Yogi: I thought that the mind already understood ‘A sound is just a sound’ until it reacted to the loud music from the village.
Sayadaw: Your idea will change according to your level of understanding and it only means that your understanding is still not enough.
You think you already understood that a sound is just a sound, right? But, you cannot accept this sound – it means that your understanding is incomplete. You don’t react to some sound, but there is still attachment or resistance to certain sounds – and the problem arises when that happens.
If you really understand, there is no problem with any sound. Because of your past experiences, you have lots of ideas – liking and disliking – of different sounds. Now, you need to know that there is a wrong idea. If you notice what is right and what is wrong, it is also an understanding.
Because of the object, we can understand our mind – how much the mind attaches to or resists the object and how to become calm.
So, when any experience arises, we need to learn.