Three Secrets To Growth Mindset by Winson Yang
On Dec 15th, SFYAD had the honor of inviting back Winson Yang, Ph.D. student in Neuroscience and also a part of SFYAD, to give a talk about “The three secrets to growth mindset” at San Bao Temple. There were 13 people who attended the talk.
Winson uncovered the three secrets to cultivating the growth mindset from "The Vows of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra Sutra" found in "Avatamsaka Sutra"; from which through wonderful stories, photos, and exercises with the audience, he taught us how the practices of "Three Goods", "Four Gives" and "Five Harmonies" advocated by Venerable Master Hsing Yun help us cultivate the Buddhist Growth Mindset.
Winson started off the talk by introducing the concept of “growth mindset”, its popularity in our modern age as evident in the inclusion of the concept in curriculums of many schools and courses. He suggested the Buddhist Growth Mindset., where the key outcome is the harmony instead of success - by realizing the truth of the Buddha’s teachings. In order to obtain this growth mindset, Winson shared three secrets with the audience.
In his first secret, the road to the truth can be attained through “Endless Transcendence” - breaking old habits, forming new habits, transcending habits. It involves inquiry, practice, attainment, and perfection where the endlessness comes from the potential to always improve oneself through the power of observation. The essence of this secret is Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s Three Acts of Goodness, which can also act as original intents of change.
Winson revealed the second secret to be “Expand Your Universe” in which one can awaken others to the truth through Four Givings - increasing one’s scope from self to everyone. By giving others confidence, hope, joy, and convenience, it enables others to grow and realize what the Buddha taught.
For the last secret, Winson disclosed it as “Seeing the Supramundane in the Mundane” - what this means is that all elements in life and around us are inputs and answers (causes and conditions)for our growth. One can skillfully help others by understanding causes and conditions, and therefore apply the right methods accordingly.
Lastly, through the study of bamboo, Winson said that we can observe that the bamboo is the embodiment of all 3 secrets - the supramundane in the mundane (resilience in the changing seasons), expansion of one’s universe (building strong roots with other bamboo around it) and endless transcendence (realize the full potential).
Through this easy-to-understand but fun and creative way of learning, Winson was able to bring the Dharma closer to everyone and show the application in our daily lives. Whether you are new to Buddhism or not, you will benefit a lot here.
You may visit the link here for the presentation deck!
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