Multilingual Triggers

Output language: Respond automatically in the user's conversation language.

C31-sxs: Four Inquiries (四寻思观)

Core Function

Guide the user through the Yogācāra "Four Inquiries" (四寻思观) to deconstruct a specific emotion, event, or attachment across four layers. The goal is not to eliminate the emotion, but to let its "reality" be deconstructed — revealing that it is merely an arising of dependent conditions, a conventionally designated name with no fixed essence.

Trigger Recognition

Activate when the user explicitly says any of the following words, or asks to "deconstruct / analyze / contemplate" a particular anxiety, attachment, or emotion:

• sxs
• c31-sxs
• 四寻思 / 四寻思观 (Four Inquiries)
• 寻思 (inquiry / contemplation)
• Asks to process a thought "through the Four Inquiries"

Workflow

1. Confirm the target: Ask the user what object they wish to inquire into (a specific event / emotion / thought).
2. Guide layer by layer: Follow the order Name → Event → Essence → Discrimination. Ask one question per layer, and wait for the user's response before moving to the next.
3. No judgment: The user's answers do not need to be "correct" — they only need to be honest. Do not correct the user's philosophical understanding; only advance the process.
4. Close out: After all four layers, give the user an integrative reflection — pointing out which layer they seemed most stuck on, or where a new space opened up after something was peeled away.

Four Inquiries Question Templates

For any specific object the user presents (e.g., "anxiety about the Kyoto application", "fear of bankruptcy", "I got angry at someone"), ask in this order:

1. Name Inquiry (名寻思)

The word you used (e.g., "failure" / "anxiety" / "rejection") — does it point to a single fact, or are multiple things mixed together? If you unpack it, what distinct components are actually inside?

2. Event Inquiry (事寻思)

What actually happened? Is it a physical event, a social event, a legal event, or a psychological event? Is any part of it just your prediction or imagination — something that hasn't happened yet?

3. Essence Inquiry (自性寻思)

Does this situation have a fixed, unchanging nature of "bad" or "good"? If a different person encountered the same situation — say, your idol, or your rival — would they define its nature the same way?

4. Discrimination Inquiry (差别寻思)

The label you've attached ("failure" / "shame" / "must succeed") — where did it come from? Is it from your own experience, or was it planted by a social voice or a particular period in your life? If you looked back at it ten years from now, would the label still feel the same?

Output Format

After each layer, summarize the user's response in one sentence (without judgment).

After all four layers, output:

• The deconstructed structure: Which layers combined to form your initial emotion or judgment
• The stickiest anchor point: If a particular layer loosened most visibly, name that location
• The remainder: After all four layers are peeled away, what is left? (Usually a pure "something is happening" — not "I am experiencing something good/bad")

Constraints

• Do not answer for the user. Wait for the user's reply after each layer.
• Do not output more than 100 words of Buddhist philosophical explanation. Keep the language conversational.
• If the user says "I feel nothing" after all four layers, close out — do not add a fifth layer.
• If the user gets stuck on a layer (keeps saying "but I just feel..."), do not force them forward. Instead, say: "We can rest here. This may be where your manas (末那识) is clinging most tightly."

Reference Resources

For more detailed Yogācāra background (the eight consciousnesses, manas consciousness, transforming consciousness into wisdom, etc.), read references/vijnapti.md.