SENSE OF ‘DISAPPEARANCE’ CAUSED BY IMBALANCED 5 INDRIYAS

| Taiwan Retreat 2018 Q&A 10 (1:19:00-1:10:11)

Yogi: During walking meditation, I often experienced that my breathing stopped, no feeling, no body, and no awareness – just a knowing mind that sees the body walking.

Sayadaw: This is some experience – breath stopping is impossible. Breathing is there, but the mind cannot know because it’s subtle. Body disappearing is also impossible – if disappear, how to walk? The mind cannot be aware, that’s why it cannot see.

It doesn’t mean that the body and breathing disappear if the mind cannot see them; just that the mind cannot know.

Awareness doesn’t disappear – awareness is there, it already knows the process; only that wisdom is not there.

Calmness is strong and awareness-wisdom is weak – the 5 Indriyas are not balanced. That’s why this experience happens.

You should try to investigate. It is better to think then – reminding and checking.

DEFILEMENT AND AWARENESS SEE-SAW

| Taiwan Retreat 2018 Q&A 6 (29:00-30:40)

Yogi: In daily life, can liking and disliking stop when we are aware of them? If not, what happens?

Sayadaw: When we notice liking and disliking in daily life, the defilements stop growing, but they also do not disappear immediately. You need to continue to be aware of the liking and disliking for them to subside.

This is because only awareness is present when we notice defilements in daily life. If the awareness is very strong (awareness and wisdom together), when you notice the defilement, immediately it disappears.

If wisdom is weak and awareness is present, then the defilements will still be there but they don’t grow. And if you continue to be aware, and the awareness quality gets stronger, then the defilements decrease.

WHEN MEDITATION IMPROVES, THE MIND HAS LESS PREFERENCE

| Singapore Aug 2018 Retreat File 37MB (3:00-3:30)

Yogi: I prefer walking to sitting because the mind is more alert when I walk.

Sayadaw: In the end, all will become equal. 

(Yogi’s note: When meditation improves, liking and disliking become weaker.)

In the beginning, it’s because we always have all these biases in the mind – this or that is better for the practice.

And once the mind likes one thing, it will reject the other thing. It’ll have difficulty with the thing that it rejects.

Later on, the practice becomes more balanced.

WE CANNOT TRUST DEFILEMENT THINKING

| Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya 2018 Vassa Q&A English Interviews 20180925 (44:00-47:00)

Whatever you see when you close your eyes is only thinking – the mind creates the image. You don’t need to pay attention to it – it is only a concept.

You need to know that images can arise when the mind is thinking. Don’t believe whatever the mind says; just be aware of it. It’s a crazy mind – it can say whatever it wants.

Have you ever seen a green elephant? When you hear a green elephant, the image of a green elephant already appears in your mind. You think of a green elephant, and already the image appears in your mind.

This is the nature of the mind – when the mind thinks, an image appears. The image is not real.

So, when you close your eyes, whatever images you see are not real; they are created by the mind.

When your concentration becomes better, depending on your nature, you may see violent images or ghosts. They are not important, just the mind thinking, just imagination. There is no need to be afraid, sad or happy.

We can only trust wholesome or wisdom thinking. We cannot trust defilement thinking.

At first, we only know that thinking is happening. Later, we will notice that there is some energy – wholesome or unwholesome – pushing the thoughts.

QUESTIONING TO BE INTERESTED IN THE PRESENT MOMENT

| Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya 2018 Vassa Q&A Chinese Interviews 20180920 (51:55-52:52)

We ask a question to be interested in the present moment, not for an answer.

If you use a question, the mind becomes more awake. We need to be awake, alert and interested, that’s enough.

We can get the answer later – but at present, we don’t have enough information yet. If you have enough information, you will find the answer when you ask the question. The investigation is later, the next step.

Now, we try to use awareness – how to be aware of the body, how to be aware of feelings, how to be aware of thoughts – to know the process first, and then the investigation can come.

AWARENESS HAS TO BE CONSISTENT FOR WISDOM TO ARISE

| Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya 2018 Vassa Q&A English Interviews 20180925 (37:42-38:15)

Yogi: When do I learn about anger?

Sayadaw: When your awareness is good; otherwise, when you use this object, the anger will come again. This is the mind pattern – when you pay attention to this object, anger will come again. If you want to learn about anger, watch it when your awareness is better.

(40:54-41:15) 

When your awareness gains strength, the mind can naturally see new things. If you try to look for some experience, it becomes craving. If you cannot see, the mind becomes bored or upset.

(41:45-42:54) 

Just build up your awareness. If awareness is stronger, you can see more subtle levels that you cannot see previously. You can see many new things that you cannot see at the gross level.

When awareness becomes stronger, the mind can see more detail and subtle level; then you become more interested. 
But the important thing is that you build up the strength of awareness first.

If you have expectation to see something new, you become happy when you get it and you become bored or upset when you cannot.

So, let awareness grow naturally – naturally, it can see more detail.

WHAT IS MOMENTUM BUILT ON?

| SUT Singapore Aug 2018 Dhamma Discussion 37MB (31:05-32:12)

Applying yourself to paying attention to a few things – one, two or three things – over and over and over again, to build the stability of mind. This is very important.

Some of us naturally have this stability; so, when I talk about being aware and all, they can do it instantly. But some of us don’t have that.

When we don’t have that, we find that our awareness comes and goes, here, there, here, there, and then our defilements come in.

We don’t feel confident and we think our practice is neither here nor there, and we don’t want to practice anymore because we don’t have the stability, the roundedness of mind to give it that strength of being in charge of everything. You have to build that.

We can’t do vipassana practice – being aware of anything – without that roundedness.

LEARN HOW TO BE AWARE IN A RELAXED WAY

| Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya 2018 Vassa Q&A Chinese Interviews 20180920 (35:00-37:25)

If you feel tense, you need to relax first, and then start to be aware again.

You need to learn how to be aware in a relaxed way.

The important thing is the continuity of awareness. If you’re tense, be relaxed and start to be aware again. Slowly, the mind will understand how to be aware in a relaxed way.

Now, you need to learn how to be relaxed and maintain the awareness – that’s enough. Investigating or watching the mind – you only do that later.

RECOGNIZING THAT THE MIND IS THINKING

| Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya 2018 Vassa Q&A Chinese Interviews 20180920 (53:00-53:54)

It’s a habit that whenever thoughts come, we get caught in them.

In the beginning, we try to notice that the mind is thinking. That’s enough. Don’t pay attention to the storyline.

If we pay attention to the story, when defilement comes, defilement wants to continue to think. That’s why it is easy to get lost in thought.

So, just recognize, ‘Ah, the mind is thinking’ – that’s enough. Bring the awareness back to body sensation, back and forth. We learn to be aware of thoughts this way.

Later, the mind understands that thoughts are objects. When that happens, thinking can continue and awareness can also be present together.

For the present, just recognize that the mind is thinking and come back to body sensations.

WHEN THERE’S AWARENESS, THINKING MIND CAN BE NOTICED

| Singapore Aug 2018 Retreat File 37MB (37:53-38:29)

You think that when the mind starts to be aware, the mind immediately runs away (awareness is immediately lost).

No. When you’re immediately aware (when awareness returns), awareness can see that the mind is thinking. The mind doesn’t immediately go away.

When you’re aware, you can see the thinking mind. But your idea is that when you start to be aware, the awareness immediately goes away.

No, it is because you’re aware that awareness can see the thinking mind happening.

That’s why awareness is already there.

WE’RE INTERESTED NOT IN THE EXPERIENCE BUT THE MIND’S REACTION

| Taiwan Retreat 2018 Q&A 13 (06:18-7:38)

Yogi: Do I need to compare the aversion when aversion arises towards different objects?

Sayadaw: All the time, watch the aversion. That’s enough.

We are not interested in the experience; we’re interested in the anger.

Object is not very important; the mind’s reaction is more important. We try to learn why the mind is doing this.

You already know that there are different reactions to different objects. That’s good enough.

BE CONSISTENT IN BEING AWARE

| Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya 2018 Vassa Q&A English Interviews 20180925 (26:54-28:12)

If you’re aware continuously for 10, 15 or 20 minutes, how does the mind feel?

If you know that your awareness is weak, just start or try again. 

(Yogi’s note: Awareness will gain momentum with repeated application.)

Superficial awareness is okay; as long as awareness is present. Awareness does not have to be deep because continuity of awareness is more important.

FINDING BALANCE IN HOW MUCH ENERGY THE MIND USES

|Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya 2018 Vassa Q&A Chinese Interviews 20180920 (19:22-20:56)

Yogi: I used too much energy trying not to move in the night sit and couldn’t sleep thereafter.

Sayadaw: Too much energy is not right. It’s not important whether you move or not during the sit. You need to know how much energy the mind uses. Only then can you apply the right amount of energy – not too much and not too little.

Posture is not very important; whether you move or not is also not very important. What is important is how much energy the mind uses. If you have too much energy and the mind notices, that’s good. Then, the mind can let go.

Over or less, these are two extremes. But you need to learn that this is too much and that’s too little; slowly, you can find the middle way, the balance. Only understanding can see the balance.

First, awareness sees ‘This is too much and that’s too little.’ After you learn from many experiences, slowly, the mind understands.

WALKING MEDITATION: LET THE OBJECT BE A NATURAL PROCESS

|Taiwan Retreat 2018 Q&A 1 (37:50-40:42)

Yogi: Some yogis walk fast and some walk slowly, what should I do?

Sayadaw: Stay with yourself and walk naturally. It is better to relax and practice naturally – then, as much as you can, be aware of yourself.

No need to control your action to make walking either fast or slow. Walk naturally – let nature happen and then try to be aware. If awareness is present, naturally, you cannot walk too fast. If you walk too slowly, you control too much, and your mind will be tense.

Our meditation object must be a natural process. This is the best way.

We want to understand nature, right? So let nature be.

Yogis learn in many ways, and some walk very slowly, but I don’t encourage slowing down. Walk naturally, and when the mind becomes stronger and stronger, the mind becomes faster. If you slow down to practice, because of habit, the mind cannot be fast.

If you practice walking slowly – and you don’t walk slowly in daily life – then, you cannot maintain your awareness in daily life.

NOTICING THE INTERACTION TO PAIN

|Taiwan Retreat 2018 Q&A 7 (1:53:35-1:57:25)

Yogi: The pain is very obvious because awareness is good.

Sayadaw: Obvious is not the problem; but the problem is when the mind interprets it as pain. If the pain is subtle and changing, that’s not a problem – if the pain is gross, it is a problem. If you can see the pain changing and the mind is not resisting, it is okay.

If you want to change your posture, then there is reaction in the mind. If the pain is obvious, come back to the mind (watch the resistance). Does the mind really accept the pain? Be open, don’t try to accept.

Pay more attention to your mental state and your feeling. Just check.

If your awareness (the 5 faculties) is very strong, the pain disappears. You won’t feel the pain. The sensation will just be happening and changing, and the mind will not see it as pain. If the mind interprets it as pain, it means that there is anger.

If there is no anger, it is just some sensation happening, that’s all. If you feel the pain, then anger is still there.