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Abhidharma.

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A philosophy the Buddha never taught to the living during his lifetime.

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Legend has it,

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the Buddha ascended to heaven,

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and before a host of deities,

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and his long-deceased mother,

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expounded this body of knowledge for the first time.

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For three whole months,

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he taught an incredibly precise and vast philosophy.

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How precise was it?

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So precise that over a thousand years later,

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some began to quietly wonder—

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"Did the Buddha really say this?"

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Hello,

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everyone.

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I’m Wang Lijie.

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In the last episode,

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we entered the laboratory-like philosophical edifice of the Sarvastivada school.

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The reality of the three times;

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the eternal existence of the dharmas.

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They took the Buddha's simple concept of dependent origination

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and broke it down to the atomic level.

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I left you with an unanswered question back then:

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This edifice—

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exactly what materials was it built from?

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Today, we’ll look at these building materials themselves.

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They have a name that might sound unfamiliar:

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Abhidharma.

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Many people study Buddhism for years

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without truly understanding these words.

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But once you finish today's episode,

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you’ll realize

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that the entire Buddhist philosophy—

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from the early schools to Madhyamaka,

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to Yogacara—

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all grew out of these concepts.

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It is the foundation of Buddhism.

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Let's break down the name first.

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Buddhist scriptures

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are traditionally divided into three categories,

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collectively known as the Tripitaka.

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The first basket is the Sutra—

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the actual words spoken by the Buddha,

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recorded as series of dialogues.

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The second basket is the Vinaya—

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the rules of the monastic community.

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And the third basket

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is the Abhidharma,

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the philosophical treatises.

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In Sanskrit, "Abhi"

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means "facing," "toward," or "higher level."

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"Dharma" means the law or reality.

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So, Abhidharma

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literally translates to "higher Dharma."

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It is the Dharma concerning the Dharma.

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It’s the discipline that pushes the Buddha's teachings to the next level.

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Keep one key point in mind:

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Of the Tripitaka,

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the Sutras and Vinaya appeared early,

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while the Abhidharma appeared latest.

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When the Buddha was alive,

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there were Sutras;

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there was the Vinaya;

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but this third basket was missing.

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So how did it emerge?

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The story begins with those humble lists found in Buddhist sutras.

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If you look through early scriptures,

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you'll find the Buddha loved using lists to teach.

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The Five Aggregates:

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form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness.

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The Twelve Bases,

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the Eighteen Elements,

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the Thirty-Seven Aids to Enlightenment,

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the Four Noble Truths.

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Set after set of numbers,

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list after list.

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Why did the Buddha love lists?

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Because it was an era without writing.

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All teachings

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had to be memorized word-for-word by his disciples.

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Lists

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are the best memory tools.

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Just like how we memorize formulas today,

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Abhidharma

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grew out of these lists.

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Later scholars did something specific:

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They took every concept scattered across thousands of sutras,

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extracted them all,

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laid them out on the table,

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and began to classify, define, number, and sort them,

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and then study their relationships.

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It's like this:

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The Buddha left behind a floor full of parts and manuals.

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The scholars picked up all those parts,

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classified them by material,

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labeled each one,

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and then drew a complete circuit diagram.

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They broke the world down into its smallest units,

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called "dharmas."

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Note:

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This "dharma" is not the same as the one mentioned before.

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Here, "dharma"

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refers to the smallest elements that constitute all experience,

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somewhat like elements in chemistry.

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The mind is one category;

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mental factors that arise with the mind are another;

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matter is another;

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and things that are neither mind nor matter

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form yet another category.

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The Sarvastivada school eventually counted

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that such basic elements

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total seventy-five types.

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Have you noticed?

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This is no longer just storytelling;

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it's drawing a periodic table of dharmas.

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To what degree

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can this precision go?

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Let me give you an example,

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so you can get a sense of it.

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In the Abhidharma system,

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you might think glancing at a color

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is something completed in a single, instant moment.

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But they tell you,

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it's not.

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Even an action as simple as seeing the color red,

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your mind

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must go through exactly seventeen moments.

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From the mind being stirred by the object,

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to receiving,

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to discriminating,

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to judging,

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to arising like or dislike,

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and finally falling into memory.

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Step by step,

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perfectly organized,

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like an extremely precise assembly line.

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And these seventeen moments

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happen so fast you can't perceive them.

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In the time it takes to snap your fingers,

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this kind of assembly line

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has already completed countless cycles.

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To decompose the act of seeing color

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to such a degree—

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what kind of mindset is this?

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It is the mindset of an engineer.

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An almost obsessive desire to see through everything,

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to dismantle and number everything.

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Actually, think about it,

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this mindset

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is the same as that of scientists 2,000 years later

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who broke matter into molecules, atoms, and quarks.

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It's the same mindset.

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They both believe that

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if I break the world down small enough and clearly enough,

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I can thoroughly understand it

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and control it.

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This impulse—

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humanity has never stopped pursuing it.

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Of course,

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this is just an analogy to help you understand.

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It is the finger pointing at the moon,

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not the moon itself.

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Let me use an analogy to explain.

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If we say

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the sutras spoken by the Buddha

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are a user manual,

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telling you how to operate,

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how to maintain,

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and how to end suffering,

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then the Abhidharma

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is the source code of the operating system.

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It aims to show you,

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at the lowest level,

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exactly how this machine runs, line by line.

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So why did the masters insist on doing this?

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Instead of telling good stories,

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why write source code?

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There were three practical historical drivers.

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First,

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the need for lineage preservation.

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After the Buddha passed away,

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and after centuries of oral tradition,

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interpretations began to diverge among Sanghas.

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Is the 'impermanence' you speak of

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the same as mine?

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Standard definitions were necessary

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to lock everything in place;

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otherwise, the Dharma would eventually fragment.

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Second,

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the need for debate.

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In that era,

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India was an intellectual arena.

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Buddhists had to debate Brahmins,

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Jains, and also other Buddhist sects.

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On the debate stage,

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it is useless to just tell stories.

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If an opponent grills you on a concept

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and you are vague, you lose.

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You must define every term perfectly.

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Abhidharma

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was the Sangha's arsenal for debate.

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Third,

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and most often overlooked:

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it is actually a meditation manual.

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What is Vipassana for?

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It's to deconstruct your current experience,

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moment by moment,

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to see how every thought arises and ceases.

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The 'periodic table' of the Abhidharma

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is exactly the map used by meditators.

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Which is the mind,

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which are the mental factors,

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how they interact,

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and how they flow—

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it's all there.

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So Abhidharma isn't just a game for nerds;

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it is practical.

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It solved real problems.

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However,

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this is precisely where the issue lies.

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Have you noticed

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that the Buddha himself

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was actually quite wary of such things?

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There is a famous set of questions

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called the Fourteen Unanswered Questions.

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Someone asked the Buddha:

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Is the world eternal?

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Are the soul and body the same thing?

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Does one exist after death?

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How did the Buddha respond?

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He didn't.

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He remained silent.

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He said,

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'These questions

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do not lead to liberation.'

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Like a man hit by a poisoned arrow

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who, instead of pulling it out,

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asks who shot it

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and what wood the shaft is made of.

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It's a distraction.

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Then they would die still asking questions.

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The Buddha also once said something even more significant.

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He said:

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"My teaching is like a bamboo raft for crossing a river."

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"Once you reach the other side,"

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"you should leave the raft behind."

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"No one continues their journey carrying the raft on their shoulder."

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Think about that.

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The Buddha is telling you

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not to become attached to the tool itself.

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But Abhidharma took

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exactly the opposite direction.

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It wants to define everything clearly,

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classify it precisely,

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and explore it to the very end.

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It works tirelessly and meticulously to craft that raft,

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making it more and more complex,

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and increasingly ornate.

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This leads to the most pointed question of the day.

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A while ago,

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a viewer left me a message.

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It was quite blunt,

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but accurate.

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He said, "Mr. Wang,

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when you talk about Buddhism,

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your framework of terms is too elaborate."

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"Alaya-vijnana is the hardware,"

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"the Three Natures are the software,"

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"and Samatha-Vipasyana are the patches."

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"Before viewers see the reality,"

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"they are already dazed by the architecture you've built."

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"You block out small delusions,"

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"but you can't stop a larger influx of concepts."

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After hearing this,

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I felt a chill down my spine.

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Because this criticism

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is not unique to our time.

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This debate

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already played out over two thousand years ago.

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And the protagonist of that debate

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was the Abhidharma.

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Turning living teachings

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into a precise, dead system—

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is this a deepening of understanding,

285
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or a deviation?

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Now, looking back

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00:08:56,860 --> 00:08:58,259
at the story from the beginning,

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you might understand

289
00:08:59,941 --> 00:09:01,419
why tradition insists that

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the Abhidharma was taught by the Buddha in Heaven

291
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to the gods and his mother,

292
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rather than on Earth to his disciples.

293
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Because it doesn't sound like what the living Buddha said.

294
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It's too systematic, abstract, and meticulously designed.

295
00:09:16,821 --> 00:09:18,957
The academic consensus today is that

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Abhidharma was written after the Buddha's death,

297
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over several centuries,

298
00:09:22,500 --> 00:09:23,898
by generations of masters

299
00:09:24,181 --> 00:09:25,557
compiling it slowly.

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That story of ascending to Heaven

301
00:09:27,140 --> 00:09:30,038
can be understood as an official seal of authority.

302
00:09:30,341 --> 00:09:34,518
When you introduce something entirely new that the Buddha never taught,

303
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how do you get everyone to accept it?

304
00:09:36,821 --> 00:09:39,357
You must stamp it with the Buddha's approval,

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saying it was taught by the Buddha in the heavenly realm,

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00:09:41,980 --> 00:09:43,518
where mortals couldn't hear it at the time,

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and that it's only now being compiled for everyone.

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In this legend,

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there is also a very subtle detail.

310
00:09:49,780 --> 00:09:51,957
The Buddha taught in Heaven for three months,

311
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but fearing no one on Earth would hear it

312
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and that it would be lost to the future,

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he would descend every day

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00:09:57,140 --> 00:09:59,798
to summarize the key points of the day's teaching

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00:09:59,941 --> 00:10:02,398
for Sariputra, his wisest disciple.

316
00:10:02,620 --> 00:10:04,820
Sariputra then expanded and organized them;

317
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that is how this body of knowledge reached the human world.

318
00:10:07,660 --> 00:10:08,018
See how

319
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perfectly constructed this story is?

320
00:10:10,181 --> 00:10:11,419
It simultaneously explains

321
00:10:11,421 --> 00:10:14,220
Why among the thousands of the Buddha's dialogues

322
00:10:14,221 --> 00:10:15,918
this specific system cannot be found;

323
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while simultaneously providing it with a lineage

324
00:10:19,260 --> 00:10:21,278
straight to the Buddha that you cannot question.

325
00:10:21,660 --> 00:10:22,700
Interestingly,

326
00:10:22,701 --> 00:10:26,158
even the most conservative Theravada school,

327
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which values the original teachings most,

328
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admits that of the seven Abhidhamma books,

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one called the Kathavatthu

330
00:10:30,020 --> 00:10:34,118
was written by Moggaliputta-Tissa during Ashoka's reign,

331
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specifically to refute other sects.

332
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This is as good as admitting

333
00:10:38,341 --> 00:10:40,837
that the Abhidhamma Pitaka can be continued by later generations.

334
00:10:41,020 --> 00:10:43,057
So how should we view the Abhidharma?

335
00:10:43,500 --> 00:10:44,618
As a necessary evolution,

336
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or as over-engineering?

337
00:10:46,660 --> 00:10:48,557
I will present both perspectives to you.

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Proponents would say,

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00:10:50,541 --> 00:10:51,740
without the Abhidharma,

340
00:10:51,740 --> 00:10:53,238
nothing that followed would exist.

341
00:10:53,380 --> 00:10:54,298
Without this foundation,

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00:10:54,581 --> 00:10:56,398
Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka could not have been built,

343
00:10:56,500 --> 00:10:58,998
nor Asanga and Vasubandhu's Yogacara.

344
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The philosophical peaks of two millennia of Buddhism

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are all built upon this source code.

346
00:11:04,380 --> 00:11:06,677
And for those who truly sit down to meditate,

347
00:11:06,701 --> 00:11:08,557
that map is not a burden;

348
00:11:08,581 --> 00:11:09,918
it is a life-saving guide.

349
00:11:10,421 --> 00:11:11,138
To this day,

350
00:11:11,500 --> 00:11:13,259
monks in Theravada Buddhist countries

351
00:11:13,260 --> 00:11:15,798
still study those seven books one by one,

352
00:11:15,860 --> 00:11:18,238
treating them as fundamental tasks for meditation.

353
00:11:18,500 --> 00:11:19,857
It has survived for over two thousand years

354
00:11:20,140 --> 00:11:21,557
and remains alive today.

355
00:11:21,980 --> 00:11:23,398
Opponents would say,

356
00:11:23,500 --> 00:11:25,539
you took a raft intended to cross a river

357
00:11:25,541 --> 00:11:26,998
and turned it into a palace.

358
00:11:27,061 --> 00:11:27,937
You built it so exquisitely

359
00:11:28,140 --> 00:11:30,038
that no one wants to get off the boat anymore.

360
00:11:30,301 --> 00:11:31,820
The Buddha told you to look at the moon,

361
00:11:31,821 --> 00:11:34,557
but you are studying the finger pointing at it.

362
00:11:34,581 --> 00:11:35,918
You studied it for five hundred years.

363
00:11:36,140 --> 00:11:37,937
There is a specific term for this in Buddhism:

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00:11:38,181 --> 00:11:39,597
the cognitive obstacle.

365
00:11:39,780 --> 00:11:41,220
It means the more you know,

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the more your knowledge blocks you

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from seeing the truth.

368
00:11:45,500 --> 00:11:46,177
This debate

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00:11:46,421 --> 00:11:48,677
has never actually ended.

370
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You could even say

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00:11:50,461 --> 00:11:52,597
the last two thousand years of Buddhist history

372
00:11:52,660 --> 00:11:55,378
is a history of building systems,

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then having people tear them down.

374
00:11:59,181 --> 00:11:59,898
Some build buildings,

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some demolish them,

376
00:12:01,221 --> 00:12:03,878
and then someone builds an even taller one.

377
00:12:04,020 --> 00:12:05,179
And the Abhidharma

378
00:12:05,181 --> 00:12:07,798
was the first truly high-rise building.

379
00:12:07,980 --> 00:12:10,118
It took the Buddha's simple words

380
00:12:10,181 --> 00:12:14,158
and built a labyrinth you'd fear entering without a map.

381
00:12:14,620 --> 00:12:15,418
But don't forget,

382
00:12:15,780 --> 00:12:16,918
a labyrinth

383
00:12:17,181 --> 00:12:18,717
can hide a treasure,

384
00:12:18,780 --> 00:12:21,398
but it can also trap the treasure hunter.

385
00:12:21,701 --> 00:12:22,337
Which side is right?

386
00:12:23,140 --> 00:12:24,758
I won't conclude for you;

387
00:12:25,221 --> 00:12:27,557
I am also still feeling the stones to cross the river.

388
00:12:28,061 --> 00:12:31,597
But I want to leave you with something you can test right now.

389
00:12:32,341 --> 00:12:32,977
Right now,

390
00:12:33,461 --> 00:12:35,638
at this very moment as you listen to me,

391
00:12:35,941 --> 00:12:36,738
pay attention.

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00:12:37,020 --> 00:12:37,980
In your mind,

393
00:12:37,980 --> 00:12:39,097
is there a voice

394
00:12:39,301 --> 00:12:40,620
constantly categorizing,

395
00:12:40,620 --> 00:12:41,258
filing things away,

396
00:12:41,500 --> 00:12:43,379
labeling every sentence,

397
00:12:43,380 --> 00:12:45,937
judging what makes sense and what doesn't?

398
00:12:46,461 --> 00:12:49,299
That restless voice, busy organizing everything,

399
00:12:49,301 --> 00:12:52,197
is the Abhidharma master in your heart.

400
00:12:52,500 --> 00:12:53,217
It is very industrious.

401
00:12:53,541 --> 00:12:54,638
It is also very useful.

402
00:12:54,860 --> 00:12:55,658
But can you...

403
00:12:55,860 --> 00:12:57,139
just watch it,

404
00:12:57,140 --> 00:12:57,937
without interrupting it,

405
00:12:58,301 --> 00:12:59,258
or following it?

406
00:12:59,941 --> 00:13:01,477
Observe that organizer itself.

407
00:13:01,860 --> 00:13:04,518
Abhidharma deconstructs dharmas to their smallest scale,

408
00:13:04,701 --> 00:13:06,638
reaching an astonishing conclusion:

409
00:13:06,660 --> 00:13:08,298
'The three times truly exist,

410
00:13:08,660 --> 00:13:09,837
and the essence of dharmas is eternal.'

411
00:13:10,140 --> 00:13:12,437
Dharmas of the past, present, and future

412
00:13:12,500 --> 00:13:14,278
are all real existences.

413
00:13:14,500 --> 00:13:15,177
This edifice

414
00:13:15,500 --> 00:13:16,437
was built to the very top.

415
00:13:16,780 --> 00:13:18,899
But within that same camp,

416
00:13:18,900 --> 00:13:20,340
someone already stood up,

417
00:13:20,341 --> 00:13:21,138
frowning and saying,

418
00:13:21,541 --> 00:13:22,197
'No.'

419
00:13:22,541 --> 00:13:23,898
'The more finely you deconstruct,

420
00:13:24,260 --> 00:13:25,957
the further you may stray from the Buddha.'

421
00:13:26,260 --> 00:13:27,138
'Past and future

422
00:13:27,500 --> 00:13:29,317
do not truly exist at all.'

423
00:13:29,660 --> 00:13:30,418
Who was this person?

424
00:13:30,941 --> 00:13:32,059
And what gave him the right

425
00:13:32,061 --> 00:13:35,337
to dismantle the edifice his peers built over centuries?

426
00:13:36,100 --> 00:13:37,298
This is the story

427
00:13:37,500 --> 00:13:38,798
we will explore next time.

428
00:13:39,181 --> 00:13:39,817
Having heard this,

429
00:13:40,061 --> 00:13:41,918
I really want to know your answer.

430
00:13:42,260 --> 00:13:42,817
Do you think

431
00:13:43,100 --> 00:13:44,700
turning a path of spiritual wisdom

432
00:13:44,701 --> 00:13:46,677
into a precise system of theories

433
00:13:46,860 --> 00:13:47,977
is ultimately helping us,

434
00:13:48,181 --> 00:13:49,177
or getting in our way?

435
00:13:49,780 --> 00:13:52,197
On your own journey of learning and growth,

436
00:13:52,260 --> 00:13:55,937
have you ever felt that the more you knew, the more lost you became?

437
00:13:56,541 --> 00:13:58,038
Tell me in the comments.

438
00:13:58,221 --> 00:13:58,977
I am Wang Lijie.

439
00:13:59,221 --> 00:13:59,980
See you next time.