Yogi: I had an unpleasant day going to the hospital having needles stuck into me. It was painful and irritating to the body. The sensations kept coming and going, but the irritation was constant. It became very clear that the irritation was the mind and not the body. It was interesting that the aversion was present even though the thing it was averse to was not present. The aversion was just demanding my attention.

Sayadaw: Yes, you can’t buy this sort of experience with money. Real life experience is so valuable. It’s only when things happen in our life that we see the real stuff.

With real situations in our lives, we see real defilements and real wisdom must work; artificial or intellectual wisdom is not good enough.