INSIGHT ALWAYS RELIEVES THE MIND

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 7 (22:22-25:10)

Yogi: A small change in perspective helps to relieve the stress. 

Sayadaw: Insight always relieves the mind.

That insight was able to come because there was some awareness continuing in the midst of the aversion and everything else.

No awareness ever goes to waste even if it feels like the awareness is half-hearted.

Even if you feel like you’re not putting in enough effort and you’re not trying properly, even if you’re struggling with the awareness, it is okay.

We always have these judgments about our less than perfect awareness, but so long as there is some awareness, it will bear fruit.

HOW TO TELL APART WHOLESOME WANTING FROM GREED

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 7 (12:00-15:03)

How do I tell if my wanting for transformation is wholesome or greed?

Sayadaw: Not every desire is greed. You have to check if the wanting is motivated by wisdom or greed. 

If the desire is wholesome, the mind feels confident, purposeful, clear about what to do and works towards its goal.

Once greed is involved, and greed has its characteristics, there are impatience, tiredness and boredom with the practice – all these signs will show that greed is there. There is also dissatisfaction or tension when greed cannot immediately get its goal. 

FIRE-PROOFING THE MIND

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 7 (26:00-32:25)

Yogi: I have a problem with my old and frail parents and I need Sayadaw’s advice how to handle it when I go back. 

My mum is in a nursing home and my dad is giving me a hard time. I feel for him, but I still have my issues from the past.

What is a wise way to deal with this? 

Sayadaw: You have to make yourself fire proof.

The unwholesome minds are like fire. When we deal with other people – and they have their unwholesome minds – sometimes we catch fire.

If you don’t want to catch fire, you have to practice ahead to really stay within yourself and be mindful; that’s your safety zone.

Being mindful – being able to maintain a peace of mind while interacting is one part of fire-proofing yourself – the other part is to be skillful when you interact with others. It is the wisdom of how to communicate, to be sensitive to the moment and knowing how to respond; and sometimes it comes with experience.

Yogi: When the mind is not stable, can I step out of the interaction?

Sayadaw: Yes, when you’re catching fire, it is not helpful anymore except stepping out.

When we pay too much attention to the other person, that’s when we lose mindfulness. We need to stay mindful of our own responses so that as we’re interacting we’re in touch with our reactions. 

Daily life practice is challenging, but very interesting.

WISDOM AND CONFIDENCE SHOW UP WHEN WE CONTINUE TO PRACTICE

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 7 (07:55-10:43)

Yogi: I thought I was following Sayadaw’s instructions, but I wasn’t really doing it right. And it was inspiring today when I could really follow his instructions. 

The moment I could follow Sayadaw’s instructions, the mind changed and I could see things clearly. Confidence arose and I felt relieved.

Sayadaw: When the practice falls into place, it brings up a lot of faith and inspires the mind to continue. However, don’t discount the previous days – it was because the mind was trying those days that it fell into place today.

Yogi: I also appreciate the simplicity of Sayadaw’s instructions because they are really simple. It is incredible how we make them complicated and manage to entangle something that is really straight forward.

Sayadaw: It is the nature of the unwholesome minds to complicate things – that is their job.

DON’T LABEL THE DEFILEMENTS UNLESS SURE

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 5 (45:40-50:00)

Yogi: Seeing the moon, I feel a sense of joy and gratitude. The mountain here is so beautiful and so are the flowers. I’m aware of them and the next thing I’m saying that they are beautiful.

And I say ‘it’s lobha’. 

Sayadaw: You see a flower and you think it’s beautiful, just know that. You don’t have to label it as greed because you’re not even sure that it’s greed. Just because you think that it’s beautiful doesn’t immediately make it greed.

Know as it is; don’t label it unless it’s very clear to you that it’s greed.

I’m seeing, seeing is happening; I notice it’s yellow and that I’m starting to think it’s beautiful. And this is what it feels like.

Don’t have a fixed idea that when I’m mindful I have to do this and that mustn’t happen. It’s like if this happens, this is happening now and if that happens, that is happening now.

And you’re mindful every moment.

We don’t have to fix the future or fix the object.

SUFFERING INTENSIFY WHEN MIND IS BELIEVED AS MINE

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 4 (54:05-58:17)

Yogi: I’m frustrated and sad when there’s a lot of judgment and sometimes my mind is so stupid because it is such a waste of time. Sometimes I do compassion for myself when it is really hard and that loosens the tension.

Sayadaw: The main culprit for hating these minds that arise, the main reason we have so much aversion to these minds, is because we think ‘it is my mind’.

If it was not my mind but some other person’s mind, we would not hate it so much.

Remember that judging is one of the nature of the mind, not only your mind can have it; every other person’s mind can have it. 

And this sort of mind is just conditioning. These minds have manifested before and now they manifest again. It is not our fault; it is just conditions that have allowed them to arise.

Everything we experience now is just the effect of past conditions. 

WHEN THERE’S WISDOM, THE OBJECT FEELS LESS SUBSTANTIAL

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 6 (58:05-1:01:40)

Yogi: I have habitual very aversive thoughts – I’m totally identified with them. And I start to see the wanting in the stories to fix the past. Seeing the wanting, the thoughts are still there, but they become light and less solid. 

Sayadaw: The cause of aversion is greed.

When you saw the greed in the aversive thoughts and they didn’t feel so solid, it is because there’s some wisdom in that seeing. 

When we see the direct cause of something, it doesn’t feel so solid because wisdom is present.

In a sense, you’re seeing it as it is. You’re seeing the reality of what is happening. 

GREED IS HARDER TO DETECT

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 6 (52:00-53:55)

Yogi: I saw many things I like during the walk but I couldn’t see the greed. But when I saw things I didn’t like, immediately I saw aversion. For me, greed is more difficult to detect than aversion.

Sayadaw: Aversion is always easier to recognize because aversion is quite rough. Greed is not always obvious because greed is kind of sugar-coated and tastes nice. 

When greed is very strong, when it is grasping, it is obvious. When greed gets to the point that it is causing tension in you, then you’ll know it.

AWARENESS CAN BE STABILIZED WITH WISDOM OR WITH METTA

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 6 (37:50-46:10)

Yogi: When a strong mental or bodily pain arises, it needs more than be watched; it needs to be touched and loved.

Sayadaw: If we’re guided by right view, we become willing to observe something. 

Many teachers teach to have some metta for ourselves when we face a difficult emotion so that the mind can observe in a softer way. The effect is to reduce the aversion towards the experience, to make the mind more willing to approach it.

The hope is for the yogi to find a way to approach the experience in a way that is not painful.

I would always view the object as not mine or universal and something interesting, but for some of us viewing the experience with kindness brings positivity to the observing too.

If we find we’re able to bring up kindness and view our difficult experience with kindness, it serves the same purpose. The point is that we become willing to accept and observe; it doesn’t matter if it is interest or kindness which brings that acceptance and willingness. 

Once the mind can find the right stance to accept and observe, then it’s fine.

IT TAKES TIME TO GROW THE MOTIVATION TO BE AWARE

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 6 (00:12-2:50)

Yogi: Sometimes I’m aware, sometimes I’m not aware, and sometimes, I’m not sure. Other times, I don’t want to be aware. It takes an effort to go against this habit. Can I have another attitude that allows me to be aware, or is it a luxury to be aware?

Sayadaw: The mind doesn’t want to be aware because delusion doesn’t really want to be aware. It’s only when we use some wisdom like ‘we really should try to be aware’, but delusion will prefer us not to be aware so that it can do whatever it wants.

So both motivations – the motivation to be aware and the motivation to not be aware – will be present and competing.

We need more understanding about awareness so that the motivation to be aware will grow stronger; and it takes time.

WHEN EVERYTHING FEELS LIKE THE SAME OLD THING

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 6 (1:26:34-1:28:08)

Yogi: The mind is dull and it feels like everything is old.

Sayadaw: When we start to feel that the practice is not fresh and light, we need to check our attitude. Is the mind wanting something? 

You check your attitude and now you see your attitude – the mind doesn’t like the present moment. So, you now have to start watching the aversion. 

We just take what we are given – this is the present moment and we take that.

If we keep on comparing the dullness with the morning freshness, we’ll keep going in circles for days. We don’t need to want what we had in the morning; we just need to be aware of the present moment as it is.

Yogi: I was thinking that I was doing something wrong.

Sayadaw: There is no need to be good; we only need to be aware.

THE MIND CAN’T BE SEEN WHEN TOO EAGER TO LOOK FOR IT

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 5 (1:18:08-1:19:39)

Yogi: I was fascinated by the attitude of my mind and had been watching that, but now I couldn’t find it. 

Sayadaw: It’s already there and you probably don’t have to search for it. Because the mind is too eager, you couldn’t see it – just lay down the desires, and simply start anew from the body.

If you have seen those attitudes over the years, they will come up anew. 

When we look for the mind, sometimes it hides from us and if you don’t look for it, you just stay in the present moment, it’ll put itself in front of you. 

BEAUTY IS A CONCEPT

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 4 (58:20-59:30)

Yogi: When I’m outside and am aware of seeing, everything is equal, but often there are things that catch my attention that are beautiful. Is beauty always a concept?

Sayadaw: It is a value judgment of the mind because what you find beautiful somebody else may find ugly or neutral. 

Beauty is a concept; so, it’s not a reality. If it was a reality, everyone would experience it the same way. 

If someone likes red, then red is beautiful. If someone likes blue, blue is beautiful. 

RECOGNIZE THE BENEFIT OF AWARENESS IN THE PRESENT MOMENT

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 4 (44:20-50:35)

Yogi: I have been practicing at home, but I notice there’s still a big gap between the retreat practice and practice in daily life. I think it’s because I talk a lot in everyday life. 

Is it possible to have the same calmness and tidiness of mind in daily life?

Sayadaw: Now that you practice more at home than you used to, do you feel a difference? Is there a sense that it is more beneficial? That the mind is more stable?

Instead of reaching for a goal, think of the present moment. For me, when I was mindful, it was a little better than just being depressed. 

Rely on what your present moment experience is – is it better than not being mindful? Is this much mindful better than being less mindful than this? 

Let that motivate you to be mindful.

ATTACHMENT TO THINKING

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 5 (1:20:05-1:21:23)

Yogi: This attachment to thinking is frightening. How do I get rid of it? It feels like we’re human thinking and not human beings.

Sayadaw: We need mindfulness and wisdom. When there is enough wisdom, the mind will know what is enough – what is necessary to think of and what is unnecessary or tormenting thinking. 

We do have a lot of attachment to thinking – it makes us feel real and validated.