Penang Retreat Nov 2019 Q&A 191108 Group 2 Round 4 (18:45-19:52)
Yogi: What are mental states and how to watch them?
Sayadaw: Mental states are feelings like anxiety, happiness, sadness, and generally the mood of the mind.
Anything concerning the mind, we call mental state.
Do you know when you’re happy? Do you know when you’re sad? That’s mental state – just continue knowing. Later and later, when you can watch it as an object, then you can see the intensity of the mental state – decreasing or increasing.
It means that you can hold the object – that is why you can see the intensity changing.
Just asking how you feel, then you can know. And, if you can know anger, you can also know when anger is absent.