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the Yogacarabhumi four questions

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and the world you see changes

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did you know

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the vast majority of people who meditate

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are all doing the same thing

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trying to quiet the mind

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a thought comes

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push it away

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it comes again

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push it away again

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like slapping the ripples on the water with your hand

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the more you slap the more chaotic it gets

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fifteen hundred years ago

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the Yogacarabhumi recorded a completely different method

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it doesn't tell you to shut up

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it tells you to question

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not one question

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but four

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each one deeper than the last

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once you ask these four questions

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you don't need to quiet the world

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because you'll discover

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that the noisy world

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was something you built yourself all along

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hello

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everyone

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I'm Wang Lijie

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last time we laid out the whole panorama of the hundred volumes of the Yogacarabhumi

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the seventeen stages

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from the senses to meditative absorption

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from hearing the teaching to becoming a buddha

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a complete map

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but the map has been given to you

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so how do you walk the road

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that's what we're talking about today

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the most core practical method in the Yogacarabhumi

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it's called the four investigations

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many viewers have left a comment saying one thing

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I've listened more than once

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I understand all the principles

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but I can't do it

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actually this sentence itself reveals where the problem is

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you say you understand emptiness

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you understand non-self

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you understand that everything is a conditional coming together

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but think carefully

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what exactly do you understand

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what you understand is a set of language

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a set of words

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a set of labels

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emptiness is a label

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non-self is a label

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conditional coming together is still a label

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you think you understand what the label points to

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but in reality

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you've just swapped one set of old labels for a set of new ones

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the old label said I am real

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the new label says I am illusory

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the label changed

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but the underlying operating system hasn't changed at all

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this is exactly what the four investigations do

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not to swap your labels

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but to let you see with your own eyes

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how the label gets stuck on

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the first question

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the investigation of names

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you pick up a cup of coffee

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you say

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this is coffee

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but who decided on the word coffee

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go to another planet

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switch to another language

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find a group of people who've never seen this liquid

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and the name coffee no longer exists

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but that cup of liquid

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it's still there

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this is exactly what the investigation of names asks you to observe

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the names we give to all things

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are just a convention

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a social contract

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it's not the thing itself

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you think this is too shallow

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don't rush

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observe your own daily life

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someone curses at you

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you get angry

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but are you angry at the sound wave

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no

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you're angry at the meaning that name carries

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in a language you don't understand

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the same combination of syllables becomes a completely harmless sentence

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and you have no reaction at all

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your joy and your suffering

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more than half of it isn't caused by the thing itself

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it's caused by the name

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the investigation of names asks you to look the moment any emotion rises

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am I reacting to a name

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or reacting to what's actually happening

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you can try it right now

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look at anything within reach

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its name will immediately surface in your mind

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cup

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phone

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table

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have you noticed

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the moment the name appears

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a layer appears between you and the thing

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the name is like a pane of frosted glass

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inserted between you and the world

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what you see through this glass

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is not the thing itself

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but the shadow the name projects

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what the investigation of names does

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is to occasionally take this glass away

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and see what the world looks like without names

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you'll discover

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the world without names

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is surprisingly quiet

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once you manage this step

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the world gets a notch quieter

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but it's not enough

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the second question

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the investigation of things

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the name is a convention

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so what about the thing the name points to

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you peel off the label coffee

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and what's left is a cup of hot brown liquid

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but brown hot liquid

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these are labels too

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you keep peeling

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peel down to molecules

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peel down to atoms

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peel down to the vibrations of quantum fields

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at which layer

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do you finally touch the real thing

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the investigation of things gives you a rather uncomfortable conclusion

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no layer is the final one

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you think there's a fixed unchanging entity waiting for you behind the name

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but when you go looking

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you can't find it

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every layer you open

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underneath is still another construction

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the thing isn't discovered by you

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it's assembled by your consciousness

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this is almost the same discovery as predictive coding theory in cognitive science

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your brain isn't passively receiving signals from the world

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it's actively constructing a model

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and then treating the model as reality

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Buddhism discovered the same thing

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just fifteen hundred years earlier

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the investigation of names unwraps the first layer of wrapping paper

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the investigation of things unwraps the second

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and you'll find

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under the wrapping paper is still more wrapping paper

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there's no bare gift hidden at the very center

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at this point

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many people panic

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if the name is false

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and the thing the name points to is also constructed

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then what am I dealing with as I live

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don't panic

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this is not the endpoint of nihilism

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it's the entrance to freedom

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think about it

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if the world really had a fixed unchanging foundation

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then you'd be nailed down too

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your suffering would be real suffering

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your predicament would be a real predicament

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with no room at all

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but if everything is constructed

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then every present moment

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is a brand new construction

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the anxiety of one second doesn't have to carry into the next

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not because you held it back

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but because that anxiety of the previous second

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was never a solid entity to begin with

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it's a computation produced by a set of conditions temporarily coming together

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the conditions change

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and the result of the computation changes

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this is what Buddhism calls emptiness

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emptiness doesn't mean nothing exists

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it means nothing is locked down

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the third question

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the investigation of intrinsic nature

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in the first two steps you took apart names and things

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in the third step

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what you take apart is our deepest belief

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that it's just inherently this way

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you see a flower

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you think it just is red

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but is red the flower's intrinsic nature

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turn off the light

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and it's no longer red

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look with a pair of color-blind eyes

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and it turns gray

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look with a bee's ultraviolet vision

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and patterns humans can't see at all emerge on the same flower

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red is not a property of the flower

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it's a collaboration between your visual system and the flower's reflected spectrum

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swap out any one of those conditions

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and red no longer exists

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have you ever had that feeling

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that in a certain moment you're absolutely certain

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that a person just is that kind of person

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that a thing just is that kind of thing

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the investigation of intrinsic nature asks you to stop the moment that certainty rises

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and ask

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is this certainty

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a property of the thing

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or something that temporarily emerged when my conditions happened to line up

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Buddhism calls this the absence of intrinsic nature

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but note carefully

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absence of intrinsic nature doesn't mean nothing exists

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the flower is still there

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the color is still there

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it's just that the conclusion it's inherently red doesn't hold

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it's not denying the phenomenon

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it's denying that there's a fixed unchanging essence behind the phenomenon

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there's a very precise balance here

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you don't need to deny the world

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you only need to see

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that your self-evident judgments about the world

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are all conditional

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the moment the conditions change

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the judgment changes with them

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when you really see this

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attachment loosens

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because the essence of attachment

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is my conviction that it's inherently meant to be this way

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and nothing is inherently meant to be any way

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the fourth question

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the investigation of distinctions

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this is the last cut

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and the deepest cut

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in the first three steps you took apart names things and intrinsic nature

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but you still have one thing left to take apart

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distinction

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you're still saying

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this and that are different

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good and bad are different

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beautiful and ugly are different

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life and death are different

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you and I are different

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the investigation of distinctions asks you

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these distinctions

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do they come with the world itself

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or did your consciousness draw them on

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you stand by a river

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you say this side is upstream

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that side is downstream

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but did the river draw a line for itself

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saying downstream starts here

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no

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you drew it

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the moment you change where you stand

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the boundary between upstream and downstream moves with you

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good and bad are the same

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you lose your job

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at the time you said it was a bad thing

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three years later looking back

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that unemployment forced you to change careers

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and put you on a completely different path

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you say it was actually a good thing

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the same event

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the distinction changed

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what changed isn't the event

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it's your perspective

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the investigation of distinctions isn't asking you to become someone who can't tell good from bad

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it's asking you to see

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that all distinctions categories and rankings

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are a computation of consciousness

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not an inherent property of the world

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you'll still make distinctions

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but you're no longer held hostage by how you divide

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when you accomplish this step

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there's a very subtle experience

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the way you see the world seems unchanged

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you still divide what needs dividing

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you still judge what needs judging

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but there's a very light feeling inside

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like a fist that's been clenched finally letting go

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not because you decided to let go

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but because you saw the fist was actually holding nothing

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the thing you've gripped your whole life

285
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is a line you drew yourself

286
00:09:22,941 --> 00:09:24,198
once the four questions are done

287
00:09:24,300 --> 00:09:27,877
the Yogacarabhumi calls that result the four true knowledges

288
00:09:28,420 --> 00:09:29,497
true knowledge of names

289
00:09:30,060 --> 00:09:31,357
true knowledge of things

290
00:09:31,540 --> 00:09:32,818
true knowledge of intrinsic nature

291
00:09:33,260 --> 00:09:34,717
true knowledge of distinctions

292
00:09:35,060 --> 00:09:36,438
knowing turns into wisdom

293
00:09:36,741 --> 00:09:38,957
it's not that you gained a new piece of knowledge

294
00:09:39,060 --> 00:09:42,398
but that your very mode of cognition underwent a qualitative change

295
00:09:42,741 --> 00:09:44,579
from I know this is false

296
00:09:44,581 --> 00:09:48,158
to I saw with my own eyes how it was built

297
00:09:48,380 --> 00:09:49,818
between knowing and seeing

298
00:09:50,180 --> 00:09:51,918
lies an entire practice

299
00:09:52,756 --> 00:09:53,973
have you noticed

300
00:09:54,036 --> 00:09:57,314
the four investigations and cognitive behavioral therapy do almost the same thing

301
00:09:57,876 --> 00:10:00,493
cognitive behavioral therapy has you write a thought record

302
00:10:00,516 --> 00:10:01,473
what are you thinking

303
00:10:01,636 --> 00:10:03,233
what's the evidence for this thought

304
00:10:03,396 --> 00:10:04,593
is there another explanation

305
00:10:04,916 --> 00:10:06,314
what if you took another angle

306
00:10:06,997 --> 00:10:07,833
four layers of questioning

307
00:10:08,197 --> 00:10:11,116
name thing intrinsic nature distinction

308
00:10:11,117 --> 00:10:12,294
they match up perfectly

309
00:10:12,477 --> 00:10:16,973
except cognitive behavioral therapy stops at swapping in a healthier thought

310
00:10:17,117 --> 00:10:18,876
the four investigations don't stop there

311
00:10:18,876 --> 00:10:20,054
they keep questioning

312
00:10:20,077 --> 00:10:21,555
that healthier thought

313
00:10:21,556 --> 00:10:23,213
is also constructed

314
00:10:23,552 --> 00:10:24,509
having covered the four investigations

315
00:10:24,751 --> 00:10:26,568
let's talk about another advanced method

316
00:10:26,591 --> 00:10:28,209
called the five-level mind-only contemplation

317
00:10:28,432 --> 00:10:31,150
this isn't put forward directly in the original Yogacarabhumi text

318
00:10:31,152 --> 00:10:36,408
it was organized by Xuanzang's chief disciple Kuiji in the Dasheng Fayuan Yilin Zhang

319
00:10:36,471 --> 00:10:38,609
you can see it as an upgraded version of the four investigations

320
00:10:38,899 --> 00:10:39,700
five steps

321
00:10:39,792 --> 00:10:41,168
each step deeper than the last

322
00:10:42,118 --> 00:10:42,594
step one

323
00:10:42,998 --> 00:10:44,455
discard the false and keep the real

324
00:10:44,917 --> 00:10:47,254
first set down what's obviously unreal

325
00:10:47,637 --> 00:10:48,675
the future you fantasize about

326
00:10:49,037 --> 00:10:50,614
the fears you make up

327
00:10:50,718 --> 00:10:52,254
your guesses about other people

328
00:10:52,677 --> 00:10:54,055
these are all false

329
00:10:54,437 --> 00:10:55,815
clear these out first

330
00:10:55,998 --> 00:10:59,374
and keep only what's really present before you right now

331
00:10:59,998 --> 00:11:00,474
step two

332
00:11:01,037 --> 00:11:02,254
drop the mixed and keep the pure

333
00:11:02,637 --> 00:11:03,834
in what remains

334
00:11:04,198 --> 00:11:05,334
there are still impurities

335
00:11:05,637 --> 00:11:06,514
you look at a tree

336
00:11:06,958 --> 00:11:09,295
what you see is more than the tree itself

337
00:11:09,478 --> 00:11:12,315
there's also your memory of this tree your associations

338
00:11:12,718 --> 00:11:15,295
the emotions you unconsciously project onto it

339
00:11:15,598 --> 00:11:17,575
peel off these impurities too

340
00:11:17,797 --> 00:11:19,974
and keep only the pure present appearance

341
00:11:20,648 --> 00:11:21,166
step three

342
00:11:21,488 --> 00:11:22,585
draw the branches back to the root

343
00:11:22,848 --> 00:11:24,085
the pure present appearance

344
00:11:24,368 --> 00:11:25,325
where does it come from

345
00:11:25,929 --> 00:11:27,045
not from the tree

346
00:11:27,368 --> 00:11:29,146
it comes from your consciousness

347
00:11:29,329 --> 00:11:30,968
without your consciousness taking part

348
00:11:30,968 --> 00:11:32,786
there's no appearance of this tree

349
00:11:33,209 --> 00:11:36,167
this step is pulling your gaze back from the outside

350
00:11:36,169 --> 00:11:37,585
back to consciousness itself

351
00:11:38,008 --> 00:11:38,565
step four

352
00:11:38,888 --> 00:11:40,106
hide the lesser and reveal the greater

353
00:11:40,449 --> 00:11:41,986
consciousness also has layers

354
00:11:42,368 --> 00:11:44,185
surface consciousness is the waves

355
00:11:44,329 --> 00:11:46,305
the deep awareness is the ocean

356
00:11:46,528 --> 00:11:48,286
this step is setting down the waves

357
00:11:48,648 --> 00:11:50,106
and looking directly at the ocean

358
00:11:50,579 --> 00:11:51,136
step five

359
00:11:51,540 --> 00:11:52,756
discard the appearance and realize the nature

360
00:11:53,059 --> 00:11:54,436
this is the final step

361
00:11:54,819 --> 00:11:57,197
even the metaphor of the ocean must be set down

362
00:11:57,500 --> 00:12:00,197
even the concept of awareness must be set down

363
00:12:00,500 --> 00:12:01,536
because any concept

364
00:12:01,859 --> 00:12:02,957
any image

365
00:12:03,020 --> 00:12:05,276
is still built by consciousness

366
00:12:05,620 --> 00:12:07,477
take apart the last layer of construction

367
00:12:07,620 --> 00:12:10,317
and what you touch is the perfected nature

368
00:12:10,939 --> 00:12:12,077
did you notice

369
00:12:12,179 --> 00:12:15,317
the entire five-level contemplation does only one action

370
00:12:15,627 --> 00:12:16,428
subtraction

371
00:12:16,939 --> 00:12:18,717
it's not adding anything new

372
00:12:18,979 --> 00:12:20,756
it's removing layer by layer

373
00:12:21,140 --> 00:12:21,977
take away fantasy

374
00:12:22,300 --> 00:12:23,176
take away impurity

375
00:12:23,579 --> 00:12:24,756
take away the external world

376
00:12:24,859 --> 00:12:25,857
take away coarse consciousness

377
00:12:26,260 --> 00:12:27,357
take away concept

378
00:12:27,819 --> 00:12:29,016
and what remains at the end

379
00:12:29,380 --> 00:12:30,516
has no name

380
00:12:31,135 --> 00:12:34,832
everyone who's seriously sat in meditation has had a moment or two

381
00:12:35,456 --> 00:12:36,332
the thoughts stopped

382
00:12:36,775 --> 00:12:37,872
but you were still there

383
00:12:38,295 --> 00:12:39,352
the world was still there

384
00:12:39,775 --> 00:12:41,033
just one thing was missing

385
00:12:41,696 --> 00:12:44,433
missing the label you usually call me

386
00:12:44,976 --> 00:12:46,673
that moment is very brief

387
00:12:46,935 --> 00:12:49,273
so brief you don't even have time to put a name on it

388
00:12:49,295 --> 00:12:50,433
before it's gone

389
00:12:50,736 --> 00:12:52,832
what the five-level contemplation does

390
00:12:52,856 --> 00:12:55,033
is help you stretch that moment out

391
00:12:55,801 --> 00:12:57,458
but let me be honest

392
00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:00,057
the five-level contemplation is not a beginner's tool

393
00:13:00,121 --> 00:13:05,177
it's an advanced path for people who've already put in work on the four investigations

394
00:13:05,401 --> 00:13:09,137
if you haven't even built a daily habit of questioning yet

395
00:13:09,161 --> 00:13:11,017
start with the four investigations first

396
00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:13,257
the four investigations are ground combat

397
00:13:13,281 --> 00:13:15,218
taking apart one thought at a time

398
00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:17,698
the five-level contemplation is climbing high to see far

399
00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:20,137
seeing the whole panorama of how consciousness operates

400
00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:22,560
you have to walk steadily on the ground first

401
00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:24,498
before you can fly up and see the big picture

402
00:13:24,974 --> 00:13:26,791
the two methods we covered today

403
00:13:26,854 --> 00:13:29,212
the four investigations and the five-level contemplation

404
00:13:29,214 --> 00:13:32,071
together are the core of consciousness-only practice

405
00:13:32,333 --> 00:13:35,270
they answer a question viewers have asked me many times

406
00:13:35,693 --> 00:13:37,451
what exactly does practice cultivate

407
00:13:37,974 --> 00:13:39,052
my answer is

408
00:13:39,053 --> 00:13:41,551
practice isn't about gaining something new

409
00:13:41,653 --> 00:13:44,110
it's about seeing clearly what you're already doing

410
00:13:44,333 --> 00:13:47,530
every second you're labeling the world and assigning meaning

411
00:13:47,974 --> 00:13:49,911
positing intrinsic nature and drawing distinctions

412
00:13:50,094 --> 00:13:52,791
the four investigations let you see this process

413
00:13:53,094 --> 00:13:53,691
once you see it

414
00:13:53,974 --> 00:13:55,270
attachment loosens

415
00:13:55,573 --> 00:13:56,010
once it loosens

416
00:13:56,214 --> 00:13:57,990
you don't need to deliberately let go

417
00:13:58,094 --> 00:13:59,051
because you'll find

418
00:13:59,374 --> 00:14:01,431
you never picked anything up in the first place

419
00:14:01,767 --> 00:14:03,004
next time you're angry

420
00:14:03,368 --> 00:14:04,585
or anxious

421
00:14:04,647 --> 00:14:06,144
you don't need to suppress it

422
00:14:06,567 --> 00:14:09,344
you only need to ask yourself one thing in that second

423
00:14:09,767 --> 00:14:11,644
what am I reacting to right now

424
00:14:12,407 --> 00:14:13,244
is it the name

425
00:14:14,008 --> 00:14:15,124
the thing I assume it to be

426
00:14:16,088 --> 00:14:18,165
the inherent nature I'm convinced of

427
00:14:18,767 --> 00:14:20,685
or the line I drew myself

428
00:14:21,781 --> 00:14:23,078
you don't need to answer

429
00:14:23,542 --> 00:14:24,799
you only need to ask

430
00:14:25,422 --> 00:14:26,799
the moment you ask

431
00:14:26,901 --> 00:14:29,919
a gap appears between you and your emotion

432
00:14:30,501 --> 00:14:31,419
and inside that gap

433
00:14:32,021 --> 00:14:33,078
there's nothing

434
00:14:33,822 --> 00:14:35,139
but that nothing

435
00:14:35,582 --> 00:14:36,678
is freedom

436
00:14:37,556 --> 00:14:39,834
have you ever tried this questioning style of meditation

437
00:14:40,356 --> 00:14:43,614
in daily life which layer holds you hostage most easily

438
00:14:43,796 --> 00:14:44,694
is it the name

439
00:14:44,716 --> 00:14:45,714
the surface of things

440
00:14:46,037 --> 00:14:47,814
the illusion that it's inherently so

441
00:14:47,836 --> 00:14:49,234
or the distinctions you drew

442
00:14:49,877 --> 00:14:52,293
if you've ever in some quiet moment

443
00:14:52,316 --> 00:14:53,893
felt something suddenly shift

444
00:14:53,997 --> 00:14:56,033
what exactly did you see in that moment

445
00:14:57,248 --> 00:14:58,004
I'm Wang Lijie

446
00:14:58,368 --> 00:14:59,545
see you next time