WHEN THE MIND CALMS DOWN, CONTINUE TO BE AWARE

| Singapore Retreat 2014 141104 Discussion Group 4B-4A (1:22:18-1:24:33)

When the mind calms down, be careful. The calm mind is like a drug for the yogi; when they get it, they enjoy it.

When the mind calms down, you need to remind yourself: What is the mind aware of? What is the mind knowing? Anything else? You need to remind the mind a bit; and then the awareness wakes up.

Don’t let the awareness rest; ask: ‘Anything else?’ and continue to be aware. You’re not used to be aware all the time; that’s why the mind wants to rest after a few hours of mindfulness.

Now, you need to know that you have to be aware all the time. You have never done it before; therefore awareness also wants to rest.

So, don’t let the mind rest, try to continue to be aware.

HOW TO KEEP THE AWARENESS CONTINUOUS

| Singapore Retreat 2014 141104 Discussion Group 4B-4A (03:15-03:46)

If you want to be aware continuously, you have to not pay so much attention to the object, and pay more attention to the awareness instead.

So, as you’re walking, just check to see what the mind is aware of. Is the mind aware? What is the mind aware of? Then, even if you should lose awareness of the footsteps, you’ll know that the mind is aware of something else.

So, it doesn’t feel like you have lost awareness; the awareness is continuous and you’ll know where the mind has gone to.

AWARENESS MEANS JUST KNOWING, NOT FOCUSING

| Singapore Retreat 2014 141106 Discussion Group 4A-4B (24:47-26:18)


When we focus, the first concept we pay attention to is location because we target a place and we put our attention there. So, we’re already paying attention to a concept; and then we try to focus more, more and more into that area. 

Don’t do one-pointed observation of the object; defocus. Just be aware. 

When we know, just know, we just know things as they are; it is harder for us to manipulate the experience and give it names and all that. 

Experience is passing by and you just know, you know, you know. But when you focus, you have to think of a place, the shape and all these things come on. 

When you want to hear something that’s soft, you start listening and focusing; you start concentrating and you start trying to listen to the meaning and all that. It’s the same thing that the mind does when it tries to focus on an object that you observe.

But reality only has nature; that nature can only be understood – it cannot be seen by focusing.

JUST KNOW, DON’T GO TOO MUCH INTO FEELING

| Singapore Retreat 2014 141105 Discussion Group 1A-1B (6:52-7:27)

For you, it’s more useful when you have thoughts, to look at the feeling associated with the thoughts. Also, don’t go too much into the feeling; and don’t name the feeling.

Just recognize that this thought and this feeling are associated, and this is just a feeling (yogi’s note: a feeling is known). What is it like? Don’t name it; just know it.

Know it’s changing; know what happens – the arising, getting more or less. That’s what you want to do; follow its trail.

GROW THE AWARENESS

| Singapore Retreat 2014 141108 Discussion Group 3B (43:13-43:30)

The main aim of the practice is to grow the awareness; it’s like you have a bank account full of awareness, and you want to increase the bank account of awareness.

So, every moment that you’re aware, your bank account is increasing.

DEDICATE OURSELVES TO AWARENESS FIRST

| Singapore Retreat 2014 141107 Discussion Group 1B-1A (57:10-57:33)

I keep talking about understanding, and understanding; and yogis invariably keep hoping for the understanding. But actually, all that we have to do is be faithful about maintaining the awareness. And we don’t do that that much, but we’re hoping for the understanding to come.

We need to dedicate ourselves to awareness first.

OPENING THE MIND TO OTHER OBJECTS

| Singapore Retreat 2014 141108 Discussion Group 3B (1:03:39-1:04:01)

If your mind is calm and knows only the breath, you need to ask: What else does the mind know? Then other objects can appear.

Do you know anything else? Sound, touch, temperature? If you only know your breath, there is too much focus.

BECOMING DULL AND TIRED

| USA Maui Retreat 2016 11/16 Opening Instructions (25:15-26:34)

Bodily and mentally, relax; so any time you’re finding yourself tired, rest. Don’t do anything to make yourself tired from meditating. But be careful of becoming dull and tired.

You can get tired from also not putting in enough effort; like it’s more tiring to sit than to be working sometimes. If you’re sitting for hours, that can be more tiring than running.

In that sense, if you notice you’re becoming tired, it could also be because there is not enough energy.

So, it needs to be relaxed but interested so that there’s energy and that keeps us alert.

And this energy that is interest, that’s a function of wisdom. Wisdom is also our common sense, our curiosity; all that is wisdom at work.

WATCH DEFILEMENT WHEN IT ARISES

| Singapore Retreat 2014 141102 Discussion Group 4A (28:00-29:04)

You do choiceless awareness when there is equanimity; not when there is dosa. When there is dosa, you deal with the dosa first.

When there is defilement, no matter how small, it is not choiceless. The defilement is pushing your mind around to whatever it is observing. The mind is going to other objects because it wants to avoid the object.

When there is defilement, don’t go anywhere else; take care of the defilement first.

[Yogi's note: Only when the defilement is overwhelming, then you switch to a neutral object.]

TRYING NOT TO COMPLAIN IS TRYING TOO HARD

| USA Maui Retreat 2016 11/18 Q&A (17:47-20:25)

The instruction is to know what’s happening as it is – ‘Awareness is not landing, but I’m aware of it.’ What’s wrong with that? Clearly it has landed.

Restlessness, aversion, and trying too hard (trying not to complain is trying too hard) make the mind tired at the end of the day. There is no need to not complain; just need to know that you are.

It’s not to avoid the object – if we love someone, it’s not to remove the person or the experience – it’s to know the attachment. And if we understand, the attachment will go. (42:00-42:18)

The good news is when you see the mad mind, that’s the sane mind. Knowing is the antidote. (37:40…)

DELUSION EXPECTS GOOD MEDITATION

| USasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat 2013 Guided Meditation

When your meditation is good, feeling is good, we want the experience to happen again. Expecting it to happen again, it is deluded nature. That’s why we try again; but actually it is also dukha.

Good feeling is also dukha. So, the more you understand about dukha, the more the mind becomes equanimous and detached. That’s why the feeling is peaceful, not agitated and more stable.

We do what we should do; we just do it. Delusion nature is: what we like, we do; what we don’t like, we stop. They are two extremes; because of liking we continue; because of disliking we stop.

But wisdom is not this. Wisdom considers should or not, need or not, necessary or not; and after understanding this, it does it.

CHECK IF CRAVING IS PRESENT

| Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat 2013 Guided Meditation

Craving is a big problem; because of craving every difficulty can arise. Without craving, without expectation, the mind is free; the mind has freedom or liberation.

Everybody has the habit that whatever they do, the motivation is craving. This has become a habit; so check if expectation or craving is present or not.

WRONG VIEW IDENTIFIES WITH THOUGHTS AND BELIEFS

| USA Maui Retreat 2016 11/16 Opening Instructions (41:31-44:17)

We identify with all our thoughts and our beliefs – when we want something, we think ‘I really like this’; our desire for it grows. When we don’t like something, we think ‘I really don’t like this to happen’; our aversion grows. We buy into it, right? We would see it as the mind thinking.

It’s because when we buy into this idea of self, and every time we buy into it, our defilements grow, the unwholesome qualities of our mind grow – we get more greedy, or adverse, or deluded. That’s why that way of thinking is called wrong view because it brings on more suffering.

Whenever there is wrong view, we’ll find that whatever unwholesome quality that we’re holding gets worse.

When we approach meditation, we will come across all these qualities of our mind, and if we’re going to identify with all these things that we start to notice, it can be a terrible experience – it can be very trying if we identify with what we’re observing.

Whatever we’re observing, whether we’re observing the breath, our thoughts, our feelings, or our movement, remind yourself that it’s just nature. Don’t think of it as my breath. Just try it.

REALITY MIND IS ALWAYS NEW

| Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat 2013 Guided Meditation

New mind is arising all the time. Every experience is always new. We cannot experience the old experience twice.

If we think that it is old one, it has become a concept.

We think memory is the past, but thinking mind is present – story is a concept; the mind is reality.

The story – memory or planning - may be about the past or future, but the mind is always new.

Sometimes memory comes back, and we say again, and again, but actually memory mind is arising and new. B

ANY OBJECT CAN BE USED TO CULTIVATE QUALITY OF MIND

| Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat 2013 Guided Meditation

We use the object to grow our quality of mind. We can use whatever object; the object is helping you to grow your awareness, wisdom and samadhi.

So, you can use any object, any of the six sense doors; not only one object is the Dhamma. Dhamma is everywhere; everything is Dhamma.

| (China Retreat 2014 Opening Talk)

When we use awareness to lead, we’re growing the other good qualities. When we’re mindful, awareness, samadhi, effort, faith and wisdom are working together. Every time we’re mindful, we’re growing these five qualities of the mind.

When we practice mindfulness meditation, there are 4 foundations of mindfulness: Kaya, Vedana, Citta and Dhamma. These are objects. Object is already there; the important thing is that the meditating mind must be wholesome mind, skillful mind. The quality of the meditating mind must be good.

We should not practice with craving, aversion and delusion.