Start with a photographic memory and build a memory palace

Chapter 224, "The Sutra of Sitting in Oblivion," Cognitive Awakening
……

"Thank you for the instruction, Master!"

Back in his carriage, Wu Wen immediately focused all his energy on comprehending the "Three-in-One Mathematical Classic".

The Great Void generates Qi, which condenses into three:

Taiyi “Zheng” is the essence of Yang that transforms into the nine luminaries, its number being “Qian”, which evolves the constant celestial orbit;
The Tai Su “Fu” is the Yin Soul that condenses in the Nine Netherworlds, and its number is “Kun”, which determines the hidden veins of the earth.
Taihe "zero" represents the unity of the three realms (heaven, earth, and man), and its number 0 "empty" is the pivot that governs all things.

The three numbers follow each other, like the sun and moon revolving, day and night without ceasing, which can break through chaos and reveal the true mechanism of creation.

……

The Three Symbols Evolution of the Hexagrams.

Taking three lines as the basic unit, each line is divided into three states:
The yang line “” represents the first position, symbolizing heaven, and its power rises;
The yin line “” represents negative one, symbolizing the earth, and its power is downward;
The empty line “〇” represents returning to zero, symbolizing a person, whose power is balanced.

When three lines overlap, an eighty-one-cycle pattern is obtained, which corresponds to the extreme number of nine-nine.

……

...]

The "Sanyi Guiyuan Suanjing" decomposes complex problems into modules of dynamic yin-yang balance by arranging ternary symbols, which can greatly improve the efficiency of multidimensional calculations, similar to fractal calculations.

However, while the "Sanyi Guiyuan Suanjing" is profound and powerful, it also poses great dangers.

"The sea of ​​consciousness transforms into the Three Realms Array Diagram; with a single thought, countless beings arise."

It can measure the trajectory of stars externally and deduce the flow of qi and blood in the meridians internally.

However, the secrets of Heaven are vast and unfathomable; if one calculates them all, the Way will be lost. Therefore, one must be cautious!

According to the master, those who lack sufficient cultivation and have an unstable will are very likely to fall into "technical obstacles" when practicing the "Three Ones Return to Origin Calculation Scripture".

Therefore, one should harmonize one's practice with the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra".

When Wu Wen was studying the mental techniques of the "Sitting in Oblivion Scripture" passed down by his master, he discovered that compared to the ternary algorithm of the "Three Ones Returning to Origin Calculation Scripture," the "Sitting in Oblivion Scripture" was actually the greatest gain!

The "Sitting in Oblivion Classic" elucidates the profound meaning of "The ultimate wisdom is not wisdom; the ultimate sitting in oblivion is not forgetting."

The "Three Powers" mentioned in the scriptures correspond to the Taoist Three Treasures of "Essence, Qi, and Spirit" and the Buddhist Three Truths of "Emptiness, Provisional Existence, and the Middle Way".

This refers to the "Three Powers" concept of Heaven, Earth, and Man in the Book of Changes and the "Three Views" of Emptiness, Provisional Nature, and the Middle Way in Buddhism.

The concept of "Heaven, Earth, and Man" expressed in the Book of Changes is: Heaven gives birth to all things, Earth nurtures all things, and Man creates civilization; the three are in harmony and unity.

The Buddhist concept of "emptiness, provisional existence, and the middle way" is also relevant.

Emptiness: All phenomena are inherently empty, breaking through attachment and revealing impermanence and non-self.

The view of illusion states that all phenomena arise from causes and conditions and are empty of inherent existence, emphasizing relativity and illusory nature.

The Middle Way: Emptiness and illusion are not two, transcending both extremes, and comprehensively understanding the essence of things.

Emptiness breaks through attachment, illusion reveals the truth, and the Middle Way integrates the two to achieve ultimate cognition.

The three views of emptiness, falsehood, and emptiness can dispel confusion and bring inner liberation.

Although these two are somewhat different, they both express the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature, as well as transcending appearances and recognizing the essence of things.

—

Wu Wen then devoted all his energy to studying the *Zuowang Jing* (Classic of Sitting in Oblivion).

The methods of practicing the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra".

It means: when observing flowers blooming and falling, use emptiness to break through the attachment to "real existence" and see impermanence.

When observing the reflection in a mirror, one can use the illusion to dispel the falsehood of "reality" and see its illusory nature.

When observing the coming and going of breath, one should use the Middle Way to combine emptiness and illusion, and see the truth of "emptiness and illusion at the same time".

When one can abandon deduction and perceive the laws of all things through intuition.

In other words, one can observe flowing water without being fixated on the trajectory of the water droplets, and instead comprehend the true meaning of its "flow".

This is the first level of the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra": forgetting calculation.

When one can abandon emptiness and illusion to observe the world, one can respond to all things with "observation without observation".

That is, one can hear the sound of a bell without distinguishing its pitch or frequency, but feel its essence of "vibration".

This is the second level of the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra": oblivion and contemplation.

When one can abandon the thought of "forgetting," one will not even be attached to "no self."

That is, one can be like being in the void, without heaven or earth, without people or self, with only "awareness" remaining.

This is the highest state of cultivation in the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra": "Nothing to be calculated, nothing to be observed, nothing to be forgotten": Sitting in Oblivion!

—

"Why does it feel weird?"

As Wu Wen gained a deeper understanding of the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra," an indescribable sense of strangeness arose within him.

However, he could not accurately describe the source of this strange feeling.

"This feeling only appears when you are comprehending the 'Sitting in Oblivion Sutra'."

Faced with this strange feeling, Wu Wenzhen didn't know how to describe it, so he decided to reread the contents of the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra" in an attempt to find the answer.

According to Wu Wen's understanding of the scripture:

The first level of the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra" is "Forgetting Calculation," which corresponds to a person's intuition and pattern recognition ability.

Through long-term training, the human brain can form efficient neural circuits, thereby bypassing logical analysis and directly calling upon experiential patterns.

For example, when observing flowing water, the visual cortex and the motion perception area work together to directly extract the abstract features of "flow" rather than analyzing the trajectory of water droplets frame by frame.

In cognitive psychology, this is known as the "rapid decision-making mechanism," which is to cope with complex environments through subconscious pattern matching.

In other words, we must avoid excessive extrapolation:
Like some mathematicians, when faced with complex formulas, they rely on intuition rather than step-by-step derivation;

A Go master can sense the direction of the game's momentum with just a glance at the board, rather than calculating each move individually.

—

The second level: forgetting to observe, corresponds to metacognition and essential insight.

Metacognition refers to the ability to monitor and regulate one's own cognitive processes beyond specific sensory input.

When listening to a bell, the auditory cortex weakens its analysis of pitch and frequency, instead activating the prefrontal-parietal network to focus on the physical nature of the sound wave vibration. In phenomenology, this is called "suspended judgment," which means using "phenomenological reduction" to strip away subjective interpretations and directly perceive the original presentation of things.

Just as physicists observe particle motion, they don't fixate on a single description of "particle" or "wave," but rather try to understand the nature of its probability cloud.

—

The highest level: Sitting in oblivion, which corresponds to self-dissolution and integration of consciousness.

The state of no-self is like putting the self in a state of "default mode network".

With a decrease in self-awareness, the brain enters a low-energy "integration mode".

Anchoring consciousness through bodily perception reduces reliance on abstract self-concepts.

The state of awareness is somewhat similar to the "global workspace theory": consciousness is no longer occupied by specific senses or thought content, but enters a global, decentralized state of awareness.

It's like entering a state of "flow," where actions and consciousness are completely integrated, and the boundaries of the self disappear.

In summary, the essence of practice in the *Zuowang Jing* (坐忘经) is actually:

From computation to intuition: Optimizing the brain's decision-making mechanisms and balancing logical analysis with intuitive insight;
From the local to the global: from analyzing specific phenomena to perceiving the essence of the system;
From self to selflessness: Dissolving egocentric biases and expanding consciousness through neural remodeling.

—

However, although Wu Wen re-examined his understanding of the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra," he still couldn't find the source of that strange feeling.

"Where did it come from?"

The more he couldn't find the problem, the deeper Wu Wen's doubts became.

When faced with a problem, Wu Wen always tries to solve it.

Therefore, he immediately put aside all distractions and devoted himself wholeheartedly to finding the root of the problem.

One day, two days, three days...

Because Wu Wen's focused state was quite different from his previous cultivation, his master Li Chunfeng, noticing the abnormality, immediately inquired with concern:

"Wu Wen, is something wrong with you?"

“Master, I’m fine. A few days ago, my grandmaster taught me the ‘Three-in-One Return to Origin Mathematical Scripture,’ and I’ve been studying it these past few days,” Wu Wen replied with a smile, indicating that there was no problem.

Hearing this, Li Chunfeng was finally relieved.

However, he immediately sought out Master Zhiyuan, because he knew that the "Three Ones Returning to Origin Calculation Scripture" was an extremely profound method in the Louguan sect, and that there were great dangers in the process of cultivation. Therefore, he wanted to ask Master Zhiyuan about it.

Inside the carriage, Grandmaster Zhiyuan looked at Li Chunfeng who had arrived and calmly said:

“Chunfeng, Wu Wen’s comprehension is better than you think, you don’t need to worry about him.”

“Master, I think Wu Wen’s cultivation has been a bit unusual these past few days. Do you think you should give him some guidance?” Li Chunfeng suggested worriedly.

Upon hearing this, Master Zhiyuan shook his head slightly: "This is an inevitable path in cultivation. Sometimes, one must rely on oneself to overcome it. If I interfere, it will only hinder his cultivation."

After hearing what Master Zhiyuan said, Li Chunfeng said nothing more and turned to leave.

Over time.

Finally, on the eleventh day, Wu Wen found the source of this strange feeling.

The deep conflict between the practice of the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra" and his cognitive patterns.

This is the cognitive reconstruction phenomenon that Wu Wen experienced when he broke through the existing cognitive framework.

In the interior.

When Wu Wen tried to use his intuition from the state of "forgetting calculation" to perceive the flowing water.

He could clearly "perceive" the overall dynamics of the water flow, but he was unable to describe in words the specific process by which this perception was formed.

This state of "knowing what but not why" is in stark contrast to his past cognitive pattern of relying on logical deduction.

This is what is known as the "dual processing theory".

When a person's consciousness simultaneously contains both a fast-thinking intuitive system 1 and a slow-thinking logical system 2.

The "forgetting calculation" training in the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra" strengthens the intuitive ability of System 1, but the logical inertia of System 2 is still trying to analyze the source of intuition.

This can lead to a temporary conflict between the two cognitive modes at the conscious level.

It's like when someone who is used to writing with their left hand suddenly switches to their right; the incoordination between muscle memory and conscious control can cause temporary discomfort.

and also.

The "Suspended Judgment" of the "Forgetful Contemplation" in the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra" requires stripping away subjective interpretations and directly touching upon the "original presentation" of things.

This default mode network suppresses self-related memory and emotion modules, causing subjective experience to be replaced by objective perception.

Therefore, when Wu Wen listens to the bell, although he can perceive the physical nature of the sound waves, he finds that his "timbre beauty" or "emotional association" with the bell has completely disappeared.

This "de-subjectivized" way of perceiving made him feel as if he had lost his unique experience as a "human being".

also.

When practicing meditation and forgetting oneself, one's sense of time becomes distorted, bodily perception becomes blurred, and one may even occasionally experience the strange feeling of observing oneself from an "observer's perspective."

This dissolution of his personal boundaries makes him feel both free and fearful.

These are all kinds of cognitive conflicts.

This is why Wu Wen felt this indescribable sense of unease.

The problem has been identified.

Wu Wen's worries dissipated.

Then, he immediately immersed himself in the practice of the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra".

The reason why Wu Wenhui pursued spiritual practice despite the potential problems was because...

In his view, although various problems may arise when practicing the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra," it is actually an inevitable path.

When intuition transcends logic, essence sheds appearance, and the self merges into the whole, the old cognitive framework will inevitably collapse.

The ultimate end of this "strange feeling" is precisely what the "Sitting in Oblivion Sutra" describes as "nothing to be calculated, nothing to be observed, nothing to be forgotten."

An awakening that transcends binary opposition and directly addresses the essence of cognition.

……

(End of this chapter)