WHAT DOES ACCEPT MEAN IN VIPASSANA PRACTICE?

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 17 (40:28-41:25)

In vipassana practice, we say that the right attitude is to accept what is happening, but it doesn’t mean to accept and just let it stay like that. It is not like we have to suffer.

Accept means that this is happening now – we accept the fact that this is happening now – then you use your awareness and wisdom to figure out what to do next. 

The next moment is not fixed in stone – you can try different things, but in the moment, you accept that this the way it is. If you do not accept and you’re averse to it, the mind has more difficulty thinking how to do something about it.

So, accept the fact, but then you can do something about it.

TIREDNESS DOES NOT MEAN AWARENESS CANNOT BE PRESENT

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 16 (1:09:25-1:14:17)

Yogi: I was too tired and couldn’t be aware of the sensations or feelings clearly. When I tried to look closer, they became weaker. 

Does the mind need a lot of energy to keep the sensation obvious and stable? 

Sayadaw: You couldn’t know the sensations or feelings strongly because you were too tired. 

Even though you were tired, you could sense them weakly and you could even sense that they had changed to neutral. 

It seemed that although the mind was tired, the awareness was pretty good because of momentum and wisdom.

Tiredness doesn’t necessarily make the mindfulness less good.

RECOGNIZE THAT THE AWARENESS IS WHOLESOME

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 18 (1:24:20-1:26:38)

Yogi: There were difficult times when the mind got lost in aversion and greed. I was very often also confused. 

Sayadaw: Next time, when we know the unwholesome minds, also appreciate the wholesome work of awareness that is happening.

Awareness allows you to know the unwholesome. Appreciate the awareness – it is wholesome.

BETTER NOT TO NAME THE EMOTION IF IT IS NOT CLEAR

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 18 (4:55-6.30)

Yogi: I felt that my body fell asleep, but my mind was very alert at the end of the day. There was an initial feeling of sadness because I felt enormous amount of gratitude for the body when I saw the tiredness in the body.

Sayadaw: There is a question if the use of the word sadness is valid because there is an identification of a feeling with the word, and the word is giving the feeling that meaning.

To have a clear mind and the body is tired, and the mind feels sadness, maybe just call it a feeling and not name it sadness; not to assume right away that that is actually the emotion.

IS IT OKAY FOR THE MIND NOT TO BE PEACEFUL WHEN WE MEDITATE?

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 16 (1:29:55-1:34:40)

Yogi: I have a rough time – it is not easy or peaceful and calm during this retreat. All these days, I have lots of emotions. 

Normally, when I have a problem, I think about it and do it. Now, I can’t solve anything because I’m not doing anything except feeling. 

It’s not calming – I’m getting sad or angry and I’m struggling.

Sayadaw: Consider coming here like learning about the Mind 101 course. When the mind is like this, it does this, and when the mind is like that, it does that – just observing the mind to see how it reacts, changes and behaves.

Not just the mind, but also the body. If we just want to calm the mind down, that is easy – give it one object, be simple and just watch and the mind calms down.

But we don’t learn about the mind-body process.

Yogi: So, it’s okay if the mind is not peaceful?

Sayadaw: YES! Peace is not the goal of meditation.

If you listen to the yogis, they are sometimes good and sometimes bad; it is a learning process.

Yogi: Oh, I’m glad – it’s a relief that I’m not the only one. I’m a little stressed because I have the concept that meditation has to be a little more peaceful and stable. 

Sayadaw: It is okay; when we’re not skillful yet, it feels like that because we’re feeling our way through.

AVERSION ARISES BECAUSE OF GREED OR DELUSION

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 18 (1:03:10-1:07:50)

Yogi: Every time when there’s greed, is there also aversion? And, when there is aversion, is there also greed? 

Sayadaw: The cause for aversion is always greed or delusion. If there is greed, delusion is already present. 

Sometimes the delusion is stronger, like we believe that something shouldn’t be and we just get angry about it without having thought it through. There can be delusion that fuels aversion.

Greed is always often the cause of aversion – when the mind doesn’t want something, it means that it wants something else.

Theoretically, lobha and dosa cannot co-exist in the mind at the same time, but we cannot see that experientially because the mind works so fast. We see them together because so much has passed when we notice them, but the greed is the cause for the aversion.

Greed not only fuels aversion, it also fuels fear and anxiety.

MINDFULNESS ENCOMPASSES ALL THE GOODNESS OF THE BUDDHA’S TEACHINGS

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 16 (58:57-1:01:19)

Yogi: Can I improve my practice by praying or chanting?

Sayadaw: I’m not much into praying or chanting. Mindfulness encompasses all the goodness of the Buddha’s teachings. 

Yogi: You don’t pray or chant?

Sayadaw: There are lots of ceremonies and rituals in Burma and the monks have to be present and they chant. Then, I go and chant because that’s my responsibility, but that is not my preference.

Yogi: Why do the monks chant then?

Sayadaw: Things like the monks’ rules are chanted so that they are not forgotten. Some of the chants are actually meaningful and point to practice. Some are about qualities of the mind to have, like the Mangala Sutta which talks about practices that bring blessings to life.

SAMSARA IS LONG BECAUSE WE WANT IT

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 16 (39:08:-40:53)

So many times, I have followed my greed and have been lied to.

I would go where the greed sends me and I make the effect because the greed thinks that it’ll be more beautiful there for a second, but I’m so tired after that.

Between IMS and the Forest Refuge, there’s a path through the woods. I really like the path and I would go there to walk back and forth.

One day when I was walking there, Joseph, who lived nearby, came walking by and I said to him: I really like this place.

Joseph said: That’s why you’re here, Sayadaw.

It’s so perfect; I like that.

Everything we do is because we want it; and samsara is long because we want it.

PUT IN SOME EFFORT TO EXPLORE WHEN IT TURNS STALE

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 17 (1:20:45-1:25:53)

Yogi: I see that peace when the defilements are either weak or absent. After that, it’s like stagnation and a little bit of boredom. What is the right investigation, keeping in mind that I’m not supposed to create anything?

I see the energy dropping and I’m not content with that.

Sayadaw: At a time like this, having some theoretical knowledge helps us to investigate what is happening.

The questions of interest will come out of what we see in our awareness. You notice that when the mind is just peaceful, even though it tries to be mindful in an attentive way, the energy is dropping.

You can investigate why is the energy dropping? What is the mind not paying attention to?

If the mind has a reaction to something, e.g., now that the energy is dropping, does the mind have the right or wrong attitude?

If the mind has an aversion, what does it have an aversion to? If it has an aversion to this, does it have an aversion to the other?

The mind can investigate in so many ways – that interest to discover more will come out of what is actually happening to the mind.

It is important to know that the basic practice is the same – we’re observing and learning. I don’t want to say too much about what exactly we should be learning or paying attention to – then it becomes something others have told us to look at and we may not be looking at something that is actually more present for us.

BE EVER READY WITH MINDFULNESS

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 17 (1:12:34-1:16:42)

Yogi: I have been unemployed for some time – I had to write lots of applications and received lots of rejection. At the same time, I had to look for a new flat, and it was the same thing. 

There’s a feeling of not being good about myself. I have a temporary job now but I dread having to go through the whole process again. How do I improve my self-esteem in this situation?

Sayadaw: Frustration with the self or the outside, it is from the same source – it is aversion. 

When things are not working out well, it is inevitable that there’ll be aversion to the situation. It is aversion’s nature to find things to be averse about; then, it can turn on the self-aversion.

It is just the nature of aversion to find something in its environment to blame. 

The remedy is to be mindful and keep those wholesome minds on the ready because we really need to rely on them for support. It means we do the practice every day as much as possible; we’ll find that there will be an unexpected outcome from that. 

It seems so simple, but keeping the mind mindful can truly support us.

WHEN WE DON'T GET WHAT WE NEED

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 17 (1:17:18-1:19:53)

Yogi: I have been unemployed for some time – I had to write lots of applications and received lots of rejections. At the same time, I had to look for a new flat; and it was the same thing. 

There’s a feeling of not being good about myself.

Sayadaw: Everybody has some difficulties in their lives, but when they start to pile up, and the mind hasn’t a way to deal with it, then it can really destabilize the mind and some people get depressed.

The main culprit is view – whether we have wrong view or right view. When a situation happens, do we identify with it – that view is important.

Everything in the world is based on conditions. We don’t get something because we want it, but only when the right conditions come together. 

If you see that that is the nature of it – we don’t get a job because the conditions for that job don’t fit us, when we see that it is the conditions that are not right – it is easier not to identify with it and blame yourself.

We do what we just have to do. When there are a lot of difficulties in our life and we don’t see the reality of it, which is that the conditions are not right, it is easy to blame ourselves because we don’t know what to blame anymore.

There is actually no need to blame anything; it is just conditions that need to come together. It is useful if we already understand that conditions are needed for something to happen.

If we understand that principle, we can also not be so identified with it.

WATCHING AND UNDERSTANDING FOR OURSELVES

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 17 (0:00-1:00)

Yogi: A reactive mind cannot see clearly. 

Sayadaw: Yes, that’s true. 

Yogi: Moving the body also comes from the mind.

Sayadaw: Yes, that’s true too.

Yogi: I tend to get stiff in sitting meditation because I want to see clearly. 

Sayadaw: Yes, very good; you’re discovering the truths. 

ALWAYS RECOGNIZE THAT AWARENESS IS WHOLESOME

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 17 (24:50-28:22)

Yogi: In therapy, I learned to work so much with negativity and also the unwholesome mind – for a long time I’m under the impression that I’ve been feeling the unwholesome. I now wonder if it might be a good idea to quit therapy to meditate and cultivate the wholesome.

Sayadaw: When we observe the unwholesome minds, when we acknowledge them, what is very important is right view, not to identify with them.

You see the unwholesome quality come up and not to think that this is me. 

If you notice that the mind thinks that this is me, to recognize that the mind thinks this is me; then you’re not so involved with the self-ing.

Although it is important to recognize the unwholesome, it is also important to recognize the wholesome; very important actually.

What is really important is to recognize the wholesome mind arising at the same time as the unwholesome mind, which is the awareness.

We’re so busy looking at the object that we always forget we’re cultivating a wholesome practice. We forget the wholesome cultivation that is happening and that is the awareness. 

When you recognize something that is unwholesome, pat yourself on the back for recognizing it. The wholesome thing is that there is recognition. 

RIGHT ATTITUDE FREES THE MIND TO OBSERVE WITHOUT DISTRESS

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 8 (6:30-9:44)

Yogi: When I start to watch the mental pain, there’s a sense of heading for freedom.

When there are thoughts of the mental pain, and I say that it is thinking, a sense of relief starts to happen like a taste of it; but it is not consistent.

Sayadaw: The freedom is in the sense of the awareness. 

Sometimes there can be the grieving, but the mind that is watching it is alright. It allows the mind that is grieving to grieve. 

It doesn’t mean that what is being observed or experienced goes away. It means that the experience can be known without being further distressed by it. It doesn’t compound the suffering – the knowing of it is free.

WHEN OVERWHELMED, BUILD THE AWARENESS BY USING A NEUTRAL OBJECT

Swiss Retreat 2019 Group Interviews 16 (47:35-51:43)

The rule of thumb is if you’re watching something in the mind and if it is getting worse, don’t watch it. Go to a neutral object and calm the mind first. When the mind is steady, the mind is ready and not before.

A yogi was hiking and he was trying to cross a stream. It was freezing and he was alone – he was in a bad situation and he couldn’t move. 

He was in a panic, he felt the fear of death and he was afraid because nobody was around. He couldn’t manage the fear in his mind and he remembered ‘‘Sayadaw” saying to come to a neutral object and he started watching his breath, watching his breath. And then he said his mind calmed down. 

When the mind calmed down, without the panic, he understood what he should do. He could then get up and move. This shows the importance of not panicking.

We learn so much about the mind, but we also have to understand when we can watch the mind directly and when it is not a good time to watch the mind directly. 

We have to know that in watching the defilement, the awareness must be stronger than the defilement to be able to watch it directly. At least the balance should be 70-80% awareness and 20-30% unwholesome mind. 50:50 is quite tough. 

If the awareness is not strong enough, it is better to build the awareness by using a neutral object.