1151. COMPASSION AND SADNESS ARE TWO DIFFERENT MINDS
Swiss Retreat2019 Group Interviews 14 (53:24-57:44)
Yogi: Sayadaw said that sadness is aversion, but I don’t quite understand it.
For example, sometimes I wake up feeling lonely, I can see that there is sadness and that this sadness is aversion.
When someone very dear dies, I feel sadness, but I think this is karuna. I don’t see this sadness as aversion.
Sayadaw: The near enemy of karuna is dosa.
Karuna is a wholesome mind; a wholesome mind will not make you suffer. But dosa can come in – it is a mixed feeling.
Karuna is the feeling of compassion – it wants to help and it wishes well to the other person. The dosa bit is the non-acceptance of the way it is.
For example, someone has died and you wish they weren’t dead. That’s the sadness – but using the word aversion seems to suggest anger the way we usually know aversion, but this is subtle aversion where it is just the pushing away the reality as it is.
Yogi: But compassion never has the flavor of sadness?
Sayadaw: That’s right.
1152. WHAT DOES THE YOGI WATCH WHEN THERE IS PAIN DURING THE SIT?
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 14 (44:05-49:13).
[summary of Sayadaw’s instructions about watching pain]
Watch the reaction (disliking/resistance/pushing away) in the mind. We are not observing the experience to make the pain go away.
Why do we watch the reaction to the pain?
We watch our disliking of the pain to understand how the mind’s experience of pain changes with its reaction to the pain.
What to watch?
How does it feel when there is disliking? When the disliking increases, how does the pain feel? When the disliking decreases, how does the pain feel? When the disliking disappears, how does the pain feel?
As the state of the disliking changes, we’ll find that our view of the pain changes. And, that is important to see.
We can only understand the true nature of what pain is and who is in pain when there is no more disliking in the mind to the pain.
1153. DESPITE THE MIND IN A BAD STATE MEDITATION CAN CONTINUE IF ATTITUDE IS RIGHT
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 13 (29:36-32:17)
It is possible to meditate when the mind is in a bad state because I have done it when I had depression.
So long as we have the right attitude, even when we’re feeling tired, heavy and all that, we can just be simply aware that we’re tired, heavy and all that.
If we’re not reacting to it and expecting it to be different, it is okay; we can still be mindful.
Sometimes, in the book, it says that when you practice continuously, the mind may get into a state where the mind is bright and it feels better to meditate.
It doesn’t mean that it is the only way you can meditate. Putting aside what is in the book, it really boils down to attitude.
If we have no aversion towards the experience or greed for some other experience, then every experience is fine; we can be aware of it simply.
1154. IT IS EASIER TO BE AWARE THAN TO CHANGE OUR ATTITUDE
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 13 (1:12:36-1:13:02)
Once you think something is good, you need to be more mindful.
We think something is good, greed is in; we think it’s not good, aversion is in. And yet we will; it’s not that we can stop it.
We just have to watch it.
1155. WE’RE NOT OBSERVING THE MIND TO GET A BETTER EXPERIENCE
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 13 (1:16:06-1:17:14)
Yogi: I was observing my mind and I learnt a lot.
My mind doesn’t like to change any habit; and one of my habits is liking to comment on anything that is going on and the mind gets to be adverse. Sometimes, in between, it becomes quiet and peaceful again – and the cycle is repeated.
I try to just know, to just see it.
Sayadaw: It’s okay.
1156. RIGHT ATTITUDE IS A MANIFESTATION OF WISDOM
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 12 (00:05-1:24)
Yogi: It’s a challenge to maintain the awareness in the kitchen especially when I’m drinking coffee and talking. But I’m neither disappointed nor angry because I recognize that it is difficult as my awareness is not strong enough to manage it.
Sayadaw: That’s right. Just accept it; it’s okay.
Practicing the Dhamma is a life-long undertaking. We don’t have to have results now. We have lots of time to keep practicing.
1157. RECOGNIZE THE RIGHT ATTITUDE THAT GUIDES THE PRACTICE
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 15 (47:45-48:18)
Yogi: I’m doing very well. I’m learning a lot – every day and every hour I’m learning new things. I’m happy and grateful about that.
Since I’m not trying too hard, I’m less tired.
Sayadaw: Yes, meditation is not tiring when you practice right. When it gets tiring, it gets boring, tedious and challenging.
1158. START FROM WHERE WE ARE WITH SOME RIGHT INFORMATION
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 13 (35:25-38:24)
Although it is not so simple to be skillful at having the right attitude all the time – we will still have wrong attitude and we will find it difficult to observe difficult experiences – we learn from it and will become more skillful.
For example, a yogi comes to practice and he’s depressed. I give him all these information to try and get him to understand how meditation might be helpful so he is willing to practice.
Different kinds of information that we get help to settle the mind in different ways and they adjust the attitude of the mind so that it is willing to be mindful.
Although in the end, it is when the attitude is right that the most effective meditation happens, but we all start by practicing with wrong attitude.
There’s nothing wrong with that – it is still practice and we learn from it.
1159. MINDFULNESS NATURALLY CULTIVATES THE 4 BRAHMAVIHARAS
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 14 (26:00-29:26)
Yogi: I was doing walking meditation and saw someone sick. Immediately a caring arose. That was interesting because the cultivation of the 4 Brahmaviharas and mindfulness may have different approach but they seem to go to the same goal.
How do they come together in the mindfulness practice?
Sayadaw: It’s simple – for me, it’s cultivation of mindfulness first. The mind becomes more wholesome.
When the mind is more wholesome from mindfulness, it is readily given to the wholesome impulses of the Brahmaviharas.
When I was practicing very dedicatedly at home, I wouldn’t let any unwholesome feeling or mind stay – whenever I noticed it coming up, I would take the time to watch it until it was gone.
I did that over and over again, never getting involved in the story, always taking care of the unwholesome volitions that came up.
Unwholesome stuff was not allowed to grow and the result of keeping the mind clear like that was that if I saw other people, I felt metta for them; if I saw someone suffering, I felt compassion for them; if I saw someone doing well, I felt happy for them; and if it was a situation where I couldn’t do anything about, the mind was equanimous.
Because wisdom was there, the greed and aversion weren’t given room in my mind at all; the mindfulness would just keep at it.
1160. UNDERSTANDING THINKING AS AN OBJECT
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 13 (1:31:00-1:32:08)
Yogi: When I notice a lot of thinking and the mind is not so clear, I can check the attitude and see if some defilement is feeding the restlessness, or I can focus on the thinking process which gives me the concentration not to fall into the thoughts. Are these two valid options?
Sayadaw: Because your mind understands what the object is – it knows how what is being seen as an object – that’s why you can use thoughts and develop samadhi.
In that case, you can use any object – for you, the thought is the same as the breath as an object.
Both options are fine.
1161. WHOLESOME MINDS NATURALLY DISPLACE THE DEFILEMENTS
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 14 (1:50:55-1:54:00)
Yogi: There was repeated sadness, but when I checked the quality of the mind and the knowing, the mind was bright, calm, strong and peaceful, and the sadness disappeared.
Sayadaw: Your awareness and samadhi are quite good – you just needed to use some wisdom by checking the condition of the rest of the mind and it made the view much clearer.
When the wholesome minds become stronger, unwholesome minds will become weaker.
Bhavana is meditation – bhavana is cultivation of all those wholesome minds. That is why we keep the wholesome minds always ready and strong so when the unwholesome minds come, they have no chance.
Just look after the wholesome minds with mindfulness.
1162. SUSTAINING THE PRACTICE POST-RETREAT
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 14 (4:00-7:27)
Yogi: After a retreat, the practice kept on for 3 to 4 weeks, but after that, it couldn’t be sustained.
Sayadaw said the other day that if you want to do it, you have to simplify your life. I asked myself what I had to do, but realized that I couldn’t prepare for it and have to trust in the conditions.
Sayadaw: You do try to be mindful at home, but you’re saying that you can’t sustain it in the same manner as in the center beyond 3 to 4 weeks.
We know our lives best – we have to find a way that is suitable for us to sustain the practice ourselves and what works for us.
1163. WISDOM CHOOSES TO DO SAMATHA PRACTICE TO STOP THE EXCESSIVE THOUGHTS
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 13 (32:57-34:26)
Yogi: When I come back from work and I have a heavy mind because I have many difficult things happening, what do I do?
Sayadaw: If we do have the wrong attitude, particularly when we’re confused, sometimes it is the thinking that makes us crazy. Then, it is helpful to take a simple object and watch it continuously and don’t allow the mind to think – just being aware continuously – and that helps to calm those excessive thoughts. It is just like a concentration exercise.
When we do a concentration exercise, because we do it simply, it works.
1164. LEARNING FROM THE WORRYING MIND
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 14 (16:00-21:43)
Yogi: I feel very nervous to speak in English and I could feel my heart beating all day long and the thought ‘what would I say’ repeating. I hate it because I can’t be calm.
So, there’s strong aversion towards the excitement and the shame to share it. The effect is that I hide it and I don’t explore the nervousness.
Is this worrying only another object because it feels like a big hindrance? And, how do I practice?
Sayadaw: Yes, the excitement is just another object.
A lot of the times in our lives, we worry ahead about things but the worrying won’t get the things done. But we can’t help it because worrying just comes up in the mind.
We have to see this connection again and again that we worry about something, but in the end we have to do what we have to do and the worrying doesn’t have any connection to our success in doing it.
When we see this many, many times, we’ll start to see that the worrying is just an extra burden – it is just an activity of the mind now because the mind has not enough wisdom and no control over.
When we see that connection long enough, then the mind will drop the worrying and not do it anymore.
That’s a principle that is very useful in life because it’s everywhere.
1165. AWARENESS BECOMES THE OBJECT WHEN THERE’S MOMENTUM
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 13 (11:50-12:56)
Yogi: Yesterday, I experienced a lot of tension and confusion because there were so many things to be aware of and I felt that I was bombarded and the awareness was scattered like flickering lights. And the mind started to think instead.
Sayadaw: When the awareness gets better, we know more objects. If we follow the objects, it becomes confusing.
So, stay with the knowing – just know that you’re aware – then it’s just one object.
The mind already knows what it knows – you don’t have to know the objects separately.
1166. KNOWING THE UNPLEASANT FEELING IS AWARENESS
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 12 (26:00-30:07)
Yogi: This interview setting is kind of traumatic for me.
And, the whole afternoon, I was in a pre-panic mood. I made it here finally, but the awareness gets lost totally because it is too unpleasant.
Sayadaw: You don’t have to look at it; you already know that you’re in that state.
You only think it is difficult to be aware because you believe that if you’re aware of it, it’ll go away. You assume that if it doesn’t go away, then you’re not aware.
But in fact, awareness doesn’t make things go away. Awareness just makes you aware that something is present – and you were aware it was present.
So, it was not difficult to be aware; in fact, you were too aware. But if you thought that it was going to make it disappear, then, yes, that will be hard to achieve.
Neutral objects, it is easy for us to think ‘yes, there is awareness of this’, but with unpleasant objects it is very hard to feel that there is awareness because there is already a pushing of it.
That’s why we have to learn to face it and to maybe acknowledge intellectually that this is awareness. At first it is so unpleasant to know and experience it
If we do it often enough, the mind gets it that this is awareness, knowing that it is unpleasant and this is how it is.
1167. WHEN THE MIND GETS DISTRACTED INTO THINKING INSTEAD OF MEDITATING
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 10 (57:15-58:18)
A yogi had really good samadhi – really deep, still silences – when he sat.
Often during sitting, some image would flash in front of his eyes – it would be a person or a place.
Once the image of a person appeared and the yogi couldn’t remember his name. He started chewing after the person’s name until he lost all his samadhi.
It’s not even important to know the person’s name – he has lost all his samadhi. He has good samadhi but terrible panna.
1168. BELIEVING A THOUGHT THAT WE’RE NOT GOOD YOGIS
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 12 (1:24:45-1:27:07)
Yogi: Sometimes I try too hard to be a good yogi and I get so tired that sitting was nearly impossible and I get really frustrated.
Sayadaw: You can see how much the wanting to be a good yogi messes up the mind.
It’s just a thought that messes up the mind – it’s not even a fact or reality. It is not that you’re not a good yogi that upsets the mind; it’s just a thought.
The expectation is so high – what it does is that it keeps repeating the thought and it keeps giving you different ways of telling the same story. It just spins out of control because you won’t stop thinking.
Remember that this is just a story about you – know it but don’t believe it.
It is a good thing that it comes up because it is something the mind really holds about itself and you need to know it without getting lost in it enough times before the mind finally gets it.
When the medicine is good, it exposes the hidden disease so that it can be cured. It is good that it comes up because you have a chance to learn about it.
In your case, the unwholesome quality is about a belief that you have of yourself and your ability to practice.
1169. ANY AWARENESS IS STILL VALUABLE
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 7 (21:44-25:11)
Yogi: I realized that it was aversion towards having to report at this Q&A that caused the hours of stress and noticing this decreased the stress by 80%; just a change of perspective helped.
Sayadaw: That insight was able to come because there was some awareness even though there was aversion and you had much difficulty. You were trying to bring some awareness to the process. At some point the conditions came together and at that moment something was seen precisely and understood and it cleared the mind.
Knowing is one of the conditions that is necessary for that insight to happen. No awareness ever goes to waste, even if you feel like you’re not putting in enough effort or you’re not trying properly or you think the awareness is discontinuous or you are struggling to bring in bits of awareness.
We always have these judgments about our not perfect awareness, but really it is okay because as long as there is some awareness, it will bear fruit.
1170. THE CHALLENGE OF PRACTICE AT HOME
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 7 (32:20-32:54)
Yogi: I have a problem at home and will probably struggle with it when I go back.
My parents are old and frail – mom is sick in a nursing home and dad who gives me a hard time is suffering because he’s not allowed to visit her.
I feel for him, but have mixed feelings helping him. What would be a wise way to deal with this?
Sayadaw: Daily life practice is challenging but interesting because there are no fixed solutions.
You have to be creative; it’s not only mindfulness because you have to think how to approach things. You have to strategize and after that, do a postmortem of what works and what doesn’t.
1171. WHAT IS INVESTIGATION IN THE PRACTICE?
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 10 (1:30:15-1:30:52)
Do more of the observing and less of the thinking.
Investigate doesn’t mean to think and investigate.
When you have a question like ’why is there fear’, you put aside the question after that and observe what is happening in the mind and body – just observe.
It is just like watching a movie; no more thinking.
1172. SEEING ALL OBJECTS ARE THE SAME IS THE RESULT OF RIGHT VIEW
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 12 (09:37-11:52)
Yogi: I had recurring strong thoughts about a dream and after a while I realized that they were only thoughts and they have the same value as hearing the birds or water. Is that right?
In the end, all objects we get have the same weight? Is this the practice?
Sayadaw: The reality is that all objects are the same because their only position is that they are being known. Because they are all objects, so the weight is the same.
But we only see that when there is that insight. When that wisdom is present, we see that all objects are the same.
When we don’t have that insight, then we think this is important and that is important.
Yogi: So, this is the right view?
Sayadaw: Yes.
1173. THERE IS NO NEED TO SEE THE EXPERIENCE AND YOUR REACTION SEPARATELY
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 12 (1:17:00-1:24:28)
Yogi: Sayadaw often says to separate the aversion from the object. But I don’t see the aversion when something hurts in the body or when I see a yogi that I don’t like. It’s so hard to see the aversion apart from the object, to see the aversion and not what hurts.
When I don’t see the aversion separate from the object, it creates new aversion.
Sayadaw: You don’t have to focus on them separately.
If when you’re observing the pain, you can feel the aversion, you just know both – you don’t have to focus on them separately. If you can do that – know both – that’s fine.
1174. NOT FORGETTING DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU HAVE NOT FORGIVEN
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 13 (51:26-56:02)
Yogi: I realize today that I don’t know how to forgive. I thought I have forgiven, but the stories came up again. I would like to know how forgiving works.
Sayadaw: There’s no need to try and forgive. Just see the process – there’s a trigger event and it brings up memories.
You thought that you’ve already forgiven, but just because those memories come up again doesn’t mean that you have not forgiven either. Not forgetting doesn’t mean that you have not forgiven.
There may be some residual anger when you think about it again because these memories come up afresh and the emotions might come again, but you see that as the cause and effect – this sort of event happens and the mind reacts in this way.
The main thing is not to think of this as you. It’s the mind and it has gone through a process – this happens and that happens because of this happening. The identification with it makes you feel worse.
When we see the mind, that’s great, but remember not to identify with it – when we identify with it, then more unwholesome stuff comes up. If you see it as a process, then it has nothing to do with you.
1175. CHECK OFTEN WHETHER THE MIND IS RELAXED OR TENSE
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 10 (38:00-41:09)
Yogi: I could be mindful over a longer time period and I could see things arise and falling away, but got very tired during the evening. I went to bed and a huge aversion over the tiredness came up.
I was struggling and fighting against the tiredness and the aversion for the rest of the evening.
I was very unhappy and agitated and couldn’t step back from it.
Sayadaw: That you got so tired shows that you were using too much energy when you were mindful continuously seeing things coming and going. You were probably following that.
You found it interesting and thought that you should be seeing that and maybe even looking for that. And that would make you tired.
While you were practicing during the day and it was going well, still remember to check whether the mind is relaxed or whether tension is starting to come in. Check often, not after a long time.
Whether mindfulness is going well or not well, we should consistently be checking whether the mind is relaxed or getting tense because when it is going well, greed can come in and make it tense and when it is not going well, we may try too hard.
1176. NOTICE THAT THE MIND RELAXES WHENEVER A RIGHT THOUGHT ARISES
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 12 (1:35:16-1:38:55)
Yogi: I was looking after an elderly person 24/7 who has virtually no memory. I was very aware when the mind tended to move to a place that was different from where it was. ‘Oh, this is boring, this shouldn’t and I could have.’ Whenever there is that movement, my body tenses up.
It was a lovely reminder of coming back again and again to not wanting things to be different – just very simply reminding myself not wanting it to be different. Then, it was actually very relaxing.
There is something about being reminded of not wanting things to be different, not needing things to be different.
Sayadaw: The mind has learnt to have that right attitude and it helps the mind again, and again and again.
When there is the right thought, it is so relaxing for the mind; whenever the wrong thought comes up, it can immediately see the change in the mind’s attention and so on.
1177. WISDOM CAN ONLY BE PRESENT WHEN AWARENESS IS PRESENT
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 10 (27:00-33:14)
Yogi: There were lots of thoughts and stories – I didn’t want to have them but they came back and back. Then suddenly, when the mind realizes that I’ve already known the stories and they are useless, they stop.
I realize that depending on how I’m aware of what is going on, I can not be involved in the stories and I have more choice to decide where I want it to go.
The stories came again, but it no longer had the same power.
Sayadaw: Just be aware again and again. It doesn’t go to waste – it teaches us something.
Like when you’re watching and you see the thoughts come continuously, at first, you’re just watching and as the mind gathers the data, you realize that they are different stories but are of the same theme and it has this effect on this mind.
It starts to learn and see the suffering – one time you see it very clearly and then the mind has enough power and information to decide ‘okay, this thought I don’t need to keep thinking it and I’m not going to let it’. And then it stops.
At first, it’s just awareness and there’s not enough wisdom, but when the awareness gathers enough information, wisdom comes in.
It is said that every mind that has sati, panna will also be in it. That’s why we want to always cultivate the sati because it means the panna will always be present as well.
Panna can only learn when sati is present because it needs sati to be there in order to be present in the mind. That is why we practice sati so that the panna can come along.
1178. THERE IS NO NEED TO SEE THE CONCEPT AND THE REALITY SEPARATELY
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 12 (1:29:45-1:32:22)
Yogi: With hearing, it is difficult for me to notice the hearing and not the bird singing because it happens so fast. And what is the difference between hearing and the concept?
Sayadaw: For hearing to happen you got to have the sound, the air medium to carry the sound to the ear, the attention and you have to have a good ear. When these things come together, then we hear something.
Hearing is what we call knowing sound – there is no need to separate hearing and the bird singing.
Understanding reality is not like knowing things separately – it is just realizing their different nature.
You don’t have to see this separately from that – they happen together, so why do you want to see them separately. You see their nature not because you see them separately.
Sometimes you don’t have to follow the precision of the words – you just have to trust the experience.
I explain the nature and using words it sounds like they are separate, but they happen together.
1179. THE THING THAT KEEPS THE ‘I’ ALIVE IN OUR MIND IS THE THOUGHT OF ‘ME’
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 8 (26:57-30:11)
Yogi: My awakening experience was really bad – there was no feeling of ‘me’ or ‘I’.
It was confusing and awful – the fear exploded and the ‘I’ came back.
As the fear slowly subsides, I concentrated on the breathing.
The awful thing is ‘where was I?’ for that period of time.
Sayadaw: Actually, there is no ‘I’, but the thing that keeps the ‘I’ alive in our mind is the thought of me. When you woke up, the thought of me couldn’t form and that was what you experienced.
We have relied on ‘me’ our whole life and when it disappears, it is like ‘what do I rely on now?”.
It is a very strange and new experience.
It is just the thought of ‘me’ that was gone; when you think, the ‘me’ is back.
It is not so easy to lose the sense of self. The sense of self is always with us.
1180. RIGHT VIEW SHOWS UP AS A RIGHT THOUGHT
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 8 (1:51:40-1:55:30)
Yogi: The first half of the meal, it was hard to be aware. It was partly greed and it was also shame – I ate quickly as I wanted less food to be seen on the plate.
I had to be quick – I saw others having very little food on their plates and I was embarrassed. I ate quickly out of shame and not so much because of greed.
Sayadaw: This is nature.
Yogi: At the next meal, I was still greedy and I took a lot. I said to myself: This is nature and nature is innocent. I felt easier.
What I was putting in – ‘maybe I know, maybe not’ and ‘nature is innocent’ – that’s conceptual and not a process, but it worked to settle the mind.
Sayadaw: That is right view. Because it is right view, therefore the mind is able to accept it and find it more acceptable to view it.
1181. IT COULD BE BUSY OUTSIDE BUT THE MIND IS CALM
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 8 (12:36-15:22)
Today, I went for a walk before the sitting. When I came back in, everybody was scurrying to the Dhamma hall and there was a lot of movement in the foyer.
I walked in mindfully by being inside myself. Although my attention was inside, I could be aware of everything that was happening.
It felt like when I was working in the market – people would be busy carrying their goods around, and I would be walking between them mindfully. There was awareness and wisdom and the mind was still. It was busy outside but it didn’t feel busy or hurried to me.
If we know the stillness of the mind and we are aware of ourselves, we can maintain the awareness and the stillness of the mind because we’re more with ourselves.
It is not that we don’t know what is outside – we know what is outside and what is inside.
Although I know what is going on outside, my attention is more inside myself.
1182. LEARNING ABOUT GREED FROM BEING AWARE
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 8 (1:19:30-1:21:20)
Yogi: For a long time, I didn’t realize that wanting nothing could also be wanting something.
Sayadaw: Greed is so sneaky – it is everywhere. Dhamma is not everywhere; greed is everywhere.
In every way, whatever we do, we believe that if we do it this way, it’ll be fine. That’s the greed, liking it to be that way.
But it is okay; this is how we learn how greed works. Through these episodes, these are the lessons that, so, greed also does that.
This is a lesson worth learning.
1183. HOME PRACTICE CAN SURPASS RETREATS
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 8 (1:23:00-1:30:15)
Yogi: While I’m more mindful in daily life, but the mind is not as calm as on retreat. At home, the mind has to do so many tasks and think about things. Is it possible to have the same calm mind in daily life?
Sayadaw: It is partly skill and partly lifestyle.
I gave up many things to maintain the steady mind – frivolous talk, gossip and everything that wasn't necessary – and I did everything that was centered around how to be mindful all day long.
How much are we willing to adjust to accommodate our mindfulness?
The calm in daily life was even better than on retreat. On retreat, the mind only gained calm, but when I started gaining momentum at home, it was not just calm, but also joy and interest. The wisdom was coming and there was so much understanding, confidence and power in the mind.
When I decided to become a monk and went to the monastery, it became so calm that I thought it couldn’t be right. I spoke to my teacher and he said I got it all on the cheap – all the samadhi came without me having to do anything because in lay life, I worked hard to maintain that level of mind so the mind was really alive – it was learning and growing.
But in the monastery, I stopped having to work hard and wasn’t progressing everyday as I was at home.
1184. CATCHING THOUGHTS
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 8 (17:40-19:16)
Yogi: I want to find out where thoughts are coming from so I can catch them. Is it important?
Sayadaw: We don’t have to know a thought quickly or in a certain way. So long as you build up awareness, awareness will catch it when the awareness is strong enough.
It is like you’re trying to do the work of awareness instead of just letting awareness do its own work.
1185. WHEN WISDOM LEADS THE MIND
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 7 (08:05-10:04)
Yogi: As I was walking, I realized how tricky the mind was, making me perceive things differently from what they were.
It was inspiring to see that the moment I was able to follow Sayadaw’s instructions, the mind changed and I could see clearly.
It was inspiring to see that it was actually working. It gave me more trust and it felt good not in a wanting way; and it was a relief.
Sayadaw: It is true when the practice falls into place, it brings up a lot of faith and it inspires the mind to continue, but don’t discount the previous days.
It is because the mind was trying those days, it fell into place.
1186. THE AWARENESS MIND WILL TRANSFORM OUR LIVES
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 4 (05.35-06:04)
This knowing mind is what will transform your life – and the knowing just needs to happen a lot.
1187. TAKE CARE OF THE AWARENESS; DON’T LOOK FOR SPECIFIC OBJECTS
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 8(1:03:10-1:10:04)
Yogi: I notice that I have lots of greed. I wanted to catch it when it showed up in the body, but that couldn’t be because there was already greed to see greed. How can I heal my excessive greed?
Sayadaw: Forget about looking for greed; just be aware.
Just be aware of the present moment as it is, whatever you’re experiencing now – cold, hot or walking. Just something very simple.
Greed arises with conditions; and if we’re aware, we’ll recognize it when greed arises.
We need awareness continuously as much as possible on anything so that awareness is growing; then it’ll be ready.
1188. SEEING IT AS IT IS WITHOUT INTERFERING
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 7 (1:02:40-1:05:24)
Yogi: In the meditation pamphlet, it says to come to the sitting with a relaxed and unbiased mind.
But I realized that my universe is infiltrated with a lot of hidden agendas. It is only now, with some practice, that the window keeps opening and there is more tolerance to whatever is happening – and there is a sense of opportunity.
Yesterday, I went for a walk in the forest and there was a little bird calling from somewhere hidden. Normally, I would throw a stone to make it come out so that I could see it, but I didn’t and there was incredible joy not interfering with whatever was known.
Sayadaw: We have to understand the flavor of non-interfering and its benefit.
Yes, the unwholesome minds always want to interfere, always want to get.
1189. MEDITATION IS NOT TO FIX ANYTHING; MEDITATION IS TO KNOW EVERYTHING
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 4 (00:15-04:45)
Yogi: It is my habit to judge others and myself negatively and comparing myself with others. It is difficult and I don’t like it – I tried to watch but it was not nice.
Sayadaw: All the things that were happening in the mind, they are not important at all. The profit is that you were aware of everything.
Meditation is not to fix anything; meditation is to know everything. That knowing is wholesome because wisdom can grow in it.
1190. DEALING WITH TIREDNESS
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 7 (00:10-5:08)
Yogi: I have a problem with feeling tired at the retreat – sometimes there is aversion and other times the wanting to go to sleep. I sometimes accept it as part of being old.
Sayadaw: When we get older, it is natural to be more tired. If we do have aversion towards it, we just need to work with the aversion.
We can let the tiredness be. We won’t be able to meditate the tiredness away. If there’s a body, there will be tiredness. But we can practice so the mind is more accepting and not resisting it.
Now you are tired, that’s a result of something in the past and you can’t change the tiredness now.
But in the present moment, we have a choice of how we want to be with the mind. We can have the right view and right thought and the mind will feel better even if the body is tired.
Or, the mind can complain – it can have wrong view and wrong thought and, so, the body is tired and the mind is stressed.
In the present moment, that is the choice that the mind has. And if the mind is trained, it can be positive.
1191. ON COMPASSION
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 8 (37:27-41:22)
Yogi: I’m confused between sadness and compassion – I’m afraid that I’ll lose compassion without sadness. Perhaps I don’t understand what compassion is because if I see someone die or get sick, it has a different flavor than simply wishing others well.
Sayadaw: What we’re used to experiencing as compassion is mixed with suffering. That suffering bit is actually aversion because we don’t want things to be that way; we would like things to be fine.
There is the wishing well for others but on the other hand, there is the non-acceptance of the situation or the grief or whatever is going on.
When it is pure compassion, compassion is a wholesome mind, then it will feel good. It can understand that there is suffering, but the mind is not suffering together with it.
Compassion alone has no sense of suffering in it.
1192. THE SENSE OF SELF INTENSIFIES THE DEFILEMENT
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 8 (40:15-41:20)
Yogi: When the ‘I’ was not much there, I was afraid that I would lose compassion for myself and others. But I realize that I don’t have to be afraid of that.
Sayadaw: When there is more ‘I’, there is more unwholesomeness and the mind feels more of the grief and all that are part of aversion. It experiences more of the grief; if there is less ‘I’, it feels less painful.
1193. WHY IS SHAME SO AWFUL?
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 8 (50:00-53:17)
Yogi: Why is shame so awful? What can I do to diminish it?
Sayadaw: Because it affects the self-image. The self-image we try so hard to build is shattered momentarily and we’re afraid other people will see the shattered self-image; and so it feels awful.
We try to keep ourselves looking good and when we feel that what we have done is not good then it feels horrible.
Yogi: What do you think about laughing about the embarrassing incident afterwards?
Sayadaw: That’s like redeeming the self-image. We try to feel good again like it’s not that bad.
1194. THE POWER OF RIGHT VIEW
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 7 (49:30-51:28)
Yogi: My working meditation is chopping vegetables during the retreat.
Today, I suddenly realized that I was really bored chopping the same vegetables for a whole hour. I tried to find out what it was being bored and it was clearly aversion and wanting. I was thinking about cooking and was chopping faster to get rid of the boredom.
I then remembered Sayadaw saying that it was just aversion and to let it be. From then on, I chopped with joy.
Sayadaw: Sometimes the mind discovers how to ease itself.
You see how all these information and the awareness, they all work together.
1195. HOW TO WATCH UNCLEAR OBJECTS
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 7 (1:22:45-1:25:25)
Sayadaw: Why do you think the vibration is the mind?
Yogi: I say vibration because I cannot think of another word; also I cannot locate it in my body.
Sayadaw: Because you don’t know for sure, don’t think of it as the mind; just think that the vibration is an object.
You can say this is an object. Just consider it as an object and don’t go into it.
Don’t go closer to the object and don’t inspect the vibration. Stay with the awareness, stay knowing that the awareness is still present.
1196. THE AWARENESS IS THE REWARD, NOT THE RESULT
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 6 (08:02-11:08) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: Today, I came to the conclusion that whatever the awareness is – however much there is and wherever it is – it’s good enough.
I feel that when we’re learning something new or practicing a new skill, the reward comes from the amount of effort we put in, right? More effort, more reward.
Here, I feel that this is incorrect – the effort is in being just remembering to come back to the awareness again and again, just the continuity, that’s where the effort is.
Sayadaw: Yes, that’s correct. If possible, just hang on to the awareness for dear life.
If you understand the awareness, then every moment, there is something that the mind knows. You can appreciate that.
For the yogi, the most important mind is the awareness.
1197. PURE AWARENESS HAS NO MEANING
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 6 (03:26-06:40) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: I was sitting and when I was hearing sound, it was frightening until I realized that it was someone pulling the curtain.
That got me thinking of awareness and concept – that without concept, we could be lost in awareness.
Sayadaw: You made a wrong conclusion from the experience – the experience you had when you were afraid was not pure awareness.
Your mind had already thought of some concept although it might not be a concept that you have a clear idea of.
That was not raw or pure awareness that was making you afraid – it was some wrong concept that the mind had.
1198. MEDITATING IS TRAINING THE MIND TO BE SKILFUL
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 5 (1:15:50:1:16:50) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
The practice of meditation is like a discipline – it is training the mind so that we don’t have to suffer the things that the mind willfully wants to do, like cause us to think again and again about something that makes us suffer.
But when we don’t train the mind, we don’t have the option to stop that suffering. When we train the mind, that option becomes available to us because now the mind knows how to pay attention to an object, how to place the mind here or there, how to have right attitude, or how to observe a feeling and not get lost in the thinking.
All these exercises that we do will help us deal with that suffering.
1199. TEMPTATIONS TOWARDS FEELING GOOD
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 5 (52:20 – 59:45) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: I went for a walk and the mind was interested in checking what the mind was knowing. The mind got interested and I was working with the question for 2 or 3 hours; all of a sudden, I became very peaceful, still and confident. I was just very happy – that lasted for an hour.
The next day, I tried asking the question again, but the question wasn’t interesting anymore. The mind just used the question to get there again.
Sayadaw: The temptation is always going to be there because every time there is right practice, it is going to feel good like that.
When we have right practice and continuity, all these wonderful qualities of mind like joy, rapture, steadiness, steadfastness, confidence, flexibility and resilience will manifest.
Sometimes yogis listen to the instructions and they get it right away and they’re on a high for a day and the next day it is like ‘where is it’. It can happen.
The unwholesome qualities of mind, they are always waiting for their chance, particularly greed.
1200. DEALING WITH MENTAL PAIN
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 5 (42:00-43:16) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: How do I deal with mental pain arising from conflict with other people?
Sayadaw: At first, you try to avoid the object and watch your own mental pain. And when there is no mental pain, see if you can deal with that object and whether it changes the way you deal with the object.
It’s a learning process – always taking yourself away to deal with your own mental pain so that you can see how to better deal with it.
The sooner we can deal with mental pain, like if we notice a little bit and we start working on it immediately, it can relieve it faster. If we start much later on, it takes longer because a lot of stuff gets rooted in the mind.