1201. RIGHT ATTENTION MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 4 (04:15-04:47) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Sayadaw: The positive is in the knowing, whatever it is and however ugly. It is positive to be mindful.
Yogi: Even if I cannot do anything to reduce the judging? And, I hate it.
Sayadaw: You know the hate – that is the positive.
Yogi: Even if it doesn’t change anything?
Sayadaw: No need to change anything. Meditation is not to fix anything; meditation is to know everything.
1202. DREAMING IS THINKING
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 5(16:00-16:27) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: I find my mind slipping away into day dreaming while sitting.
Sayadaw: Day dreaming and night dreaming are the same – they are all thinking.
1203. BE INTERESTED IN THE CURRENT ATTITUDE
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 4 (49:42-50:36) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Instead of reaching for a goal, think of the present moment. When I was trying to be mindful, I didn’t have a goal in mind, I didn’t ever think that I could become mindful continuously. I didn’t even think that it was possible.
The only thing I felt was that ‘when I’m mindful now, I feel a little better than feeling depressed’.
I want you to rely on what your present experience is. Is this better than not being mindful? Is this much mindfulness better than being less mindful? Let that motivate you to be more mindful.
1204. HOW SHOULD THE MIND INVESTIGATE?
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 4 (20:00-23:45) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: Today, I was lost how to look at anger – maybe I want to fix it too much.
Sayadaw: Investigate means to make us look carefully at what we’re observing; and it is not to think about or analyze what we’re observing, but just to make us observe it carefully for an extended period of time.
If you’re used to thinking, you don’t need to think now – the way you want to position the mind to observe is a curiosity, not to fix the anger, but to check what anger is, how it works and what it does.
Yogi: So, I just look at the anger and find out what it does with me in my body and mind?
Sayadaw: But just observe and not think about it. You need to observe for a long time to get answers – you need to be patient.
Yogi: I don’t have to know why I’m angry and anxious.
Sayadaw: No. First, we just need to observe it continuously.
Yogi: I find it difficult because automatically I’ll think about why I’m angry and anxious.
Sayadaw: Just acknowledge the thought and bring it back to the sensation and feeling again and again. Try to do that.
1205. IGNITE THE INTEREST WITH CURIOSITY
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 4 (1:20:40-1:23:40) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: When the calm becomes dull, what do I do?
Sayadaw: You need to think.
You have to now think and reflect about your experience. You have to start considering – so, this is the experience now, what is the theory about the experience that I have been taught?
For example, there is the object and the awareness – so, in my current experience, do I know what the object is? And, do I know the awareness? Does the experience stay the same? Does the awareness stay the same?
How many objects am I knowing? Do I see the reality or the concept?
Investigate the experience against the theory. If you understand it theoretically, do you see it experientially?
You need to think about your experience, and that’s how you investigate.
1206. BEING AWARE OF UNCLEAR OBJECTS
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 4 (07:00-10:38) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: I was working with seeing and realized that it triggered a lot.
I figured that I was too near to seeing and was more into the looking. I switched to a very light level of seeing. This was good.
Then, I saw something that I couldn’t see what it was and the mind got really excited and that surprised me. It occurs to me that there are many things that I think I know but I don’t really know. This is shocking.
Sayadaw: When we’re being aware, and when the awareness sometimes becomes very clear, it also becomes very clear that things are not always clear.
The non-clarity becomes clear because of the clarity.
1207. WHEN WISDOM INCREASES, DOUBT DECREASES
Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 8 (46:00-47:48) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: How can I detect doubt before it moves to the house? How do I prevent doubt?
Sayadaw: It is not possible; but there is a principle that when there is more wisdom, there is less doubt.
Doubt is a function of delusion – so, when there is more wisdom, there is less delusion hence less doubt.
I agree that doubt is a difficult mind to have around and to live with. I have experienced it and we don’t really know what to do. We are left mired in doubt.
1208. ONE REASON WHY SAYADAW DOESN’T TEACH SINGLE-OBJECT MEDITATION
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 5 (1:06:00-1:07:00) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Sayadaw: You have trouble falling asleep because you’re focusing a little too much. See if you can tune it down.
Yogi: I don’t know how.
Sayadaw: Don’t take a small object, take a big object like the whole body and spread your awareness over it.
To answer your question why I don’t teach single object meditation, it is because these problems come up. We can apply attention to one object but we don’t know how to tune our energy and that becomes complicated.
Spread it over the whole body; that will diffuse the energy.
1209. THE AWARENESS CAN BE CLOSE OR DISTANT TO THE OBJECT
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 6 (1:03:42-1:05:54) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: I’m not sure what you mean by awareness. On the low level, I feel sitting – I feel the objects. Then, there is the other level where the watching mind sees me feeling the sensations.
The 2nd level is more distant to what is seen and I’m not identified with it, not me feeling but there is a feeling.
When you talk about being mindful, which level are you referring to?
Sayadaw: Actually, we use it on both levels – when we’re identified and we try to be aware, we say ‘aware, aware’. When you’re not identified, we also say ‘aware, aware’.
Yogi: So, the objects are not so important; it is the watching mind that is more important.
Sayadaw: That’s right.
1210. FOCUSING CAN BE USED TO SUSTAIN MINDFULNESS IF WISDOM IS LIMITED
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 4 (1:28:00-1:33:10) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Sayadaw: That the mind has a task is the most important thing, then it’ll be awake or else it gets dull. Challenge the mind to observe.
To stay mindful continuously, one of my favorite games is to touch all my fingers together and pay attention to one of the touching until all the others fade and then I’d switch to the next one, training the mind to be disciplined and present.
It teaches the mind to be aware and stay centered.
I would listen to the various sounds in music and I would pick out an instrument and focus on it. Once I got one, I would move on to another just to keep mindful.
It always felt good because the mindfulness developed samadhi, stability of mind.
Yogi: And that is focusing?
Sayadaw: Yes, that is focusing. We sometimes need to do that for continuity.
At that time, there wasn’t so much wisdom in the mind and I had to rely on focusing to keep the mindfulness continuous.
1211. WHY SAYADAW DOESN’T TEACH CONCENTRATION MEDITATION
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 5 (31:10-34:07) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: Sayadaw, you have done single object practice to quiet the mind when you’re sitting still and when you’re moving around, you do what you teach us.
Why don’t you combine teaching both?
Sayadaw: First of all, most of you have already practiced some single-point object practice. I don’t need to teach it to you.
I want to teach you the other aspect – learning how to be mindful in a natural way with the right attitude that everything helps you to be mindful. I make a whole retreat about that because it takes time to learn that.
The more important reason that I don’t teach it in a retreat is because when yogis do concentration exercises, they get attached very quickly, and they also develop tension. And, then I have to spend so much time getting the yogis to relax and de-stress from trying too hard.
I don’t have the time in a 10-day retreat to do that much adjustment for yogis; I would rather teach what I consider the more important part of what I have learnt in meditation so that we can bring it out there and use it in the right way for ourselves.
The main message I’m teaching is right attitude – if we view things in the right way, everything is open for mindfulness and nothing is wrong. You can be mindful of and learn from everything.
1212. NURTURING AWARENESS AMIDST STRONG AVERSION AND DEPRESSION
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 5 (1:21:30-1:25:40) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: There was much aversion the whole day yesterday. I wanted it to stop but it was not possible.
I was very much stuck with mental pain from depression over the last 2-3 years. I’m afraid that it won’t stop.
I feel better today, but there’s the fear that it will come again.
Sayadaw: It is true that for someone who has had depression and mental pain, it is something you really don’t want to face or to deal with and you’ll rather that it is not there because it is so painful. I understand that.
When it comes and you cannot watch it directly, consider the aversion to be someone you don’t like. They are sitting beside you and you cannot tell them to go away, but you do your mindfulness.
Watch something else – pay attention to a neutral object. If the aversion pops up in your awareness, acknowledge it, put it aside and go back to your neutral object because what you’re doing is building mindfulness. That’s the important thing.
Right now, the mindfulness is not strong enough to face the aversion; so, you need to build the mindfulness for it to become strong enough to face the mind.
Eventually, we’ll have to face the aversion. If we do not have the strength to face the aversion, it will never go away. So, we need to build the mindfulness until it’s strong enough and then there will come a day when you face the aversion and learn about it.
Now, just watching something else will slowly make the aversion fade away. Sometimes it comes again and you do the same thing over again, put it aside like someone you don’t like and slowly build your mindfulness and do that again and again, until the mind becomes powerful enough.
1213. ADVICE ON PRACTICING CONCENTRATION MEDITATION
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 6 (13:00-18:43) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Sayadaw: When we use a single object, we need to hold it loosely. The key is balance, really.
When we look at a single object, we start to get a little intense in the way we get into it. It is because we don’t notice the way the mind is working to place itself on the object again and again.
If we were simply placing the attention again and again, we’ll be fine, but what we start to do is press the mind onto the object or get into the object. It’s all to do with the amount of energy we use.
If you can see how the mind uses its energy – how much the mind is paying attention and how it is paying attention – if you’re looking at an object and you can also see how it is looking at the object, you start to notice when this much attention is starting to cause some tension and then you back off.
The energy gets too much when we’re always too much into the object. If we don’t know how the mind is attending to the object, then we easily tense up or lose the object.
When we can gauge our energy, we can be more skillful at practicing.
Yogi: I begin to notice that the awareness is also very helpful in the concentration practice. The mind can become quite still even when it is open to many objects. That’s surprising.
Sayadaw: We often have the wrong idea that trying to concentrate is what concentrates the mind.
It is never actually that trying to concentrate is what concentrates the mind, even in using a single object – it is actually having the right attitude that helps the mind to become still.
If we don’t have the right attitude when even watching a single object, the mind is like ‘oh, why can’t I get it, why can’t I get it’; it won’t settle down. And understanding that is a kind of wisdom – understanding that letting things take their own time is the understanding that helps you not only in vipassana practice but also in samatha practice because it stills the mind.
1214. BEWARE WHENEVER WE DO CONCENTRATION EXERCISES
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 5 (35:00-35:55) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
When we do concentration exercises, there’s so much the idea that ‘I’m doing this’, it is very hard at that time to separate and see effort as nature – that the mind is simply putting its attention on something again and again.
And there’s so much investment in me getting a concentration or stillness and that can really mess yogis up – and half the retreat can be spent on ‘Oh, I can’t do it, I can’t do it’.
My message, whereas, is that you don’t have to have stillness if you have the right attitude – it’s fine, you can still be aware.
1215. TWO WAYS TO OBSERVE PAIN POSITIVELY
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 6 (37:13-48:25) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: Sayadaw says to watch like in a distant contact – it is somewhat cold. For me, when dealing with strong physical or emotional pain, it needs loving contact. More than just being watched, it needs to be touched.
Sayadaw: If we have right view, we become willing to observe something, but many teachers teach to have some metta for ourselves when approaching a difficult emotion to observe in a softer way.
The effect is to take the edge off the aversion to the object so that the mind is not resistant to it and the hope is for the yogi to find a way to approach the object that is not painful.
It could be viewing the object as not mine but something universal and interesting, coming from the place of interest, or for some of us, it could be coming from kindness to bring positivity into the observing.
My motivation has always been, first it was just surrender because I was depressed, then it was interest. That’s my experience; it was never to view something kindly in that way.
If we can bring up kindness and view our difficult experience with kindness, it serves the same purpose. The point is to become willing to accept and observe, it doesn’t matter whether interest or kindness brings in that willingness and acceptance.
Do what is suitable so that you can observe so long as observation happens eventually, whether it is with kindness or interest.
Whichever way we approach it, the awareness should keep working happily.
1216. IT TAKES WISDOM TO FREE THE MIND
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 5 (43:35-44:56) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Mental pain is harder to overcome because there is a lot of ‘me’ involved – there’s not enough wisdom. There is a lot of delusion around what we’re feeling and we don’t understand it clearly enough.
It takes more wisdom to free the mind.
We really suffer from mental pain because we don’t know how to stop the mind from generating the mental pain, we don’t know how to stop the mind from thinking about the things that causes pain.
The thoughts are causing us pain, but we don’t know how to stop the thoughts. Sometimes, we don’t even want to stop thinking those thoughts that are causing us pain.
We’re really twisted in our own pain, but we have to learn to stop hurting ourselves.
1217. NOT SHOOTING THE SECOND ARROW
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 4 (13:30-16:16) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: I was touched by Sayadaw saying that everything was Dhamma – both the positive and negative – and I was in a state of deep quiet. I couldn’t even walk; I had to stand.
I could notice all these changes in the mind – being aware and being not aware.
This morning, I was practicing seeing when I heard a loud noise in the sky. I noticed then that the looking and listening grew stronger.
Sayadaw: It is important to understand everything is the Dhamma, whether we judge it as good or bad, but essentially it is just the Dhamma.
If we can remember that what is pleasant or unpleasant for us, they’re both equally the mind, it is just equally the mind – if it is just the mind, then it is just the Dhamma.
Then we won’t have another reaction to it.
1218. ANY SOLID EXPERIENCE IS A CONCEPTUAL OBJECT
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 5 (1:27:46-1:35:12) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: I was experimenting with sitting longer to see what happened. After an hour and a half, there was a lot of pain, but it seemed like fake pain because my hands felt like they were bruised and I thought I was sitting on a rock.
The pain got really intense suddenly, and I had to move. After that, I sat for a while longer.
Sayadaw: You need to come back to the real sensation. When you have the real sensation, you can see if the sensation is solid or not.
Now, the mind has a picture of sitting on a rock, but you know it’s not a rock or you felt your hands were bruised but they weren’t bruised. So, you need to come back to feel the real sensation.
If there was a feeling of pain and the mind was that steady, if you gently put your attention on it, you will see the reality of the sensation, which is just all movement.
You won’t see it as solid; you will see the changing nature of the sensation.
It won’t feel solid anymore.
1219. KNOWING THAT THE MIND IS PAYING ATTENTION IS BEING MINDFUL
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 3 (06:15-06:44) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: I have been struggling to be mindful because I keep forgetting; how can I remember more?
Sayadaw: When we do work, we need to put our attention on what we’re doing, that is also the mind paying attention. If you can see that it’s the mind doing that, you can still remain mindful. That is why we do need to know the mind as well as the body.
If we know only the body, it is not enough to practice at home. We need to know both.
1220. CHECK THE DIFFERENCE IN MIND QUALITY WHEN WE’RE FULLY AWARE FOR 1 MINUTE
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 2 (15:45-17:11) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
We can ask ourselves what difference it makes to be mindful. It doesn’t take a long time – you can even find out what difference it makes to the mind in a minute.
If you tell yourself you’ll be mindful for a minute – just watch yourself before you start to be mindful and then just fully be mindful for a minute – and then stop and check what is the mind like now, you can see the difference.
Tasting that difference, you really see for yourselves that there is something to be mindful even if it is for a while. When we can experience for ourselves the benefit this work that we’re doing makes to the mind, then this mind becomes more interested even when we feel like nothing is happening in the moment.
We have to experience it ourselves by doing it.
1221. DO THE APPLIED MINDFULNESS TO GROW THE SPONTANEOUS MINDFULNESS
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 2 (52:15-54:12) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: Mindfulness hinders me from doing what I have to do.
Sayadaw: Yes, it feels like that in the beginning when we’re trying to be mindful – there is a lot of personal me trying to be aware.
We’re waiting for spontaneous awareness to come in where we try so much to be mindful at other times, not when you’re in a hurry, when you have time and you try so much to be mindful, eventually that translates by itself and it comes back to you. That is what will come.
There is a limitation to the mindfulness that we practice – when you’re in a hurry, you can’t use that when you try to be mindful because you almost can’t do your job. So, then it is not helpful.
It is only limited if we don’t do it enough when we’re free. When we’re free and we do enough mindfulness, it’s a doorway to a spontaneous mindfulness that works by itself when we’re not trying.
When we’re very busy, there’s an awareness of yourself that you don’t have to try to put in and that’s what you’re waiting to come.
But that only comes when you do the applied awareness at the other times when you’re not busy.
1222. THE SENSE OF ‘I’M AWARE’ IS THE HARDEST THING TO LOSE
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 6 (36:40-37:06) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
We observe the objects, we observe the awareness and we still feel like ‘I know all these, I know my awareness’. The sense of ‘I’m aware’ is the hardest thing to lose.
You have to realize something to know that there’s only the awareness.
1223. WHAT TO DO WHEN THE MIND BECOMES CALM
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 6 (54:16-56:14) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: When the mind turns calm, nothing happens. I just check my breathing and the body.
Sayadaw: When the mind becomes quiet, check which is the object and which is the awareness. Can you see?
They are different – when you watch the breath, you know the breath as the object, but do you know the awareness? When you watch the other sensations, you know the sensations are the objects, do you know the awareness? So, check all these.
And also when there are thoughts, do you know the thoughts and do you know the awareness?
1224. RIGHT ATTITUDE TOWARDS MINDFULNESS CONSISTENCY
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 3 (1:17:51-1:21:30) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: My mindfulness is okay during the day, but after I wake up, the built-up mindfulness during the day is gone; I feel like I have been out in the city all night and I need to start from the beginning every morning. What can I do about it?
Sayadaw: Try to stay mindful when you get into bed and let yourself fall asleep mindfully and see if it makes a difference.
When you wake up, don’t think of how you wake up as a problem. Take it as this is how it is now and take it from there. Don’t think that you’re starting from zero.
1225. GETTING CARRIED AWAY BY ANY EXPERIENCE
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 6 (0:54:46-1:00:42) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: When I was in a good state – feeling very peaceful, still and happy – I realized that the mind was thinking it was very good and that greed was digging in, but I just didn’t care.
Sayadaw: At that time, you have to watch the liking. There will be some agitation that comes with the liking and you must watch that.
We will keep facing these tests until we figure out how not to get caught, how to remain steady about just practicing and not get caught up in the magic of the experience and rely on the awareness and keep doing the awareness rather than get hypnotized by the experience.
1226. WHEN DO WE STOP WATCHING AND TAKE ACTION?
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 5 (37:13-43:14) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: With my family and at the workplace, there are often situations that are not wholesome or when I don’t feel good with – at what point should I stop looking at the aversion and go into action and do something about it and not just look at the aversion?
Sayadaw: At first, you try to avoid the object and watch your mental pain and see when there is no mental pain if you can deal with that object and whether it changes the way you deal with the object and see if it is effective. It is a learning process, always taking yourself away to deal with your own mental pain first so that you can better deal with your family and workplace issues.
The sooner we can deal with mental pain like if we notice it initially and start working on it immediately, it can relieve it faster. If we deal with it later, it takes much longer.
1227. TRAIN NOT TO BE PEACEFUL BUT TO BE MINDFUL
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 3 (41:00-42:46) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: The difficulty is not that there is no structure in this retreat, but that it includes other activities – walking outside, talking, reading or drinking tea. These daily activities are often excluded in an intensive retreat.
Sayadaw: When our activities are limited externally in a retreat, it feels more peaceful and when we have more activities, when there are more choices, it feels like there is more busy-ness in life. But that is what life is like.
With the purpose of training the mind to be mindful at home, we practice that here at the retreat – not training to be peaceful but to be mindful.
1228. RECOGNIZE AND ACKNOWLEDGE THE EXPECTATION
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 1 (1:16:30-1:19:20) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: There were many objects and thoughts at the same time and they were a barrier to go deeper and see where they were coming from. And I asked myself how to let go of these thoughts.
Sayadaw: You don’t have to worry about seeing more behind the thoughts. When we practice more continuously every day like today, you see another layer.
We just have to be mindful more continuously and seeing more will happen by itself.
We don’t see more because we try to see more; we see more when the mind is more able to.
1229. INSIGHTS COME FROM BEING MINDFUL OF SIMPLE EXPERIENCES
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 4 (52:06-53:08) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Sayadaw: At home when I had depression and I kept being mindful for 6 months or a year, there was momentum and insights started arising.
One day I walked home mindfully from work and was taking a shower. When I smelled the soap, I had this insight that this was the nature of this process; that smell only happens through this sense door.
It was so incredible for me to have this insight, not at an intellectual level but at an experiential level.
This got me curious – I wanted to know more and just kept being mindful because the more mindful I could be, the more I would discover. That was a huge motivation to practice and carried me for 2 ½ years before I became a monk.
1230. ISN’T THE ‘I’ WRONG VIEW?
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 3 (1:09:35-1:17:02) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: I’m often challenged with right view in my job, especially when supervising people and telling them ‘I want you to do this and that and you do what I say’. Isn’t the ‘I’ wrong view?
Sayadaw: Everything that this mind knows, we consider it to be ‘me’, but in fact, it’s just those minds at work.
We use the word ‘I’ in daily life to refer to almost everything that comes up in this mind and what it wants to manifest, but we need to recognize that the ‘I’ is only a mask for the quality that is being expressed at that time and understand which quality it is, whether it’s a wholesome or unwholesome quality.
It is important to check what is the mind referring to when we refer to ourselves and use the word ‘I’ like ‘I need to do something’ or ‘I want to go somewhere’?
Is it greed that needs to go or is it necessity that needs to go? What is it that is manifesting; that’s what we need to check.
When we say ‘I’m meditating’, are they effort and awareness at work? We need to check the components other than get lost in the ‘I’.
1231. DON’T TRY TO LET GO OF THE SENSE OF SELF
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 1 (38:45-43:12) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: I have trouble with energy and effort because in my practice they come from the ‘self’ view.
You say to let go of the ‘self’ practicing view, but the more I let go of that, the less energy I have because my interest in something comes from the sense of self, like ‘I’m interested in something ‘.
Sayadaw: Don’t try to let go of the ‘I’. First, whatever you’re observing, know that this is nature – just view it from that angle.
Second, you can clearly see the sense of ‘I’, right? You can watch that too and know that’s also a kind of nature.
You can notice the sense of self, that’s nature; you can notice the effort the mind puts in, that’s nature; you can notice the tension, that’s nature.
So, just know what is happening in your experience and think of it as this is the nature of what is happening, but don’t try to release the sense of self.
I understand we all think that all of the things we do is ‘me’ – the effort is mine, the awareness is mine, the tension is mine, the interest is mine and everything is mine. So, of course, when we try to let go of the mine, everything drops out of that hand. So, there’s no need to do that.
1232. DISCERN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AWARENESS AND THINKING
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 3 (1:22:50-1:26:35) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: When my mind is quiet and thoughts arise, sometimes I feel them coming, just the energy that a thought is manifesting.
Sometimes, it unfolds and sometimes when I’m not mindful, it develops into a story which takes me away from mindfulness. And if I’m not careful, the story comes back again and again.
When I see and look at a tree and I’m not mindful, I think that the tree transforms and I transform and I feel that it’s a different level of seeing.
Sayadaw: About the thoughts, you see the intention to think, the energy that you see is the intention or desire to think. And sometimes when we’re aware of it, the thought can fade and sometimes it can manifest. And, yes, if you’re not mindful, you can get lost in thought.
When you see, you should notice the sight, not the tree. The tree is not the seeing; the seeing is only your ability to see. The things you see are what we think about and that’s concept.
1233. RIGHT EFFORT – NOT TOO TIGHT OR TOO LOOSE
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 2 (4:45-05:07) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
If it helps you to be mindful to slow down when you are walking outside, you can slow down enough to be mindful, but don’t become a zombie.
The most important thing is to be mindful.
1234. WITH AWARENESS, THE MIND LEARNS FROM EXPERIENCES
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 3 (26:20-31:00) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: Yesterday, I thought I was mindful, but something was not right as everything was foggy and I couldn’t see.
That was the entire afternoon – and when I took a walk, I saw that there was just wanting and not awareness.
I figured out that I was not mindful at all during that period – although I knew that there was something, but the clarity was not there.
Sayadaw: You did try, that’s why you could tell later on. You can’t say that you weren’t mindful; it wasn’t ideal mindfulness, but there was mindfulness.
All you need is to try, not to have perfect mindfulness.
Sometimes it’s like that. We’re so busy trying to be mindful and we don’t see everything, but when you go for a walk, it rebalances and it gives you that clarity.
Sometimes when we try so hard, we forget to back up and see what is happening.
A lot of times when we’re in the Dhamma hall, there is this sense of striving and we try too hard. When we walk, we’re not over focused; we have balance and can see more clearly.
These very experiences are the way our mind learns how to adjust.
1235. DON’T FOLLOW THE IMAGINATION, STAY WITH THE AWARENESS
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 3 (56:15-58:08) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: I was walking today and I asked: Is the seeing here? The seeing is like a big cloud around me.
Sayadaw: When you notice seeing, seeing becomes more obvious; it can feel like it is expanded. But don’t imagine more than that.
Just keep it real – like it is more obvious. Investigate at that time the seeing and the knowing of the seeing.
Come back to the awareness so that the mind won’t think and exaggerate the object.
1236. THE VALUE OF HOME PRACTICE
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 2 (1:04:30-1:05:29) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: I have the emotions at home, but they are not here with me at the retreat.
Sayadaw: When you go home, then watch them. This is the wrong place to practice on the emotions.
At home, it can feel more complicated. But when we can really practice at home, it can simplify things. Then we see the value of being.
1237. WHY DOES THE MIND COMPLAIN WHEN PEOPLE GET SICK?
Singapore Q&A 19 November 2022 with Sayadaw U Tejaniya (0:28-1:49)
The mind complains because they don’t like the unpleasant feeling when they’re sick – they get upset when they can’t get the pleasant feeling. So, we need to be aware and notice that the feeling is good whenever the mind is feeling good.
Most people don’t notice this – they’re deluded and unconsciously the mind is enjoying. So, when people get sick, immediately the mind complains.
When we’re healthy and feeling good, we need to be aware of this, otherwise the mind is deluded each time the mind says ‘how nice and good’.
1238. BACKING OFF ALSO MEANS NOT TO BE TOO INTERESTED IN THE OBJECT
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 3 (30:44-35:05) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Sayadaw: The experiences from our practice are the way through which our mind learns to adjust. We have these sorts of experiences and sometimes the mind can have an insight about what is right effort or right object and know how to apply it.
It is good to reflect on how we’re practicing, how the mind is applying its effort and awareness and backing off sometimes, not trying to be aware but sitting back and checking to see how it is going.
Yogi: Does backing off also mean not to be too interested in the object that is arising?
Sayadaw: That’s right.
1239. CONSISTENT MINDFULNESS BRINGS IN UNDERSTANDING
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 1(1:19:15-1:19:55) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
We don’t see more because we try to see more; we see more when the mind becomes more able to.
If we want the mindfulness to be sharp, to be able to understand and see more, we just have to be mindful consistently – and persistence and time will bring in those things.
1240. FEELING AND REACTION ARE DIFFERENT MINDS
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 2(33:00-33:57) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
We always resist things that are unpleasant, but as we watch the resistance and aversion to the unpleasant, you will sometimes find moments when the resistance is not there although the unpleasant is still there, then you see a different view.
It is not unusual – many yogis recognize surprisingly that sometimes what is happening is unpleasant but the observing is okay.
When the attitude is right, the observing feels okay even though the experience is still unpleasant.
1241. GETTING RESTLESS FROM OVER EXERTING
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 3 (18:15-22:40) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: The mind is very interested in what is happening inside, but I experience a lot of restlessness. It becomes difficult to know the knowing of the process because it is not as clear as the body. Sometimes, I feel that I over focus on the mental processes and I don’t know how to make them lighter.
There is a wish to solve it like solving problems. How can I help myself when it gets too entangled?
Sayadaw: You just need to change your attitude – you probably want too much to know what is going on in the mind. That is why it feels restless although you know your mind.
It’s good that you recognize that you’re probably over focusing; too intent on knowing what is in the mind. It is very good when the yogi can recognize how much energy the mind is putting into what it is doing.
Knowing that it is too much helps you to recognize that you need to back off. So, you can now learn to adjust.
Whenever we’re restless, always check the attitude and usually you’ll find that the mind is wanting something.
Is the mind simple and relaxed, or is the mind trying too much?
1242. WANTING TO SEE THE OBJECT CLEARER
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 1 (29:26-30:19) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: Today, there is stronger feeling of aversion and I want to look at it, but there is a barrier. There is something which hides it and I cannot look at it.
Sayadaw: Just recognize its presence without wanting to see it more clearly. You are probably trying too hard to see it in a certain way and that is not necessary – you already know it. That’s enough.
You already see it; so, don’t try to look at it.
1243. CONCEPT AND REALITY REGARDING MEMORIES
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 2(45:32-46:10) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
The mind that is arising now is new every moment, but the story or concept sounds the same.
Even our memories, we have memories of our childhood and those stories, are a concept, that is why they feel old, but the mind that is having the memories is new because this mind that is having the memories is only happening now.
1244. REALITY AND CONCEPT ALWAYS ARISE TOGETHER
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 1(20:27-20:46) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Reality and concept always arise together. The concepts are always built on the reality that the mind experiences. And we often just experience the concept of the reality that we’re experiencing, that is how we know it.
1245. NOTICING THOUGHTS IS A GOOD PRACTICE
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 3 (44:19-46:05) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: When I am out for a walk, it is easier to be aware of walking, seeing and hearing, but It is more difficult when I sit in the hall because there are a lot of thoughts coming up again and again. It is hard to come back to the moment.
Sayadaw: Do you know that when you know the thought, you’re in the present moment?
Yogi: Yes, but sometimes it takes me away and I have to come back.
Sayadaw: That’s not bad; it’s just part of how practice is and it’s ok. Just practice with that.
When you realize the mind is thinking, you acknowledge it and then you bring it back. You can do that over and over and it’s fine.
The more we acknowledge thinking when it arises, the more skillful we’ll become at recognizing thoughts and not getting involved.
It’s actually a good practice – when we don’t see thoughts enough, we don’t know how to practice with them and every time they come, we get lost.
If we notice thoughts more and more, we get less and less involved.
1246. REALITY AND CONCEPTUAL EXPERIENCES
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 3 (1:24:00-1:28:18) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: When I look at the tree and I’m mindful of it, something changes because I connect to it. The tree transforms and I transform. I feel that a different level of seeing is involved.
Sayadaw: Seeing. When you see, you’re supposed to be aware of the fact of seeing which happens in the body, not the tree. The seeing is only your ability to see. The tree is what we think about to recognize it, and that’s concept.
Sight is reality, but sight is again not the tree.
When you want to practice seeing, stay with the knowing that you’re seeing and stay with that. Never mind what you’re seeing. It’s not I’m seeing a tree, but I know that seeing is happening. Stay with the knowing of seeing.
If you know you’re looking at the tree, that’s fine, you can know that you’re looking. ‘I know I’m looking.’
Yogi: I like the intensity of what I see and the feeling that this is a different level of consciousness.
Sayadaw: That’s thinking and following the imagination and cultivating the enjoyment. Meditation is about knowing; not just indulging.
1247. THE MIND WANTS TO CHOOSE, NOT ‘I CHOOSE’
Singapore 18 Nov 2022 Q&A (00:30-02:22) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: Although there is awareness of the emotion, sometimes I choose to engage with it.
Sayadaw: Who chooses to engage in the emotion? You think that intention is you, but intention is not you.
Choosing mind is choosing mind, not ‘I want to do this and that’. People have the habit to think that this mind or any mind state is ‘me’.
Next time, just say that the mind wants to choose, not I want to choose. This is better because when we’re aware of whatever mind is happening; it is more open and natural. Otherwise, we get attached to the idea of self and that is wrong view.
1248. WHATEVER MIND STATE, LET NATURE HAPPEN
Singapore Q&A 18 November 2022 (03:00-7:48) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: Last time when I practiced, the mind was more calm. But now, the emotions arising from joy can be very strong.
Sayadaw: Don’t think that our mind should be equanimous all the time – that is only achieved in the very high level practice of sankhara upekkha.
When we concentrate too much, we think the mind is equanimous, but actually the mind becomes stuck like a zombie. That is not the right way; it is not a natural process.
Even by seeing joy arise again and again, we can also understand the impermanent nature of that mind.
Let nature happen – there is no need to target equanimity all the time.
1249. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEFILEMENT JUDGING AND WISDOM JUDGING
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 2 (1:02:49-1:04:30) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: You say not to judge but to accept everything. But you also say to look at what is wholesome and what is not wholesome. Isn’t that judging?
Sayadaw: You know the difference between something wholesome and unwholesome – that is not what I mean to judge. What I mean to judge is that the mind is not accepting it.
If the mind is differentiating something, but it accepts that this is how it is, that’s fine.
And if it is not accepting it, you know that the mind is not accepting it – that is all.
1250. DEALING WITH FEAR
Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 1 (12:55-17:45) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Yogi: These few weeks I have been living in a state of fear – it is extremely painful and my mind is really agitated.
I tried to bring it into feeling it in the body. Sometimes I managed to do that, but then my mind always jumped back to the thoughts that used the fear. How do I practice with that?
Sayadaw: All of us have fear – it just comes in different ways and different triggers gives us fear. What exactly is it and how does this fear work?
If you see the identification ‘I’m afraid’, you can see that it feels more fearful. If you can separate it, you can see the difference between ‘this is fear’ and ‘I’m afraid’. That helps.
Is there always this fear, moment to moment? Have you noticed it?
Yogi: There are short times when there is less fear.
Sayadaw: Fear is also conditioned – it is there because certain conditions are present. If those conditions aren’t present, fear couldn’t be present.
If you see fear for what it is, that it is not mine, that it is conditioned, then you won’t fear fear so much anymore.