HOW TO HELP NON-MEDITATORS AT THE DEATHBED

Singapore Q&A 21 November 2022 (38:05-39:30) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Those who don’t know how to meditate, at near death, we can help to calm them by saying something good or by chanting to remind them of the Buddha or by helping them recall memory of their good dana or anything to change their quality of mind.

In this way, we can help them calm their mind using the object – the mind changes when the object changes – because they cannot change their mind directly by being aware of themselves.

NO OBJECT DISTURBS THE VIPASSASNA YOGI

Singapore Q&A 21 November 2022 (28:08-32:14) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Yogi: I’m always disturbed by the thinking mind.

Sayadaw: When we practice vipassana meditation, there is no disturbing object. We are not interested in concept; we’re interested in the process of mind, that something is happening.

We’re not interested in the sound; we’re interested in the hearing process. Don’t pay attention to the sound; if you pay attention to the sound, liking and disliking will arise.

Inside the hearing process, there are sound, knowing, thinking and feeling.

No object disturbs the mind; so, this right thought is very important. It is the same with thinking.

There is no disturbing object for the vipassana meditator, but for the samatha meditator, sound really disturbs the mind because they cannot get deep concentration when it is noisy.

Sound is totally disturbing for the jhana practitioner. It is not for the vipassana yogi – because of sound, we can understand anicca, dukkha and anatta. So, we use sound as an object.

GOOD INTENTION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN GOOD ACTION

SOM Q&A 29 July 2019 (00:00-00:58) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-SV79q_r8s&t=10s

Yogi: If I do something that can benefit somebody, but the intention is not pure, should I do it?

Sayadaw: Good intention is more important than good action because it is only with good intention that we can say that the action is good.

If the defilement decreases, you can go ahead, but if the defilement increases you should not do it. Practicing that is meditation.

BALANCING CONCENTRATION WITH AWARENESS

Singapore Q&A 21 Nov 2022 (19:35 -24:00) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Yogi: How do we balance concentration with awareness?

Sayadaw: Concentration is stability of mind. I don’t say concentration because concentration uses a lot of energy.

Samadhi is stable and calm mind, not concentration. However much samadhi you have, there is no problem. There is no problem having as much awareness and right samadhi; the problem comes when the samadhi is wrong samadhi.

When there is wrong idea or micchā-ditthi, the concentration becomes too heavy. 

Balancing is checking if awareness, stability of mind and wisdom are present. 

If the mind is too quiet, the mind cannot think, then you need to balance the mind. If awareness is present, you should think if you need to think. But thinking all the time is also not right – the mind wanders and becomes agitated.

Awareness is more important – it observes and knows how to adjust the mind. Is stability of mind there? Is the mind awake and alert? Are wisdom, calmness and effort working? 

You can know if something is too much.

Yogi: It is the attachment to the bliss.

Sayadaw: Attachment to the peaceful mind is a big problem to yogis.

Peacefulness is not the aim of meditation; it is a by-product or side effect of meditation. It is not our aim.

We need to be interested in bad situations too because when we’re near death, the mind will not be calm, not like during sitting meditation.

Now, during meditation, you’re very happy and feeling nice, but when we’re dying, it will not be like this.

Actually, calmness is not a problem; it is helping you to understand; samadhi helps wisdom to arise because it provides the stable mind for wisdom to come. The problem is attachment to calmness.

So, we take care of the attachment, not the calmness.

If we’re doing right, calmness arises; this is cause and effect process. The problem arises only when there is attachment because no understanding arises when we’re attached.

AN ADVICE FOR HOME PRACTICE

Singapore Q&A 20 November 2022 (43:12-44:04) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya

At home, when people try to be aware, all their activities stop to be aware. For me, I just remind myself if I’m aware while doing what I do, just checking if awareness is present. As such, my activities don’t stop, only the mind changes.

When you get to the point where you become more conscious of the awareness, then you can keep reminding yourself if awareness is still there while doing things, just checking if it is still there.

We’re not asking the awareness to specifically pay attention to anything. We’re just checking if awareness is still around.

PITI JOY IS THE RESULT OF WHOLESOME MINDS NOT AKUSALA MINDS

Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya Malaysian Group Interviews 8 Jan 2020 (00:00-01:40) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Yogi: I really like to eat fatty pork; now that I talk about it, the mind has piti, very happy and very light. How can a greed object produce piti?

Sayadaw: This liking produces happiness – it is akusala happiness because piti is different.

Yogi: It feels very light.

Sayadaw: Lobha also produces lightness – that is why greedy people are very fast. Lobha also has a lot of energy; likewise for anger. They are bad energy, not good energy.

Piti has wholesome quality; it is not rough. Piti is the joy arising from wholesome minds. When wholesome minds like samadhi and saddha increase, naturally piti arises.

AWARENESS REVEALS THE DEFILEMENT; IT DOES NOT INTENSIFY THE REACTION

Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya Malaysian Group Interviews 8 Jan 2020 (02:09-3:12) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Yogi: Sayadaw says when there is mindfulness, the mind is relieved and the quality of mind improves. But sometimes the agitation increases when I’m aware of a strong defilement – e.g. when I’m aware of the sensation while taking a cold shower, the agitation increases.

Sayadaw: Your agitation is not from awareness; the agitation is from the reaction, the resistance to the experience. It is only that you know what is happening when you’re aware.

INSIGHT IS THE REALITY OF WHAT WE HAVE BEEN TELLING OURSELVES

Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 2 (6:25-7:51) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Yogi: I have been having lots of unpleasant bodily sensations and I keep telling myself that pain is not bad; it is not my pain and that the solution is in the mind and the problem is not the pain. The pain is still there but I’m quite relaxed today.

Sayadaw: This is how we practice – first we keep introducing the right thought to help us. Eventually when we have an insight, every time we have an insight, we see the reality of what we have been telling ourselves.

WATCH THE FEELING AND NOT THINK OF WHAT AGITATES THE MIND

Singapore Q&A 19 November 2022 (28:46-31:13) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Yogi: I tried many ways to treat myself when I was sick, but I got more agitated instead.

Sayadaw: It is not easy to calm the mind for beginners because the wanting and not wanting are strong like a pendulum swinging wildly.

It is easier for the experienced yogi to calm the mind when they are sick. Normally people resist very strongly because they want a good state – the more they dislike the present situation, the more agitated the mind gets.

It is also an understanding when we realize that all the trying causes agitation. This is also one truth, but you don’t know any other way of settling the mind – you only know this way and you try again and again.

Next time when you’re sick, watch that the mind is not happy. That’s better. Be aware of the unpleasant feeling first because when the agitation subsides the mind calms down.

THE OBSTACLE TO HOME PRACTICE – EXPECTING CERTAIN EXPERIENCES

Singapore Q&A 19 November 2022 (03:36-07:08) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Yogi: When someone feels bored and uninterested with meditation, what should we do?

Sayadaw: They need to understand more about meditation, that the mind has some expectation. Because they cannot get what they want, they become bored.

It depends on your understanding – if you understand the value of the practice, the mind becomes interested. Without enough understanding, it is easy for people to lose interest.

In the beginning, people are interested in meditation because they can get a calm and peaceful mind.

Yogi: When we stop a while and try to restart the practice, it becomes very difficult.

Sayadaw: Because you’re attached to the calmness; so, the next time you meditate with the expectation and you cannot get the calmness, the mind becomes bored. This is nature.

Yogi: So, I have to try and try again.

Sayadaw: It is not to try but to understand the process. People start to meditate because of the good feeling from a calm and concentrated state. That’s when the craving comes. But when you know this process – that boredom and frustration arise from attachment – you’ll not get too attached.

AN INSIGHT INTO KOAN PRACTICE

Singapore Q&A 19 November 2022 with Sayadaw U Tejaniya (26:00-28:10)

The difficulty with Zen practice is that there is not enough information – it is just thinking. Awareness is getting information and when the question arises, the answer comes with experience.

I talked to the Korean yogis – they think about ‘who am I or who is angry?’ There are many koans.

I said ‘you need awareness’ – first, you need to be aware of your body and mind all the time and only then use the question.

When we only practice the koan, we think too much and get a lot of headache. Think, think, think and the head also becomes very tense.

Awareness is information. If you have enough information, when the koan question comes, they match – they work together and it is finished. If they ask the koan when they don’t have the information yet, then the wisdom answer does not arise.

ACKNOWLEDGING THAT THE MIND CAN’T BEAR WITH THE EXPERIENCE

Singapore Q&A 19 November 2022 (31:13-32:10) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya

I had a long test at the hospital yesterday – it was difficult.

I only watched that the mind couldn’t bear with it – the reality was that the mind had a tough time bearing with it. When that was seen, the mind could bear with it.

At first, the mind kept going back to thinking when it would end, the expectation for the test to finish.

When I saw that the mind was not peaceful because it didn’t like this situation, I began to be aware of the feeling – then, the mind settled down.

TRAINING THE MIND TO WATCH RESISTANCE AND ATTACHMENT

Swiss Retreat 2019 Interviews 1 (47:10-48:48) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Before we watch the emotions, first we need to know if we’re equanimous to what we’re watching. Are we resisting it – are we afraid of the emotion? Or, are we hoping that it’ll go away?

We need to notice and watch those motivations and feelings first before we actually try to watch the emotions directly. We need to train the mind by watching the wrong attitudes and resistance until the mind feels accepting. And, that’s when we’re ready to watch the emotions.

It is the nature of the mind that when it feels something pleasant, it will attach to it and when it feels something unpleasant, it’ll resist it and our job is to train the mind to watch the resistance and attachment so that we learn how the mind comes to equanimity.

LET AWARENESS BE A PRIORITY IN LIFE

Singapore Q&A 19 November 2022 (08:00-09:25) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Yogi: Sayadaw’s teaching is aware, aware and aware. After we’re aware, what should we do next?

Sayadaw: Through awareness, information comes and wisdom can grow slowly.

Yogi: Is there anything that we’ve to do after being aware?

Sayadaw: There is nothing else to do – just recognizing, recognizing and recognizing the mind working. We’re aware and learning about the mind.

Yogi: When I feel bored with the practice, I’ll stop.

Sayadaw: You need to change your attitude first. You now realize that it is easy to be bored when we want something and we cannot get it.

You should just practice being aware and not focus on getting what the mind wants.

USE REMINDING TO PRACTICE IN DAILY LIFE

Singapore Q&A 20 November 2022 (40:30-40:55) with Sayadaw U Tejaniya

In our daily activities, often check if our awareness is present or not – doing this is enough.

Check: Is the mind aware? What is the mind aware of? Just reminding in daily life and slowly the nature of awareness will become clearer to you.