CHECK WHETHER AWARENESS IS PRESENT WHILE GOING ABOUT EVERYDAY LIFE

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 14 (39:20-41:54)

Yogi: I was hearing lots of pleasant sounds and I enjoy it; it was just like in a concert.

I asked myself if I could be lost in listening like being lost in thought, and I didn’t know.

Sayadaw: You know that you enjoy it but do you know that you’re aware? That’s what you have to ask yourself.

You can enjoy, but you need to ask yourself if you’re still aware.

You can be aware of enjoying and hearing the sounds; so long as you check, you won’t be lost.

Yogi: If I were sitting in a concert hall and listening to music, is this a concept?

Sayadaw: It’s not that we can’t enjoy the concert and listen to music, and yes, the mind will have concepts about the music – it will like it because it is similar to something or it evokes some memory.

There will be concepts involved; you just have to know that something is happening in the mind, like how you feel, the hearing and the memories that come up, and which is the concept and which is the reality. That’s fine.

Yogi: There’s something in my mind that says if I enjoy something, I’m lost.

Sayadaw: You can still be aware.