팔식과 소지장 (영어)

영화 선사의 법문 No Cut

20220226 chan meditation 

Eight consciousnesses and the obstruction of what is known (8식과 소지장)

we ready? ok very good. good morning everyone. Thank you all for coming. It’s nice to see you. Alright. Let’s see. How is everyone today? What shall we talk about today? Any questions, comments, suggestions. Yeah. We have 2 babies with us today. It’s always a nice thing to have children around. Oh they are sharing toys, too. Look at that. 

Ok. So new rule. What’s a new rule? If we have nothing to talk about, then I go no questions, oh Wei Mountain has a question. Go ahead, Wei Mountain.      

[a] Yes, master. Um I have a question about 8th conscious you mention that all past memories reside there. So is it possible for us to access it? At any time that we want?

[m] Past memories? [a] Yes, all the memories that we store in 8th consciousness, can we access that at any time? Is there a way to do that? Is there a way to do that?

[m] ok. let me go back to the fundamentals, ok. So let’s revisit. Revisit the concept here. 

I’m waiting for people to get ready. There’s some equipment issues here. The translation equipment make sure that people have the proper equipment. Do we have a Chinese translation equipment? XianXin. ok, very good. alright. ok.     

In Buddhism, we taught that human beings have 8th consciousness. ok. And that’s part of our makeup. The consciousness arise because of confusion. Thank you, thank you very much. (sb offered tea to master)     

 So and while we are confused, these consciousnesses arise and cultivation is about transforming those consciousnesses into wisdom. That’s you can transform these 8 consciousnesses into 4 wisdoms. That’s what enlightened people do. Not Hinayana practitioner. If you have to go to the level of enlightment for Mahayana before you can transform those 8 consciousnesses into wisdom. All into the 4 wisdoms. ok. So that’s a general concept. That’s why it’s important to understand and know about consciousnesses. We use them while we are confused and we cultivate. And this cultivation process will transform them. alright. so and the question is about the 8th consciousness.     

 Quickly I will give you some overview what 8 consciousnesses are, ok. For background information. The 8 consciounesses are, the first six consicousnesses are you consciousnesses that arise from your sense organs. We have the 5 organs, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, that’s four. The skin on the body, that’s five. ok, that’s touch. So the consciousnesses are the sight eyes give you the consciousness sight. The nose consciousness is called smell. The ear consciousness is called hearing. Yes. What about the tongue consciousness? It’s called taste. right? And the body consciousness is called touch. So this is how we function normally as living beings. We are aware of these 5 consciousnesses that are constantly bringing in information to us. So far so good? So I touch this statue here and this sense of touch here the consciousness sense of touch will bring me information. For example, this touch tells me that this thing here the wood, the feel of wood ok. When you touch the wood, it gives you certain information, the feel of wood, the warmth of wood, and so forth. And that information is brought into the sixth consciousness, ok.     

 The first five, the hearing ok, the hearing. You hear a noise, you hear people talking. The hearing there, that’s the hearing consciousness brings that information, the sound into our brains that processes it. So far so good? That’s how it works. That’s how we operate as human beings. So the five consciousnesses bring in data. The data there, by the way, this is important concept as well. It’s called sound, it’s called fragrance, it’s called the object of the sight or an object and so forth.     

 So the information there from outside world external world is brought into our internal world, our bodies through the consciousnesses. Ok. That’s how we interact with the outside world. See how scientific the Buddhist knowledge is. Think about it. The Buddha’s wisdom is incredible. It coinsides with medical knowledge, with scientific knowledge, with all kinds of knowledge we acquire, we develop. 

Hey, there is. I thought you couldn’t walk. Wait a minute. The whole week. Alright.      

And so the consciousnesses are important first to function at the same time it also confuses us. Because we are bombarded with all sorts of data all day long. Because we hear sound, we smell things. I here sit here can smell, you know the incense here, the ashes in the tray here, in the censor here near me. So that carries a certain level of fragrance, of incense uh fragrance that you are gathering in, people gathering in constantly. Or I look at you. I look at the sight brings in so much information. And you see, this is why our six consciousness is the mind, it’s bombarded with information constantly. That’s why life is deemed to be overwhelming. You notice that? It gets more overwhelming, doesn’t get any better. So far so good? That’s who we are. That’s how we live our lives. Being overwhelmed by the external data, the external world because our consciousnesses are constantly processing information. That’s why we are never at rest. Think about it. Look your eyes constantly seeing things, right. When you see something ‘oh that’s gray, oh that’s a camera, oh that’s uh, what’s his name, again?‘ You know, that’s what, dewey? no no, it’s dewey. Ok, so. You see, the information is constantly being brought in whether we like it or not. And the mind is encouraged constantly to process the information. And never mind about the question, what about the memories. ok. In general. When the infortmation comes to our mind, here’s what happens ok. The mind massages it. ok. It said ‘oh, that’s great. But what kind of shade gray is that?‘ It processes it. so far so good? So mind is busy processing it. It’s red, but you know, it’s closer to uh oranges than cherry red.  you know it processes it constantly. And that’s why we are so tired all day. ok. No only that, ok. We get the information the six consciousness which is the thinking mind processes it. You remember, the first five functions are just to bring in information. It doesn’t do anything else. The ear brings ‘oh that’s music.‘ That’s it. That’s all it does. It brings in the sound and the mind, this consciousness says ‘ah, that’s music.‘ You see the two things cooperation? The collaboration between the consciousnesses. First five function is bringing in data, bringing in external data. The sixth consciousness is the one that processes it. They recognize it, or and there’s a processing, ok. recognizes the sound and then it says ‘well, it sounds like rock music, it sounds like classical music.’ ok? Is it a trumpet or a trombone. So it constantly does that. It processes it constantly. So far so good. That’s how we use our energy processing information constantly. ok.     

 This is another consciousness called seventh consciousness. Another last two is seventh consciousness and eighth consciousness. 8th consciousness is the store consciousness. That’s questions about the store consciousness here is the one that stores all the information. All the karmas that we created are stored in that 8th consciousness. So far so good? And between the sixth consciousness. You see, below the five consciousness. Below here, the five consciousnesses. The sixth consciousness is on top, is called the mind king. It is the king. It is in charge of the five consciousnesses, you see that? So this is called the mind king. So far so good? These are important jorgen you need to know. This is the Buddhist wisdom. This is how we are structured. That’s how god made us if you will. You talk to catholics, they said ‘God made us’. But they forgot to tell their own kind, how god created them. You know, with the five consciousnesses are down here and the mind king, the sixth consciousness is up here which is the king. So far so good?     

Now there is a connection between the sixth and the eighth. The eighth stores everything. It’s like a hard drive. Anything that we do, we remember and all those things are stored in the 8th consciousness. And between the eighth and the sixth consciousness, there’s something called seventh consciousness which is the conduit if you will. So far so good? Now you know as much as the Buddha. Isnt’ that cool? That’s Buddhist wisdom. Please don’t tell the catholics. We got to have, we got to keep our secrets. Remember. Ok. Knowledge is power, didn’t someone say something like that? OK, so that’s how it works. The one thing you need to remember all in this important concept is that the seventh consciousness, what does it do? That’s all it does. There’s nothing else. It’s like your A1 storage place by the freeway there. In America, especially Los Angelos we rent because property prices are here too expensive. So we rent storage places by the freeways. And there’s Triple A storage. A1 storages, A2 storages. So eighth consciousness is like those places you just put things there. That’s all it does, nothing else. But however this eighth consciousness is like this unlimited hard drive. What is you buy apple macbook pro m2? What’s the maximum hard drive can you have this ssd you can have? Tuan? huh?

[a] 1 terabyte. [m] Oh you are old school. Dewey, what’s the biggest mm-2 macbook pro m2 ssd drive you can have? [a] I don’t know, master. [m] This gut’s even worse. Google it quickly quickly. As far as I remember, at least 2 terabytes. Maybe even 4. Ok, it’s a m2, come on. Never mind.      

So this eighth consciousness is a humongous limitless hard drive. It stores everything. Ok. However, between sixth and eighth it has to go through seventh consciousness, ok. Which is called the self or ego. That’s what your ego is called in Buddhism, seventh consciousness or the Mana consciousness. Is it Mana? I forgot the name. Eighth is called Alaya consciousness. That’s Sanskrit, Alaya consciousness. And the seventh, someone counts me out. Come on. Anyone remembers? Anyway it’s colloquial name for it is the ego. How does that work? Remember, the mind processes information. Eighth consciousness stores information. However between sixth and eighth, it has to go through seventh who says, uh, seventh massages it. It says ‘This is music.’ Yeah, it says ‘this is classical music.’ Six consciousness says, this is recognized, says ‘This is classical music,’ Ok. This information then stores it into the eighth consciousness says so that in the future you can recognize ‘it’s classical music’. You see how it works. The kids when they grow up, we train them, we give them, we feed them information. We make them listen to the radio. We give them a ride, listen to the radio and turn on the classical music. And then we tell them ‘hey, son. This is classical music.’ Notice that? That’s how we learn. That’s how we teach our children. The information ‘son this is classical music’, that is stored in 8th consciousness. So far so good? That’s all that happens. The one thing that further complicates things for us as confused people is the 7th consciousness is that massages it even further. It says ‘it’s good classical music, bad classical music, eeeh classical music’. So the 7th consciouness of the ego, it massages as I like it, I don’t like it, I don’t care, ok, and so forth. And that’s the nature of the 7th consciouness that we have this I like, I dislike, I hate, I don’t care. And that’s what the ego does. It distorts things. The facts occurs at the sixth consciouness that says ‘this is classical music, this is rock music’. However, ok, that’s just those are facts still, ok. But when it goes to storage, it has to go through seventh. Seventh says ‘I like, this is good classical music’. ok. And then that stores into the 8th consciousness. It says ‘this is good classical music’. So far so good? That’s how it works.     

 So can you access it? Naturally it’s a storage process and you can retrieve it as well. So it’s a matter of whether you are able to retrieve it. You know, remember, this is unlimited hard drive if you will. So it’s like any hard drive and you retrieve information you need time. Ok, maybe have you seen those wine racks in fancy french restaurants? They built this elevator  where they see a robot arm going up, you know in this elevator made of glass. It picks out a wine bottle and pulls it out. Ok, that’s called retrieval storage, ok. Same thing with our information. It’s about whether our retrieval process is good enough to access it or not. So meaning that if information, this information here is stored, ok, limitlessly. Lifetime after lifetime. This lifetime you have this huge hard drive of information and it’s appended to the prior lifetime as well as you can see.     

 This limitless hard drive have so much information that it may not always be possible for you to retrieve it. ok. So the only perosn who can always have access to it is the Buddha. So far so good? The Buddha has accesses that hard drive constantly so he looks at you and says ‘ah, in prior life, you were my mother.’ So now I look at you I feel like Wonton soup. I have a craving for Wonton soup. Because that’s a retrieval. So far so good? You associate your prior life you associate your mother’s wonton soup. So now you have a craving for wonton soup. You don’t know why. So the retrieval is what called by memory access to memory so forth. That’s how it works.      

So the answer after all this background information is not always possible for us to access information including Bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas don’t necessarily have the ability to access everything. So for us it’s haphazard a lot of different conditions that beyond our control, including Bodhisattvas. Ok. Further complicated by your karmic obstructions. For example, in a prior life, you impede learning from others, you confused people. You brainwash your children. And you don’t allow them to go to school, for example. You heard that happened in less develop countries, right. I mean, you go to the field, the farm field, work for me. And you have to help other families. So you can’t go to school. Especially you are a girl, you don’t go to school. You work because eventually I marry you off. I didn’t have to pay your future husband money to take you off by hands. Sounds familiar? Oh, these rich country people, they are so soft. They don’t know what life really means for the real people. You know what I mean.      

So you have this karmic obstructions, you obstruct your children from learning, from developing your brains. Now your turn, your children will obstruct you from learning, from accessing all the information as well. So it’s called karminc retributions, ok. It’s a little bit beyond our control to always have secure access to our information.     

Youtube, go ahead. 

[ven.xs] From Diego, Master, so when the data is stored in the 8th consciousness is already modified by the ego? The data we retrieve from 8th consciousness is already under the judgement of the ego?     

[Master] So what happened, good question. What happened you have the data from 6th consciouness says and it goes to storage. It’s automatic, by the way. When you know, when the 6th consciousness knows this is classical music, it says, it storages it right away. So in the future you can recognize it’s classical music. So far so good? And remember that storing process is automatic. So it constantly stores information. 6th consciousness is constantly storing information through our sense organ. That’s why this drive, the hard drive we have is humongous. Ok. So it stores automatically and remember it’s not, it’s still one more step that most people are not aware of is that the ego says ‘I like, I don’t like, I like, I don’t like, I like, I don’t like’ constantly with that information. So when it stores, it says this is classical music that I like, this is rap music I don’t like’, ok. So it stored in 8th consciousness when you retrieve it, it’s the same information. This is the 8th consciousness from, ‘this is a rap music from the brothers which I don’t like’. So it goes back into your 6th consciousness, ‘I don’t like this music’. So the information you have when you retrieve it is not distorted.      

So it starts out with rap music that stores in the 8th consciousness that it recognizes it. It’s part of knowledge base if you will. However it goes through this process called massaging by the ego. It says that I like, I don’t like. So it stores this is rap music that I don’t like. So when you retrieve it, the 6th consciuosness, the memory says this is bad rap music. You see how it distorted. So everything we know tends to be distorted by like and dislike and like and dislike.      

Youtube, go ahead. 

[ven.xs] Master, once I heard you said that Serving the Buddha’s are the best blessings we can plant, how can we serve the best possible way? Also, why Arhats are called sound hearers?      

[Master] Are we done with the 8th consciousness question? Anything before we change topics? Any questions, clarification?

[ven.xj] Yes, master. On the retrieval process so if is the Buddha also limited like if the Buddhas wants to access information that was stored when he had an ego long time ago, so now he’s a Buddha. He retrieves it, he still only gets the filtered information because it was stored filtered? 

[Master] No. Why not. Anyone who is not sleeping when I explained first half hour about the consciousness? Anyone whose head is clear enough so that their legs are not hurting so that you can remember what I explained? Huh, what do you think? yunga. Yellow. Yeah, turn on the power. Can someone help her out? 

[somebody] go green. [master] check it. No it’s still not on. There you go. Go back to yellow. The green light it tells you there’s a power. 

[Vietnamese] [master] Aha, Aha. Ok. Don’t need to translate. If you want to learn real wisdom you’d better learn Vietnamese. huh. Anyone else? Let’s give the non Vietnamese a chance. See, this Vietnamese here’s head are just dead on. Anyone? Are you on strike? Anyone else? The answer is that if the Buddha, you become a Buddha, there’s no more consciousness. Remember, the premises you turn, you enlightened you turn the consciousness into wisdom already. How can there be any more consciousness. So the question is stupid. Uh, is that fair to say? Go ahead, Wei mountain.      

[ven.xc] [Master] Aha, no translation. Hahaha. [ven.xr] Master, do you want me to translate? [Master] No! (laugh) Anyone else? Give the non Vietnamese a chance to. Anyone else? Non Vietnamese has an opinion. See, this is why I feel strongly you should teach your children the mother’s language, the mother’s tongue language. ok     

Youtube, go ahead. [Ven.XS] From Diego, is that why we have bad habit energies from previous life’s too? Because the data is distorted? [Master] No, it’s more involved than that. Well, anyway. Go ahead translate. Oh, god. Non Vietnamese has no chance at all. I don’t know how they are gonna make it through lives, their lives. This is, you know, without any real wisdom. (laugh) 

[Ven.XR] Ok, earlier yonga was saying that the Buddha when he retrieved the data from the 8th conscious, he did not go through the regular process that he did not go through 7th conscious. Because the 7th conscious already transformed into the wisdom of equanimity. So that’s why there’s no distortion.

And Venerable XianChi, he said that the Buddha when he retrieved the information from the 8th consciousness, he only get the information and then like. For example, he gathered information and he knows that in the past life he killed his cousin Devadatta. Because he was greedy for the inheritance. So that’s why he killed devadatta. And then that he retell the story like that but it just like the raw information. The Buddha with his wisdom, he already know, he can make the distinguish. and then so the process that he took out of the information is similar that you go to the library you took out the book. That’s it.      

[Master] Any clarification? Requested. Anyone would like to request more clarification? You don’t then I assume you understand everything. Ok, so that’s how it works. ok.      

So finally, the question is about can we make sure we can access information? The answer is why? Why bother? Why must you access everything. Sometimes it’s much better you talk to a shrink which is sometimes better for you to forget. Don’t access those things. You know, Forget ‘em. You know, let it disappear. It’s okay. Let the information decay. Why, why bother remembering. Just remember things you need to remember. That’s important. That’s the main thing. Yes, yellow.      

[Vietnamese] [Ven.XR] Master, I feel that sometimes we do need to get the information like for example like when the Buddha was in the world, there was an 80 years old man that he asked permission to become a left home person. And Sariputta, he looked back 80 kalpas back and then he said no did not plant any blessing with the Buddha. So he doesn’t have enough blessing to become a left home person. But the Buddha he can look back countless Kalpas. So he said there is one lifetime that the tiger was chasing after this man and then he ran and then he climbed up the tree. When he was up there, he said Namo Buddha. Because of that now he has enough blessing to become a Buddha, to become a left home person. So that’s why sometime we do need to retrieve back inforamtion.     

[Master] Wait, wait. I saw something that caught my attention. Wei Mountain. Min raises his microphone right quickly. He went like this and all of a sudden, the sign goes up and says Wei Mountain has a question. Who did that? That’s impressive. How did people know? Who put on this and that thing Wei mountain question? Is it here? 

[Answer] SeoJu Sunim. [Master] OK, the Korean one in Wei Mountain temple. Ok. I’m curious. You see. I thought some kind of magic spiritual power or something that Min has developed recently? And then he’s wheeee. (laugh) It comes up electronically right away. OK. very good. Wait, wait. A couple of things before I forget. Because Min raise a question before, so let me hear from min first before I make the correction from Yonga’s information. Go ahead Min.      

[Min] Yes, master. You asked the question why we want to retrieve it and you said that something we should not try to remember. Yeah, there’s bad memory we want to forget. But there’s a lot of good things that we want to access to. For example, Sutra that we read or the mantra that we want to rememeber. There’s so many things that would be so beneficial if we could have access to those things. That’s the reason I’m asking. The main reason is to um, kind of retrieve those memories so that way you can recite mantra and remember other sutras.      

[Master] Ok, very good. So No.2, Wei Mountain question. Let the old monk answer you. 

[Ven.XC] [Ven.XR] Master, whatever Yonga said earlier about the story of the old man and Shariputta. Those are for the low level for Hinayana. But now we are learning about sudden enlightenment. And like yesterday, master said we don’t need to give a rise to any thought. Because the Buddha, we already endowed the Buddha inside us. We just need to that kind of awareness or like MaZu. He said like this mind is the Buddha, the Buddha is the mind. So you just need to let go of things, let go of the false thought. Do not let it arise and then you live. You have that kind of awareness like if you are hungry you know to eat. If you are cold, you know that you put on more jacket. And then you know that it’s the cause and effect. If the retribution comes, you have to undergo. So those are the things that we have to learn about the sudden enlightenment. Then you just need to drop it. 

[Master] Let me ask the old monk. Then is it ok to get upset at someone?

[Ven.XC] [Master] When was the last time when you got angry? [Ven.XC] [Master] Translate properly. When was the last time when you got angry? [Ven.XC] 

[Master] Let me be specific. When was the last time you got afflicted at someone?

[Ven.XC] I don’t understand. I don’t know, don’t rememeber.

[Master] (laugh) Ok, let me explain you. Each one of us depending on our levels until we become enlightened. We have limitations. For example, like Yonga said earlier, the Arhats, the 4th stage Arhats like Shariputta, Mahamaugaliana and so forth. They can have the access to, they can go back 80000 great Kalpas of information. Ok. So whatever happened in the past up to 80000 great Kalpas 4th stage Arhats can remember. So the people higher level like a Bodhisattva they can remember even further back. And the story that, I don’t know that she gave is points or limitations. Everyone of us has limitations. Beyond the old man who wanted to become a left home person recited Namo Buddha, ok. Long, long time ago, beyond the 80000 of great Kalpas, that’s why the Shariputta, the Arhatas could not see they did anything good. That’s why they say you have no blessings, forget it. You can’t become a monk, right. Who do you think you are? You have no blessings. Forget it. Ok. So that’s what happened. That’s the range. The range concept. Like you car, it has a range. Because your tank can handle so much your battery can handle so much. That’s it. Alright? That’s limitations. Ok.     

My answer to the old monk that you talk theory. But you cant’ even remember the last time you afflicted. Then you have no wisdom at all. If you cultivate, and you don’t even pay attention to your own afflictions, then you are cultivating blindly. That’s important lesseon for all of you, today. Part of cultivation is to recognize that you are afflicted. ok. For exmaple, you are crying. anyone? You are crying. That’s an affliction. You have to remember. On such day, I cried. Ok. Because that’s the part of the cultivation you need to be aware of the afflictions especially afflictions that are stronger so that you will be able to effectively deal with them. At the old monk’s level, I asked him when was the last time you got angry. He said, I don’t remember. Then the next question, ok, you claim that you are not angry. Let me tell you so when was the last time you got afflicted. He doesn’t even rememeber. That means this guy doesn’t cultivate at all. If you ask me the last time I was afflicted, I would tell you this morning. There’s no 80000 great kalpas, this morning! OK?      

Now to the person who asked origianlly how do I retrieve information and I say Why do I need, he says somethings are pretty good. What about, you know, (cough) excuse me. What about the good memories, the important information like there are sutras, mantras and so forth. What’s the problem with that? Anyone? If you give me the right answer, I will pay you a hundred dollars. Anyone? Young or old I will pay you a hundred dollars because it’s so important. Any taker? Orange. There you go. That’s a brave sould, right there. Greedy for money.      

[Vickie] Yes, master. Am I on? That shows the discriminating mind. 

[Master] Discriminating mind. Ok. 5 dollars. That’s all. (laugh) Anyone else? 5 dollars. I don’t pay small bills. I only deal with a hundred dollars. (laugh) Because if 20 of you say, you know 5 dollars, 5 dollars, I’m gonna go broke. (laugh) Anyone else?     

This is so suble. It’s very important information. That I see this guy coming running into this problem, run to this wall time and time again. Every single time he runs something important, he runs to this wall. Bang! Anyone else? And this is where good information is harmful. How’s that? Have you thought of it, my friend? Your good information is harmful to you. Anyone dares to tell you that? huh?      

Go ahead, yellow. [Yonga] [Ven.XR] Master, I think like whatever we attach to are harmful to us. So for example, if we are attached to the Dharma, then it’s also harmful to us. Because we will not have a complete view of things. Like if we discriminate that it’s a gradual teaching, it’s sudden teaching, it’s Hinayan, it’s Mahayana. It’s not good because it depends on the right condition and then sometimes we need to use the proper teaching. Because we cannot say like ‘Oh, it’s Hinaya. I won’t use it.‘ No, it depends on the condition.      

[Master] I leave it of you. Let’s take a vote. What is it worth? Be nice. huh? Anyone? I would be nice today. 80 bucks. But still no cigars. (laugh) Anyone else?     

Blue, another brave soul. Yeah. From the Philippines to from Vietnam and now we are going to main land China. (laugh) Kidding. Blue, blue. Power up. There you go.      

[someone] I think because we don’t have a wisdom to identify what’s good or what’s not good. 

[Master] Ok, how much? (laughter) 65! Tuan likes it. Master is in good mood today. Ok. Let me give you the answer because we havet to go to lunch. How’s that? Ooofu. Almost lost a hundred bucks.      

It’s very specific. It’s not theory at all. Min’s problem is that he’s so obsessed with the knowledge. ok. He said this is knowledge meaning that good knowledge. You see, that’s nature of his question. What if I have good knowledge and I cannot access it? That would be the total disaster. My life will be in trouble. Am I right? This knowing fear he has in his gut says I have good information, I want to access it. I want to access it. I don’t want to lose it. Am I correct? Can you see that? So his premise is that I have important information engineering information, data that I got from my scientific equipment. You know, I spend a lot of time and money and blood and sweat in acquiring it. I want to use it. I don’t want to lose it. Ok, that’s here. This guy here locally. Downside the other guy says I have important information! My knowledge! My wisdom! It’s my life! I don't want to lose it! You see that? It’s called, what? [audience] attachment. [master] Attachment is a nice word. What’s a worse word than attachment? Greed? Yeah, what other words? more nasty? Mary Joe, is she online? We are going to clinical area now. This is that severe. ok. For his level is very severe.     

 It’s called, a nice word is obsession. He’s so obsessed by his knowledge. I know, I know! Sounds familiar? I know! And you don’t. (laugh) Right? He says I have my instruments that tell me give me facts and you don’t. Okay. And that’s obsession. What’s even more accurate word? Evan, what’s more accurate word? More than obsession? It’s called bordering on paranoia. Yes or no. Paranoia. Knowledge becomes, you paranoid about your knowledge. So knowledge, good knowledge becomes harmful to you. Ain’t it scary? That’s why yonga got 80 bucks. Good knowledge becomes harmful to you. Ok.      

The Buddhism is called the obstruction of what is known, 쒀즈쟝. What you know obstructs you. What you know confuses you. That’s the most scary thing about the knowledge. You know, and the funny thing is not for him. It’s not for him, either. Only it’s for all of us, what we know makes us attach that knowledge and that’s why our knowledge, our experience obstructs us from making further progress. I know of 8th ground Bodhisattava who’s so stuck on that problem that he will not listen anymore. He says I know, I know, I’m right. However, let me ask your knowledge is right but it stops you from making further progress, is it a good knowledge or bad knowledge? Think about it. Isn’t it fascinating? Just because you know, just because you have success entraps you. you become a victim of your own success, of your own knowledge, of your own wisdom. It’s called 쒀즈쟝. Buddha’s wisdom is incredible. The obstruction of what is known. You know it, that’s why it stops you. It entraps you. That’s the most scary thing in life. It’s 쒀즈쟝. The knowledge obstructs you, makes you so proud of yourself, so sure of yourself that you don’t listen anymore. You say hey, I’m right. Ok. That’s why Republicans have problems. Democrats don’t have that problems. (laugh) We all agree, right? What about Russians and Americans? Just kidding. Ok. Good questions, good comments, good input. Ok. Pretty close but you know not quite there yet. Keep it up.      

You see. So what do you do finally, what does this guy do like Min or that guy there, what do you do? Relax! That knowledge is a problem when you insist on, you are so proud of it. You said so this is what I know, I’m right, ok. You are so sure of it. Just let go. Stop insisting. So same, similar if he askes if it’s meant for me to be able to retrieve the information, so be it. If I can’t retrieve information, big deal. What do you do? Instead of worrying about knowledge, good knowledge and bad knowledge, about success and failure, about get what you want versus not getting what you want, what should you worry about? Nothing! Ok. Have no worries. And that’s wisdom. If you worry, you are trapped in your being right. Ok.      

쒀즈쟝 is one of the biggest illnesses of mankind. It’s not cancer, it’s not depression. It’s that knowledge of yours that entraps you  and that makes you blind to life, to reality. Especially those engineers. I have my gazes here! You are telling me I’m wrong? No, you are right but you are confused. (laugh) Isn’t it fascinating the Buddha’s wisdom? I’m fascianted because we all have this problem called 쒀즈쟝. The knowledge, the obstruction of what is known. That knowledge blinds you, entraps you. And that’s why you are stuck. You are there, your own prisoner. You live in your own cocoon. And you can’t be reached You are so sure of yourself.     

 So what’s the antidote? Relax! Relax. Don’t insist so much that I need to have it, this is I need to have good information, this is important information. I’m going to hang on to the information. That knowledge there is not necessary. You mediate, the time comes you need to know something, somethings that will help you. It will come. That’s from your Buddha nature. It transcends this obstruction what you know. If you meditate it will come. How? How does it come about? It’s not about the ability for you to access information. How does information come, Brady? Let me tell you. Would you like to know, Brady? No, Brady saids no. It’s lunch time for me. (laugh)

[Brady] No, please master. [Master] Please answer? Myself? (laugh) What do you do then? How do you overcome this? If you are on your own. I’m hungry, are you hungry? You are on you own, ok. Then what do you have? Your blessings. If you have the blessings, information will come to you. Because of your blessings. It doesn’t matter how far away. You know maybe, 80000 Kalpas away, lifetimes away, it still comes to you. Because it’s your blessing. Because you planted that in the past as well. You remember that? The bad things and good things all planted. Eventually if it’s meant for you, your blessings mature, it will come to you. No need to worry. It’s not how come I’m not successful, how come I’m not getting what I want. It’s because the blessings are not enough! Stop blaming yourself, stop beating yourself, beating up on yourself. You are solving the wrong problem.      

I just remind, not just remind this engineer here. You know, the guy in the back. Stop worrying. Just accrue blessing. When it’s meant to be, it’s gonna happen. Does it make sense, Min? Huh. Don’t say, I need to access to it, so important to me! 

[Min] Makes a lot of sense, master. Thank you very much. 

[Master] That’s the biggest problem that you have. The more I teach you, the more you ‘oh this is good information, I don’t want to lost it’ No need! I keep on telling you. You hear one thing one ear goes out the other. You don’t care to remember, even. This is why I’m against Master Hsuan Hua. You learn something today, I want you to go tonight and take notes and go home tonight. Review it and memorize it. And do it again tomorrow. Do it again after the tomorrow. To me, too Chinese! That’s why you are going to have all these obstructions what is known.      

You hear it, you let it go. You hear, you let it go. Because if you have the blessings, it will come back to you. That’s all that matters. The main thing is that you have to plant seeds in your consciousness. And let your blessings pull them out. Don’t be like Min who says ‘I want to be able to pull it out, will. Because me.’ Does it make sense? Stop being so paranoid. So so control freaks that I I I must be able to do it. We lost some customers. (laugh) Bye, bye. Pack something. There’s food. Please pack something and bring some home. Ok. Thank you for coming.      

You got that? Relax! Don’t worry! Dont’ worry how is it gonna be the way I want, ok. It doesn’t matter. Just plant blessings. Just do the right things and let go. That’s all. If it’s meant to be, it’s gonna happen. Don’t beat yourself to death. Ok. Don’t be so hard on yourself. That’s baloney. Does it help? It’s okay. Relax. Just live, man. I mean, hey brother. (smoking) Oh, I don’t mean to encourage the kids to do this. But you see, relax.      

Do you have something to say, Tuan?

[Tuan] Thank you, master. I think I have to give back to you a hundred dollar instead of take from you. 

[Master] Now I got my hundred dollars. (laugh) Very good. 

Good questions, good interactions. You know,  when we talk like this this, it confirms to me where you are. And I’m very pleased with our being able to share speak Dharma for each other. Thank you. Let’s go and have lunch.