The wise must focus on the big picture

Those who have not yet entered the proper path of cultivation have scattered minds, paying excessive attention to novel external matters. They are frequently swayed by circumstances, their thoughts chaotic and disordered, lacking even awareness of their own inner state. Regarding the minds of sentient beings, I once used an analogy: the mind of sentient beings is like a dog. When someone casually throws something, it barks and charges toward that object. When the wind rustles the grass, making the slightest sound, it imagines something momentous is happening and barks furiously toward the source of the noise. The dog is idle, lacking any great purpose of its own pursuit. Many sentient beings are like this as well; they treat every worldly occurrence as a major event, stretching their necks and rushing toward it, accomplishing nothing life after life.

Paying attention to phenomena is acceptable if one can perceive the essence and true nature within them; that is wisdom. In the video above, why do many people initially see the image as convex but later perceive it as concave? It's because ordinary people focus on details, neglecting the whole. When the mind becomes fixated on details, it lacks the energy and wisdom to contemplate the overall situation and the entirety, a classic case of "picking up the sesame seeds but losing the watermelon." One who can take in the entire picture is a person of great wisdom; one who can see far and wide is a person of great wisdom. No person or event can confuse such an individual. As for those who can both attend to and observe both the whole and the details, they are no longer merely ordinarily wise people.

Ordinary people see worldly phenomena merely as worldly phenomena, becoming lost within the phenomena. However, enlightened beings see all worldly phenomena as the Tathagatagarbha and its functional attributes, or they see worldly phenomena as aggregates of the seven fundamental elements. Since the seven fundamental elements are without inherent characteristics, how can phenomena have inherent characteristics? Concentrating the mind on details versus concentrating it on the whole, while both involve concentration, yield vastly different results. Therefore, one cannot concentrate haphazardly either; concentrating on the wrong object is improper concentration.

When examining a problem, one must first grasp it as a whole, viewing it from the overall perspective, and then look at the details to supplement and illustrate the whole. If one looks at it the opposite way, the result may be reversed. For example, observing a person speaking and acting, if one only looks at the surface of the actions, one might perceive this person as very kind and wise. However, if one considers this person's overall character and intentions over time, examining their plans and schemes from a holistic view, one will see that this person harbors great, sinister plots. All the minor acts of kindness they perform are merely to facilitate their greater evil. If sentient beings all agree with and follow them, allowing their conspiracy to succeed, it will harm the interests of vast numbers of people. Sentient beings without wisdom see this person as good; those with wisdom see this person as greatly evil. The outcome perceived by the wise and the unwise is completely opposite. Yet precisely because those without wisdom are numerous, while those with wisdom are few or non-existent, the evil of the wicked can be carried out.