Hello! Has anyone taken Professor Huang classes? I'm going to take the Circuits Class for EE and she's one of the professors present. Any insight on her? (I saw her ratemyprofessor, wasn't good at all).
Thank you!
Andrew Thomas Huang - music video director who directed FKA twigs 'Cellophane' music video posted a story on his IG about how Nas' label contacted him about making the video for Nas but in the end, they just copied the iconic pole dance scene. They even hired the same choreographer. Both scenes look very similar and have the same concept.
Where is the line between being inspired by someone's work and just knocking it off by making it different enough so they can't sue?
Last month Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during the GTC 2021 keynote claimed that he expects 100+ trillion parameter models by 2023 (the chart that was part of his presentation shows we could even see a 1000 trillion parameter model in 2023!) https://developer.nvidia.com/blog/announcing-megatron-for-training-trillion-parameter-models-nvidia-jarvis-availability/ . This is an extraordinary claim. Also last month Microsoft announced ZeRo-Infinity which represents progress toward training large models with trillions of parameters.
Even if Huang is wrong and we have to wait until 2026 to see a 100 trillion parameter model that's still a pretty short timeframe. The implications for AGI timelines could be significant.
And who knows what will happen after the release of GPT-4 (or whatever it might be called) which I expect to be released later this year. There are hints from OpenAI that it will be very powerful. On December 2nd, 2020 Sam Altman (OpenAI's CEO) tweeted "2020 was a great year for technological progress, and based on the little slice of things I know about, 2021 is going to be even better!" (remember that in 2020 we saw GPT-3 and the second iteration of Alpha Fold that solved protein folding). Also in December Ilya Sutskever (Chief scientist of OpenAI) wrote "I expect our models to continue to become more competent, so much so that the best models of 2021 will make the best models of 2020 look dull and simple-minded by comparison." And in March Sam Altman published this short essay https://moores.samaltman.com/ .
If GPT-4 truly turns out to be vastly more capable than GPT-3 and quite plausibly on path to human-level AGI big tech companies like Google might decide to invest billions of dollars to train their own (extreme scale) multimodal models. GPT-4 could trigger something much bigger. We might be at the beginning of an AI race with the goal of building larger and larger models.
The creation of a roughly human-level AGI in this decade seems like a serious possibility to me. Maybe the AGI firealarm is already ringing. It is urgent that governements/big tech companies/ordinary people start investing/donating many billions of dollars in AI alignment resarch as the stakes are astronomically high and we might not have much time left. Building safe AGI is the most important challenge of our time.
"Just do not conceive opinions and interpretations on top of perception and cognition, and do not stir thoughts on perception and cognition. Do not seek mind apart from perception and cognition, either, and do not try to get to reality by rejecting perception and cognition. When you are neither immersed nor removed, neither dwelling nor clinging, free and independent, then nothing is not a site of enlightenment."
Excerpt from Thomas Cleary's translation of Transmission of mind.
T. O. M on Tom.
Its wonderful to find various translations of my favourite T'ang dynasty master on terebess.
Here's the link for anyone interested.
https://terebess.hu/zen/huangboBlofeld.html
HUANG PO.
If you wish to understand, know that a sudden comprehension comes when the mind has been purged of all the clutter of conceptual and discriminatory thought-activity. Those who seek the truth by means of intellect and learning only get further and further away from it. Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.1
Excerpt from On the transmission of mind, by Zen master Huang po. Huángbò Xīyùn was an influential master of Zen Buddhism during the Tang Dynasty. Huángbò was a disciple of Baizhang Huaihai, and the teacher of Linji Yixuan.
ALAN WATTS.
Furthermore, as muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone, it could be argued that those who sit quietly and do nothing are making one of the best possible contributions to a world in turmoil.”
Excerpt from a talk given by Alan Watts. British philosopher, writer and speaker known for interpreting and popularising Zen Buddhism.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE.
They muddy the water, to make it seem deep.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, philologist.
Q:Yet it is recorded that 'Whosoever possesses the thirty-two characteristic signs of a Buddha is able to deliver sentient beings'. How can you deny it?
A: Anything possessing ANY signs is illusory. It is by perceiving that all signs are no signs that you perceive the Tathagata. 'Buddha' and 'sentient beings' are both your own false conceptions. It is because you do not know real Mind that you delude yourselves with such objective concepts. If you WILL conceive of a Buddha, YOU WILL BE OBSTRUCTED BY THAT BUDDHA!!! And when you conceive of sentient beings, you will be obstructed by those beings.
All such dualistic concepts as 'ignorant' and 'Enlightened', 'pure' and 'impure', are obstructions. It is because your minds are hindered by them that the Wheel of the Law must be turned. Just as apes spend their time throwing things away and picking them up again unceasingly, so it is with you and your learning. All you need is to give up your 'learning', your 'ignorant' and 'Enlightened', 'pure' and 'impure', 'great' and 'little', your 'attachment' and 'activity'. Such things are mere conveniences, mere ornaments within the One Mind.
I hear you have studied the sutras of the twelve divisions of the Three Vehicles. They are all mere empirical concepts. Really you must give them up! So just discard all you have acquired as being no better than a bed spread for you when you were sick. Only when you have abandoned all perceptions, there being nothing objective to perceive; only when phenomena obstruct you no longer; only when you have rid yourself of the whole gamut of dualistic concepts of the 'ignorant' and 'Enlightened' category, will you at last earn the title of Transcendental Buddha.
Therefore is it written: 'Your prostrations are in vain. Put no faith in such ceremonies. Hie from such false beliefs.' Since Mind knows no divisions into separate entities, phenomena must be equally undifferentiated.
Since Mind is above all activities, so must it be with phenomena. Every phenomenon that exists is a creation of thought; therefore I need but empty my mind to discover that all of them are void. It is the same with all sense objects, to whichever of the myriads of categories they belong. The entire void stretching out in all directions is of one substance with Mind; and, since Mind is fundamentally undifferentiated, so must it be with everything else. Different entities appear to you only because your perceptions differ - just as the colours of the precious
... keep reading on reddit ➡I love Dr. Huang, but sometimes I felt so bad for him. He would just be trying to do his job and help out, and he gets shit for it. The detectives on the squad sometimes belittle him, his opinions, and he profession, whenever his opinions don’t line up with theirs or when he tries to help them with their issues.
But Huang is a saint. No matter how many times they snap at him or belittle his work, he’s always there to lend a listening ear and help them through their problems. I wish they would bring him back. The show isn’t the same without him.
FIRST, LEARN HOW TO BE ENTIRELY UNRECEPTIVE TO SENSATIONS ARISING FROM EXTERNAL FORMS, THEREBY PURGING YOUR BODIES OF RECEPTIVITY TO EXTERNALS.
T. O. M's. Rambling thoughts..
First, it strikes me as these injunctions are intended to produce a result in the monk.. A halting of receptivity to externals.
Why would huang po recommend this goal?
I do remember reading somewhere also, that a student should be finely attuned to the external world, but not to the point where he is pushed around and thrown about like a ball in a river.
Simultaneously in tune, but with enough arms length space, so as not to be overwhelmed by life..
Maybe this first injunction is aimed at this one monk in particular, who is overly receptive to externals..
I think that it is good advice for most..
Edit.. The thought has just occurred to me, that by being unreceptive, it probably clears up the mind to be more receptive.. Sounds crazy I know, but when we are constantly thinking or concentrating on something or other, we kind of blind all our other intuitive and unconcious sensitivities..
I get the feeling that huang po, isn't of the conviction that we are all Buddhas anyway, and do not need any improvement..
He has a definite course of action for the monk to follow, and thus, improve his lot..
Maybe It is only an improvement from a certain point of view, and taken from another perspective, there is no improvement at all..
I find this paradox highly interesting..
Hmmmmm..
Now, I’m looking back at years of dharma texts, specifically the books The Zen Teachings of Huang Po, and Padmasambhavas Self-Liberation Through Seeing With Naked Awareness. I still read these, am deeply moved and also find a similarity in both, as I feel they are very clear and pull the conceptual rug out from under me.
Anyone else here feel a similar, potent, dharma vibe between Huang Po and Padmasambhava? Also would you recommend something among these lines?
“Only awake to the One Mind and there is nothing whatever to be attained. This pure Mind, the source of everything, shines forever and on all with the brilliance of its own perfection. But the people of the world do not awake to it, regarding only that which sees, hears, feels and knows as mind.... If they would only eliminate all conceptual thought in a flash, that source-substance would manifest itself like a sun....” - Huang Po
“This self-originated Clear Light, which from the very beginning was in no way produced by something antecedent to it, is the child of awareness, and yet it is itself without any parents--amazing! This self-originated primordial awareness has not been created by anything--amazing! It does not experience birth nor does there exist a cause for its death--amazing! Although it is evidently visible, yet there is no one there who sees it--amazing! Although it has wandered throughout Samsara, it has come to no harm--amazing! Even though it has seen Buddhahood itself, it has not come to any benefit from this--amazing! Even though it exists in everyone everywhere, yet it has gone unrecognized--amazing! Nonetheless you hope to attain some other fruit than this elsewhere--amazing! Even though it exists within yourself (and nowhere else), yet you seek for it elsewhere--amazing!” - Padmasambhava
A recent set of reports caught the attention of some very online people: Professor Huang Heqing, Professor of Archaeology at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, claimed in a recent lecture that various historical constructions were not a product of ancient civilizations but rather forgeries of the 19th and 20th century European states insecure about their status relative to China’s history. Among these where claims that the Pyramids, Sphinx, and Parthenon were all forgeries, and supported the hypothesis advanced by various Chinese nationalist scholars like Dong Bisheng, Zhu Youzhi, and Du Gangjian that China was the source of all major inventions like agriculture, writing, history, democracy, and civilization in general.
The first bit here of interest is the claim that the Pyramids were a European forgery. This draws on the controversial research of Joseph Davidovits and Michel Barsoum, French and American researchers who separately argued that the limestone found in the Pyramids exhibits characteristics that are not natural to limestone rocks and thus must be a kind of concrete (Davidovits and subsequent adherents call it a “geopolymer”). Barsoum's 2006 paper was the more professional attempt, but has some basic historical inaccuracies: it claims, for example, that there is “no trace” of ramps at the construction sites, but Zawi Hawass found evidence of ramps at the Giza construction site and published such evidence in 1998, well before Barsoum’s writings. The bigger issue is that Davidovits and Barsoum are irreconcilable, despite some attempts: Davidovits hypothesized the use of an alkali substance to bind together the “geopolymer,” but Dipayan Jana’s 2007 rebuttal notes that Barsoum’s findings demonstrated no alkali enrichment in the limestone which would be present in the “geopolymer” method, and Barsoum finds that the interior stones and non-limestone blocks were carved, which would limit the “concrete” hypothesis to only the outer stones. And while there is some degree of plausibility that m
... keep reading on reddit ➡
On the Transmission of Mind (Huangbo) #1: 1
"The Master said to me: All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists. "
Gateless Gate #1: JOSHU’S DOG
A monk once asked Joshu, "Has a dog the Buddha-Nature? Joshu answered，"Mu!" (No)
T. O. M's comment.
Huang po here, clearly states that all sentient beings are nothing but the One mind..
Which begs me to question Joshus answer of "Mu" to the questioner asking if the dog has Buddha nature.
I guess the first step is to ascertain if a dog is a sentient being or not, so, here is the definition.
Sentient.
1: responsive to or conscious of sense impressions . 2 : aware. 3 : finely sensitive in perception or feeling
The Case That Dogs Might Be As Sentient As Humans
According to a study carried out by the neuroeconomics professor and author Gregory Berns, there is evidence to suggest that dogs are self-aware. ... Berns found that dogs can feel positive emotions just like a small child would.
I am a dog owner, and of course, as such I know that dogs have positive and negative emotions, and are aware of lots more than we give them credit for..
So, yes.. A dog is sentient.
So, by that rationale, and by Huang po's statement, we can say that a dog is nothing but the One mind..
If we are to say that Joshus "Buddha nature" , is the same as Huang po's " One mind"then we cannot accept the literal meaning of" Mu" as being no..
Here is a translation of Mu.
The word 'mu' is actually from Chinese, meaning 'nothing'; it is used in mainstream Japanese in that sense. In Chinese it can also mean “have not” (as in “I have not done it”), or “lack of”, which may or may not be a definite, complete 'nothing').
Is Joshu replying "No" as in a straight answer to the question, or is he saying "Nothing" which would certainly tie in with Huang po's definition of the one mind, as being " without beggining, without end, Unborn and indestructible, and transcending all limits"
Peace?
Q: If there is no Mind and no Dharma, what is meant by transmission? A: You hear people speak of Mind transmission and then you talk of something to be received. So Bodhidharma said:
>The nature of the Mind when understood,
>No human speech can compass or disclose.
>Enlightenment is naught to be attained,
>And he that gains it does not say he knows.
If I were to make this clear to you, I doubt if you could stand up to it.
This one is pretty clear tho. Open for study anyway.
Mind is a mighty ocean, a sea which knows no bounds.
Words are but scarlet lotus to cure the lesser ills.
Though there be times of leisure when my hands both lie at rest,
'Tis not to welcome idlers that I raise them to my breast!
[Huang Po's poem implies that the Transmission can fall only upon one who has received intuitive experience leading to a direct perception of the One Mind. Mere intellectual brilliance will avail nothing. Hence, to those who idle away their time in metaphysical or intellectual discussions, the Master will make no sign.]
The above commentary is by John Blofeld.
T. O. M's comment.
Words and intellectual discussion are abstract, lotus petals floating about on the waves, unable to penetrate the depths, and are easily mistaken for true representations of mind.
I feel that this is why huang po always warns against concepts and intellectual pursuit.
Also, words don't always convey the same meaning as intended, so, even if we were to rely upon words, the meaning can be easily mistaken..
Add to that, problems with translation, and problems with a 1000 year old dialect, and we have a perfect recipe for misinterpreting zen masters.
Peace.
Hi my dudes and dudettes,
I've learned the basics of FL Studio so I can arrange a little tune. Now I know that composing that little tunes everyday does make me better at songwriting. But I want to compose something more complicated but also still be able to compose music in FL everyday. I do know that I need music theory and I'm planning on learning it in more in detail( cause of my man Yasunori Mitsuda). Soooo is Andrew Huang's video okay for starters?
Thus, the mind of the Bodhisattva is like the Void and everything is relinquished by it. When thoughts of the past cannot be taken hold of, that is relinquishment of the past. When thoughts of the present cannot be taken hold of, that is relinquishment of the present. When thoughts of the future cannot be taken hold of, that is relinquishment of the future.
This is called utter relinquishment of Triple Time. Since the Tathagata entrusted Kasyapa with the Dharma until now, Mind has been transmitted with Mind and these Minds have been identical. A transmission of Void cannot be made through words. A transmission in concrete terms cannot be the Dharma.
Thus Mind is transmitted with Mind and these Minds do not differ. Transmitting and receiving transmission are both a most difficult kind of mysterious understanding, so that few indeed have been able to receive it. In fact, however, Mind is not Mind and transmission is not really transmission.
T. O. M's comment.
Once again, Huang po has a teaching for us that is quite simple.. Relinquishment of thoughts, regardless of whether those thoughts are concerning future, present, or past events..
I don't think anyone needs to worry about the definitions of what mind is, or what transmission is, or what the void actually is, because we are just creating more concepts if we do this..
But, on a practical level, each and every one of us can relinquish thoughts.
Thoughts can be pleasing, they can be comforting, but they can also make us sad, be harmful, or tiring.
Apparently, the brain zaps a huge amount of energy, especially when engaged in complex thought processes.
Once again, I'm not against thinking per se, for it definitely has its uses, however, it is very beneficial to be able to use thought, when applicable, versus being used by thought, and not having the capability to turn thought off..
I think it is also interesting to see, and experience what we are actually left with, when this " utter relinquishment" has taken place..
Are we left with a more acute awareness of what's happening, right in front of our very eyes, and the ability to apply ourselves more practically and appropriately to circumstances?
Happiness!
Our Master once attended an assembly at the Bureau of the Imperial Salt Commissioners at which the Emperor Tai Chung was also present as a śramanera¹.
The Sramanera noticed our Master enter the hall of worship and make a triple prostration to the Buddha, whereupon he asked: "If we are to seek nothing from the Buddha, Dharma or Sangha, what does Your Reverence seek by such prostrations?"
"Though I seek not from the Buddha", replied our Master, "or from the Dharma, or from the Sangha, it is my custom to show respect in this way."
"But what purpose does it serve?" insisted the śramanera, whereupon he suddenly received a slap.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, "How uncouth you are!"
"What is this?" cried the Master. "Imagine making a distinction between refined and uncouth!"
So saying, he administered another slap, causing the śramanera to betake himself elsewhere!
¹(śramanera Here, probably, meaning a layman who had taken ten precepts instead of the normal five.)
Where are you? What is your Authority?
