Yogi: I understand that there are many types of meditation and I hear that some of them can make the yogi go mad. I fear that it may happen to me.
Sayadaw: It is not because of the method. What causes people to lose themselves when they try certain kinds of meditation is when they have a lot of defilements in the mind, for example, when we have a lot of greed for results during meditation.
When the greed is very extreme, so extreme that we’re willing to believe or do all sorts of things, and that can lead the mind over the edge.
It’s never the method but the attitude, like how the mind is meditating that is important.
I emphasize how we are meditating; recognizing how much greed or aversion there is while we’re meditating. It is something we can observe and work with rather than be pushed by that greed or aversion to do our meditation.
I ask yogis to check their mind all the time so that they can notice when the mind becomes greedy or have too much expectation or too much aversion and dissatisfaction with what is happening right now. If we recognize the defilements, it helps us to step back and appreciate that awareness is present – and that is good enough.