USING FORCE TO BE AWARE INTERFERES WITH THE EXPERIENCE

Penang Retreat 2019 Group 2 Record 1 (16:30-18:50)

Yogi: When I’m aware, my actions are less smooth – e.g. when I exercise without awareness, the movements are more fluid, but when I’m aware, I’m more hesitant.

Sayadaw: The action can be natural if there is no forcing to be aware. If it is forced awareness, then the action is not natural.

For example, if you try to be aware and walk, then it’s not natural because you will slow down. Just walk naturally and then ask if the mind is aware or not; it is then a natural process and awareness accompanies the walking.

If you eat and walk very slowly so that the mind can be aware, then it becomes problematic in daily life – the action and awareness should both be natural.

(Awareness cannot be smooth at first, but it builds up strength and continuity with repetition, and that too is a natural process.)

THOUGHTS WILL TORTURE US IF WE BLINDLY ENTERTAIN THEM

Sweden Retreat 2019 File 14 Day 5 Group C (22:23-23:25)

If an upsetting thought pops up just when you are about to sleep, and you don’t recognize that the thought is making you unhappy – and the mind starts chewing on that thought – you start thinking and thinking and cannot sleep. You don’t recognize that it’s an unwholesome thought and it shouldn’t be entertained.

The unwholesome thoughts, they are well practiced and they know what to do; but for us, either we don’t know that we need to stop it, or we can’t even stop it if we try.

WHENEVER YOU FEEL GOOD, BE CAREFUL AND CHECK YOUR MIND

Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya 28 Jan 2020 Chinese Group Q&A (13:30-14:06)

Everybody likes everything to be okay, right? For example, now you’re comfortable, unconsciously attachment is already there.

So, if you don’t get what you like, when it is not okay, immediately you get upset. This happens because of craving and attachment to getting what you want.

If everything is okay, and you don’t notice it, attachment is already present.

THE MIND BECOMES WHOLESOME WHEN IT IS AWARE OF A DEFILEMENT

Sweden Retreat 2019 File 14 Day 5 Group C (1:35:00-1:38:53)

Yogi: I was enthralled by a blue-wing butterfly and knew that it was lobha later.

Sayadaw: Greed is present when the mind is wanting, enjoying, or liking something, but the observing without agenda of the wanting, enjoying, or liking is wholesome.

The mind is just knowing that this is wanting, this is enjoying, or this is liking. This observing has wisdom. It is seeing the nature of what is happening.

We can see the difference between the lobha that is happening and the awareness that is watching without lobha. Sometimes the awareness is watching with lobha, and we need to recognize that as well.

WHEN DEFILEMENT SUBSIDES, THAT IS THE TIME TO WATCH AND LEARN

Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya 20 Jan 2020 Chinese Group Q&A (55:00-56:15)

When a new yogi meditates, they focus on one object – feeling, or a neutral object - and after some time the mind settles down. Yogis don’t realize that when the mind calms down, when defilement subsides, that is the time when wisdom thinking naturally arises. If you notice this right thinking, then more understanding will arise.

For most yogis, when the emotion settles down, they don’t continue to watch and learn from what the mind says. 

In the beginning, we don’t continue to practice when the mind calms down, but if we do and the mind has learned something, the point of view will change the next time this defilement object comes again. 

THE WAY OF AWARENESS-WISDOM MEDITATION

Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya 20 Jan 2020 Chinese Group Q&A (1:03:10-1:06:24)

 Yogi: When negative thinking and feeling arise, I can stop them.

Sayadaw: Don’t try to stop them – let them show up and watch. You can then better understand how they work. If you stop them, you cannot watch and learn from the process. You can learn something if you let awareness see the process.

The problem with yogis is that when pleasant experience arises, they enjoy and when unpleasant experience arises, they try to stop them. Wisdom then cannot come because they get involved with the experience.

People don’t want to see suffering – they run away or try to cover up suffering – that is why they can never be free from suffering.

So, try to face the suffering again and again by being aware without controlling the experience. This is the vipassana nature. Resisting and being attached to objects is the way of defilement – the way of liking and disliking, not the way of wisdom.

TO KNOW WHETHER DEFILEMENT DISAPPEARS THROUGH WISDOM OR CONCENTRATION

Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya 20 Jan 2020 Chinese Group Q&A (1:07:25-1:09:00)

Yogi: The mind was very calm – it saw craving coming and the craving immediately dissolved.

Sayadaw: If defilement immediately disappears, it means that some understanding is present. If we use concentration (by fixing our attention on one object) and wisdom is absent, the defilement can only subside slowly.

The way wisdom and samadhi free the mind of defilement is different. If wisdom is present, the defilement immediately disappears. If there is no wisdom and you continue to watch, the mind calms down slowly because when you can’t think about the process, you are not feeding the anger.

UNDERSTANDING AND THINKING ARE OPPOSITES

Penang Retreat 2019 Guided Meditation Day 7 (7:11-9:12)

Understanding and thinking are totally different. Wisdom understands and knows clearly what is happening and how it happens. Assumption does not understand, it only thinks what it wants – it is delusion. Thinking and understanding are opposites. 

To know clearly means to understand. On the other hand, you think because you don’t know.

Sometimes yogis don’t know why meditation is good or bad. They then assume that it is because of the place, time, surroundings, or something else. They think what they want, and then they believe what they have thought out.

This is the wrong process. Whether meditation is good or bad depends on your attitude - right thought or wrong thought. Wisdom is right thought and right view; defilement is wrong thought.

Meditation is not good due to defilement, and meditation gets better and better because of right thought and right view.

HOW TO UNDERSTAND THAT SEEING AND HEARING ARE NOT PERSONAL?

Penang Retreat 2019 Opening Talk (21:16-22:40)

Every time hearing or seeing takes place, do we have to do anything for them to take place? No, it is already happening by itself.

But we say ‘I’m seeing’ or ‘I’m hearing’ although nature (cause and effect process – because of the 4 conditions, hearing and seeing are happening) is already happening on its own.

If you’re aware of hearing and seeing each time it happens, over time, it is not difficult to understand that the process is not personal.

WHY DO WE REACT THE SAME WAY DAY IN, DAY OUT?

Penang Retreat 2019 Closing Talk (9:38-10:09)

Every day whenever we meet the same people (our partner, pet, or favorite someone) or the same situations, we react the same way. Why don’t the defilements change?

Every time you meet this person or that person, you react the same way (liking or disliking arises). There is no change because you never practice.

Every time I see someone, I check my mind – what ideas are present and how the mind reacts. Slowly, the defilements diminish.

WE MEDITATE TO UNDERSTAND THE MIND, NOT TO GET RID OF A PROBLEM

Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya 20 Dec 2019 Chinese Group Q&A (23:21-29:40)

Yogi: I’m very unhappy with my job and it has affected the people around me. I have lots of anger and negative thinking. How do I get rid of this problem?

Sayadaw: You are not trying to get rid of the problem when you meditate. You’re trying to learn about the angry mental state. This state comes with unpleasant feelings, and you try to be aware of these feelings calmly as an object. This is your practice.

Yogi: I cannot watch the unpleasant feelings with equanimity. I have had bad dreams for many days and the bad feelings would continue. I thought meditation could help, but it didn’t.

Sayadaw: Because you try to get rid of the unpleasant thoughts and feelings, that attitude makes the situation more difficult.

In the beginning, nobody can watch unpleasant feelings with equanimity. That’s why you need to practice again and again. You use the second-hand knowledge of right attitude – this is nature, this is nobody, this is just a meditation object – to change your attitude and idea a little bit and try to face the feelings again and again.

Much later, you can watch with equanimity; when some understanding arises about thoughts and feelings only then can the unpleasant feelings go away.

Yogi: Sometimes the mind can calm down when I meditate, but no understanding arises.

Sayadaw: There are 2 ways that the mind calms down. If you watch feelings continuously without thinking, the mind calms down but no understanding arises. If you continue to watch the defilement and feelings calmly, much later some understanding can arise about the nature of the mind.

You cannot hope to understand thoughts and feelings (the mind) immediately.

LEARNING TO REPEATEDLY RECOGNIZE SEEING AND HEARING AS NATURAL PROCESSES

Penang Retreat 2019 Introduction Talk (21:10-22:42)

When you practice seeing and hearing, it is easy to understand that it is not self, that it is nature happening. Because we think that seeing is me, wrong view is already present. Who is seeing? I’m seeing.

Now, every time you see or hear, just recognize that seeing or hearing is happening. If you repeatedly recognize seeing or hearing, it is not difficult to understand that it is a natural process.

Just knowing seeing or hearing is not difficult. Do you have to do anything to see or hear? You just open your eyes and seeing is already happening; when there is a sound, hearing is already happening (the faculty or function of seeing and hearing). But you say ‘I’m hearing or I’m seeing’; actually, it is nature happening.

Every time you are aware that seeing and hearing are happening, it is not difficult to understand that it is not personal.