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If you don't meditate or live as a monk,

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how can you say you're practicing spiritual cultivation?

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People often ask me in the comments,

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"Are you practicing cultivation?"

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To be honest,

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before starting this channel,

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I never wondered if what I do counts as cultivation.

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I've simply been pursuing a few core questions:

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How does human consciousness arise?

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How does it operate?

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How can we improve our cognition?

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How can I use first principles to live this life well?

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Among these questions,

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none point toward the afterlife.

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Hello,

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everyone,

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I'm Wang Lijie.

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Today, I want to discuss a serious topic: 'Cultivating the Mind' and 'Spiritual Practice.'

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What is the relationship between them?

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Do we practice for this life or the next?

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Behind these lies an even bigger question:

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What is the true starting point of cultivation?

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Let me clarify my own situation first.

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I haven't converted to any religion,

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I haven't taken a master,

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I don't meditate,

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I don't seek Buddhahood,

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nor do I pursue 'nirvana' or perfection.

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All my pursuits and obsessions—

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yes,

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you heard that right,

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I used the word 'obsession'—

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are still rooted in this life, here and now.

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I pursue awakening,

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I pursue self-observation,

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and I pursue living this one life to the fullest.

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So, by traditional standards,

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I probably don't qualify as a practitioner.

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And I should say frankly,

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I've never thought about cultivating for the afterlife.

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For many, the afterlife is their primary motivation.

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They accumulate merit

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and sow good seeds,

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hoping for a better starting point in the next life.

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I don't dismiss this motive at all,

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but it's not what drives me.

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I'm driven by a very simple desire:

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to understand what this life is all about

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and to live it with some sense of clarity.

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If an afterlife exists,

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I believe a life lived with clarity here

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will naturally lead to a good afterlife.

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If it doesn't exist,

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then there's even less reason to waste this life.

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Either way,

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mastering the present moment is the optimal solution.

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So, for today's discussion,

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we are staying firmly within the secular world.

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Not from the perspective of a monk,

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nor from that of a convert.

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What I want to do is use the lens of cognitive science

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to re-examine what cultivation actually means.

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Let's break down two terms: 'Cultivating the Mind' and 'Practice.'

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Cultivating the mind is internal;

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it's the relationship you have with yourself.

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Your internal monologue, your way of thinking,

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and your first reaction to an event.

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Most of the time, these aren't expressed;

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others can't see them.

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If you curse someone a hundred times in your head

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while keeping a smile on your face,

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then your mini-cultivation isn't there yet,

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even if you've put on the outward show of 'practice.'

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Practice is external;

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it's how you speak and act toward others.

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It's what you do daily, how you do it,

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and your genuine response to stimuli.

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When someone faces unfairness,

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if their first reaction is curiosity rather than anger—

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wondering, 'Why does this make me uncomfortable?'

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"Who is this 'I' that feels uncomfortable?"

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When you can ask yourself that,

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the results of heart-cultivation naturally flow into your life practice.

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That's why I believe heart-cultivation is the prerequisite for practice.

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This is what Wang Yangming called the "Unity of Knowledge and Action."

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You must know first

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before you can act.

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But the problem is,

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many people know but still can't do it.

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One could read five hundred books on psychology,

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understand all the theories,

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yet still fly into a rage when things happen.

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Have you seen this phenomenon in yourself?

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Let me interject here.

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Broadly speaking,

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mental activity is also a form of behavior.

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So when we talk about "practice" in a social context,

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it actually includes heart-cultivation.

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It's just that in today's video,

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I want to isolate and break down heart-cultivation as the internal effort.

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Back to the topic:

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What is the gap between knowing and acting?

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It's heart-cultivation.

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More accurately,

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it's the rewriting of your cognitive model.

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"Cognitive model" sounds very academic,

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but think of it as the operating system running in your brain.

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When you encounter an event,

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your brain calls a default program to handle it in milliseconds.

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First, it labels:

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"Is this person good or bad?"

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"Is this fair or unfair?"

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Then, it attributes cause:

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"Why did they do this?"

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"Is it a personal attack?"

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Next, it generates emotion:

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Anger, resentment, disdain, or fear.

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Finally, it outputs behavior:

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Arguing, silence, avoidance, or posting on social media.

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Note that

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this whole chain is almost fully automatic.

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You think you're making a choice,

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but you're actually executing a default program.

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Your behavior isn't a decision made after thinking;

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it's the automated output of your cognitive OS.

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We used a metaphor when discussing karma before:

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Practice is using consciousness itself as an optimizer

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to perform directional fine-tuning on your base model.

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A normal person's model updates automatically.

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Every unconscious reaction

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and every knee-jerk emotion

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is automatically writing parameters into the system.

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You don't know you're writing,

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nor do you know what's being written.

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This is "Avidya" (Ignorance).

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It's not about not knowing how the world works,

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but not knowing that you are running on autopilot.

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So what is heart-cultivation doing?

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It's the act of switching from auto-tuning to manual fine-tuning.

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It doesn't just change a specific behavior;

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it changes the underlying program that drives all behaviors.

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The starting point of this switch is one act: Awareness.

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You must first see the default programs running

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to have a chance to hit the pause button.

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Like the observer effect in quantum mechanics,

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the observation by consciousness determines the direction of quantum collapse.

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At a macro level,

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the awareness of a thought

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determines the direction of behavior's collapse.

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This process rewrites your local model parameters

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and the personalized parameters of your cloud-based model.

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In Buddhist terms, it's planting new seeds in your Alaya-vijnana.

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However,

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speaking of cognitive upgrades,

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there’s a very important individual difference.

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Some people have advanced operating systems to begin with.

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They are naturally empathetic,

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emotionally stable,

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and don't get easily overwhelmed.

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Such people don't need to tear everything down and start over.

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What they need is continuous optimization,

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patching errors,

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and upgrading versions.

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But some people have operating systems that are too outdated.

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The underlying logic is built on scarcity and insecurity,

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constructed around a victim narrative.

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Every time they encounter stress,

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the system crashes,

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displaying a "blue screen of death."

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For these people,

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optimization isn't enough;

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they need a complete reinstallation.

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Everyone has a different inherent capacity,

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and a different starting point.

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So, whether it's optimization or reconstruction,

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there is no standard answer;

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it is entirely individual.

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But in either case,

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the core of mental cultivation is the same: observe your default programs,

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then decide whether to keep letting them run on autopilot.

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Now,

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you might ask: if cultivating the mind is the prerequisite for practice,

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isn't cultivating the mind alone enough?

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Why bother with external practice?

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Because if mental cultivation isn't grounded in action,

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it is just a sophisticated form of self-consolation.

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In your head, you feel you've transcended many attachments;

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you feel you've seen through the nature of human relationships;

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you feel you're no longer swayed by external judgments.

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That's great.

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But,

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when your partner stabs you in the back,

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when your child completely ignores every word you say,

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when you are maliciously misinterpreted and attacked online—

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can that cognitive model of yours,

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the one that "sees through it all," still run?

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Or will it instantly overload,

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causing the system to freeze?

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The secular world is the most honest stress test for your cognitive system.

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No matter how steady you sit on a meditation cushion,

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if you collapse the moment you get off it,

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then you've cultivated the cushion,

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not your mind.

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That's why I'm increasingly leaning toward this conclusion:

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Practice doesn't necessarily mean becoming a monk

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or distancing yourself from the mundane world.

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On the contrary,

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the mundane world itself is the best temple.

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Hiding in a monastery

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might actually lead you further away from the Truth.

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Because the world provides endless stimuli to test your system.

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Your boss, your partner, your clients, your parents—

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they are pushing test cases to you every day.

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Whether your operating system has successfully upgraded

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is revealed by your reactions.

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To give a very small example:

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You're cut off while driving.

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What is your first reaction?

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Is it to curse and honk your horn,

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or do you have a passing thought:

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"Oh,

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he's in more of a hurry than I am,"

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and then let it go?

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The difference in that split-second thought

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is the difference in your cognitive system's version number.

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These tests happen dozens of times a day.

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Someone says something uncomfortable in a WeChat group,

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the delivery man leaves your package at the door,

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your child fails a test again.

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Each time, you are solving a problem,

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and your answer is the report card of your practice.

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Speaking of which,

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I want to address a concern that has frequently appeared in the comments.

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Will I become indifferent after practicing?

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Several viewers mentioned that

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after practicing mindfulness,

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their state of mind has indeed stabilized,

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but they feel more distant from their families.

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A sense of not wanting to enter the other person's world arises.

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Some even ask:

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"Does practice make you lose your humanity?"

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I think that's a brilliant question.

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Because it touches on exactly where practice is most likely to go astray.

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If you become emotionally insulated after practicing,

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where the joys and sorrows of others no longer move you,

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then you aren't cultivating your mind;

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you are building a wall.

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You haven't transcended emotion;

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you've welded its entrance shut.

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This isn't awakening;

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it is numbness.

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What does a truly refined state look like?

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Let me share my own experience with you.

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Three terms: inner-harmony, interpersonal-harmony, and world-harmony.

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Inner-harmony

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is when your relationship with yourself is right.

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Your internal narrative is no longer self-contradictory.

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You no longer scold yourself for not being good enough

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while pretending you don't care.

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You know who you are

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and who you are not.

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You don't need external validation for your identity.

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You are comfortable being alone,

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without needing phones, shows, or socializing to fill a void.

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And when you are with others,

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you are consistent inside and out.

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You don't wrong yourself just to make others feel comfortable.

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Interpersonal-harmony

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is when your relationship with others is right.

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People feel relaxed around you.

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They can be themselves without a care in the world.

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No need to worry about saying the wrong thing,

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or dressing inappropriately,

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00:10:13,784 --> 00:10:15,474
or being bound by social etiquette.

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Why?

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Because you don't judge them.

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You don't label people,

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nor do you expect them to fit your mental model of how they "should" be.

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A person who no longer pretends

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00:10:26,105 --> 00:10:28,474
allows those around them to drop their masks too.

281
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This isn't some profound secret;

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it's just the natural conduction of an energy field.

283
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If you relax,

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the air relaxes.

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World-harmony

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is when your relationship with the world is right.

287
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A natural flow forms between you and your environment.

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No resistance, no attachment.

289
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In Buddhist terms, it's called "dwelling nowhere."

290
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You do things,

291
00:10:48,825 --> 00:10:50,313
but don't cling to the outcome.

292
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You help people,

293
00:10:51,424 --> 00:10:52,994
but don't require their gratitude.

294
00:10:53,345 --> 00:10:54,014
You live,

295
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but aren't held hostage by life itself.

296
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You are open to the world.

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Not because you don't care,

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but because you care so much you don't need to prove it.

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See?

300
00:11:05,865 --> 00:11:07,104
These three levels of progression—

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inner-harmony, interpersonal-harmony, world-harmony—

302
00:11:09,024 --> 00:11:11,024
have nothing to do with whether you meditate.

303
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Nor does it matter if you have taken religious vows.

304
00:11:13,264 --> 00:11:14,310
It only relates to one thing:

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What version your cognitive operating system has been upgraded to.

306
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This is the state I pursue.

307
00:11:20,304 --> 00:11:22,104
Through extensive theoretical study,

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I treat Buddhism as philosophy,

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and consciousness as cognitive science.

310
00:11:26,664 --> 00:11:30,114
Combined with constant reflection on every aspect of life,

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I slowly built my own cognitive operating system.

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This system wasn't taken from any single sect.

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It took bits from science,

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bits from Buddhism,

315
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and bits from philosophy.

316
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Then I debugged it repeatedly in real life.

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After running countless stress tests,

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it gradually stabilized.

319
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It's not perfect, of course;

320
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it has plenty of bugs.

321
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There are many default programs running in the background that I'm not even aware of.

322
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But I think that's precisely the point.

323
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This system doesn't need to be perfect;

324
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it needs to stay open

325
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and remain adaptable.

326
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The moment you think your system is complete

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and doesn't need further modification,

328
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your spiritual practice stops.

329
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Because you've formed a new attachment—

330
00:12:11,945 --> 00:12:14,394
the attachment to being "good enough."

331
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So my understanding now is that

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practice isn't about reaching a destination;

333
00:12:19,065 --> 00:12:21,354
it's about staying in a state of practicing.

334
00:12:21,664 --> 00:12:22,894
Once a destination appears,

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00:12:23,144 --> 00:12:25,033
it becomes a new obstacle.

336
00:12:25,625 --> 00:12:26,894
The Buddha spoke four words:

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"Atta-dipa," meaning

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"Be an island unto yourself,"

339
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with the Dharma as your lamp.

340
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I feel more and more that

341
00:12:33,945 --> 00:12:35,994
this isn't a call to live in isolation

342
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or to find a secluded place to seek enlightenment alone.

343
00:12:39,345 --> 00:12:43,073
It means: ultimately, no one can do the work for you.

344
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Even the best teacher can only point the way;

345
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you have to walk the path yourself.

346
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You have to fine-tune the system yourself.

347
00:12:49,465 --> 00:12:50,953
A meditation mat can be a place of practice;

348
00:12:51,024 --> 00:12:52,953
so can an office,

349
00:12:52,985 --> 00:12:54,913
or a wet market.

350
00:12:55,144 --> 00:12:57,104
The key isn't where you sit,

351
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but whether your awareness is active.

352
00:13:00,105 --> 00:13:00,453
So,

353
00:13:00,705 --> 00:13:03,333
back to today's title: No meditation, no monkhood;

354
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how can you say you're practicing?

355
00:13:05,345 --> 00:13:05,935
My answer is:

356
00:13:05,945 --> 00:13:09,974
If you consciously examine your cognitive models every day,

357
00:13:10,424 --> 00:13:14,874
if you try to hit the pause button the moment an emotion arises

358
00:13:14,904 --> 00:13:17,333
to see what that default program is actually doing,

359
00:13:17,745 --> 00:13:21,073
and if you practice not labeling in every relationship,

360
00:13:21,664 --> 00:13:23,433
then you are already practicing.

361
00:13:23,745 --> 00:13:24,854
You aren't practicing for a next life;

362
00:13:25,105 --> 00:13:26,433
you're practicing for this moment.

363
00:13:26,664 --> 00:13:28,033
You aren't practicing to become a Buddha;

364
00:13:28,144 --> 00:13:30,354
you're practicing to become a more transparent person.

365
00:13:30,904 --> 00:13:33,313
Transparent enough that you no longer block the light.

366
00:13:33,945 --> 00:13:35,833
But I also want to add honestly

367
00:13:36,184 --> 00:13:38,634
that this path based on cognitive reconstruction

368
00:13:38,745 --> 00:13:40,433
has an inherent limitation.

369
00:13:40,825 --> 00:13:42,474
It's very good at helping you see clearly

370
00:13:42,544 --> 00:13:44,114
what programs you are running.

371
00:13:44,264 --> 00:13:45,913
But it might not necessarily tell you

372
00:13:45,985 --> 00:13:47,673
who is running those programs.

373
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Reason can help you dismantle many false frameworks,

374
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but at the very end,

375
00:13:52,504 --> 00:13:56,274
you'll find one person left who is doing the dismantling.

376
00:13:56,745 --> 00:13:57,254
Who is that?

377
00:13:57,904 --> 00:13:59,053
Is they a framework too?

378
00:13:59,585 --> 00:14:01,053
If they are,

379
00:14:01,304 --> 00:14:02,573
then who is dismantling them?

380
00:14:03,184 --> 00:14:06,033
Maybe this is what the Buddha meant by "non-self."

381
00:14:06,304 --> 00:14:06,774
This question—

382
00:14:07,304 --> 00:14:08,634
I haven't figured it out yet.

383
00:14:08,945 --> 00:14:11,033
Maybe I never will.

384
00:14:11,585 --> 00:14:14,634
Maybe not figuring it out is itself an answer.

385
00:14:14,945 --> 00:14:15,453
What do you think?

386
00:14:15,985 --> 00:14:17,453
What was the starting point of your practice?

387
00:14:17,904 --> 00:14:18,573
A book?

388
00:14:18,985 --> 00:14:19,744
A person?

389
00:14:19,745 --> 00:14:21,053
Or a total breakdown?

390
00:14:21,705 --> 00:14:22,494
Let's talk in the comments.

391
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I want to hear your stories.

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00:14:24,465 --> 00:14:25,173
I am Wang Lijie.

393
00:14:25,465 --> 00:14:26,370
See you next time.