1551. WE TRY NOT TO CONTEMPLATE ANICCA
Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Long Retreat Q&A 12 January 2024 Group B (36:35-38:59)
We do not contemplate anicca. We have it as information; that’s all.
Yogis often try to contemplate anicca this way. When they see things arise and pass away, when they see happenings in the mind and they stop happening, they think that they have to follow up their experience with a contemplation – “this is anicca and that is anicca.”
They theoretically explain it to themselves – oh, this has disappeared and that has disappeared.
It can be very mechanical, and the yogi does not actually understand anicca or impermanence, but rather add it to their soup because they think it is what they should do.
1552. PRACTICING WALKING MEDITATION
Shwe Oo Min Vietnamese Retreat Q&A 9 September 2024 Group A (31:00-32:45)
Yogi: How do I practice walking meditation properly?
Sayadaw: First, you walk and then pay attention to your legs. Obviously, you can know the touching sensation, right? Continue to know the touching – touching, touching, touching. Pay attention to the touching.
Yogi: When I walk, outside things distract my mind.
Sayadaw: If you’re distracted, keep bringing your attention to your legs.
Meditation is mind work, not the work of the eyes. So, whether you have your eyes opened or closed, you can pay attention to your legs.
You should learn to be aware with your eyes opened or closed. They are the same.
Most meditators close their eyes when they meditate so that they can focus on the body. They haven’t learned to practice with their eyes open.
1553. PRACTICING WITH THE DOSA OBJECT
Shwe Oo Min Vietnamese Retreat Q&A 9 September 2024 Group A (40:32-42:10)
Yogi: Half of my body is in pain due to an illness. I watch the aversion mind, but it does not decrease. It is still there. Is my practice right or not?
Sayadaw: You try to think that the resistance, the suffering feeling, is nature. You try to think this way repeatedly. Resisting suffering is already a habit, so the suffering feeling cannot immediately decrease.
You can also watch the suffering feeling and your breath back and forth – don’t watch the pain.
You cannot be aware of the unpleasant feeling with equanimity yet because it is a new experience for you; that is why you also use the breath. The breath is neutral and when the mind calms down, watch the feeling again.
1554. LEARNING TO BE AWARE NEUTRALLY
Shwe Oo Min Vietnamese Retreat Q&A 9 September 2024 (Day 4) (06:02-09:10)
We learn to be aware neutrally because every time a pleasant feeling arises, the mind is happy, liking, and enjoying. You cannot immediately become neutral to be aware of the present object because it has become a habit.
If the mind likes the object, ignore the object; be aware of the liking feeling first. If the unpleasant object comes, the mind dislikes it, you should be aware of the disliking feeling and not the unpleasant object.
When liking and disliking decrease, come back to the object again.
When there is liking, you think the object is good and you cannot understand as it is. When the liking disappears, your view of the object will change. We want to understand nature as it is.
You should not be aware of the object with liking or disliking.
Liking or disliking arises because of wrong view, wrong thought; because of moha. When wisdom is present, the awareness becomes neutral.
[moha : delusion, ignorance, not understanding, not seeing reality (synonym for avijja)]
1555. PRACTICE WHEN TAKING A SHOWER
Shwe Oo Min Vietnamese Retreat Q&A 8 September 2024 (Day 3) (38:04-38:50)
Sayadaw: Do you practice when you’re taking a shower?
Yogi: It’s too cold to practice – I quickly go in and get out of the shower.
Sayadaw: Be aware of the cold sensation and the tense feeling. Whatever happens, just know that it is happening.
1556. WE TRAIN TO BE AWARE IN THE MEDITATION CENTRE
Shwe Oo Min Vietnamese Retreat Q&A 8 September 2024 (Day 3) (32:56-35:50)
Yogi: We’re very busy with our work and daily life – how can we maintain our interest in the practice?
Sayadaw: That is why you came to the centre. You’re not skillful to practice yet – if you’re skillful, you can apply it in your daily life.
The meditation centre is like a camp for you to come and train your practice. When you have learned to be skillful, you can apply it in your life.
You should train how to be aware the whole day when you’re sitting, walking, cleaning and eating. When it becomes a habit, you can apply it in your daily life.
You shouldn’t control your actions too much by moving too slowly or too fast. Just do things naturally like you’ll do at home.
1557. THE FOUNDATION OF THE PRACTICE
Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Long Retreat Q&A 14 January 2024 Concluding Talk (35:10-36:00)
Yogi: What if we sit and meditate but our minds do not become clear and bright?
Sayadaw: We go with the right attitude – we appreciate that we make the effort and have the moments of awareness, and we move from there. The foundation of the practice is appreciating and having the right attitude that we’re making the effort and keep going.
View our daily life challenges as interesting because they give us something to work with.
1558. WHEN THE MIND IS CALM, WE WATCH THE AWARENESS AND NOT THE CALMNESS
Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Long Retreat Q&A 12 January 2024 Group B (54:30-59:06)
Yogi: When I sit, the mind gets calm and still easily – I would watch hearing and sensations, but the mind is disinterested and would fall asleep.
How do I keep being aware in this calm state?
Sayadaw: You don’t notice when the awareness is not really working, and the mind goes into thinking. You need to look at your working mind which is the awareness and then check what is lacking.
You’re not supposed to watch quietness; you’re supposed to watch if the mind is being aware.
You’re supposed to keep the mind awake by being aware.
Our awareness is not one continuous activity; it has to be applied over and over again. You cannot say that you’re aware now and expect it to stay with you. You’re aware one moment and then it’s gone; so, you have to keep checking if you’re still aware.
You have to be actively checking and working.
1559. TRY TO KEEP PRACTICING – GOOD RESULTS ARE NOT IMPORTANT
Shwe Oo Min Vietnamese Retreat Q&A 9 September 2024 Group A (00:00-01:30)
Sayadaw: I don’t want to know if the meditation result is good or not; I want to know if the yogi can practice consistently.
If you try to practice, that is already okay; I don’t want to know if the result is good.
Yogi: I sat the whole morning until now with a bit of walking meditation in between sits.
Sayadaw: Sitting and meditating for too long is not good.
Yogi: I would sit for an hour and then walk for 30 minutes.
Sayadaw: That’s okay. Do you practice when you’re eating?
Yogi: No.
1560. HOW TO ATTEND WHEN PAIN ARISES
Shwe Oo Min Vietnamese Retreat Q&A 9 September 2024 Group A (35:30-38:27)
Yogi: I have a problem with pain in the first few days of the retreat. I would say “Go away, my friend, go away and let me practice", but my mind still gets agitated.
Sayadaw: The angry mind doesn’t want to see the pain. This is the nature of anger or dosa; it wants to destroy the object.
When you tell your friend to go away, it is dosa. How do you then practice?
Every time pain arises, you try to welcome and accept it by telling yourself that pain is Dhamma. Then, watch your feelings. When there is an aversion, you watch and continue to watch the aversion first.
Because the mind thought the pain was not good, that is why the mind resisted it. Why does the aversion decrease when you watch it continuously? Now, we change the attitude and watch the feeling and not the pain; and also, the mind tries to be aware continuously.
Trying to be aware consistently, moment to moment, means right effort. You use right effort to be aware; that is why the mind cannot think about the pain, and as a result, unpleasant feeling decreases.
1561. WE MEDITATE WATCHING THE NATURAL PROCESS
Shwe Oo Min Vietnamese Retreat Q&A 8 September 2024 (Day 3) (42:05-44:04)
Yogi: How do I recognize what is right attitude and what is wrong attitude?
Sayadaw: How do we think about this body and mind? If you think what is happening in this body and mind is "me", it is wrong.
Whatever is happening is nature; this is the right idea. This is the intellectual knowledge to apply in your practice although you don’t understand it very well yet.
Because if you’re not thinking this way but think that everything is "I, I, I" or "me, me, me", you cannot understand and practice at all.
For example, when the pain comes and you don’t have the right idea that the pain is nature and is a meditation object, the mind will think that the pain is "me" or "I’m in pain". As a result, you cannot meditate.
1562. WE WATCH THE OBJECT – TRY NOT TO FEEL IT
Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Long Retreat Q&A 12 January 2024 Group B (1:40:04-1:45:57)
Yogi: When I have more awareness, more defilements arise in my space. I feel lousy and a lot of unwholesome thoughts run in my mind.
Sayadaw: Notice that when we acknowledge the object too much, we name the object again and again, then, we start to get depressed or elated. (We’re actually feeling the object rather than watching it.)
When someone pays more attention to the presence of awareness, then, the person becomes more positive because they recognize there is awareness, and they become more skillful at being aware. So, stay on the side of the awareness.
1563. WHY DOES THE MIND SUFFER?
Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Long Retreat Q&A 12 January 2024 Group B (1:44:05-1:48:24)
Yogi: Is there a right practice for someone who is constantly anxious and fearful?
Sayadaw: I had a lot of depression and was in extreme fear previously, but because I went through that and was consistently aware and learned through that, later, I was not shaken by the mind anymore. I was aware of everything the mind presented to me.
Having understood fundamentally what makes the mind suffer and what relieves the mind from suffering, the mind no longer allows itself to do the things that makes it suffer, e.g., think negatively.
My mind will just reject the thought. When a single thought creates a slight disturbance, immediately the mind no longer believes the thought, follows it, or thinks about it.
If a thought makes us suffer, then it is a wrong thought.
1564. THE ESSENCE OF OUR PRACTICE
Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Long Retreat Q&A 12 January 2024 Group B (41:40-43:20)
Yogi: May I confirm my understanding of the practice?
The essence of the practice is to be aware of the watching mind by observing what the mind is doing and checking my attitude while I practice? By gathering data consistently, the mind will eventually have sufficient information for insight wisdom to arise.
Sayadaw: Yes.
1565. HAPPENINGS ARE ALWAYS NEW BUT CONCEPTUALLY WE FEEL THEY ARE REPEATED
Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Long Retreat Q&A 12 January 2024 Group B (1:34:00-1:36:11)
Yogi: I was aware when I was sweeping the leaves. When I completed sweeping, the mind was satisfied; but then a new leaf fell, and the mind was upset as I swept it away and then another leaf fell, and I complained that it happened again.
The unpleasant experiences appear so real but are recycled experiences that I perceive repeatedly. But how I relate to them, whenever the image, fear, and worry come out, that nature is new at that moment they arise.
This is what I learn when I sweep the leaves.
1566. PRACTICE TO UNDERSTAND THE MIND THROUGH AWARENESS
Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Long Retreat Q&A 12 January 2024 Group B (51:56-53:17)
Yogi: When, for example, jealousy arises, should the yogi bring in the right information that we shouldn’t compare because of our different kamma. Seeing this way, the jealousy can subside.
Should we do this or just observe the jealousy as nature.
Sayadaw: Watch it as it is because you want to understand the nature of the emotion so long as you can watch.
Using thinking to reduce jealousy and using thinking to have the right attitude to watch are two different things.
But if it is getting worse and you cannot watch, you need to get out of it and observe a neutral object.
1567. RECOGNIZE IT WHEN WE KNOW BOTH THE BODY AND MIND
Shwe Oo Min Vietnamese Retreat Q&A 10 September 2024 (Day 5) (1:02:50-1:04:22)
Yogi: I’m aware of the rising and falling of the abdomen and at the same time, lots of disturbing thoughts.
Sayadaw: Thoughts are not a problem; your awareness has become better, that is why you can know both the physical and mental processes.
Yogi: The thoughts are so quick; that is why I think my practice is not strong enough.
Sayadaw: Actually, you can know because your practice is strong enough.
You already know the thoughts; don’t look at them and just pay attention to your main object, the breath, repeatedly.
You need to understand that thoughts are the mind, and you can know both nama and rupa at the same time.
Do you want to know the mind?
Yogi: Yes.
Sayadaw: Now, you already know the mind.
1568. WISDOM CHANGES THE EXPERIENCE
Shwe Oo Min Vietnamese Retreat Q&A 9 September 2024 (Day 4) (54:24-55:52)
Yogi: When I watch the bodily pain, I see it changing and disappearing. When I watch the aversion mind, it disappears. I don’t know if it’s upekkha or moha at that time.
Sayadaw: If the resistance disappears, it means that it is upekkha.
And, you must also understand that the nama-rupa process is nature.
When you watch anger and it disappears, it means that you understand how to practice.
Wisdom is present, but you don’t know that you have wisdom. That is why you ask if it is moha or wisdom. You don’t recognize wisdom.
[moha : delusion, ignorance, not understanding, not seeing reality (synonym for avijja)]
[nama-rupa : mental and physical processes]
[upekkha : (a) neutral feelings and sensations (vedana)
(b) equanimity, a wholesome mental state (sankhara, cetasika)]
1569. WHY THE OBJECT CHANGES BUT NOT THE AWARENESS
Shwe Oo Min Vietnamese Retreat Q&A 8 September 2024 (Day 3) (1:01:15-1:02:24)
Yogi: When I watch the object, the object changes but the watching mind doesn’t change.
Sayadaw: Because you’re not aware of the watching mind yet – you cannot recognize the awareness.
When you can see the watching mind and the object separately, you can be aware of the watching mind.
In the beginning, the awareness and the object are mixed; not separated. When your wisdom matures, we can understand which is the object and which is the awareness mind; it can see 2 objects.
1570. WHAT DOES THE VIPASSANA MEDITATOR TRAIN?
Shwe Oo Min Vietnamese Retreat Q&A 8 September 2024 (Day 3) (05:15-08:15)
Sayadaw: The vipassana meditator needs to know what is happening with any object. We want to know what is going on.
For example, why are we breathing?
Yogi: It is natural.
Sayadaw: You’re thinking; you don’t have the experience.
It is better to answer from your experience when you’re aware of breathing in and out.
Now, you try to find out for yourself. Then, you’ll be interested; you won’t be sleepy.
Yogi: If we don’t breathe, we die.
Sayadaw: This is from thinking; I want to know from your experience.
We try to understand cause and effect; why is breathing happening?
Don’t try to think about the answer; try to practice instead. The mind will become interested and wake up.
[vipassana : insight, insight meditation]