DO NOT ASSUME LEARNING ONLY HAPPENS WHEN YOU ASK QUESTIONS

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group B 8 January 2023 (33:57-38:17)

Yogi: On the cushion, it seems that the knower is more obvious than the object. It is able to notice many objects but they’re not clear; the knowing is clearer.

Whenever I ask questions, it interrupts the awareness process. How can I ask questions for the purpose of learning then?

Sayadaw: You need to understand what learning means. Firstly, when you’re interested in the experience and you’re recognizing the quality of what is happening in your field of experience, learning is already happening.

You recognize that it feels more like the knower and not so much the knowing mind; you recognize that the knower can know many objects. This indicates that learning is already happening.

You need to understand that learning is happening when it is happening and not that learning happens only when you ask a question.

IDEAS THAT ARE HOLDING US BACK

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group B 8 January 2023 (1:43:10-1:58:05)

Yogi: During long retreats, my samadhi was good during the sit and I could be aware of all objects, even pain, without reacting to them. This experience keeps on repeating in every sitting. Is there something I’m missing? My daily activity awareness isn’t good and I try to do more walking meditation.

Sayadaw: Don’t sit so long; if you want to have the same quality of awareness when you go about your daily activities, do more daily activity awareness until you get the same quality of awareness as when you sit.

Yogi: I get my samadhi which then builds up the awareness only when I’m sitting.

Sayadaw: We’re not looking at samadhi; we’re looking at awareness. You don’t need more samadhi; it is balanced enough because your mind is not dull but you need to carry the awareness into your daily life. Your lack is practicing in daily life and making it seamless.

So, work on maintaining the awareness when you’re walking and eating.

Yogi: I can only get my daily activity awareness by building up the sitting samadhi and awareness. Without that process, it can be off for days before I remember to be aware in daily life. I need a month or so to build up a stable samadhi from the sitting.

Sayadaw: You have become attached to the idea that that samadhi gives you that type of awareness. You are not even giving yourself a chance; you are hindering any process you have by being disappointed that is not like that instead of celebrating every moment you have awareness, even if it is once a day.

You’re spending your time lamenting over what you cannot get instead of celebrating what you have.

Please go with the momentary samadhi. If you’re waiting for the big samadhi to carry your mindfulness, then when you’re about to die, you’ll have to go for retreat for a month first.

Forget about getting that kind of samadhi; work on being thankful for every moment your mind remembers to be aware and balance your sitting and walking with daily activities and work on appreciating every moment of mindfulness.

Yogi: There is another challenge. At the retreat, the mind can do the yogi’s jobs easily, but once I’m at home, the mind refuses to practice.

Sayadaw: We come geared up in a certain way when we go for retreat, but we don’t gear ourselves up the same way to practice at home. We don’t come with determination.

Home life isn’t going to take away our care for the Dhamma. The Dhamma doesn’t say we have to sit and wake up early. Everything is Dhamma; so, why do we categorize the Dhamma by when I wake up early and I do this or I sit, then it is practice. So, we have all these fixed ideas and undermine ourselves.

It is our mind that matters the most. What are our beliefs that are holding us back? What is in our mind that is telling us we cannot practice at home?

A big part of practicing at home is contentment and appreciation. If we go home and expect to practice as we practice on retreat, we’re always going to be disappointed. But if we’re happy for every second that we’re mindful and appreciate it, we’re going to grow it.

ASKING ADVICE ON UNDERSTANDING OWN PRACTICE

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group A 10 January 2023 (07:24-16:10)

Yogi: I can watch the emotions when they are strong like aversion, but under normal conditions, I don’t know how to practice because I can only watch by feeling the emotion or the calmness.

Sayadaw: When you have no difficult emotion and the attitude is right, there is nothing more to check, take a primary object or ask yourself what the mind is aware of now? See if it picks up any of the 5 physical senses.

Stay with that and check your attitude now and again.

Yogi: Do I have to fix a specific physical object? When I sit, I don’t know what to do; I’ll try to get an object like the breath but it is very difficult for me to stay with the breath.

Sayadaw: Don’t use the breath then; use something that is easy for you. When you’re calm, what can you be aware of?

Yogi: These few days when I’m tense and cannot practice, I try to relax. Today, I try to do nothing and just let it be. I close my eyes and can begin to feel the body and my breath without doing anything. But the objects keep changing; I cannot just pay attention to one object.

Do I need to fix to one object or let the awareness go here or there?

Sayadaw: Let it go to more objects.

Yogi: I have the idea that the mind should fix onto one object to get the samadhi or calm mind.

Sayadaw: We’re not being aware to calm down – so long as the mind doesn’t have doubt, greed, and aversion, the mind will be calm. If those things are present, yes, the mind won’t be calm. But that is okay because we just have to know that.

Whether the mind is calm or not is not because of one or many objects; the mind is calm when there is no greed, anger, and delusion. When the defilements are present, the mind is not calm.

LEARN TO FACE DIFFICULT SITUATIONS

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group B 8 January 2023 (1:29:00-1:32:00)

The mind having challenges is healthy for the mind. The mind that is too peaceful is not growing and does not mature. If we’re able to be up to the challenge of the difficulties the mind faces, and stay mindful, it helps the mind to learn and grow.

When we’re dying, it’s not going to be comfortable. For most of us, dying is not going to be a pleasant experience.

We should take every opportunity to face difficulties in our lives with mindfulness. Appreciate that mindfulness is present because if mindfulness guides us, we’re not going to get lost in the story of what we’re experiencing.

It’s our habit to look for pleasant experiences in meditation – we’re always wanting the next insight, but that's not going to happen when we’re dying.

What we’re going to have will be the problems we need to face. So, try to face them now.

HOW TO DISCERN SEEING FROM LOOKING

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group A 10 January 2023 (1:47:32-1:50:55)

Yogi: I try to be aware of seeing and looking, but I’m not sure what is the difference. Also, what is the difference between seeing and looking and the awareness of seeing and looking?

Sayadaw: Close your eyes and don’t open yet. When you open, know whether you can see.

Now, open your eyes. Can you see?

Yogi: Yes.

Sayadaw: Now, do you know that you can see?

Yogi: Yes.

Sayadaw: That’s it. Simple, right?

Now, you’re looking at the camera; what can you see?

Yogi: I can see the hall, I can see the Buddha image, and I can see the laptop.

Sayadaw: Okay. Then you’re looking, right?

Yogi: Oh, okay, okay. Thank you.

KEEPING THE EYES OPEN OR CLOSED OR HALF OPEN

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group A 10 January 2023 (1:15:12-1:16:16)

Yogi: As a beginner yogi, can I open my eyes while practicing sitting meditation or walking meditation?

Sayadaw: Yes, for both sitting and walking meditation.

Yogi: I will have my eyes half open while walking.

Sayadaw: You can have your eyes fully open. Meditation is the work of the mind; the mind is being aware.

So, whether you open your eyes or close your eyes or half open your eyes, it really doesn’t matter so long as your mind observes.

WE OBSERVE WHAT THE MIND IS DOING, NOT DIRECT THE DOING

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group A 6 January 2023 (1:25:22-1:26:21)

Yogi: Sayadaw advices to start being aware of 1 object and then expand it to 2 objects, is that correct?

Sayadaw: You misunderstand the instruction. It is not to expand the awareness – we don’t do anything but to notice something.

Stay on 1 object and if the mind begins to notice more objects, then recognize that the mind is starting to know more objects.

It is not to start to know more objects, but rather if the mind starts to notice more objects, recognize that.

Yogi: If the mind just notices breath, then it notices breath; and if the mind notices breath and seeing, then it notices breath and seeing. Got it. Thank you so much.

DON’T MEDITATE VERY SERIOUSLY

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group A 10 January 2023 (1:03:10-1:07:15)

Yogi: I do my meditation on the move because I’m a very active person. When I learned about this meditation, I can’t really sit properly. I just observe whatever I can observe during daily activities.

Initially, it was quite alright, and only recently I notice that the restlessness has become very obvious. I worry about this.

Sayadaw: Don’t meditate very seriously; relax and pretend that you’re on vacation and not meditating. Don’t watch the restlessness. If you watch it too directly and the mind is afraid of it, it’ll make it worse.

Do something that makes you happy while being aware of yourself; it could be washing the dishes or anything active.

CHALLENGES HELP THE MIND LEARN AND GROW

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group B 8 January 2023 (1:23:25-1:29:32)

Yogi: Usually at the beginning of the retreat, there will be some difficult situations, and some bodily discomfort and it triggers a lot of awareness and immediately after that, there is happiness because the mind recognizes the cultivation of the mind.

Sayadaw: It is healthy for the mind to face challenges because the mind that is too peaceful is not growing and does not mature. The challenges the mind faces, if we’re able to stay mindful, help the mind to learn and grow.

WATCHING THE UNPLEASANT SENSATION

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group A 10 January 2023 (1:09:00-1:12:20)

Yogi: I still can’t see pain as nature. When I watch the hot sensation, the mind keeps going to the disliking. How can I learn to see the pain correctly?

Sayadaw: It is normal to not like the sensation that the mind doesn’t like.

When you watch the disliking mind, just check what level the disliking is. As you watch it, take a few deep breaths and see if the disliking decreases a bit.

If it gets less, then you can watch the heat again and you’ll notice the disliking again. And maybe the disliking has increased. Then go back to the disliking and watch it again to and fro with the heat and disliking.

Take that as an exercise.

Yogi: Sometimes I ask myself what is wrong with the disliking and it releases some, but it’ll come back again.

Sayadaw: It’s okay as long as it releases sometimes and you’re okay with that.

DEVELOPING OUR AWARENESS IS THE CRUX OF THE PRACTICE

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group A 10 January 2023 (1:45:26-1:47:15)

Yogi: If I hear it right, the key to the practice is developing the continuity of the awareness, that this is foremost in the practice. May I confirm this understanding?

Sayadaw: Right, continue being aware.

Yogi: If I design my practice in such a way that I’m aware of seeing and hearing and I switch between knowing these two objects, is this encouraged?

Sayadaw: Yes, you can.

HOW TO TELL IF WE’RE SUCCESSFUL IN MEDITATION?

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group B 16 January 2023 (01:00-05:50)

Yogi: Once I watched anger and it disappeared, is this considered successful meditation and is it the right way of meditating?

Sayadaw: Anger can disappear because of any of these reasons.

One is that in trying to be aware, it doesn’t allow your mind to think of the things that make you angry; that makes the anger become less.

Trying to be aware is wholesome work; it can change the quality of the mind and make the anger go away.

You could have actually thought of something in a different way or realized something that makes the anger stop or become less.

But in any case, when you try to be aware of your anger, you have already succeeded in being mindful. You are already successful as far as being mindful is concerned. The result is not important; it is the work that is important.

You want to congratulate yourself for making the effort and recognizing that effort is present and more importantly, the awareness is present.

KEEPING THE EYES OPEN OR CLOSED OR HALF OPEN

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group A 10 January 2023 (1:15:12-1:16:16)

Yogi: As a beginner yogi, can I open my eyes while practicing sitting meditation or walking meditation?

Sayadaw: Yes, for both sitting and walking meditation.

Yogi: I will have my eyes half open while walking.

Sayadaw: You can have your eyes fully open. Meditation is the work of the mind; the mind is being aware.

So, whether you open your eyes or close your eyes or half open your eyes, it really doesn’t matter so long as your mind observes.

DEALING WITH LOW CONFIDENCE

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group A 10 January 2023 (33:52-41:30)

Yogi: How do I overcome low self-confidence? I notice that it impedes my practice too.

Sayadaw: Firstly, you don’t lack self-confidence all the time, right? Use your awareness to recognize and acknowledge the times when you’re feeling normal confidence or good confidence. You want to acknowledge and be happy at those times; that will remind the mind whenever you feel confident.

Secondly, when you don’t have confidence, remember that if you have a lot of expectations and they are not met, you will feel low confidence. High expectation is wrong attitude and also unrealistic.

When something is unrealistic, we’ll have low confidence because we’ll feel like we are never going to achieve it. But why do we need to achieve it?

Watch the high expectation and feeling of low confidence with that background understanding, breathing deeply, and letting it go. If we can reduce it a bit, we’re doing good.

We can never get as much as we hope because what we get will match what we can do. Even if the low confidence reduces a little bit, it is a good sign – we need to celebrate small gains. Do it little by little and don’t have the expectation that it is going to disappear or it’ll set you up for low confidence.

WHEN THE RIGHT INFORMATION CAN GUIDE THE PRACTICE

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat Zoom Q&A Group A 10 January 2023 (1:26:00-1:33:02)

Yogi: I’m not good at watching the mind. There is an interval where I’m lost in thought between knowing the thinking and switching to knowing the body sensation. How can I stop the thoughts between knowing thinking and knowing body sensation? And, how can I see the connection between the mind and the body?

Sayadaw: You’re fine right now. You are practicing observing and that is all you need to do right now. There is no need to make a connection between thoughts and body sensations. You’re just trying to ground your attention to the body or else the mind will be thinking too much.

It won’t be connected. Just be aware of your sensations – your breath or hearing – and keep doing that.

When your thoughts are actually causing sensations in the body, for example, when people are worried, they have a bad feeling in the heart or when they’re angry, the whole body feels hot, that’s when they are connected.

When you come to the body, you not only notice the bodily sensations but also notice the feelings in the heart area. That is connected to how the mind feels. That will give you a closeness to the mind. Just be content to do the exercise of being aware of what is happening inside the body and in the feelings.