Yogi: In the real world, there must be good and bad.

Sayadaw: Very quick, the mind already judges everything.

When we watch our feeling reactions and they come down to neutral, this state of mind can be understood as it is.

Whatever happens, the mind already judges; so, we can start by watching our feelings. When the mind settles down, come back to the object – there is a relationship between mind and object. Pain, for example, we watch the feeling first and when the feeling becomes neutral, come back to the pain. The neutral mind then can understand the nature of the pain.

I used to have knee pain – when I went on alms round and was walking, there would be feelings of pain and no pain. I would watch pain and no pain and suddenly I realized that pain and no pain were both objects. I understood the meaning of an object.

Both pain and no pain are known; when this understanding comes, there is no unpleasant feeling when pain comes, and the mind is not happy when there is no pain.

Pain and no pain are only objects; they are the same. Because of this understanding, the mind does not react.