does that mean

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There is no single standard answer for everyone

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Your disposition

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determines which combination fits you

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Someone once asked me

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what if wisdom is strong but concentration is weak

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You understand very well

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but cannot sit still

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and your mind will not stop

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Following the logic of the sutra

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beginning with deep stillness may suit you

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Use shamatha to settle the mind

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then illuminate it with contemplative wisdom

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First calm then contemplate

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First close the background apps

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then see clearly what is on the screen

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Some people are naturally quiet

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and do not lack concentration

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but struggle to act in everyday life

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Then begin with samapatti

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Learn to walk the bodhisattva path within illusion

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and act in real life

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The key is not which is best

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but which is right for you

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The sutra is very practical here

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It does not give one standard answer

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It gives you a menu

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so you can choose according to your condition

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But its method of choosing is even more interesting

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Place a marker on each of the twenty five wheels

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pray with complete sincerity

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then draw one at random

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Mark each of the twenty five methods

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make a sincere appeal

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and draw one freely

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Look

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even the path is not left entirely to your control

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Surrender the thought that I must choose the best plan

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00:10:06,795 --> 00:10:08,541
and that itself becomes practice

284
00:10:08,714 --> 00:10:11,061
This thought will appear again shortly

285
00:10:11,114 --> 00:10:12,233
It has a name

286
00:10:12,234 --> 00:10:13,479
an illness

287
00:10:13,693 --> 00:10:15,479
The methods are explained but the teaching is not finished

288
00:10:15,932 --> 00:10:18,020
Did you think having a method solves everything

289
00:10:18,532 --> 00:10:20,440
The sutra does not stop there

290
00:10:20,613 --> 00:10:23,520
Bodhisattva Universal Enlightenment asks a sharper question

291
00:10:24,132 --> 00:10:24,979
His exact words are

292
00:10:25,333 --> 00:10:26,520
Quickly explain the illnesses of meditation

293
00:10:27,012 --> 00:10:28,339
What illnesses arise in practice

294
00:10:28,932 --> 00:10:29,979
Notice the urgency

295
00:10:30,292 --> 00:10:31,079
Quickly explain

296
00:10:31,573 --> 00:10:33,099
This question is too important

297
00:10:33,172 --> 00:10:34,160
to postpone any longer

298
00:10:34,613 --> 00:10:36,560
The Buddha names four illnesses directly

299
00:10:36,932 --> 00:10:39,959
The first time I read this passage I felt a chill

300
00:10:40,252 --> 00:10:42,719
because I recognized every one in myself

301
00:10:43,052 --> 00:10:44,339
not just one or two

302
00:10:44,613 --> 00:10:46,635
I had fallen into all four

303
00:10:47,048 --> 00:10:47,655
Good practitioners

304
00:10:48,408 --> 00:10:51,796
The wondrous Dharma realized by a true teacher must be free of four illnesses

305
00:10:52,048 --> 00:10:52,976
What are the four illnesses

306
00:10:53,609 --> 00:10:54,615
The first is the illness of striving

307
00:10:55,208 --> 00:10:56,976
If someone says

308
00:10:57,369 --> 00:11:00,755
I perform many practices within my original mind to seek complete enlightenment

309
00:11:01,088 --> 00:11:03,096
complete enlightenment cannot be produced by striving

310
00:11:03,528 --> 00:11:04,556
so this is called an illness

311
00:11:04,808 --> 00:11:05,816
The second is the illness of letting be

312
00:11:06,328 --> 00:11:08,015
If someone says

313
00:11:08,448 --> 00:11:11,515
we neither end samsara nor seek nirvana

314
00:11:11,649 --> 00:11:13,916
holding no thought of arising or ceasing in either

315
00:11:14,048 --> 00:11:17,196
we let everything follow its nature while seeking complete enlightenment

316
00:11:17,328 --> 00:11:19,255
complete enlightenment does not arise from passive letting be

317
00:11:19,649 --> 00:11:20,716
so this is called an illness

318
00:11:20,928 --> 00:11:21,976
The third is the illness of suppression

319
00:11:22,408 --> 00:11:24,135
If someone says

320
00:11:24,489 --> 00:11:28,035
I permanently stop every thought in my mind and attain all natures

321
00:11:28,088 --> 00:11:30,355
resting in silent equality while seeking complete enlightenment

322
00:11:30,528 --> 00:11:32,456
complete enlightenment is not reached by forced suppression

323
00:11:32,808 --> 00:11:33,875
so this is called an illness

324
00:11:34,688 --> 00:11:35,615
The fourth is the illness of annihilation

325
00:11:36,208 --> 00:11:38,135
If someone says

326
00:11:38,609 --> 00:11:40,716
I permanently eliminate every affliction

327
00:11:40,808 --> 00:11:42,956
until body and mind are utterly empty

328
00:11:43,009 --> 00:11:45,316
let alone the false realms of senses and objects

329
00:11:45,369 --> 00:11:47,716
and seek complete enlightenment in total extinction

330
00:11:47,928 --> 00:11:50,015
complete enlightenment is not an appearance of extinction

331
00:11:50,328 --> 00:11:51,436
so this is called an illness

332
00:11:51,609 --> 00:11:53,956
Those free from the four illnesses know purity

333
00:11:54,088 --> 00:11:56,275
Such contemplation is called right contemplation

334
00:11:56,408 --> 00:11:58,589
any other view is called wrong contemplation

335
00:11:59,081 --> 00:12:01,108
Let me unpack them one by one

336
00:12:01,401 --> 00:12:01,809
The first

337
00:12:02,201 --> 00:12:02,909
is the illness of striving

338
00:12:03,281 --> 00:12:04,508
which means trying desperately

339
00:12:05,081 --> 00:12:06,049
You meditate desperately

340
00:12:06,401 --> 00:12:07,469
recite sutras desperately

341
00:12:07,521 --> 00:12:09,228
and desperately practice every method

342
00:12:09,441 --> 00:12:12,148
believing more effort brings you closer to awakening

343
00:12:12,482 --> 00:12:13,528
But the sutra says

344
00:12:13,962 --> 00:12:16,709
complete enlightenment cannot be produced by striving

345
00:12:17,201 --> 00:12:18,868
Awakening is not something you manufacture

346
00:12:19,041 --> 00:12:19,809
The harder you push

347
00:12:20,041 --> 00:12:21,069
the farther away it becomes

348
00:12:21,681 --> 00:12:23,868
You may have experienced this

349
00:12:24,242 --> 00:12:26,069
You face a difficult problem at work

350
00:12:26,201 --> 00:12:28,988
and cannot solve it no matter how hard you think

351
00:12:29,441 --> 00:12:30,969
Then you go for a walk

352
00:12:31,321 --> 00:12:32,508
or take a shower

353
00:12:32,602 --> 00:12:34,309
and the answer appears on its own

354
00:12:34,762 --> 00:12:36,108
Awakening works the same way

355
00:12:36,281 --> 00:12:38,388
It is not something you can force out

356
00:12:39,220 --> 00:12:39,706
The second

357
00:12:40,139 --> 00:12:40,887
is the illness of letting be

358
00:12:41,259 --> 00:12:42,326
which means giving yourself free rein

359
00:12:42,700 --> 00:12:45,106
Some people may think after the previous episode

360
00:12:45,580 --> 00:12:47,007
if everything is illusion

361
00:12:47,139 --> 00:12:48,466
then I need not care about anything

362
00:12:48,739 --> 00:12:50,167
I can simply let nature take its course

363
00:12:50,419 --> 00:12:51,507
It sounds carefree

364
00:12:51,899 --> 00:12:53,127
but it is really laziness

365
00:12:53,460 --> 00:12:54,267
The sutra says

366
00:12:54,739 --> 00:12:57,167
complete enlightenment does not arise from passive letting be

367
00:12:57,460 --> 00:12:58,966
If you keep lying there

368
00:12:59,060 --> 00:13:01,647
awakening will not fall from the sky

369
00:13:01,860 --> 00:13:02,787
You are still inside the dream

370
00:13:03,139 --> 00:13:05,259
Simply saying the dream is false

371
00:13:05,259 --> 00:13:06,604
does not mean you are awake

372
00:13:06,818 --> 00:13:07,425
The third

373
00:13:07,737 --> 00:13:08,484
is the illness of suppression

374
00:13:08,897 --> 00:13:10,084
which means pressing thoughts down

375
00:13:10,417 --> 00:13:12,645
You tell yourself do not think do not think

376
00:13:12,818 --> 00:13:14,844
and forbid even one thought from appearing

377
00:13:15,137 --> 00:13:16,145
But the sutra says

378
00:13:16,377 --> 00:13:18,765
complete enlightenment is not reached by forced suppression

379
00:13:19,218 --> 00:13:22,645
You cannot awaken by crushing every thought

380
00:13:22,857 --> 00:13:24,025
When thoughts are crushed

381
00:13:24,137 --> 00:13:24,824
that is not awakening

382
00:13:25,218 --> 00:13:26,364
it is being frozen

383
00:13:26,857 --> 00:13:29,204
A frozen surface may look calm

384
00:13:29,257 --> 00:13:30,577
but it is not purity

385
00:13:30,578 --> 00:13:32,004
it is frozen solid

386
00:13:32,417 --> 00:13:32,984
The fourth

387
00:13:33,297 --> 00:13:34,045
is the illness of annihilation

388
00:13:34,338 --> 00:13:36,285
which means seeking total emptiness

389
00:13:36,657 --> 00:13:39,645
You imagine practice should end in nothingness

390
00:13:39,698 --> 00:13:40,844
with body and mind completely empty

391
00:13:40,858 --> 00:13:42,004
and everything extinguished

392
00:13:42,218 --> 00:13:43,185
But the sutra says

393
00:13:43,578 --> 00:13:46,084
complete enlightenment is not an appearance of extinction

394
00:13:46,338 --> 00:13:47,384
As we discussed last time

395
00:13:47,818 --> 00:13:49,004
though all illusions end

396
00:13:49,057 --> 00:13:50,165
one does not enter annihilation

397
00:13:50,417 --> 00:13:51,525
the awakened mind does not move

398
00:13:51,818 --> 00:13:54,565
What remains when illusion vanishes is not nothingness

399
00:13:54,657 --> 00:13:56,004
it is awareness itself

400
00:13:56,377 --> 00:14:00,187
Seeking nothingness confuses awareness with a void

401
00:14:00,293 --> 00:14:01,094
Look

402
00:14:01,721 --> 00:14:02,908
Desperate striving is an illness

403
00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:04,748
Letting everything go is an illness

404
00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:06,388
Suppressing thoughts is an illness

405
00:14:06,801 --> 00:14:08,467
Seeking nothingness is also an illness

406
00:14:08,921 --> 00:14:11,827
I often remember when I first began meditating

407
00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,307
At times I thought I must sit with more effort

408
00:14:14,441 --> 00:14:16,428
then I thought I should ignore everything

409
00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:19,067
Sometimes I suppressed thoughts until my head hurt

410
00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:22,268
and sometimes chased a blank state beyond all thought

411
00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:23,648
I struggled back and forth for a long time

412
00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:25,148
before I finally understood

413
00:14:25,201 --> 00:14:27,579
the struggle itself was the illness

414
00:14:27,832 --> 00:14:28,960
So what should we do

415
00:14:29,592 --> 00:14:32,100
This is the sutras most subtle insight

416
00:14:32,352 --> 00:14:33,079
It tells you

417
00:14:33,393 --> 00:14:34,659
any method

418
00:14:34,673 --> 00:14:35,840
once you cling to it

419
00:14:36,153 --> 00:14:37,340
turns into an illness

420
00:14:37,592 --> 00:14:39,220
You use shamatha to practice stillness

421
00:14:39,232 --> 00:14:41,100
but cling to that quiet state

422
00:14:41,193 --> 00:14:43,419
and quiet itself becomes a shackle

423
00:14:43,592 --> 00:14:45,380
You use samapatti for contemplation

424
00:14:45,472 --> 00:14:47,980
but become addicted to saving beings within illusion

425
00:14:48,112 --> 00:14:49,779
and that pleasure becomes a new illusion

426
00:14:49,992 --> 00:14:52,059
You use dhyana to transcend everything

427
00:14:52,112 --> 00:14:53,779
but cling to the posture of transcendence

428
00:14:53,913 --> 00:14:56,100
and transcendence itself becomes self deception

429
00:14:56,433 --> 00:14:57,579
A method is a raft

430
00:14:57,913 --> 00:15:00,320
Once across the river let it go

431
00:15:00,534 --> 00:15:01,621
The sutra is clear

432
00:15:01,973 --> 00:15:04,040
Those free from the four illnesses know purity

433
00:15:04,133 --> 00:15:06,200
Such contemplation is called right contemplation

434
00:15:06,493 --> 00:15:07,580
Do not cling to doing

435
00:15:07,934 --> 00:15:09,280
or to not doing

436
00:15:09,294 --> 00:15:10,180
or to stillness

437
00:15:10,453 --> 00:15:11,560
or to extinction

438
00:15:11,973 --> 00:15:13,841
When all four attachments are released

439
00:15:13,853 --> 00:15:15,320
what you see

440
00:15:15,453 --> 00:15:17,299
is original purity

441
00:15:17,633 --> 00:15:18,552
At this point

442
00:15:18,552 --> 00:15:21,180
let me bring the threads of these two episodes together

443
00:15:21,432 --> 00:15:22,399
The last episode taught

444
00:15:22,753 --> 00:15:23,680
recognize illusion and leave it

445
00:15:23,873 --> 00:15:24,940
with no further method needed

446
00:15:25,192 --> 00:15:27,951
Once you recognize illusion you are already outside it

447
00:15:27,952 --> 00:15:29,820
Nothing else needs to be done

448
00:15:30,033 --> 00:15:30,960
This episode teaches

449
00:15:31,233 --> 00:15:33,220
before you recognize illusion

450
00:15:33,233 --> 00:15:36,220
you need illusory methods to practice recognizing it

451
00:15:36,753 --> 00:15:39,019
The three methods are tools for practice

452
00:15:39,072 --> 00:15:42,100
the twenty five combinations are personal paths

453
00:15:42,312 --> 00:15:45,340
and the four illnesses are the most common pitfalls

454
00:15:45,513 --> 00:15:46,460
But ultimately

455
00:15:46,472 --> 00:15:49,205
all methods point to the same place

456
00:15:49,579 --> 00:15:50,585
After using the method

457
00:15:50,898 --> 00:15:52,017
you let the method go

458
00:15:52,018 --> 00:15:53,657
no longer clinging to it

459
00:15:53,658 --> 00:15:56,126
or clinging to the act of letting it go

460
00:15:56,498 --> 00:15:58,565
When you finally look back

461
00:15:58,658 --> 00:16:01,046
you discover you were standing there all along

462
00:16:01,498 --> 00:16:03,166
You did not arrive there

463
00:16:03,179 --> 00:16:06,526
you finally saw where you had always been

464
00:16:06,898 --> 00:16:09,886
This is what moves me most about the sutra

465
00:16:10,258 --> 00:16:13,686
It spends the entire text explaining many methods

466
00:16:13,738 --> 00:16:15,325
then tells you at the end

467
00:16:15,418 --> 00:16:17,245
that every method is illusory

468
00:16:17,658 --> 00:16:19,297
Yet without those methods

469
00:16:19,298 --> 00:16:21,686
you would never discover their illusory nature

470
00:16:21,939 --> 00:16:24,605
It is like the fire by friction analogy from last time

471
00:16:25,018 --> 00:16:27,245
The fire catches and the wood is consumed

472
00:16:27,258 --> 00:16:29,864
but without wood you cannot kindle the fire

473
00:16:30,238 --> 00:16:32,425
Next time you sit quietly

474
00:16:32,518 --> 00:16:35,024
whether meditating or simply daydreaming

475
00:16:35,197 --> 00:16:38,105
notice how you are treating your thoughts

476
00:16:38,238 --> 00:16:39,484
Are you forcefully suppressing them

477
00:16:39,758 --> 00:16:41,144
running along behind them

478
00:16:41,197 --> 00:16:43,124
or watching them come and go

479
00:16:43,638 --> 00:16:45,384
You do not need to judge

480
00:16:45,557 --> 00:16:47,945
You only need to notice what you are doing

481
00:16:48,118 --> 00:16:49,164
The moment you notice

482
00:16:49,478 --> 00:16:51,232
you are already practicing

483
00:16:51,762 --> 00:16:54,430
Which illness do you fall into most often

484
00:16:55,046 --> 00:16:55,719
Desperate striving

485
00:16:56,085 --> 00:16:57,360
letting everything go

486
00:16:57,416 --> 00:16:58,338
suppressing thoughts

487
00:16:58,622 --> 00:16:59,835
or seeking nothingness

488
00:17:00,327 --> 00:17:02,101
Share your thoughts in the comments

489
00:17:02,156 --> 00:17:02,911
I am Leo Wang

490
00:17:03,111 --> 00:17:04,321
See you next time