Hor Tuck Loon
BE AWARE OF PAIN, NOT THINK ABOUT THE PAIN
Hor Tuck Loon
GOOD OR BAD, WE NEED TO BE AWARE
Hor Tuck Loon
HOW TO MAINTAIN THE PEACEFUL MIND THROUGHOUT ...
Hor Tuck Loon
PRACTICE WATCHING ALL FEELINGS IN DAILY LIFE
Hor Tuck Loon
STILL OKAY IS NOT OKAY

PURE DANA IS WITHOUT EXPECTATION

20200131 What is the real morality and donation // Sayadaw U Tejaniya's Dhamma Interview Section https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YONKo1ypDjg&feature=share... (1:02-2:35)

Dana means to give; it is not limited to giving money. And why do we give?

Many people give to get something in return; it is not easy to give freely without expectation. Dana means to give without expecting anything in return.

Why can we give? It is because we’re not attached to whatever we give. The important thing is to develop the alobha mind, the non-greedy mind.

We need to practice this mind by giving repeatedly and slowly we’re not attached and lobha reduces.

Pure dana is done without expectation; just give. Building up the alobha mind is also meditation; and the mind is happy and free when alobha is present. 

REAL SILA IS LED BY WISDOM

20200131 What is the real morality and donation // Sayadaw U Tejaniya's Dhamma Interview Section https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YONKo1ypDjg&feature=share... (0:03-1:01)

Yogi: Sila and wisdom are the same thing. We know the right thing to do only when there is wisdom. Sila is not bound by any 1 law like we don’t kill and we don’t steal; it’s just the right thing to do at that point. 

Sayadaw: Yes, wisdom is very important. Actually, sila is should or should not do. If it is something that you should do, you need to do and if you shouldn't, you don’t do, right? That is sila. 

But how do we know if we should or should not do? So, some understanding has to be present to make the right decision; otherwise, we’re just following instructions. 

WHAT MOTIVATES THE THOUGHT IS IMPORTANT, NOT THE THOUGHT

20200131 What is the real morality and donation // Sayadaw U Tejaniya's Dhamma Interview Section https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YONKo1ypDjg&feature=share... (3:35-4:35)

Yogi: When we watch thoughts, do we watch the content of the thoughts or that thinking is happening?

Sayadaw: Thoughts are not very important – what motivates the thoughts is more important.

Thinking is just thinking; it is one function of the mind. Wholesome mind thinks and unwholesome mind also thinks. Thinking is neutral.

There is some motivation behind the thinking – it could be wholesome or unwholesome mind.

This motivation makes the mind tense or relaxed. We need to see this relationship.

Yogi: So, we watch what motivates the thoughts and whether it causes the mind to be tense or relaxed?

Sayadaw: Yes. That is more important – thoughts are not very important.

LET ANY CHALLENGE AT HOME BE A LEARNING PROCESS

Swiss Retreat 2019 Q&A 20.05.2019 (01:05-3:30)

Yogi: When we go back home, we have problems to face and decisions to make, and sometimes we don’t have the choice to sit and watch. We need to act. What do we do?

Sayadaw: At home, we don’t always have time to observe for an extended period of time, but we do have our innate wisdom which we have been using to do our work and so on. 

However, it is more helpful if we can bring our mind to a balanced and clear state before making decisions because that will be the best decision we can make.

Sometimes we don’t have the time or skill to bring the mind to balance; in that case, we still have to decide with the best possible means we have. If we make a mistake, we can still learn from it. It’s a learning process.

DAILY LIFE PRACTICE

Swiss Retreat 2019 Closing Remarks (28:45-30:09)

At home, the mind becomes a very important partner in practicing the dhamma. 

How skilful do we become at clearing the mind when it is confused; and when it’s clear, how long can we maintain that clarity?

When we can maintain that clarity, it means that we’re maintaining the samadhi, and maintaining the samadhi means that immediately less unwholesome qualities are surfacing or that less unwholesome qualities are able to overwhelm us; and that means that the mind is able to maintain its clarity and stability.

So, our first challenge at home is learning how to be skillful at clearing the confusion or the complications in the mind when they come up at home. 

WATCHING THOUGHTS CAN BRING STABILITY OF MIND

Swiss Retreat 2019 Closing Remarks 20.05.2019 (33:48-35:33)

Yogis can develop stability of mind while knowing their thoughts. 

If the breath can bring stability of mind and our thoughts can bring stability of mind, then we are free.

The thoughts are coming all the time; they are coming continuously. The breath takes much longer to come; the object is not so continuous.

Whatever we do, we always have to think about it before we do it. If we knew every thought, we have to think in order to work, we would be building lots and lots of samadhi.

We don’t have to come back to the breath then; we can develop stability of mind in whatever we’re doing while we’re thinking and working. It is possible.

That is when we become skilful at knowing the mind. Take heart. It is possible because once we understand the mind, it is more obvious than we think.

ARE WE AWARE OR LOST IN THOUGHT?

IMS Retreat 2012 Q&A Group D No.1 (1:25:50-1:29:14)

Yogi: The mind was thinking about a problem from home and I became anxious and was coming up with solutions. When awareness came in, the thinking and anxiety would go away. But this popped up repeatedly during the sitting and walking; and it was tiresome. 

Sayadaw: No object bothers the mind – it is because you’re getting lost in thought. You’re aware of the initial arising of the thought and you’re supposed to use that moment to start watching the thinking and feeling, and not get lost in the story.

Be less interested in the problem and more interested in the process at work – why is the mind thinking about this and how it is feeling when it is thinking about this, and the interaction between thinking and feeling.

HOW TO WATCH AND LEARN FROM GREED RATHER THAN TRY TO STOP IT

IMS Retreat 2012 Q&A Group E No.1 (30:07-34:31)

Yogi: Should I just not follow greed when wisdom is not strong enough?

Sayadaw: Now is the time to practice. You can choose to stop a while and watch the greed and see how it goes. 

If it still tells you to follow, go with it – take that path and watch the greed. At least take the opportunity to watch and learn about greed.

This way, greed gets its way and you get your way too – you squeeze some money out of greed.

It is interesting – if you do what greed says and you watch all the consequent actions and how greed moves, you can learn something deep about greed.

We need to get to the heart of understanding how greed makes us suffer. We need to experience it to understand it. 

At home, all the time, we’re just like a mouse in greed’s paws being played about; now at least we hit it in the eye while being played about. 

Yogi: That’s more fruitful than struggling with it.

Sayadaw: You cannot stop greed from happening – just let it. 

WE PRACTICE BECAUSE OF UNDERSTANDING

Swiss Retreat 2019 Evening Q&A 11 May 2019 (41:06-41:42)

Whatever we’re doing, if we’re doing it right, it brings the mind to a wholesome state.

Even doing a practice with a single object, if we do it with the wrong view or the wrong thought, it won’t calm the mind – the mind will be more agitated, it will get more tense and it won’t relax.

So, everything comes back to doing the right practice of having the right thought and the right view while doing it.

NOTICE CAUSE-EFFECT NATURE IN THE PRACTICE

IMS Retreat 2012 Q&A Group D No.1 (40:25-45:02)

Yogi: Sometimes the awareness of awareness is clear and sometimes not; I cannot detect greed or aversion when it’s unclear – perhaps delusion is present.

Sayadaw: As much as the mind understands it, that’s how clearly you can experience it; and when the understanding is not strong for whatever reason, then, it won’t be clear.

At the gross level, there aren’t the lobha-dosa, but at the subtler level there may be some lobha-dosa besides the delusion.

Regardless of whether it’s clear or not, the practice continues; only just recognizing that now it is and now it is not, and carry on. 

Sitting is a quieter activity – it gives us more continuity and builds the power of the awareness and with that comes some wisdom. So, the object has a chance to become clearer. 

In other activities there are more movement and agitation, and if the power of wisdom doesn’t grow to match the activity, then it cannot be as clear.

WISDOM WIDENS THE SCOPE OF AWARENESS

IMS Retreat 2012 Q&A Group E No.1 (1:27:40-1:28:53)

I was meditating in the forest and the cicadas were very loud. At first, I was aware of the sound as an object, but later realized that aside from the sound of the insects, the rest of the forest was deadly quiet.

There were sound and quiet together – and both were objects. At first, I didn’t recognize the silence, I didn’t see that silence was also present because the sound was so obvious and it was blocking the other object. 

But after observing it for a while, and awareness was stronger and some wisdom came in, then there was the understanding that silence was also present.

WHEN ANGER ARISES DESPITE CONSISTENT AWARENESS, WISDOM IS LACKING

IMS Retreat 2012 Q&A Group E No.1 (1:19:30-1:24:43)

Yogi: There is tension in the body and anger is linked to it. I’m aware of the reaction and can watch in a balanced way when the mind becomes quiet. It repeats the next day – it appears that there’s something I don’t understand and the awareness is just like a tranquilizer. 

Sayadaw: There is no reason why the bodily tension shouldn’t come up again regardless of whether you understand or not. What you’re watching for is whether the mind is reacting.

The tension in the mind because of a defilement is due to lack of understanding, but bodily tension may just be there.

Yogi: But I don’t know why I’m angry.

Sayadaw: On the second day, when the tension in the body is still there and aversion arises too, then something is still not understood. Wisdom may be weak in that moment.

If you understand that what is being experienced is just an object, that understanding helps the mind not to react instantly to the experience because every experience is seen as an object, that which is being known.

It is not difficult to understand that. 

WANTING IS REDUCED WHEN UNDERSTANDING CAUSE AND EFFECT

20190717 Seeing the wrong attitude or process is also important//Sayadaw Tejaniya‘s Dhamma Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSM1bLU9zpo... (4:20-5:43)

Yogi: Actually, we cannot get what we want. 

Sayadaw: Everything that you can get is not only because you want – you get it because of several conditions. But people think that ‘I want, I do and I get’.

That is why they try very hard – but they cannot get many things from trying hard. They can only get it when all the necessary conditions are right – that’s when the result will come.

Because they don’t know about conditioning, they think that if they try hard, they’ll get it – they can only see 1 of many factors that condition the result. The result of getting something is due to many conditions. 

Wanting is reduced when you understand more about cause and effect.