You Deserve a Better Life
the American Diamond Sutra
I wasn't the first to say that
a few days ago a viewer called Actor in the Human World left a comment
saying hey Leo
there's a book called You Deserve a Better Life
supposedly it writes about money from the angle of the Diamond Sutra
I'd love to hear you break it down
I read through it carefully
and the conclusion is pretty interesting
that rumor is half right
the wrong half is easy to clear up
the author knows nothing about Buddhism
the whole book never quotes a single sutra
but the half that is right
is what really sent chills down my spine
an American who never touched a prajna text
feeling his way alone
actually reached the door of the Diamond Sutra
and then right at that doorstep
he turned and took a different road
hello
everyone
I'm Leo Wang
in today's episode
no bashing and no hyping
let's do something better take the map of the Diamond Sutra
and see how far a man without a map got
and at which fork he went off course
once you see his route
your understanding of the Diamond Sutra
may go a layer deeper than just reading it
first the author's story
the story alone is worth its own episode
the author is Robert Scheinfeld
an American
his grandfather Aaron Scheinfeld co-founded Manpower
Chinese viewers may not know the company
but it's one of the largest staffing firms in the world
a regular on the Fortune 500
with revenue in the tens of billions
in other words
the author was born into real old money
a family that got rich finding people jobs worldwide
when Robert was twelve
his grandfather called him over
and said something strange
it went roughly like this kid
when you grow up everyone will teach you about money
it will all sound reasonable
but none of it is true
about money
there's a secret almost nobody finds
I'm leaving you the clue
go find it yourself
it's a treasure worth more than gold
not long after that
his grandfather passed away
picture that scene
a twelve year old boy
hearing a man who built a Fortune 500 company say
everything you learn about money is fake
and then he was gone
leaving no answer behind
it became an obsession for Robert
he spent over thirty years chasing the answer
this book You Deserve a Better Life
is the answer he turned in
so what answer did he find
he says
the money game by the design of its rules
is one you're doomed to lose
listen to the hidden rules of this game
one
money is outside you
you have to go out and earn it
two
money is scarce
every dollar someone else takes
is a dollar you lose
three
more is always better
a million isn't enough so ten million
ten million isn't enough so a hundred million
the game has no finish line
play by those three rules
and the better you play the fancier a loser you are
anxiety doesn't vanish as the number grows
it just puts on more expensive clothes
this observation
and as an investor I can testify
is frighteningly accurate
I've seen people worth billions
with sweaty palms watching the market
exactly like twenty years ago with barely any savings
the number grew ten thousand times
but the heart clutching that number
hasn't changed at all
so what do you do
Robert's solution
is where this book really explodes
he says
the world you see
including money bills bosses and clients
is all an extremely convincing hologram
and the projector is nobody else
it's a larger you
he calls it the Expanded Self
the character you're experiencing now
is just a player the Expanded Self dropped into the hologram
the game has two phases
phase one
you hide your own power
you fool yourself the illusion is real money is real scarcity is real
and then you struggle inside it
he calls that the immersive experience
phase two
you start reclaiming your power piece by piece
seeing through the illusion
and living in the same world in a completely different way
how do you reclaim it
he gives a concrete practice
called the Process
whenever an uncomfortable feeling rises
a bill arrives and your chest tightens
you see your balance and your heart sinks
you don't run you don't distract yourself
instead you dive straight into that feeling
and feel it fully
no analyzing no judging
then you declare to yourself this is an illusion I created
it has no power of its own
the power is mine
and I'm taking it back now
the last step is the most fun
it's appreciation
you look at the scene that just terrified you and say wow
I made that look so real
he says one more thing
that made me laugh out loud
he says in phase two
understanding is only the consolation prize
meaning
getting the theory in your head is worth nothing
you have to verify it directly in feeling
alright
now let's spread out the map of the Diamond Sutra
and see how much of it overlaps
we devoted a whole episode to the Diamond Sutra before
five thousand words cutting away one thing only appearance
all appearances
are illusory
if you see appearances as non appearances
you see the Tathagata
Robert says the world is a hologram
the Buddha says all conditioned things
are like a dream a bubble a shadow
like dew and like lightning
one uses a twenty first century tech metaphor
the other a metaphor from the Ganges twenty five centuries ago
yet both point the same direction
the core move of the sutra is give rise to a mind dwelling nowhere
the mind still rises still works still buys groceries and pays bills
but it makes a home in no appearance
and no storyline hooks it away
Robert's Process
is essentially training exactly this
the bill's storyline comes to hook you
you don't run after it
instead you turn and look at the thing doing the hooking
even his line understanding is the consolation prize
matches the Zen attitude exactly like drinking water
only you know if it's hot or cold
talking about food won't fill you
even better
he picked the right place to start cutting
Buddhism says afflictions are bodhi
the most uncomfortable spot is the entrance to practice
Robert says
every time discomfort rises
it's a chance to reclaim your power
in phase one you dodge the bad feeling
in phase two you say perfect timing
how does a man who never read a sutra
land this close to the mark
the answer is the deepest belief of this channel
the Dharma is not the Buddha's invention
it's his discovery
the laws of consciousness are just sitting there
like terrain
the Buddha walked it
and drew a map
Robert groped around for thirty years
and drew one too
where the two maps overlap
that terrain is real
but what comes next
is where the two maps diverge
there is only one terrain
but a map can be drawn wrong
Robert's map is crooked in three places
each one worse than the last
the first fork
he cut away the entire world
and kept only the self
listen closely to his theory
the hologram is fake
money is fake
bills are fake
even the people around you are fake
he writes it plainly everyone appearing in your hologram
is one hundred percent your creation
they're actors
speaking and acting from the script you wrote
in other words
the whole universe is a play
and you're the only audience and the only writer
sounds thorough doesn't it
but hold it up against the Diamond Sutra
and the problem shows
the sutra cuts away appearances
but in the end who gets cut
if a bodhisattva holds a notion of self person being or lifespan
he is no bodhisattva
of those four notions
the first to cut is the notion of self
the Buddha means
the world is an illusion
and the self watching it is equally an illusion
both sides must be emptied together
Robert cut the world away completely
then turned around and crowned the self as creator
he didn't break self attachment
he blew it up to cosmic scale
what does that crooked cut cost
compassion dies
think about it
if everyone else is an actor I hired
then being kind to you
is basically liking my own post
your pain
is just a prop in my script
what does the Diamond Sutra say
I liberate countless immeasurable boundless beings
yet no being is actually liberated
notice
this line empties both ends
beings are empty
and the self that liberates them is empty too
precisely because both ends are empty
that liberating is clean and asks nothing back
Robert emptied only one end
the end he kept sits alone in a universe of puppets
that's not awakening
that's cosmic loneliness
the second fork
he uses emptiness to chase having
the English subtitle of the book roughly means
radically change the rules of a game you can't win
sit with that line
he sees through the game
for what purpose
to win
he promises in the book
once you finish the phase two work
wealth and abundance will naturally flow in
money you spend circles back around
and comes back bigger
he even coined a term cosmic overdraft protection
meaning once you cross the threshold
the universe covers your account
that turns prajna into a cash machine
the Diamond Sutra has an extremely precise exchange
the Buddha asks Subhuti
if someone gave away treasure filling a billion worlds
would the merit be great
Subhuti says very great
then adds this merit is not the nature of merit
meaning
real merit rests precisely on not treating merit as a thing
the moment you go for the return
the thing is already spoiled
give rise to a mind that dwells nowhere
the premise is dwelling nowhere
dwelling on abundance dwelling on the universe has my back
is still dwelling
just in a fancier pose
we did an episode before
saying your wallet balance at every moment is set by the script
refunded or topped up
a viewer commented so if I practice well does the money come
see
that's the same mistake Robert makes
the direction is reversed
seeds ripen into experience
the work goes into the cause
the fruit comes as it comes
practicing the cause with your eyes on the fruit
means that cause was crooked the second it was planted
the third fork
about the raft
the Diamond Sutra has a metaphor
that stuns me every time I read it
the Buddha says know that my teaching
is like a raft
even the Dharma must be let go
let alone what is not the Dharma
the teaching I give is a raft for crossing the river
once across you throw it away
even my teaching gets thrown away
let alone everything else
a founder writing discard after use in his own manual
few systems in human history dare write that
what does Robert's raft look like
after you finish the book
he invites you into a system of advanced courses
level after level
and they aren't cheap
all of this is public information
I'm not judging the business model itself
paid knowledge is perfectly legitimate
I run membership content myself
but there's a structural difference worth seeing clearly
the Buddha's raft points to not needing a raft
some rafts are engineered so you always need a pricier next one
a raft is for crossing
not for living on
a raft that keeps getting more luxurious
may not be about crossing anymore
finally
I want to take a bullet for this book
and the bullet comes from its own readers
some will finish it and say if bills are an illusion
then I won't pay them
if work is an illusion
then I'll just lie flat
stop right there
that road goes even further wrong than the author
the Buddha warned about this twenty five centuries ago
he called it annihilationism
the sutra says one who sets out for supreme awakening
does not teach the annihilation of things
emptiness is not nothingness
emptiness means cause and effect link tightly
and no link is void
it's like a lucid dream
knowing you're dreaming is impressive
but the dream's rules keep running
jump off a building in the dream
and the dream leg still breaks
then you keep dreaming with a broken leg
the freedom of seeing through illusion
was never freedom from cause and effect
it's freedom from being dragged by the storyline
lately viewers keep asking if I understand emptiness
why is my life still not going well
those are really two separate accounts
emptiness cuts the string pulling you toward the storyline
not the storyline itself
you still go to work
you still pay the bills
you still face the difficult family members
the change happens elsewhere the same thing hits you
it used to stay in your mind for a week
now it checks out after one night
that checkout speed
is the real progress bar of practice
so is this book worth reading
my answer is yes
but read it with an antidote
its dissection of money anxiety is first rate
and that practice of reclaiming power inside discomfort
is strong medicine for modern people chased by bills
the problem is
after you see through the illusion
two roads actually open in front of you
one goes back into the game
to play it bigger and harder
the other stops and asks this person playing the game
who is he really
Robert took the first
the Buddha took the second
at the end of the first road
is a lucid dreamer living inside a luxury dream
at the end of the second road
the dream ends
I wonder which one you'd choose
have you ever had a moment
looking at the number in your banking app
when it suddenly felt unreal
in that moment
were you afraid
or were you relieved
tell me in the comments
and keep the topic requests coming
which book this series breaks down next
is up to you
I'm Leo Wang
see you next time