Yogi: I don’t know how to balance the 6 sense doors – I would deliberately choose to be aware of seeing and hearing.
Sayadaw: It is always like this in the beginning – i.e. we choose an object.
Later, we can know the object and the awareness.
When wisdom grows further, we come to the awareness – at that time, we don’t have to choose a specific object because all objects come to the
Yogi: I’m meditating for the first time. I’m aware of the breath during sitting meditation and when thinking mind arises, I can see the mind going here and there and around.
Sayadaw: The mind is not going around. It’s the attention mind paying attention to one object after another. Paying attention is also a mind activity; it is good to know that the mind is paying attention to this object and that object.
For the new yogi, he thinks that the mind is going around, but actually it’s a different mind, one after another.
Yogi: I’m meditating for the first time – I tried counting 1 to 10, but still there was a lot of thinking and it was too difficult.
Sayadaw: Don’t try to stop thinking – it’s impossible. Actually, your awareness is very good; that’s why the mind can notice thinking.
Knowing what is happening in the mind is awareness.
The objective of mindfulness meditation is to know and understand what is happening in the mind and body. That’s why we try to be aware.
Now you notice that the mind is thinking – you have already achieved your goal, but we have the wrong idea that thinking is not good; that’s why the mind wants to stop the thinking.
We’re not interested in the story line. We have a lot of defilements in daily life and therefore a lot of thinking is unpleasant defilement thinking – that’s why the story is not very good. Yogis judge that the story is not good; that’s why they want it to stop.
We are not interested in the story; we’re interested in the nature of the mind (e.g. defilements, thinking and feelings arise and they are related) – that’s why we practice to notice that the mind is happening.
If we want to really understand a person, first, we need to observe him and continue to observe what he’s doing and where he’s going – then only we can understand his nature. This is the objective of our practice.
Now, we’re trying to be aware of the mind and we can know the mind because of thinking. That’s why we need to notice that thinking is happening first; we’re not interested in the story line.
I always say that continuity of awareness is important. But you shouldn’t force it to happen. If you use force, it means that there is craving and the practice then becomes difficult.
It is impossible to maintain continuity of awareness for most yogis. It is normal for awareness to be on and off, on and off (remember that).
If the yogi uses force to maintain awareness, she exerts too much energy and gets tired easily (or becomes like a zombie).
Just try to be aware as much as you can; when awareness is lost, start again, again, and again. Be patient and practice.
Yogi: I use the breath as the primary object, but the mind still wanders to thinking, falls asleep and then returns to the breath, back and forth. Which primary object is good for me?
Sayadaw: Whichever object is not very important. What is important is the way to be aware – if you’re aware with interest, the mind wakes up, and it won’t be sleepy.
You need to learn how to be aware with interest. Interest means you want to know what is going on in the mind.
Yogi: Is awareness remembered, just like we remember how to ride a bicycle even after a long break?
Sayadaw: The quality of mind is different if awareness takes a holiday – when you stop, the defilements become stronger and your awareness, samadhi and wisdom level will weaken.
But you know how to practice, so you can reboot the practice although the quality of mind has dropped.
The mind is sleepy because effort and wisdom are lacking. So, every time the mind is sleepy, we need to activate the mind.
Try be aware and think (asking questions to maintain the awareness) together, reminding ‘What is the mind doing? How many objects does the mind know?’ – something to make the mind think about the practice.
When the mind is busy or is interested in something, it wakes up.
Yogi: It took 4 days for the mind to calm down (not be angry) over an incident.
Sayadaw: Your emotion is your business. You should continue to be with the anger and learn from it. This is very good because it is a real experience.
Whatever the experience, your anger is the problem. It is more meaningful for you to try and watch the anger. Ask: Why is the mind angry? Later, you can explore: Is it necessary or not, beneficial or not?
For me, whenever I notice my weakness – something that triggers and causes the mind to be angry – I will revisit the same situation again and again to learn something about the anger.
Yogi: I notice that greed causes the mind to suffer.
Sayadaw: You want something, you want to grasp it and the mind is tense; it makes the mind suffer.
How do you know that it is greed? Because you already know the characteristics/nature of greed, that’s why you can say that there is greed.
But if you understand that greed is suffering; why then is greed still so strong?
If you still have a lot of greed, it means that the understanding is still not enough; the mind needs to learn more.
If wisdom is present, the mind can be interested in pain.
If you can understand that anger is also nature – if the mind understands the meaning of nature or object – then, you can be interested. Otherwise, the mind always reacts to the pain.
I cannot make you interested because if your mind is interested, it will be interested; if it is not, it will not be.
How to be interested in anger? This is a funny question.
I would like to ask yogis this question: Do you understand the benefit of awareness?
When awareness is present and when awareness is lost, what is the difference in the quality of mind? How different?
Can the yogi explain the difference in the quality of mind when awareness is present and when awareness is lost? If he understands very well, he can explain to other people.
You have meditated for a long time – so, how would you answer if someone asks you: What benefit do you get from practising awareness meditation?
If the meditator understands, he can explain very well.
So, what is the difference between having awareness and not having awareness? How is it different? Depending on your level of understanding, you can explain in many ways.
Yogi 1: When the mind is very tense, and I cannot continue to be aware, I’ll switch to loving kindness meditation.
Sayadaw: You can use whatever to calm down and then face the tension, not to avoid the object.
Yogi 2: The mind still continues to think about food and eating.
Sayadaw: Change to another object because the mind is still thinking about food (and cannot be aware).
Yogi 3: When mindfulness has no momentum, I use right reflection to encourage the mind to practice.
Sayadaw: You can use whatever knowledge to maintain the awareness.
Changing old habit means that every time the emotion arises, you try to be aware, try to be aware, and try to be aware.
When you do that, you’re not continuing to cultivate the old habit pattern. You’re trying to change to a new habit.
How? We think the right way and try to be aware; then, the mind cannot go back to the old habit.
Slowly, when awareness gets better and better and wisdom is stronger, some understanding could arise and that’ll change the idea.
Only when awareness gets stronger, then wisdom may be able to see the cause of the defilement.
You need to cultivate the awareness, samadhi, and wisdom – that’s what you need to do.
If wisdom has grown, it’ll do its job (see the cause of the defilement).
Yogi: The mind can be peaceful and calm, but it lacks interest because wisdom is not coming
Sayadaw: You need to be patient. Not interested means that already you want something and when you cannot get what you want, the mind becomes bored. This is the nature of craving.
Just try to practice; think about the practice. If the mind has craving for understanding and it cannot get it immediately, the mind becomes bored and not interested.
You need to pay attention to how to practice the right way. You need to learn more; if you practice the right way continuously, slowly wisdom can arise. This is due to conditioning, not that you want it.
You can use questions to investigate – but they are not for getting answers, but to create interest in the process. That’s enough.
There’s no need to hurry; the practice is life-long.
Every time you notice a defilement, are you happy or upset?
Most yogis get upset because you only notice the defilement, but you forget the awareness that notices the defilement. Awareness is more important.
Yogis when they meditate, they try to be aware, aware, aware, but they always complain about the experience. They forget that they’re aware, that we’re trying to do just this.
(Whenever the mind gets upset when you see a defilement, you’re paying attention to the object, not the awareness. So, if you notice a defilement and get upset, remember this: If the mind pays attention to the object, you get upset; but if it pays attention to the awareness, the mind is equanimous.)