1 00:00:00,301 --> 00:00:01,938 drop the butcher knife and become a Buddha on the spot 2 00:00:02,301 --> 00:00:03,398 what you drop is not the knife 3 00:00:03,500 --> 00:00:04,357 it is this 4 00:00:04,581 --> 00:00:07,198 let me start with a question that makes a lot of people uncomfortable 5 00:00:07,700 --> 00:00:10,518 suppose a court today sentences a serial killer 6 00:00:10,701 --> 00:00:12,378 the moment the verdict is read out 7 00:00:12,660 --> 00:00:13,497 he stands up and says 8 00:00:13,861 --> 00:00:14,939 I believe in the Buddha now 9 00:00:14,941 --> 00:00:16,057 I have dropped the butcher knife 10 00:00:16,181 --> 00:00:17,518 I have become a Buddha on the spot 11 00:00:17,821 --> 00:00:18,498 what would you think 12 00:00:19,693 --> 00:00:21,390 my guess is you would feel 13 00:00:21,493 --> 00:00:23,791 this is the most insincere performance in the world 14 00:00:24,173 --> 00:00:25,413 you killed that many people 15 00:00:25,414 --> 00:00:27,150 the families of the victims are still crying 16 00:00:27,294 --> 00:00:28,850 and you just say you dropped the knife 17 00:00:29,614 --> 00:00:30,771 what about the people who died 18 00:00:31,213 --> 00:00:32,091 what about all that karma 19 00:00:32,693 --> 00:00:34,891 does one sentence really wipe the slate clean 20 00:00:36,267 --> 00:00:38,364 that anger is completely understandable 21 00:00:38,627 --> 00:00:41,026 inside secular moral and legal logic 22 00:00:41,028 --> 00:00:42,565 it holds up a hundred percent 23 00:00:42,947 --> 00:00:44,467 but what I want to do today 24 00:00:44,468 --> 00:00:47,427 is take the line drop the butcher knife and become a Buddha on the spot 25 00:00:47,428 --> 00:00:48,584 along with the story behind it 26 00:00:48,867 --> 00:00:50,525 and dig through it from start to finish 27 00:00:51,068 --> 00:00:52,305 once we do you will find 28 00:00:52,627 --> 00:00:53,907 that what is hidden in this line 29 00:00:53,907 --> 00:00:56,525 is not at all that bad people can dodge responsibility 30 00:00:56,748 --> 00:01:00,345 it is a question about how human consciousness undergoes a fundamental shift 31 00:01:01,028 --> 00:01:03,805 a question Buddhist thought has worked on for twenty five hundred years 32 00:01:04,652 --> 00:01:04,969 hello 33 00:01:05,292 --> 00:01:05,770 everyone 34 00:01:06,092 --> 00:01:07,110 I am Leo Wang 35 00:01:07,452 --> 00:01:08,411 in this episode 36 00:01:08,413 --> 00:01:12,030 we follow the line drop the butcher knife and become a Buddha on the spot 37 00:01:12,172 --> 00:01:14,149 and work through three things 38 00:01:14,533 --> 00:01:14,850 first 39 00:01:15,092 --> 00:01:16,589 where this line comes from 40 00:01:16,932 --> 00:01:17,250 second 41 00:01:17,613 --> 00:01:19,429 where the karma actually goes 42 00:01:19,812 --> 00:01:20,169 third 43 00:01:20,413 --> 00:01:22,110 and this is the core of today 44 00:01:22,212 --> 00:01:22,970 that word drop 45 00:01:23,212 --> 00:01:24,869 what is actually being dropped 46 00:01:25,253 --> 00:01:26,169 once we go through these three layers 47 00:01:26,452 --> 00:01:28,252 you will see this thing called becoming a Buddha 48 00:01:28,253 --> 00:01:30,149 in a completely different way 49 00:01:30,858 --> 00:01:32,835 first where this line comes from 50 00:01:33,177 --> 00:01:36,674 drop the butcher knife and become a Buddha on the spot as a set phrase 51 00:01:36,778 --> 00:01:39,835 took shape roughly in the Chan world of the Song and Ming eras 52 00:01:40,138 --> 00:01:41,094 but the root behind it 53 00:01:41,377 --> 00:01:43,195 goes back many more years 54 00:01:43,618 --> 00:01:45,656 the most often cited source of the story 55 00:01:45,657 --> 00:01:48,234 is a scripture called the Mahaparinirvana Sutra 56 00:01:48,418 --> 00:01:53,314 translated into Chinese around the Northern and Southern Dynasties by the Northern Liang monk Dharmakshema 57 00:01:53,457 --> 00:01:57,772 one of the most complete expositions of Buddha nature in the whole canon 58 00:01:58,155 --> 00:02:00,893 this sutra records a man named Guange 59 00:02:01,235 --> 00:02:02,232 the original text says 60 00:02:02,676 --> 00:02:04,453 in the kingdom of Varanasi there was a butcher 61 00:02:04,476 --> 00:02:05,613 named Guange 62 00:02:05,756 --> 00:02:06,553 and every single day 63 00:02:06,956 --> 00:02:08,132 he killed countless sheep 64 00:02:08,476 --> 00:02:09,232 in plain language 65 00:02:09,515 --> 00:02:10,995 he was a professional butcher 66 00:02:10,996 --> 00:02:12,492 killing countless sheep every day 67 00:02:12,716 --> 00:02:13,472 then one day 68 00:02:13,756 --> 00:02:15,212 he met Shariputra 69 00:02:15,276 --> 00:02:16,393 and took the eight precepts on the spot 70 00:02:16,675 --> 00:02:18,092 and kept them for one day and one night 71 00:02:18,316 --> 00:02:18,912 the sutra says 72 00:02:19,235 --> 00:02:20,354 because of this condition 73 00:02:20,355 --> 00:02:24,692 after his death he was reborn as the son of Vaishravana the northern heavenly king 74 00:02:24,723 --> 00:02:25,476 notice 75 00:02:25,476 --> 00:02:29,293 in the original sutra Guange ends up ascending to heaven after death 76 00:02:29,436 --> 00:02:31,531 not becoming a Buddha on the spot 77 00:02:31,873 --> 00:02:34,432 so when did the phrase drop the butcher knife and become a Buddha on the spot 78 00:02:34,433 --> 00:02:35,550 actually appear 79 00:02:35,993 --> 00:02:39,050 it was in the Song dynasty Chan text the Compendium of Five Lamps 80 00:02:39,153 --> 00:02:41,491 that another version of the story was recorded 81 00:02:42,033 --> 00:02:42,630 the original text reads 82 00:02:43,354 --> 00:02:45,931 Guange was a man who killed without blinking 83 00:02:46,074 --> 00:02:46,910 he flung down the butcher knife 84 00:02:47,153 --> 00:02:48,290 and became a Buddha on the spot 85 00:02:48,834 --> 00:02:52,450 Chan turned ascending to heaven after death into becoming a Buddha on the spot 86 00:02:52,634 --> 00:02:55,130 it took a story about karmic reward 87 00:02:55,193 --> 00:02:58,159 and made it a story about transformation in this very moment 88 00:02:58,262 --> 00:02:59,339 the rewrite itself 89 00:02:59,702 --> 00:03:01,119 is worth thinking about 90 00:03:01,463 --> 00:03:02,739 why did Chan change it this way 91 00:03:03,183 --> 00:03:05,600 because the core message Chan wants to deliver is this 92 00:03:05,743 --> 00:03:07,399 awakening is not after death 93 00:03:07,422 --> 00:03:08,100 not in a future life 94 00:03:08,463 --> 00:03:09,640 it is right in this moment 95 00:03:09,822 --> 00:03:12,080 so the story of Guange in the Nirvana Sutra 96 00:03:12,102 --> 00:03:16,119 was reground by Chan into a sharper tool 97 00:03:16,262 --> 00:03:18,040 pointing directly at right now 98 00:03:18,262 --> 00:03:20,941 the reason this story survived more than a thousand years 99 00:03:20,943 --> 00:03:23,040 is not that it is the most accurate version 100 00:03:23,142 --> 00:03:26,980 it is that it touches the most central 101 00:03:27,302 --> 00:03:30,107 and most explosive proposition in all of Buddhist thought 102 00:03:30,729 --> 00:03:34,767 the Nirvana Sutra made a claim that shocked every Buddhist scholar of its time 103 00:03:35,250 --> 00:03:36,427 all sentient beings 104 00:03:36,489 --> 00:03:37,366 possess Buddha nature 105 00:03:37,729 --> 00:03:39,626 even the icchantika is no exception 106 00:03:39,850 --> 00:03:40,487 icchantika 107 00:03:40,810 --> 00:03:42,746 in the Buddhist thinking of that era 108 00:03:42,769 --> 00:03:47,227 meant those who had cut off every root of good with no chance of becoming a Buddha 109 00:03:47,290 --> 00:03:49,586 the hopeless case inside the Buddhist system 110 00:03:49,609 --> 00:03:52,507 like a deadlocked process in a program 111 00:03:52,570 --> 00:03:54,026 that can never move forward 112 00:03:54,410 --> 00:03:57,288 someone like Guange whose whole life was killing 113 00:03:57,290 --> 00:03:58,608 in the traditional view 114 00:03:58,609 --> 00:04:00,906 was a textbook icchantika candidate 115 00:04:01,169 --> 00:04:02,566 but the Nirvana Sutra says 116 00:04:02,970 --> 00:04:04,048 even this kind of person 117 00:04:04,049 --> 00:04:05,146 has Buddha nature 118 00:04:05,370 --> 00:04:08,346 that was a bomb in the Buddhist world of the time 119 00:04:09,090 --> 00:04:10,047 because it means 120 00:04:10,329 --> 00:04:11,529 no matter what you have done 121 00:04:11,530 --> 00:04:12,927 no matter how much bad karma you created 122 00:04:13,250 --> 00:04:14,586 deep in your consciousness 123 00:04:14,609 --> 00:04:15,626 there is something 124 00:04:15,850 --> 00:04:19,026 that no karmic act has ever truly damaged 125 00:04:19,409 --> 00:04:21,986 here is a story that really happened in history 126 00:04:22,009 --> 00:04:24,586 to help you feel how big this bomb was 127 00:04:25,187 --> 00:04:26,843 during the Eastern Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties 128 00:04:26,947 --> 00:04:29,043 there was an eminent monk named Zhu Daosheng 129 00:04:29,146 --> 00:04:32,004 before the complete Nirvana Sutra reached China 130 00:04:32,067 --> 00:04:33,723 purely by his own reasoning 131 00:04:33,747 --> 00:04:35,024 he boldly put forward a claim 132 00:04:35,466 --> 00:04:36,144 the icchantika 133 00:04:36,507 --> 00:04:37,723 can also become a Buddha 134 00:04:37,987 --> 00:04:41,923 almost everyone at the time called this heresy 135 00:04:42,226 --> 00:04:43,064 during the Yuanjia era 136 00:04:43,346 --> 00:04:44,985 he was expelled from Jiankang 137 00:04:44,987 --> 00:04:46,564 which is Nanjing today 138 00:04:46,827 --> 00:04:49,564 nearly every monk of his generation opposed him 139 00:04:49,627 --> 00:04:52,084 he could only go alone to Tiger Hill in Suzhou 140 00:04:52,106 --> 00:04:54,043 and preach the dharma there to the stones 141 00:04:54,146 --> 00:04:55,343 the story says he asked the stones 142 00:04:55,666 --> 00:04:56,764 does what I say 143 00:04:56,827 --> 00:04:57,743 accord with the mind of the Buddha 144 00:04:58,266 --> 00:05:01,084 when he reached all sentient beings possess Buddha nature 145 00:05:01,266 --> 00:05:02,843 the stones actually nodded 146 00:05:03,786 --> 00:05:07,723 that is where the idiom about Master Sheng preaching and stubborn stones nodding comes from 147 00:05:08,284 --> 00:05:09,602 and not long after 148 00:05:09,604 --> 00:05:12,700 the complete Nirvana Sutra translated by Dharmakshema arrived in Jiankang 149 00:05:12,844 --> 00:05:13,921 and it says explicitly 150 00:05:14,284 --> 00:05:16,061 even icchantikas possess Buddha nature 151 00:05:16,803 --> 00:05:18,940 the claim of Daosheng was fully vindicated 152 00:05:18,964 --> 00:05:21,962 isolated by almost the entire Buddhist world 153 00:05:21,964 --> 00:05:23,380 he relied on inner insight 154 00:05:23,404 --> 00:05:26,020 and saw the core conclusion of a sutra before it arrived 155 00:05:26,443 --> 00:05:28,101 this story lets us see 156 00:05:28,123 --> 00:05:30,282 how far the Nirvana Sutra saying icchantikas also have Buddha nature 157 00:05:30,284 --> 00:05:32,580 went against the mainstream view of its time 158 00:05:32,724 --> 00:05:34,700 it was not a comfortable claim 159 00:05:34,724 --> 00:05:37,580 it was a total reset of the entire Buddhist system 160 00:05:38,467 --> 00:05:41,164 that thing which karmic action has never damaged 161 00:05:41,227 --> 00:05:42,364 is Buddha nature 162 00:05:42,467 --> 00:05:44,883 what the treatises call the tathagatagarbha 163 00:05:45,306 --> 00:05:46,545 to understand this 164 00:05:46,547 --> 00:05:49,164 we have to be clear about the words Buddha nature 165 00:05:49,347 --> 00:05:52,124 we did a whole episode on the tathagatagarbha before 166 00:05:52,266 --> 00:05:54,963 today one sentence of background is enough 167 00:05:55,227 --> 00:05:58,763 the tathagatagarbha is not some Buddha spirit living inside you 168 00:05:58,787 --> 00:06:00,244 waiting for you to rescue it 169 00:06:00,467 --> 00:06:04,924 it is the natural state of your mind once every obscuration is removed 170 00:06:05,066 --> 00:06:07,763 like a mirror under a thick layer of dust 171 00:06:07,907 --> 00:06:09,626 the power of the mirror to reflect 172 00:06:09,626 --> 00:06:12,083 never disappeared because of the dust 173 00:06:12,146 --> 00:06:14,564 it was only blocked from showing 174 00:06:15,146 --> 00:06:16,186 wiping off the dust 175 00:06:16,186 --> 00:06:18,244 does not install a new function in the mirror 176 00:06:18,347 --> 00:06:21,068 it restores what the mirror always had 177 00:06:21,330 --> 00:06:22,667 the Buddha nature of Guange 178 00:06:22,691 --> 00:06:24,569 through his decades of killing 179 00:06:24,571 --> 00:06:25,987 never disappeared 180 00:06:26,170 --> 00:06:28,047 it was only pressed down by thick obscuration 181 00:06:28,290 --> 00:06:29,028 and could not come out 182 00:06:29,530 --> 00:06:30,648 so what are those obscurations 183 00:06:31,090 --> 00:06:33,128 Yogacara gives a very precise answer 184 00:06:33,610 --> 00:06:35,427 it is the self grasping inside the manas consciousness 185 00:06:35,610 --> 00:06:39,148 it is the seeds layered up inside the alaya consciousness 186 00:06:39,410 --> 00:06:43,828 it is a self centered loop of consciousness running automatically without pause 187 00:06:44,210 --> 00:06:45,247 every stroke of the knife of Guange 188 00:06:45,691 --> 00:06:47,188 looks like an action on the surface 189 00:06:47,251 --> 00:06:48,890 but what drove that action 190 00:06:48,891 --> 00:06:52,708 was a set of deeply rooted automatic programs in his consciousness 191 00:06:53,330 --> 00:06:55,167 the underlying logic of that program went roughly like this 192 00:06:55,571 --> 00:06:59,467 I need this to confirm my own existence in the world 193 00:06:59,610 --> 00:07:02,307 I need this knife to define who I am 194 00:07:02,650 --> 00:07:04,667 he thought he was actively choosing 195 00:07:04,850 --> 00:07:06,388 but to a large extent 196 00:07:06,410 --> 00:07:08,227 he was only executing code 197 00:07:09,149 --> 00:07:10,567 now let us talk about karma 198 00:07:10,790 --> 00:07:12,427 many people understand karma 199 00:07:12,749 --> 00:07:14,047 as a ledger 200 00:07:14,269 --> 00:07:15,586 however many bad things you did 201 00:07:15,869 --> 00:07:17,526 get written into the book 202 00:07:17,670 --> 00:07:19,247 and one day you have to pay it off 203 00:07:19,629 --> 00:07:20,966 so by that logic 204 00:07:21,069 --> 00:07:23,047 Guange killed all his life 205 00:07:23,309 --> 00:07:24,807 and the moment he dropped the butcher knife 206 00:07:24,829 --> 00:07:26,706 the debt in the ledger vanished into thin air 207 00:07:27,430 --> 00:07:29,227 does that not make karma an empty piece of paper 208 00:07:29,910 --> 00:07:31,766 that confusion is completely legitimate 209 00:07:32,110 --> 00:07:34,406 but it shows our understanding of karma 210 00:07:34,430 --> 00:07:36,307 is still stuck on the surface 211 00:07:36,569 --> 00:07:38,386 the Yogacara answer goes one layer deeper 212 00:07:38,610 --> 00:07:39,006 it says 213 00:07:39,329 --> 00:07:39,966 the root of karma 214 00:07:40,329 --> 00:07:41,706 is not in the action itself 215 00:07:41,850 --> 00:07:42,946 it is in mental karma 216 00:07:43,090 --> 00:07:45,867 in the structure of consciousness driving the action 217 00:07:46,090 --> 00:07:46,846 action is the fruit 218 00:07:47,209 --> 00:07:48,266 the seed is the cause 219 00:07:48,490 --> 00:07:50,586 and the seeds are stored in the alaya consciousness 220 00:07:50,730 --> 00:07:53,927 so what keeps triggering those seeds and multiplying them 221 00:07:54,449 --> 00:07:57,346 it is the deeply rooted clinging of the manas consciousness 222 00:07:57,649 --> 00:07:59,346 clinging to a fixed self 223 00:07:59,410 --> 00:08:03,466 clinging to a self that must be protected confirmed and armed 224 00:08:03,930 --> 00:08:04,646 put bluntly 225 00:08:05,209 --> 00:08:06,627 Guange killed for all those years 226 00:08:06,649 --> 00:08:08,506 not because he was born evil 227 00:08:08,530 --> 00:08:12,386 but because an automatic loop was running in his consciousness 228 00:08:12,449 --> 00:08:14,906 that loop kept driving his hand 229 00:08:15,530 --> 00:08:16,807 he thought he was choosing 230 00:08:17,170 --> 00:08:19,146 he was really only obeying 231 00:08:20,236 --> 00:08:22,173 so at the moment he dropped the butcher knife 232 00:08:22,236 --> 00:08:23,193 what actually happened 233 00:08:23,635 --> 00:08:25,373 the self that had to hold the knife 234 00:08:25,395 --> 00:08:27,133 fell apart in that instant 235 00:08:27,275 --> 00:08:28,972 it was not the physical knife hitting the ground 236 00:08:29,036 --> 00:08:32,515 it was the bottom layer belief holding up the whole behavior pattern 237 00:08:32,515 --> 00:08:33,772 collapsing on its own 238 00:08:33,955 --> 00:08:36,075 the engine driving the wheel of karma 239 00:08:36,075 --> 00:08:38,092 lost its fuel in that moment 240 00:08:39,010 --> 00:08:39,408 but 241 00:08:39,730 --> 00:08:40,888 the karma he had already created 242 00:08:41,210 --> 00:08:42,228 did not disappear 243 00:08:42,651 --> 00:08:43,908 the rest of his life 244 00:08:43,970 --> 00:08:46,707 still had to run through the aftershocks of cause and effect 245 00:08:47,359 --> 00:08:48,158 sudden awakening 246 00:08:48,250 --> 00:08:50,988 means a fundamental shift at the base of his consciousness 247 00:08:51,130 --> 00:08:51,807 that is true 248 00:08:52,571 --> 00:08:53,787 but the debt he owed 249 00:08:53,850 --> 00:08:56,587 is not wiped clean by that one shift 250 00:08:56,850 --> 00:08:57,988 that is also true 251 00:08:58,291 --> 00:08:59,047 these two things 252 00:08:59,331 --> 00:09:01,547 are kept separate in Buddhist thought 253 00:09:01,970 --> 00:09:03,047 there is a phrase in Buddhism 254 00:09:03,451 --> 00:09:04,648 practice begins after awakening 255 00:09:05,291 --> 00:09:06,827 awakening is not the finish line 256 00:09:06,931 --> 00:09:09,268 it is where real practice starts 257 00:09:09,651 --> 00:09:12,567 this line is the companion note to drop the butcher knife and become a Buddha on the spot 258 00:09:12,970 --> 00:09:15,508 and it is the part people overlook most easily 259 00:09:16,293 --> 00:09:19,213 now we come to the biggest civil war in Buddhist history 260 00:09:19,214 --> 00:09:22,531 and the intellectual ground under drop the butcher knife and become a Buddha on the spot 261 00:09:22,974 --> 00:09:23,370 sudden awakening 262 00:09:23,614 --> 00:09:24,330 or gradual cultivation 263 00:09:24,933 --> 00:09:25,330 in the Tang dynasty 264 00:09:25,734 --> 00:09:27,652 Chan produced two major figures 265 00:09:27,653 --> 00:09:28,490 one was Shenxiu 266 00:09:28,814 --> 00:09:29,911 the other was Huineng 267 00:09:30,133 --> 00:09:32,391 both were students of the fifth patriarch Hongren 268 00:09:32,494 --> 00:09:34,172 but on what becoming a Buddha means 269 00:09:34,173 --> 00:09:35,710 they understood it completely differently 270 00:09:35,933 --> 00:09:37,470 the fifth patriarch set them a task 271 00:09:37,533 --> 00:09:40,750 write a verse expressing what your practice has shown you 272 00:09:41,534 --> 00:09:42,092 Shenxiu wrote 273 00:09:42,534 --> 00:09:43,491 the body is a bodhi tree 274 00:09:43,895 --> 00:09:45,231 the mind is a bright mirror stand 275 00:09:45,454 --> 00:09:46,611 wipe it diligently at all times 276 00:09:47,015 --> 00:09:48,511 and let no dust settle on it 277 00:09:48,774 --> 00:09:49,332 meaning 278 00:09:49,615 --> 00:09:51,573 your mind is like a mirror 279 00:09:51,574 --> 00:09:53,151 and practice is wiping it without stopping 280 00:09:53,215 --> 00:09:55,111 clearing the dust bit by bit 281 00:09:55,135 --> 00:09:55,891 day after day 282 00:09:56,095 --> 00:09:57,111 slowly getting closer 283 00:09:57,334 --> 00:09:58,871 Huineng could not read at the time 284 00:09:58,895 --> 00:09:59,731 so he asked someone to write for him 285 00:10:00,174 --> 00:10:01,552 bodhi is originally no tree 286 00:10:01,574 --> 00:10:02,991 the bright mirror is not a stand 287 00:10:03,135 --> 00:10:04,172 originally there is not a single thing 288 00:10:04,414 --> 00:10:05,832 so where could dust ever settle 289 00:10:06,015 --> 00:10:06,812 what he means is 290 00:10:07,015 --> 00:10:08,853 you cannot find that mirror at all 291 00:10:08,855 --> 00:10:13,151 because there is no fixed unchanging mind sitting there waiting to be stained 292 00:10:13,255 --> 00:10:14,731 the moment you are set on wiping dust 293 00:10:15,015 --> 00:10:16,374 that thought itself 294 00:10:16,375 --> 00:10:17,351 is the dust 295 00:10:17,962 --> 00:10:19,121 these two verses 296 00:10:19,122 --> 00:10:22,358 represent the most fundamental split in Chinese Buddhist history 297 00:10:22,881 --> 00:10:24,378 gradual cultivation versus sudden awakening 298 00:10:24,761 --> 00:10:26,439 drop the butcher knife and become a Buddha on the spot 299 00:10:26,722 --> 00:10:28,139 stands on the sudden side 300 00:10:28,401 --> 00:10:29,838 it does not say practice for thirty years 301 00:10:30,161 --> 00:10:30,819 it says 302 00:10:30,921 --> 00:10:32,019 right in this moment 303 00:10:32,082 --> 00:10:33,238 a total transformation 304 00:10:33,442 --> 00:10:34,455 can happen 305 00:10:34,718 --> 00:10:37,117 but the deepest misunderstanding of the sudden school 306 00:10:37,118 --> 00:10:38,096 sits right here 307 00:10:38,478 --> 00:10:38,675 sudden 308 00:10:39,039 --> 00:10:40,496 does not mean a very short time 309 00:10:40,758 --> 00:10:41,435 what it means is 310 00:10:41,758 --> 00:10:42,918 that real transformation 311 00:10:42,919 --> 00:10:44,695 does not happen on the timeline 312 00:10:44,799 --> 00:10:47,376 it happens at some fundamental level of consciousness 313 00:10:47,679 --> 00:10:48,476 like when you are dreaming 314 00:10:48,919 --> 00:10:50,335 a tiger is chasing you in the dream 315 00:10:50,439 --> 00:10:51,276 your heart is racing 316 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:52,558 you are sweating 317 00:10:52,559 --> 00:10:54,896 and suddenly you realize you are dreaming 318 00:10:55,279 --> 00:10:57,295 the fear vanishes in that instant 319 00:10:57,358 --> 00:10:58,636 it does not fade slowly 320 00:10:58,838 --> 00:11:00,376 it scatters all at once 321 00:11:00,399 --> 00:11:03,496 because you saw through the illusion it was attached to 322 00:11:03,758 --> 00:11:05,616 that seeing through is sudden 323 00:11:05,638 --> 00:11:07,695 but being able to wake up in that moment 324 00:11:07,838 --> 00:11:11,655 is the result of countless earlier struggles inside dreams 325 00:11:12,482 --> 00:11:14,339 Guange has the same structure 326 00:11:14,561 --> 00:11:16,339 before that knife went down 327 00:11:16,362 --> 00:11:19,159 how many years of inner struggle went unnoticed by him 328 00:11:20,002 --> 00:11:21,539 one clarification here 329 00:11:21,681 --> 00:11:25,659 because the sudden gradual debate often gets reduced to which one is better 330 00:11:26,201 --> 00:11:30,098 but Huineng and Shenxiu are not really an either or opposition 331 00:11:30,642 --> 00:11:31,398 someone on the gradual path 332 00:11:31,681 --> 00:11:33,699 still needs a sudden moment in the end 333 00:11:34,081 --> 00:11:34,758 someone with a sudden awakening 334 00:11:35,081 --> 00:11:37,138 still needs a long gradual road afterward 335 00:11:37,161 --> 00:11:39,459 to land that awakening in daily life 336 00:11:40,111 --> 00:11:41,529 according to the Platform Sutra 337 00:11:41,552 --> 00:11:43,870 the fifth patriarch Hongren passed the robe and bowl to Huineng 338 00:11:43,871 --> 00:11:45,969 not because his verse was cleverer 339 00:11:45,991 --> 00:11:48,951 but because the level his verse pointed at 340 00:11:48,952 --> 00:11:50,808 is where the fundamental transformation actually happens 341 00:11:51,192 --> 00:11:53,729 that does not mean the path of Shenxiu was wrong 342 00:11:53,991 --> 00:11:55,489 for most people 343 00:11:55,511 --> 00:11:57,729 the path of Shenxiu is the one you can actually enter 344 00:11:57,751 --> 00:11:59,969 and actually work with step by step 345 00:12:00,152 --> 00:12:03,369 drop the butcher knife and become a Buddha on the spot speaks of sudden awakening 346 00:12:03,391 --> 00:12:06,288 of that fundamental shift happening in one moment 347 00:12:06,511 --> 00:12:07,188 but that moment 348 00:12:07,432 --> 00:12:09,889 usually stands on top of a very long gradual practice 349 00:12:10,943 --> 00:12:11,821 so dropping the butcher knife 350 00:12:12,104 --> 00:12:13,380 what is actually being dropped 351 00:12:13,903 --> 00:12:15,681 this is the core question of today 352 00:12:16,063 --> 00:12:16,500 layer one 353 00:12:16,864 --> 00:12:17,921 the level of behavior 354 00:12:18,063 --> 00:12:19,421 putting down the physical knife 355 00:12:19,704 --> 00:12:21,401 stopping the act of killing 356 00:12:21,584 --> 00:12:23,640 everyone can understand this layer 357 00:12:23,704 --> 00:12:25,521 but it is the shallowest one 358 00:12:25,783 --> 00:12:27,903 a person can stop a behavior 359 00:12:27,903 --> 00:12:30,120 while the drive deep inside has not changed 360 00:12:30,183 --> 00:12:32,681 he has only changed the way it expresses itself 361 00:12:32,783 --> 00:12:33,781 just stopping the behavior 362 00:12:33,984 --> 00:12:35,840 is still a long way from becoming a Buddha 363 00:12:36,999 --> 00:12:37,476 layer two 364 00:12:37,919 --> 00:12:39,017 the level of identity 365 00:12:39,159 --> 00:12:40,519 not only stopping the behavior 366 00:12:40,519 --> 00:12:42,157 but also dropping the identity of I am a killer 367 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:43,359 this is who I am 368 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:46,216 I cannot become anything else 369 00:12:46,279 --> 00:12:47,417 this goes much deeper 370 00:12:47,759 --> 00:12:49,976 but it is still not the deepest layer 371 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:51,839 you can drop the identity of the killer 372 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:53,897 and still grab hold of another one 373 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:55,759 the reformed man for instance 374 00:12:55,759 --> 00:12:56,356 the victim 375 00:12:56,639 --> 00:12:58,317 or the impressive practitioner 376 00:12:58,661 --> 00:12:59,177 layer three 377 00:12:59,501 --> 00:13:00,557 the base of consciousness 378 00:13:00,740 --> 00:13:05,118 what is dropped is the self grasping in the manas consciousness that drives every identity 379 00:13:05,541 --> 00:13:07,218 it is not that I no longer identify with this identity 380 00:13:07,381 --> 00:13:08,379 so I take another one 381 00:13:08,381 --> 00:13:11,139 it is that the mechanism manufacturing fixed identity 382 00:13:11,141 --> 00:13:12,718 loosens in that moment 383 00:13:13,021 --> 00:13:15,238 this is the key node in Yogacara 384 00:13:15,421 --> 00:13:18,157 the power source driving the karma engine 385 00:13:18,261 --> 00:13:19,633 cuts out 386 00:13:19,895 --> 00:13:20,793 layer four 387 00:13:20,856 --> 00:13:23,673 and this is the hardest layer to put into words 388 00:13:24,055 --> 00:13:27,952 what is dropped is the very idea that there is a me doing the dropping 389 00:13:28,096 --> 00:13:29,054 at this point 390 00:13:29,055 --> 00:13:31,752 it is no longer Guange deciding to drop the butcher knife 391 00:13:31,816 --> 00:13:33,952 dropping is simply happening 392 00:13:34,096 --> 00:13:37,592 with no fixed subject actively carrying it out 393 00:13:38,055 --> 00:13:39,872 just as we discussed before 394 00:13:39,976 --> 00:13:43,712 Vasubandhu describes awakening in the Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only 395 00:13:43,775 --> 00:13:45,992 not as you finally seeing the truth 396 00:13:46,015 --> 00:13:51,095 but as moving beyond grasper and grasped the perceiver and the perceived 397 00:13:51,096 --> 00:13:52,572 that dualistic structure itself 398 00:13:52,936 --> 00:13:53,872 falls apart 399 00:13:54,055 --> 00:13:54,372 you see 400 00:13:54,775 --> 00:13:56,752 from layer one to layer four 401 00:13:56,895 --> 00:13:58,615 the act of dropping the butcher knife 402 00:13:58,616 --> 00:14:01,832 has gone completely beyond the range of that physical knife 403 00:14:02,535 --> 00:14:04,454 that knife is only an entrance 404 00:14:04,456 --> 00:14:06,592 a metaphor to help you understand this 405 00:14:07,522 --> 00:14:11,459 drop the butcher knife and become a Buddha on the spot tells the story of Guange 406 00:14:11,603 --> 00:14:13,339 but it has survived more than a thousand years 407 00:14:13,363 --> 00:14:15,300 so it cannot only be about Guange 408 00:14:15,642 --> 00:14:17,119 what are you holding in your hand right now 409 00:14:17,522 --> 00:14:19,459 what you are holding may not be a knife 410 00:14:19,723 --> 00:14:22,219 it might be years of resentment toward someone 411 00:14:22,443 --> 00:14:26,060 it might be the fear that only getting that one thing makes you safe 412 00:14:26,323 --> 00:14:29,300 it might be the belief that this is just who I am and I cannot change 413 00:14:29,483 --> 00:14:33,579 it might be a relationship you know should end but cannot let go of 414 00:14:33,723 --> 00:14:36,420 it might be some obsession you are gripping for dear life 415 00:14:36,483 --> 00:14:37,359 because if you let it go 416 00:14:37,603 --> 00:14:39,739 you do not know who you are without it 417 00:14:40,322 --> 00:14:43,340 sometimes the butcher knife takes a more hidden shape 418 00:14:43,523 --> 00:14:45,360 it might be a story you tell about yourself 419 00:14:45,802 --> 00:14:47,820 I am someone who has been hurt a lot 420 00:14:48,042 --> 00:14:48,720 that identity 421 00:14:48,962 --> 00:14:50,180 makes you feel safe 422 00:14:50,202 --> 00:14:53,002 because it explains why you no longer have to try 423 00:14:53,003 --> 00:14:53,879 no longer have to take risks 424 00:14:54,202 --> 00:14:55,739 no longer have to trust anyone 425 00:14:56,003 --> 00:14:56,840 but that story 426 00:14:57,123 --> 00:14:58,259 is a knife too 427 00:14:58,722 --> 00:15:01,639 it might be the I have no talent you have repeated for twenty years 428 00:15:02,243 --> 00:15:05,121 or it might be the assumption that if it were not for that one thing 429 00:15:05,123 --> 00:15:07,419 I would be a different person today 430 00:15:07,802 --> 00:15:11,659 you turned one piece of the past into the explanation for everything now 431 00:15:11,722 --> 00:15:15,751 and then you never have to change anything in the present 432 00:15:15,975 --> 00:15:17,832 what all these butcher knives share is this 433 00:15:18,015 --> 00:15:19,751 you think it is protecting you 434 00:15:19,855 --> 00:15:21,672 it is actually blocking you 435 00:15:22,015 --> 00:15:24,351 it gives you a reason not to change 436 00:15:24,814 --> 00:15:27,552 it gives your pain a reasonable explanation 437 00:15:27,615 --> 00:15:29,672 without needing a real way out 438 00:15:30,054 --> 00:15:30,452 all of these 439 00:15:30,774 --> 00:15:32,751 are butcher knives in different shapes 440 00:15:33,375 --> 00:15:34,011 Buddhism says 441 00:15:34,454 --> 00:15:35,271 those things 442 00:15:35,414 --> 00:15:37,031 were never really you 443 00:15:37,294 --> 00:15:41,432 they are the outward show of seeds the manas planted in the alaya consciousness 444 00:15:41,735 --> 00:15:44,111 they are what your consciousness manufactures 445 00:15:44,215 --> 00:15:46,712 to keep up the illusion of a fixed self 446 00:15:46,735 --> 00:15:48,472 a clinging it produced all by itself 447 00:15:49,415 --> 00:15:49,813 dropping 448 00:15:50,135 --> 00:15:51,513 is not losing something 449 00:15:52,015 --> 00:15:53,852 it is letting what was always there 450 00:15:54,336 --> 00:15:55,273 shine through 451 00:15:55,616 --> 00:15:58,872 just as the reflecting nature of the mirror never disappeared 452 00:15:59,055 --> 00:16:01,073 you do not need to add anything to it 453 00:16:01,096 --> 00:16:02,693 you only need to wipe the dust away 454 00:16:03,175 --> 00:16:04,472 and there it is 455 00:16:04,856 --> 00:16:07,111 it was there all along 456 00:16:07,455 --> 00:16:11,231 sudden awakening is usually a threshold collapsing after long accumulation 457 00:16:11,814 --> 00:16:13,371 water boils at one hundred degrees 458 00:16:13,814 --> 00:16:15,374 that moment is sudden 459 00:16:15,375 --> 00:16:18,432 but those hundred degrees were added one degree at a time 460 00:16:18,654 --> 00:16:19,611 that moment of Guange 461 00:16:19,894 --> 00:16:21,453 looks like sudden awakening 462 00:16:21,455 --> 00:16:22,591 but before it 463 00:16:22,615 --> 00:16:24,952 we have no idea how many years of accumulation there were 464 00:16:25,335 --> 00:16:28,392 the Nirvana Sutra only tells us the instant that knife went down 465 00:16:28,495 --> 00:16:31,392 it never tells us how long he walked in the dark 466 00:16:31,855 --> 00:16:33,211 there is a line worth remembering 467 00:16:33,615 --> 00:16:34,831 those who glimpse awakening are countless 468 00:16:34,894 --> 00:16:36,231 those who fully realize it are very few 469 00:16:36,455 --> 00:16:37,611 seeing that clarity 470 00:16:37,894 --> 00:16:39,374 and actually living it out 471 00:16:39,375 --> 00:16:41,312 are still a long road apart 472 00:16:41,868 --> 00:16:42,986 this whole series of ours 473 00:16:43,268 --> 00:16:44,205 is doing one thing 474 00:16:44,228 --> 00:16:46,486 helping you heat up one degree at a time 475 00:16:46,949 --> 00:16:47,786 every concept 476 00:16:48,148 --> 00:16:49,307 every moment of oh 477 00:16:49,309 --> 00:16:50,105 so that is how it works 478 00:16:50,589 --> 00:16:53,325 brings that threshold a little closer to you 479 00:16:53,669 --> 00:16:55,105 as for when you will boil 480 00:16:55,549 --> 00:16:56,805 no one can predict that 481 00:16:57,028 --> 00:16:58,786 but one thing is certain 482 00:16:59,108 --> 00:17:00,325 that possibility 483 00:17:00,348 --> 00:17:01,406 has always been there 484 00:17:02,028 --> 00:17:04,845 the Nirvana Sutra saying even icchantikas have Buddha nature 485 00:17:05,028 --> 00:17:06,825 this is exactly where its compassion lies 486 00:17:07,228 --> 00:17:08,705 no matter where you are right now 487 00:17:09,069 --> 00:17:10,627 no matter what you have done 488 00:17:10,628 --> 00:17:13,927 that possibility has never left you 489 00:17:14,310 --> 00:17:15,708 the butcher knife in your hand right now 490 00:17:16,110 --> 00:17:17,148 what shape does it have 491 00:17:17,750 --> 00:17:20,287 tell me what you think in the comments 492 00:17:20,430 --> 00:17:21,468 I really want to know 493 00:17:21,790 --> 00:17:23,287 sudden awakening or gradual cultivation 494 00:17:23,391 --> 00:17:25,867 which one feels more like the road you are walking 495 00:17:26,430 --> 00:17:27,188 I am Leo Wang 496 00:17:27,470 --> 00:17:28,405 see you next time