"Not climbing" is an implicit operating prerequisite of the fourteen systems-it is not often mentioned directly, but it is implemented by almost all components. It is not "no contact" or "no action", but does not adhere after contact; after receiving a signal, it does not actively exert judgment. The following is carried out from four levels: philosophical foundation, scientific correspondence, internal connection with the Fourteenth View of Cause and Effect, and necessary practical supplements.
1. The meaning of "not climbing"
"Climbing" in the fourteen systems refers to:Automatic attachment of judgment.You receive a signal, and you attach yourself to a judgment-"what is this?""what does this mean?""how should I respond?" This attachment itself is not a problem-you cannot act without judgment. The problem is:After you attach, you can no longer leave that judgment.As you continue to touch other signals, you still carry the residual effect of your previous judgment without knowing you are carrying it.
The objects of climbing are not limited to external things. You can climb to the concept-"I understand a sentence, and this is the only correct understanding of it." You can also rely on the method-"I can do this now, this method is the best, I don't need any other method." You can also rely on your identity-"I am a practitioner, and I should behave like a practitioner." You can also rely on emotions-"I'm anxious, which means I haven't healed yet." You can also rely on experience-"Based on my past experience, this matter will only develop in that direction."
Not climbing means not continuing to stay on the judgment after contact-when the contact ends, you return to the unjudged position; when the judgment is completed, you let go of the judgment and not use it as the starting point for the next judgment.
2. Philosophical Foundation
1. "Climbing" is a pre-closing of uncertainty
When you are climbing, you have actually closed the channel for further reception of the current signal. You've determined what it is. You don't need to receive it anymore. You think you already know it. In complex systems, any "certainty" is just a slice of the probability distribution-it holds only under the current conditions, and only until the next condition changes.
The essence of climbing is that you regard judgments under current conditions as fixed judgments that can be used across conditions.
2. "Not climbing" and the conversation of Zen
The operating logic of Zen's "watching the beginning" is that you are already there before the idea arises. Not climbing means stopping the idea: when the idea arises, you don't follow it; when the idea disappears, you don't retain it; when the idea is still going on, you don't suppress it. It is there, but you are not attached to it-you are next to it, it is next to you, both exist at the same time, but do not occupy each other's position.
This is not exactly the same as "not climbing", but it goes in the same direction: you don't regard the idea as a destination until you see where it comes from. Thoughts are just a passing through, not an end. Climbing is treating the passing thoughts as the place you need to stay. Not climbing means seeing it passing by and staying in place.
3. Correspondence between Taoism and Confucianism
Taoist "inaction" means not doing it, but not taking the initiative to do it-"not taking the initiative" means not climbing. When you don't climb, you're not controlling yourself to "don't climb", you just don't take the initiative to climb. The initiative is not in "climbing" or "not climbing", but in "whether to actively choose". Not climbing is: There is no active choice to climb, and there is no active choice to climb-you are not choosing to "not climb", you just have not started climbing.
The Taoist image of "virtual boat"-the boat is unmanned and does not actively change direction. It is not a state of "rest", but a state of not actively applying direction. Non-climbing is this state of not applying direction. It is still moving but does not adhere to any direction.
Confucianism "no intention, no necessity, no firmness, no self"-no speculation, no absolute, no stubbornness, no ego. Climbing begins with "intention"-you first predict what it will be, and then you solidify that prediction. Not climbing means not accepting prediction as fact at the beginning.
3. Scientific response
1. Climbing is an energy-saving strategy
The brain's default model is to predict current signals based on past experience. This saves the energy to reconstruct the judgment every time a new signal is received. But here's the cost: You may have ignored mismatched empirical signals-you no longer receive signals related to the current state because you are using past judgments as a basis for current receptions.
Climbing can be seen as a way of cognitive energy conservation, responding to the signal before it is fully received. Not climbing is a pause and energy-saving mode-allowing the brain to suspend judgment when the current signal does not match past experience, first receiving the shape of the signal itself, and then deciding whether to use past experience.
2. Correspondence of neural plasticity
When you repeat the same judgment method, your neural pathways will gradually solidify into the default path, requiring less preparation time to reach the judgment position during contact. This makes your prediction easier and faster, but it's also more difficult to adjust the direction-because an already solidified path will not automatically switch to another path just because a new signal appears.
Not climbing means suspending before judgment occurs-preventing the path from going directly to the response position without inspection. It pauses at the "do you want to turn" step and then checks whether it can turn to the same location via another path, or whether it needs to turn to a different location. This operation may increase the time of a single contact, but reduce judgment deviations after multiple contacts.
4. Inner connection with the fourteen concepts of causality
The fourteen types of causality are:Any result is a probability distribution in a conditional network, not a fixed conclusion on a single causal chain.The essence of climbing is: You presuppose "If A, then B". When B doesn't appear, you are still waiting for B, or you start to wonder if A is not enough-but you don't check whether the connection between A and B still exists and whether the direction has changed, because you received A. It was preset that it would point to B.
What is not climbing: After receiving A, you postpone predicting what A will point to and first touch A itself-in the process of touching A, you do not preset how it will continue or whether it will reach a certain fixed position. Only when A's contact pattern is clear do you begin to evaluate which directions it may be heading.
This is a reverse operation of causality: linear causal operation is "from cause to effect", and the effect is predicted by knowing the cause; non-climbing is "from cause to cause"-first contacting the cause itself, and in the process of contacting the cause, observe whether it forms its own direction, rather than presupposing where it will go. After the contact is completed, the direction of the cause is already carried by the form of the cause itself, and there is no need to verify its direction through external effects. Not climbing means not predicting the effect when contacting the cause. After the contact is completed, the next step of contact is guided by the direction of the cause itself, rather than the predetermined effect guiding the next step of contact.
"Climbing" and "Persistence"
Climbing and persistence are different, but they may be similar in behavior. Persistence is the persistence of a certain judgment: "If I judge it to be A, it should always be A." Climbing is when you receive a signal, you have pre-attached to an existing judgment: "Based on past experience, this situation is usually B, so this time it should be B." Climbing occurs earlier than persistence-it is judged before you make a judgment. Persistence is the inability to let go after judgment; climbing is the grasping of one before judgment.
5. Other necessary aspects
1. Not climbing is not "not touching"
If you decided not to climb before you came into contact, you are already climbing on "not climbing". Not climbing is not a state that needs to be "done". It's just that when climbing occurs, you see climbing happening. If you can't see it, you don't need to judge whether you are climbing-because that judgment itself may already be a new climbing.
2. Non-climbing execution inspection
You can check whether you are climbing by checking:
Are the signals you are receiving similar to certain types of signals you have encountered in the past? If you have made a "similar" judgment when receiving it, you may have begun to climb.
Are the judgments you are currently making ready before you touch the signal? If you preset the type of the signal before receiving it, you are already using prediction to override the signal.
After you process a signal, can you still remember the original content of the signal, not just the version you processed? If you can only recall the processed version, you have overwritten the signal with your judgment.
3. Layered operation without climbing
At the sensory level: Not climbing means not treating the quality of perception received as an attribute of an object. What you receive is just a signal, not "what is this thing?"
hierarchical: Not climbing means allowing "beneficial/harmful" judgments to be temporarily suspended. You can perceive it as beneficial, but don't continue to dwell on the judgment that it is beneficial.
in lamination: Not climbing means that your perception-action closed loop does not end with "judging whether it is completed"-after the judgment is completed, you can return to the unjudged position and continue to receive new signals. Not climbing means not stopping at the conclusion of judgment after judgment, but continuing to face new signals in a contact manner.
6. Conclusion
"Not climbing" is not a technique that needs to be practiced, but a direction of operation that can be checked. Its philosophical basis is that it does not regard any judgment as the final basis; its scientific counterpart is: suspending pattern recognition, allowing the current signal to enter the response stage without being classified; its connection with the Fourteenth View of Causality is: No pre-lock in the direction of cause and effect, and let the form of cause indicate the direction of the next contact.
You can pay attention to each contact: whether you have preset the position of the signal before judging; if so, you can pause for a while to let the signal enter before judging. If you still can't judge after the pause, you can not judge for the time being-wait until the signal appears again before touching it, and then you may be able to judge. There is no need to force you to be able to contact every time, nor do you need to force you to make a judgment after every contact. Contact itself has done most of the work. Judgment is a possible extension after contact, not a necessary condition for contact.