the Yogacarabhumi four questions
and the world you see changes
did you know
the vast majority of people who meditate
are all doing the same thing
trying to quiet the mind
a thought comes
push it away
it comes again
push it away again
like slapping the ripples on the water with your hand
the more you slap the more chaotic it gets
fifteen hundred years ago
the Yogacarabhumi recorded a completely different method
it doesn't tell you to shut up
it tells you to question
not one question
but four
each one deeper than the last
once you ask these four questions
you don't need to quiet the world
because you'll discover
that the noisy world
was something you built yourself all along
hello
everyone
I'm Wang Lijie
last time we laid out the whole panorama of the hundred volumes of the Yogacarabhumi
the seventeen stages
from the senses to meditative absorption
from hearing the teaching to becoming a buddha
a complete map
but the map has been given to you
so how do you walk the road
that's what we're talking about today
the most core practical method in the Yogacarabhumi
it's called the four investigations
many viewers have left a comment saying one thing
I've listened more than once
I understand all the principles
but I can't do it
actually this sentence itself reveals where the problem is
you say you understand emptiness
you understand non-self
you understand that everything is a conditional coming together
but think carefully
what exactly do you understand
what you understand is a set of language
a set of words
a set of labels
emptiness is a label
non-self is a label
conditional coming together is still a label
you think you understand what the label points to
but in reality
you've just swapped one set of old labels for a set of new ones
the old label said I am real
the new label says I am illusory
the label changed
but the underlying operating system hasn't changed at all
this is exactly what the four investigations do
not to swap your labels
but to let you see with your own eyes
how the label gets stuck on
the first question
the investigation of names
you pick up a cup of coffee
you say
this is coffee
but who decided on the word coffee
go to another planet
switch to another language
find a group of people who've never seen this liquid
and the name coffee no longer exists
but that cup of liquid
it's still there
this is exactly what the investigation of names asks you to observe
the names we give to all things
are just a convention
a social contract
it's not the thing itself
you think this is too shallow
don't rush
observe your own daily life
someone curses at you
you get angry
but are you angry at the sound wave
no
you're angry at the meaning that name carries
in a language you don't understand
the same combination of syllables becomes a completely harmless sentence
and you have no reaction at all
your joy and your suffering
more than half of it isn't caused by the thing itself
it's caused by the name
the investigation of names asks you to look the moment any emotion rises
am I reacting to a name
or reacting to what's actually happening
you can try it right now
look at anything within reach
its name will immediately surface in your mind
cup
phone
table
have you noticed
the moment the name appears
a layer appears between you and the thing
the name is like a pane of frosted glass
inserted between you and the world
what you see through this glass
is not the thing itself
but the shadow the name projects
what the investigation of names does
is to occasionally take this glass away
and see what the world looks like without names
you'll discover
the world without names
is surprisingly quiet
once you manage this step
the world gets a notch quieter
but it's not enough
the second question
the investigation of things
the name is a convention
so what about the thing the name points to
you peel off the label coffee
and what's left is a cup of hot brown liquid
but brown hot liquid
these are labels too
you keep peeling
peel down to molecules
peel down to atoms
peel down to the vibrations of quantum fields
at which layer
do you finally touch the real thing
the investigation of things gives you a rather uncomfortable conclusion
no layer is the final one
you think there's a fixed unchanging entity waiting for you behind the name
but when you go looking
you can't find it
every layer you open
underneath is still another construction
the thing isn't discovered by you
it's assembled by your consciousness
this is almost the same discovery as predictive coding theory in cognitive science
your brain isn't passively receiving signals from the world
it's actively constructing a model
and then treating the model as reality
Buddhism discovered the same thing
just fifteen hundred years earlier
the investigation of names unwraps the first layer of wrapping paper
the investigation of things unwraps the second
and you'll find
under the wrapping paper is still more wrapping paper
there's no bare gift hidden at the very center
at this point
many people panic
if the name is false
and the thing the name points to is also constructed
then what am I dealing with as I live
don't panic
this is not the endpoint of nihilism
it's the entrance to freedom
think about it
if the world really had a fixed unchanging foundation
then you'd be nailed down too
your suffering would be real suffering
your predicament would be a real predicament
with no room at all
but if everything is constructed
then every present moment
is a brand new construction
the anxiety of one second doesn't have to carry into the next
not because you held it back
but because that anxiety of the previous second
was never a solid entity to begin with
it's a computation produced by a set of conditions temporarily coming together
the conditions change
and the result of the computation changes
this is what Buddhism calls emptiness
emptiness doesn't mean nothing exists
it means nothing is locked down
the third question
the investigation of intrinsic nature
in the first two steps you took apart names and things
in the third step
what you take apart is our deepest belief
that it's just inherently this way
you see a flower
you think it just is red
but is red the flower's intrinsic nature
turn off the light
and it's no longer red
look with a pair of color-blind eyes
and it turns gray
look with a bee's ultraviolet vision
and patterns humans can't see at all emerge on the same flower
red is not a property of the flower
it's a collaboration between your visual system and the flower's reflected spectrum
swap out any one of those conditions
and red no longer exists
have you ever had that feeling
that in a certain moment you're absolutely certain
that a person just is that kind of person
that a thing just is that kind of thing
the investigation of intrinsic nature asks you to stop the moment that certainty rises
and ask
is this certainty
a property of the thing
or something that temporarily emerged when my conditions happened to line up
Buddhism calls this the absence of intrinsic nature
but note carefully
absence of intrinsic nature doesn't mean nothing exists
the flower is still there
the color is still there
it's just that the conclusion it's inherently red doesn't hold
it's not denying the phenomenon
it's denying that there's a fixed unchanging essence behind the phenomenon
there's a very precise balance here
you don't need to deny the world
you only need to see
that your self-evident judgments about the world
are all conditional
the moment the conditions change
the judgment changes with them
when you really see this
attachment loosens
because the essence of attachment
is my conviction that it's inherently meant to be this way
and nothing is inherently meant to be any way
the fourth question
the investigation of distinctions
this is the last cut
and the deepest cut
in the first three steps you took apart names things and intrinsic nature
but you still have one thing left to take apart
distinction
you're still saying
this and that are different
good and bad are different
beautiful and ugly are different
life and death are different
you and I are different
the investigation of distinctions asks you
these distinctions
do they come with the world itself
or did your consciousness draw them on
you stand by a river
you say this side is upstream
that side is downstream
but did the river draw a line for itself
saying downstream starts here
no
you drew it
the moment you change where you stand
the boundary between upstream and downstream moves with you
good and bad are the same
you lose your job
at the time you said it was a bad thing
three years later looking back
that unemployment forced you to change careers
and put you on a completely different path
you say it was actually a good thing
the same event
the distinction changed
what changed isn't the event
it's your perspective
the investigation of distinctions isn't asking you to become someone who can't tell good from bad
it's asking you to see
that all distinctions categories and rankings
are a computation of consciousness
not an inherent property of the world
you'll still make distinctions
but you're no longer held hostage by how you divide
when you accomplish this step
there's a very subtle experience
the way you see the world seems unchanged
you still divide what needs dividing
you still judge what needs judging
but there's a very light feeling inside
like a fist that's been clenched finally letting go
not because you decided to let go
but because you saw the fist was actually holding nothing
the thing you've gripped your whole life
is a line you drew yourself
once the four questions are done
the Yogacarabhumi calls that result the four true knowledges
true knowledge of names
true knowledge of things
true knowledge of intrinsic nature
true knowledge of distinctions
knowing turns into wisdom
it's not that you gained a new piece of knowledge
but that your very mode of cognition underwent a qualitative change
from I know this is false
to I saw with my own eyes how it was built
between knowing and seeing
lies an entire practice
have you noticed
the four investigations and cognitive behavioral therapy do almost the same thing
cognitive behavioral therapy has you write a thought record
what are you thinking
what's the evidence for this thought
is there another explanation
what if you took another angle
four layers of questioning
name thing intrinsic nature distinction
they match up perfectly
except cognitive behavioral therapy stops at swapping in a healthier thought
the four investigations don't stop there
they keep questioning
that healthier thought
is also constructed
having covered the four investigations
let's talk about another advanced method
called the five-level mind-only contemplation
this isn't put forward directly in the original Yogacarabhumi text
it was organized by Xuanzang's chief disciple Kuiji in the Dasheng Fayuan Yilin Zhang
you can see it as an upgraded version of the four investigations
five steps
each step deeper than the last
step one
discard the false and keep the real
first set down what's obviously unreal
the future you fantasize about
the fears you make up
your guesses about other people
these are all false
clear these out first
and keep only what's really present before you right now
step two
drop the mixed and keep the pure
in what remains
there are still impurities
you look at a tree
what you see is more than the tree itself
there's also your memory of this tree your associations
the emotions you unconsciously project onto it
peel off these impurities too
and keep only the pure present appearance
step three
draw the branches back to the root
the pure present appearance
where does it come from
not from the tree
it comes from your consciousness
without your consciousness taking part
there's no appearance of this tree
this step is pulling your gaze back from the outside
back to consciousness itself
step four
hide the lesser and reveal the greater
consciousness also has layers
surface consciousness is the waves
the deep awareness is the ocean
this step is setting down the waves
and looking directly at the ocean
step five
discard the appearance and realize the nature
this is the final step
even the metaphor of the ocean must be set down
even the concept of awareness must be set down
because any concept
any image
is still built by consciousness
take apart the last layer of construction
and what you touch is the perfected nature
did you notice
the entire five-level contemplation does only one action
subtraction
it's not adding anything new
it's removing layer by layer
take away fantasy
take away impurity
take away the external world
take away coarse consciousness
take away concept
and what remains at the end
has no name
everyone who's seriously sat in meditation has had a moment or two
the thoughts stopped
but you were still there
the world was still there
just one thing was missing
missing the label you usually call me
that moment is very brief
so brief you don't even have time to put a name on it
before it's gone
what the five-level contemplation does
is help you stretch that moment out
but let me be honest
the five-level contemplation is not a beginner's tool
it's an advanced path for people who've already put in work on the four investigations
if you haven't even built a daily habit of questioning yet
start with the four investigations first
the four investigations are ground combat
taking apart one thought at a time
the five-level contemplation is climbing high to see far
seeing the whole panorama of how consciousness operates
you have to walk steadily on the ground first
before you can fly up and see the big picture
the two methods we covered today
the four investigations and the five-level contemplation
together are the core of consciousness-only practice
they answer a question viewers have asked me many times
what exactly does practice cultivate
my answer is
practice isn't about gaining something new
it's about seeing clearly what you're already doing
every second you're labeling the world and assigning meaning
positing intrinsic nature and drawing distinctions
the four investigations let you see this process
once you see it
attachment loosens
once it loosens
you don't need to deliberately let go
because you'll find
you never picked anything up in the first place
next time you're angry
or anxious
you don't need to suppress it
you only need to ask yourself one thing in that second
what am I reacting to right now
is it the name
the thing I assume it to be
the inherent nature I'm convinced of
or the line I drew myself
you don't need to answer
you only need to ask
the moment you ask
a gap appears between you and your emotion
and inside that gap
there's nothing
but that nothing
is freedom
have you ever tried this questioning style of meditation
in daily life which layer holds you hostage most easily
is it the name
the surface of things
the illusion that it's inherently so
or the distinctions you drew
if you've ever in some quiet moment
felt something suddenly shift
what exactly did you see in that moment
I'm Wang Lijie
see you next time