All first contact is neutral; it is reality. There is no meaning yet. After that, the mind starts to make concept, and a lot of feelings and wholesome and unwholesome minds arise because, after contact, the mind starts to think and the whole mental process runs.
Yogi: I tried to stay openly aware of everything – I got sleepy and distracted. I switched to wide awareness with an anchor object like my feet while walking. It kept me grounded while I was aware of many things.
It also allowed me to notice thoughts like regretting the past and worrying about the future.
Sayadaw: Yes, that’s the model that I would recommend – having an anchor while staying open.
Be clearly aware of one object but still open to all experiences – not plunging into one object to the exclusion of all others.
Yogi: Other teachers teach to focus when we meditate, but you don’t.
Sayadaw: The main thing to look out for in the practice is the awareness – awareness itself requires no focusing. It is the power to know an object at whatever level you’re aware of it.
The aim is to grow the power of the awareness naturally so that it can know many things fluidly and quickly.
When the mind focuses on one thing, it shuts out other experiences – it cannot know them because it ignores them.
When the mind knows many objects without focusing, it feels like the mind is more scattered. This doesn’t mean that you’re not aware – in fact, it shows that you’re aware of many things.
In our past practice, we’ve been taught that if we know too many things, it means that the mind is distracted. So, we reject the idea that it’s okay for the mind to know many things; we think that to meditate, we should only focus on one or two things.
We become attached to an object when we repeatedly focus on it. It’s like without that object we cannot meditate; and it can create tension when we can’t have it.
Yogi: I can’t help but be attached to the breath when I meditate.
Sayadaw: Don’t resist the mind’s natural tendency to stay with the breath. Stay with the breath but allow yourself to acknowledge other objects that arise while you’re on your breath.
Your problem is tension – so you take care of that mental state first. That is also an object.
Check your energy level. Meditation becomes smooth when your energy is balanced – this is very important.
If the energy is too much or too little, then the meditation is not smooth.
Yogi: When there is awareness, I close the door gently; otherwise, I bang it.
Sayadaw: There’s no control – when there is awareness, the mind can control the energy used; it knows the limits.
Every time you open and close the door, if you’re aware, wisdom knows how much energy is needed. Only wisdom can see the limits – otherwise, it is either too much or too little.
There are the 2 extremes in everything – you can know the limits only when there is awareness and when wisdom is present.
This also applies to talking – how much and how little you talk.
Yogi: When the mind relaxes, I could be aware of many thoughts that say ‘I want this and I don’t want that’.
Sayadaw: It is good that the mind notices wanting and not wanting.
Noticing wanting and not wanting is very important because if you notice, you don’t follow that mind.
If you don’t notice, they are already pushing you; then, you use a lot of energy and stress comes.
Yogi: Into the sitting, the mind wants to focus more and more. It only relaxes and opens up when the awareness notices that.
Sayadaw: The mind becomes narrow because of wanting. You know this quality of the mind.
It is a learning process – you need to see this again and again, then only the mind will let go of focusing. You’ll then be very careful about focusing in the future.
For me, when the mind begins to focus, immediately the awareness notices that.
When I need to focus, I can focus. But when the defilement comes to focus, I immediately notice that and the mind does not focus.
Previously, when I watch the defilement and it goes away, that was it. I would not think further; but when wisdom grows, it can see many points of view.
How much relief does the mind get when you watch defilements and they go away?
95, 98 or 99 percent? A yogi said 200 percent.
If you don’t watch the defilement, it will continue and cause trouble to everybody. If you can see how much relief you get by watching the defilement, it makes the mind appreciate the awareness.
The mind becomes more willing to practice when it understands the benefits of awareness.
I was constantly suffering from depression at one time and was determined to practice to overcome the suffering.
Three to 4 months into the practice, awareness noticed that for just a split second, there was total relief and a deep peace from the absence of suffering.
Then, wisdom said that was the way out of suffering.
Yogi: How to investigate when the mind is quiet?
Sayadaw: When the mind is quiet, that is a good time to investigate, or you can use a question to make the mind more awake.
How many objects can the mind know? Or, you can stay with the main object and check the experience and awareness.
Can you recognize the awareness? Do you know what is the object and what is the awareness? Just check.
When the awareness is stronger, the mind can see that the object and the awareness are different. We can stay with the awareness then; we call this awareness of awareness.
When that happens, the 5 sense doors come to the mind-door, and the 6 sense doors become open and the mind knows everything.
Yogi: The mind wants to let go of the defilement.
Sayadaw: Getting rid of the defilement is an idea. When we meditate, we’re not thinking about the defilement. We don’t care about the defilement; we focus on the practice.
We are not doing anything about the defilement.
Yogi: I see Sayadaw walk very easily, like no problem at all.
Sayadaw: When my teacher was still alive, I would ask yogis to go and take a close look whenever my teacher, Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw, walked outside.
Looking is also a learning process. By looking, you can also understand something. Sayadawgi walked absolutely relaxingly – no tension at all, but still fast.
It is a good example – you can learn by looking, by seeing nature working.
Yogi: So, knowing doesn’t necessarily mean understanding?
Sayadaw: Yes, knowing is not understanding.
There is the awareness of experience and sometimes we begin to understand the nature of experience, the principle of this process.
For example, knowing or experiencing heat and understanding that heat is an object are different.
Yogi: During formal sitting, I notice that the mind can be relaxed while bodily sensations are going on even though the mind resists most of the time.
Sayadaw: Object can sometimes be pleasant and sometimes unpleasant. But, the most important thing is that the meditating mind must be relaxed all the time.
Yogi: Sayadaw says that devas and ghosts are also nama-rupa. To us, they are just objects – so, how do they receive our metta and sharing of merits?
Sayadaw: Sharing of merits and sending metta is more for you, not for them because the metta mind is a wholesome mind. We try to cultivate this metta mind – therefore, the benefit is for you.
The receiver can get the benefit only if they accept the metta. Sharing is your responsibility, but whether they receive the benefit is their responsibility.
For example, anyone who is happy with the metta already receives the benefit of the metta, but others who may not like it, cannot get it.
Sharing is alobha, a wholesome mind – it is beneficial to you. Generating a wholesome mind is more important.
If the metta is not real metta, then all benefits are gone – nobody then gets the metta.