Q&ASasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat14 Jan 2023
05 Zoom Q&A group A and B — Attitude and Appreciating Awareness
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 2 hr 8 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−2:08:14
AI-written summary
The group interview explains the importance of checking one's attitude and defilements during practice. Yogis are advised to appreciate awareness in the present moment and cultivate contentment rather than pursuing results. The discussion also clarifies the distinction between feeling (vedanā) and aversion (dosa).
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary Retreat · 7 talks
- 11 hr 39 min01 Zoom Q&A group A — Open Awareness, Working with Expectations and Overthinking6 Jan 2023
- 22 hr 16 min02 Zoom Q&A group B — Recognizing Hindrances and Appreciating Awareness8 Jan 2023
- 31 hr 57 min03 Zoom Q&A group A — Awareness of Thinking, Handling Restlessness, and Attitude10 Jan 2023
- 42 hr 42 min04 Zoom Q&A group B — Attitude Towards Defilements and Discontent12 Jan 2023
- Viewing52 hr 8 min05 Zoom Q&A group A and B — Attitude and Appreciating Awareness14 Jan 2023
- 61 hr 45 min06 Zoom Q&A group A and B — Being Happy with Awareness and Checking Attitude16 Jan 2023
- 754 min07 concluding talk — Continuing Practice and Motivating Awareness at Home17 Jan 2023
Transcript
English
Today, 14 January 2023, small-group discussion with Sayadaw U Tejaniya at Sasanaraka Buddhist Sanctuary via Zoom.
English
Uh, hello—good afternoon. Good afternoon, Sayadaw and MAATE. Right now I have 4 questions, okay?
English
First question I want to ask about—actually I'm not really, I only explore one type of meditation so far, which is this tree yogi job. But I know in market there's a lot of other types of meditation. So what my understanding is, for meditation, some of the meditation
English
might go to
English
madness, if I heard before. Because meditation got a lot of types. So, um, actually I got the fear that when I study the meditation, is it will going to madness or crazy something? How to know this meditation is the best of the compared to other.
English
Yeah, this is the first question. ——
English
[Burmese segment]
English
So Shadow said that, um,
English
you know the, it's not because of the method, it's because of the mind. So he said, um,
English
what causes people to, uh, lose themselves when they try certain kinds of meditation, or even—and it doesn't matter what kind of meditation, actually. It's when they have, um,
English
to put it very generally, it's when they have a lot of defilements in the mind. But that means, really, that it's in their meditation, as in, like, it's not like you have a lot of anger so you're going to go crazy. It's not like that. It's like when you meditate, uh, and you are, like, there's, uh, a lot of greed, for example, for results.
English
And then that greed is very extreme. So extreme that you are willing to believe all sorts of things. Uh, so extreme that you are willing to do all sorts of things. So, so that, that extreme greed is what leads the mind to, to do extreme things. And, and that can lead the mind over the edge. So that, that's—so, um, so Shadow explains, it's, it's never the method, yeah.
English
It's always the, like, the attitude of the mind. Like, how is the mind meditating that's important. And he said he cannot say to you that he, the way he teaches is the best way. That's, you know, just not possible. He's, you know, everybody has something that suits them better.
English
But he said the only difference he can think of is that he emphasizing, emphasizes knowing how you are meditating. What mind you are med—like, recognizing whether you have greed. Recognizing how, how much aversion you have, how much greed you have while you are meditating. So that you can, you know, that can be something that you, uh, observe and, and, and work with, rather than being pushed by that greed, aversive mind, to do your meditation.
English
You know? So, yeah.
English
So Shadow said, all of us, right, as humans are, uh, the Buddha called us puttu jnana.
English
You know, when we're not on the path to enlightenment, we are puttu jnana, which means we all carry a little bit of, of madness with us. But madness meaning kilesa, okay? The things that are. Please. Kilesa, defilements. Yeah, the unwholesome qualities of mind. So those unwholesome qualities of the mind are the ones that make us crazy, right?
English
As in, like, even in a general way, right? Not, not like, like mental health kind of, um, not like, uh, mental hospital kind of, um, this thing. But in, in small ways, we all have our little bits of, right, um, of, of, uh, disease, right? Mental disease, which is from, from our, uh, defilements or our kilesa.
English
So, um, he said when we meditate, we are trying to cultivate, um, awareness and wholesome qualities of mind. Um, right view, you know, uh, stability of mind, um, right effort, and so on. So if, if we can, uh, recognize that we are doing that, we acknowledge that we are doing that, we, we will, um, always, um, like, positively regard our, you know, our efforts.
English
You know, we, we will, um, appreciate, uh, our efforts at, at cultivating these qualities. Then these qualities will keep growing. The positive qualities. So that's what we need to, if we have an eye on this, and we are recognizing that this is what's happening, we appreciate that that's what we are doing.
English
And we appreciate in the sense that we actually, like, um, know that it's good enough. You know? Recognize that it's good thing that we are doing. Then it, it will, it will encourage the mind to keep going in that direction.
English
No, no, no.
[Burmese segment]
English
So Shadow says, um, the reason he asks us to check our mind all the time, how are we meditating? Like, you know, it's so that we will recognize if we are starting to become too much, too greedy. Having too many expectations in our practice. Or, uh, too much aversion. Like, too much, uh, always dissatisfied with, with, with what is happening right now.
English
So then when we—if we recognize those things, he said, it helps us to then, um, step back from it and say, oh, okay, yeah, um, actually,
English
there's awareness now that should—that's good enough. You know? We, we need to be able to step back and, and come back to that. Um, he said, otherwise, what happens is that we get lost in the experience. So like, some people have, um, very good, uh, like samādhi experiences. You know, they are very quiet, or, or, or very great.
English
You know, maybe they feel very strong or something like that. All these kind of experiences. Then the—that's the object. Okay? Those experiences are objects. Those are things that we should recognize. But we also need to recognize how we are relating to those experiences. So again, how we are being aware. And if we don't make the habit of checking how we are being aware, we will, uh, become like mesmerized by what we want or what we don't want.
English
So, you know, and then if yogis like that, they go on retreat, right? They go on retreat where they are, um, continuously trying to cultivate something. And then they cultivate this kind of, like, they have an experience and they want that experience. So they keep—so they keep pursuing it without recognizing. Never checking back to see that, oh, they are very obsessed with something.
English
You know? So there's a lot of greed. So then when they don't check, they keep pursuing the, the, the object, the experience, their, their, the goal that they set themselves. That's when, you know, wrong—even though, um,
Keep listening by topic
Suggestions for what to listen to next · Based on the topics of this talk. No account history needed.
- Questions and answers — Right Attitude, Tension, and Being AwareSayadaw U Tejaniya1 hr 29 min
Shares topics with this talk
- Dhamma discussion group B2 — Mind as Reality and Working with Pain and AttitudeSayadaw U Tejaniya1 hr 33 min
Shares topics with this talk
- Dhamma discussion group B3 — Wrong Attitude, Defilements, and Relaxation in PracticeSayadaw U Tejaniya1 hr 42 min
Shares topics with this talk
- Questions and answers — Right Effort, Learning from Desires and Love Without AttachmentSayadaw U Tejaniya1 hr 56 min
Shares topics with this talk
- Day 7 Discussion group D — Observing Defilements and Looking for CauseSayadaw U Tejaniya2 hr 16 min
Shares topics with this talk
Sayadaw U Tejaniya began his Buddhist training as a young teenager in Burma under the late Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw (1913–2002). After a career in business and life as a householder, he has become a permanent monk since 1996.…