in the Investiture of the Gods everyone acts on behalf of heaven
and everyone is creating karma
have you ever thought about this
in the Investiture of the Gods
the Shang dynasty falls
the Zhou dynasty rises
and three hundred sixty five spirits are enshrined as gods
it looks like a story where heaven decrees and justice always wins
but think back carefully
what is the strangest thing in the whole book
it is that every single character
whether he is good or evil
no matter which side he stands on
is shouting the very same words
acting on behalf of heaven
Jiang Ziya says he acts on behalf of heaven
to topple King Zhou and destroy the Shang
King Zhou's men say they are loyal ministers guarding the realm
following the will of heaven
the immortals of the Jie sect believe they are upholding heaven's law
and the immortals of the Chan sect believe heaven's mandate is theirs
even Daji seducing King Zhou
was done on Nuwa's own personal command
she can say with a clear conscience
I too am acting on behalf of heaven
everyone believes heaven is on their side
so whose side is heaven really on
the answer might make you uncomfortable
heaven
is on no one's side
hello
everyone
I am Wang Lijie
today we continue our series deconstructing classics through Buddhism
this time we take apart a book almost every Chinese person knows by heart
but may never have truly understood
the Investiture of the Gods
in many people's minds
the Investiture of the Gods is just a crowd pleasing tale of good versus evil
good guys beat bad guys
immortals duel with magic
and in the end heaven decrees that King Wu of Zhou wins
three hundred sixty five spirits each take their place
and cosmic order is restored
but if you look at this book again through a Buddhist lens
you will find something that sends a chill down your spine
it is not at all a story of justice defeating evil
it is an encyclopedia of attachment
and what it reveals
is the highest and most hidden kind of human attachment
it is taking your own judgment
and passing it off as the will of heaven
let us peel it apart layer by layer
first these words acting on behalf of heaven
where exactly do they go wrong
think hard about the logical structure of these words
acting on behalf of heaven
it assumes three things
first
heaven has a will
second
you know what heaven's will is
third
you are qualified to carry out that will for heaven
these three assumptions
none of them holds up under scrutiny
does heaven have a will
Buddhism's answer is very clear
no
the law of dependent origination is not the will of some higher being
it is simply the way things work
just as water flows downhill not because someone orders it to
but because its physical nature leaves it no other way
the way of heaven is a law
not a command
a law has no stance
no preference
and needs no spokesman
so do you know what the way of heaven is
you think you know
but do you really know
all the information you see
has been filtered by your senses
processed by your cognitive frame
and colored by your emotional preferences
in the language of Yogacara
the world you see
is your imagined attachment
a net you yourself have woven out of concepts
you take this net to catch the so called will of heaven
but what you pull up
is always just your own projection
finally
even if you truly saw through how the way of heaven works
are you qualified to enforce it
it is like your robot vacuum suddenly announcing
I have understood gravity
from today I will enforce the laws of physics
you would think the robot had gone mad
but when a person says he acts on behalf of heaven
everyone finds it perfectly normal
why
because human arrogance is unconscious
in the world of the Investiture of the Gods
this unconscious overreach is everywhere
and every overreacher believes he is absolutely right
let us start from the beginning
the origin of the whole affair
is King Zhou offering incense at Nuwa's temple
being struck by the beauty of Nuwa's statue
and writing a poem with a blasphemous tone
Nuwa is furious
she summons the three demons of Xuanyuan's tomb
and sends them to seduce King Zhou
to ruin the six hundred year realm of the Shang
don't you find this opening strange
a mortal writes an inappropriate poem
and a goddess decides to destroy a dynasty that has lasted six hundred years
isn't this cause and effect a little out of proportion
you post an inappropriate comment on social media
and your boss dissolves the entire company
any normal person would find that wrong
and what is Nuwa's reason
the Shang's fortune is spent
in other words
the Shang was destined to fall anyway
King Zhou's poem was just a trigger
an excuse
the real cause runs deeper
in Buddhist terms
the six hundred years of collective karma of the Shang
had built up to a critical point
but notice this
right at the start of the story
the will of heaven is already blurred
is Nuwa acting on behalf of heaven
or acting on her own emotions
she says the Shang's fortune is spent
but what if King Zhou had not written that poem
would she still have issued the command
if the Shang was destined to fall anyway
sending demons to speed up the process
is that following heaven or interfering with it
do you see it
even the highest god
has personal emotion mixed into her motives
she was offended
she grew angry
then she made a decision
and stuck the label of heaven's will onto that decision
this is not acting on behalf of heaven
this is using the name of the way of heaven
to rationalize and dress up your own reaction
Buddhism has a very precise concept called dependent origination
no event happens because of a single cause
it is countless conditions woven together
ripening all at once in a single moment
the Shang did not fall because King Zhou wrote a poem
nor because Daji was too seductive
nor because Jiang Ziya was too powerful
it is that the whole system's conditions reached the tipping point at once
no single person was the sole driver of it
but every character in the Investiture of the Gods
believes he is the key driver
they all believe they are pushing on behalf of heaven
now let us look at King Zhou
King Zhou is the most caricatured character in the whole book
the moment you mention King Zhou
what pops into your head is tyranny debauchery and cruelty
but have you ever thought
within the novel's narrative
how did King Zhou become this way step by step
he was not born evil
at the start of the novel
he is portrayed as a ruler skilled in both arts and arms and immensely strong
his fall
is a long chain of cause and effect
Nuwa issues her command
Daji enters the palace
the fox demon's enchantment erodes his mind day after day
loyal ministers are killed or flee one after another
he is surrounded by flattering sycophants
his vision grows narrower and narrower
his space for choice grows smaller and smaller
in the end
he can no longer see any other possibility
in Buddhist terms
King Zhou's fall
is seeds manifesting under specific conditions
he already had the seeds of greed hatred and delusion within him
who doesn't
but these seeds by Daji by power
by fear by loneliness were watered again and again
when all the outer conditions push in the same direction
those seeds grow into towering trees
what is the point
these seeds are not his alone
everyone has them inside
King Zhou is not a monster different from you and me
he is a mirror magnified by particular conditions
think about yourself
have you ever had this experience
you clearly know something is wrong
but the environment pushes you
emotion wraps around you
inertia drags you
and you just can't stop
looking back afterward
you say what was I thinking back then
but in that moment
you completely believed your judgment was right
King Zhou was the same
it is not that he had no lucid moments
it is that in those lucid moments
he chose to close his eyes
Buddhism does not call this evil
Buddhism calls this ignorance
it is not being not smart enough
it is not being not kind enough
it is not knowing what is pushing you along
now look at Jiang Ziya
Jiang Ziya is the absolute hero of the whole book
he holds the list of gods and the god beating whip
aiding King Wu of Zhou to topple King Zhou
cutting through every obstacle
and finally achieving glory
he is the spokesman of acting on behalf of heaven
but look closely at his pattern of behavior
and you will find something very subtle
throughout the entire process
how many times did he make a truly free choice
he did not write the list of gods
Yuanshi Tianzun gave it to him
he did not make the god beating whip
it was handed down from Mount Kunlun
whom he would enshrine and whom he would destroy
the list was decided long ago
he is merely an executor
here is a very deep Buddhist question
a person who perfectly carries out orders
is he free
he executes willingly
he identifies with the mission
but identification itself
is a kind of attachment
what does Jiang Ziya identify with
the worldview of the Chan sect
the authority of Yuanshi Tianzun
the belief that justice must win and heaven's mandate cannot be defied
these identifications shape how he sees everything
notice how he behaves on the battlefield
whenever he meets an opponent from the Jie sect
no matter how high their cultivation or how just their cause
his first reaction is always
you are defying heaven
you deserve to die
this is not a judgment after careful thought
this is the autopilot of identity
he does not need to think
because his system has already preprocessed all the information
whatever is Chan sect is right
whatever is Jie sect is wrong
this judgment is complete before it even enters consciousness
in Buddhist terms
this is called attachment to dharmas
attachment to dharmas is harder to notice than attachment to self
and more dangerous
attachment to self is clinging to a false self
attachment to dharmas is clinging to a set of beliefs about truth
you can let go of attachment to fame and gain
you can let go of attachment to emotion
but can you let go of attachment to justice
can you let go of the belief that makes you feel like a good person
this is Jiang Ziya's dilemma
a person can be completely selfless
fight entirely for justice
act entirely according to the will of heaven he believes in
yet he is still creating karma
because the justice the will of heaven the rightness he clings to
is his justice the heaven's will he assumes the rightness he judges
doing the right thing and being attached to doing the right thing
the distance between these two
is so small you can barely see it
but it is exactly this sliver of distance
that decides whether you are cultivating or creating karma
next let us look at the most overlooked hidden thread in the Investiture of the Gods
the conflict between the Chan sect and the Jie sect
on the surface
this is a struggle of good against evil
the Chan sect represents the orthodox path
the Jie sect represents heterodox ways
but if you read the original carefully
you will find a fact that makes you uneasy
many disciples of the Jie sect
have higher cultivation and stronger powers than the Chan sect's disciples
the Jie sect's leader Tongtian Jiaozhu
is one of Hongjun Laozu's three great disciples
of the same school and generation as Yuanshi Tianzun
so what exactly is wrong with the Jie sect
the answer is a single phrase
teaching all without distinction
the Jie sect takes disciples regardless of origin
birds and beasts flower and grass spirits creatures born of moisture and eggs
as long as they have a heart set on the Dao
none are turned away
its core teaching is
the great Dao is fifty
heaven takes forty nine
all things have one thread of life
what the Jie sect does is seize that one thread of life for all beings
does this idea sound familiar
all sentient beings have Buddha nature
isn't this one of the most central propositions of Buddhism
the Buddha said this two thousand five hundred years ago
cultivation does not depend on origin
not on caste
not on whether you are human or beast
whoever has a heart set on the Dao
can all be liberated
but within the narrative frame of the Investiture of the Gods
what label is put on the Jie sect's teaching all without distinction
taking in anyone
not sorting good from bad
not distinguishing right from wrong
not telling good from evil
and the Chan sect
the Chan sect chooses disciples strictly
it looks at spiritual capacity
at character
at origin
it only takes exceptionally gifted human disciples
do you see it
this is exactly a replica of the caste system
who is qualified to cultivate
whose origin is worthy of the orthodox path
who is born inferior
these questions in India two thousand five hundred years ago
the Brahmin priests asked them too
the answer the Buddha gave
is exactly the same as the Jie sect's
but in this novel
the side that gives the more inclusive answer
is the villain
this is no accident
this is a deeply rooted pattern in human consciousness
once you have built a system about what is correct
anything that does not fit your system
gets automatically classified by your mind as a threat
you don't need to understand it deeply
you don't need to grasp its reasoning
you only need to know it is not your system
that is enough
in Buddhism this is called imagined attachment
you put labels on the world
then you assume the label is the world itself
the label the Chan sect puts on the Jie sect is heterodoxy
but who put on this label
did heaven put it on
no
the Chan sect put it on itself
then they take this label they stuck on themselves
to act on behalf of heaven
do you see it now
the whole Investiture of the Gods
is a crowd of people holding labels they made themselves
proving to each other that the other side is wrong
each side is certain it represents justice
each side is acting on behalf of heaven
while heaven
from start to finish
says nothing at all
finally let us look at the list of gods itself
three hundred sixty five spirits are enshrined as gods
do you think this is a reward or a punishment
many people instinctively feel
being enshrined is a good thing
you become a god after all
but think carefully
those placed on the list of gods
who are most of them
they are the dead
they are those killed in this great war of acting on behalf of heaven
some died on the battlefield
some died under magic weapons
some died in betrayal by their own
they did not choose to become gods
they were arranged into godhood after death
enshrinement is not a promotion
enshrinement is a placement
think about it
a name on a monument to the fallen
and a notice of promotion and raise
are these two the same
the list of gods is closer to the former
it does not reward you
it records you
it records your position in this collective karma
in Buddhist terms
the list of gods is a settlement statement of collective karma
everyone who took part in this great drama
whether you are just or evil
whether you joined the fight willingly or were swept into it
you have all left your trace in this network of cause and effect
each of your choices each strike each time you picked a side
adds a thread to this net
finally
the great war ends
and all the threads must be settled
you die
your body is gone
but your position in this collective karma
is precisely recorded by the list of gods
you are assigned to the thunder the fire the plague or the star department
not because of the size of your merit
but because your karmic nature decides which position you belong in
so enshrinement is not a gift
enshrinement is the automatic sorting of cause and effect
there is one more detail that is especially thought provoking
Jiang Ziya himself was not enshrined as a god
he presided over the entire enshrinement ceremony
arranging everyone's soul clearly and precisely
but he himself is not on the list
Yuanshi Tianzun said he was born with a thin fate
the immortal path was hard for him to attain
he could only receive worldly blessings
the subtext of this setup runs very deep
the one who runs the system
is himself outside the system
the referee does not play in the game
but does the referee have no karma
Buddhism's answer is
of course he does
you decide the fate of others
you think you are a neutral enforcer
but every judgment you make carries your frame
your bias your identity
you enshrine a Jie sect disciple as a god of malevolence
this enshrinement does not come from the will of heaven
it comes from the version of heaven's will you see standing on the Chan sect's side
Jiang Ziya is not on the list of gods
not because he transcended cause and effect
but quite possibly because
his karma is greater than anyone's
because he did not just take part in this collective karma
he defined the settlement rules of this collective karma
at this point
you might ask
so what is the Investiture of the Gods really about
the most profound thing about this book
is not how rich its imagination is
how cool its magic weapons are
how earth shaking its battles are
but that it unintentionally built an extremely precise Buddhist model
in this model
everyone thinks he is acting on behalf of heaven
but no one truly knows what the way of heaven is
everyone thinks he is on the side of justice
but the definition of justice depends on which side you stand on
everyone thinks he is carrying out destiny
but destiny itself is created by everyone together
isn't this exactly our world today
look at the arguments online
each side thinks it is just
each side thinks the other is a monster
each side is acting on behalf of heaven
look at your own relationships
have you ever had a moment like this
you are one hundred percent sure you are right
and the other is wrong
you are defending principle
the other is being unreasonable
then a few years pass
you look back
and suddenly realize
what you saw back then
was only what you were able to see back then
the Investiture of the Gods uses a grand mythological story
to act out one of the deepest programs in human consciousness
and that program is
you always unconsciously equate your own perspective with the will of heaven
you think you are seeing the world
but really you are only seeing the world through your filter
then you give the filter a name
you call it the truth
Buddhism calls this program ignorance
it is not that you are not smart enough
it is not that you are not kind enough
it is that you don't know that you don't know
you don't know that what you see is not everything
you don't know that your justice is only your justice
you don't know that your acting on behalf of heaven
may be exactly creating new karma
so what is cultivation
cultivation is not finding a bigger truth to replace your old truth
it is not swapping your truth for the Buddha's truth
that is just switching to a more refined filter
cultivation is learning to see
that all your truths
have boundaries
the Diamond Sutra has a saying
the Buddha speaks of prajnaparamita
which is not prajnaparamita
and is therefore called prajnaparamita
even the highest wisdom the Buddha himself gave
he immediately negates once
and then takes it back to use
why
because once you grasp prajnaparamita as a fixed thing
you are acting on behalf of prajna
you become a Jiang Ziya holding the Diamond Sutra
the Investiture of the Gods has played out
everyone is dead or enshrined
a new dynasty is established
and then
the Zhou dynasty also fell after eight hundred years
the Qin dynasty that replaced it collapsed in fifteen years
every dynasty that believed it acted on behalf of heaven
became the reason for the next dynasty to act on behalf of heaven
when will this cycle ever stop
Buddhism says
when you stop acting on behalf of heaven
it is not that you stop acting
it is not that you stop doing things
it is that when you act
you no longer assume you know what the way of heaven is
you do what should be done
but you don't label yourself an agent of justice
you do your best
but you don't treat the outcome as heaven's endorsement of you
this state
the Diamond Sutra has a phrase for it
give rise to the mind that dwells nowhere
to act
but not dwell in the sense of identity that acting brings
to walk the path
but not dwell in the righteousness that acting on behalf of heaven brings
the list of gods holds three hundred sixty five gods
but the moment closest to awakening in the whole book
may belong to none of them
it may belong to those who suddenly stopped in the chaos of battle
those who in the instant of swinging their sword
felt a flicker of doubt in their heart
do I really know why I am fighting this battle
that moment of doubt
that tiny pause
is the starting point of all cultivation
my friends
have you ever unconsciously acted on behalf of heaven in your life
that moment when you were a hundred percent sure you were right
and later it turned out to be just your filter
I am curious about your story
I am Wang Lijie
see you next time