Q&AMeditationszentrum Beatenberg Retreat21 May 2016
C 1 Group interview — Being Aware Without Forcing and Working with Thoughts and Pain
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 2 hr 6 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−2:06:10
AI-written summary
The teacher clarifies maintaining natural awareness without overexertion or fixating on objects. Yogis learn to recognize the mind, accept painful feelings, and maintain right attitude without controlling experience.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Meditationszentrum Beatenberg Retreat · 22 talks
- 11 hr 12 minWhat is meditation20 May 2016
- 226 minMeditation instructions — Concept, Reality, and Using Objects to Cultivate Sati21 May 2016
- 31 hr 57 minB 1 Group interview — Natural Awareness, Everything Is Nature, and Right Effort21 May 2016
- Viewing42 hr 6 minC 1 Group interview — Being Aware Without Forcing and Working with Thoughts and Pain21 May 2016
- 529 minMeditation instructions — Right Attitude Towards Experience and Thinking22 May 2016
- 62 hr 2 minD 1 Group interview — Recognizing Awareness and Working with Difficult Emotions22 May 2016
- 732 minMeditation instructions — Natural Awareness and Right Attitude23 May 2016
- 81 hr 58 minB 2 Group interview — Recognizing Delusion and Appreciating Awareness23 May 2016
- 92 hr 11 minC 2 Group interview — Natural Awareness, Observing Thoughts, and Non-Identification23 May 2016
- 1030 minMeditation instructions — Knowing the Awareness and the Quality of Awareness24 May 2016
Transcript
English
Okay. Well, um, I've sort of been adapting. Since earlier I've done sort of a lot of focusing on one thing, one object, that kind of meditation.
English
So yesterday I experienced I got very tired, very sleepy, sort of falling asleep kind of tired.
English
And at first I went I rested, and then I went for a walk, and then I looked at one of the books and saw, okay, dropping in questions. So I started working with that, dropping in questions when I felt really tired to see what the mind was doing. Today I feel a bit not sleepy like falling asleep, but sometimes a bit sort of the mind is a bit dull.
English
Yeah, yeah.
[Burmese segment]
English
Yeah. He says maybe he says when we try to be mindful, try to be aware, he says we tend to use always a little bit more energy than we need, and then but if we just remind ourselves with a question, "Am I aware? What am I aware of?" You know, if we just ask like that, then, um, it's like we become aware, but there's less energy needed.
English
So we can try that.. Yeah. Sleepiness can be because of many things. One of them is from trying too hard. . So then when the mind feels tired, the body feels tired, then it's okay.
English
So if we focus and we have to be aware all day long, that can make us tired. But you're trying not to focus, right?
English
English
If you find that when you don't focus it feels like you don't know the objects clearly, he said never mind. Yeah. All you have to do is kind of continuously know blurly. Yes.
English
And if it's if you just keep repeating that, it will slowly, over one or two days, it will just become more clear by itself. Then you sort of you you not then you sort of see the the nature of the mind in action.
English
How when you repeat something, when you do something repeatedly, it it helps to strengthen that quality. You will see that happening by itself. Particularly if we are used to if we're used to having focused on one object before.
English
When we stop focusing, it can feel a little blur, and and we find that uncomfortable. Yeah. But he says, um. . Let let it be. And just sort of try to trust the process.
English
Yeah. The mind's nature is that, you know, when the awareness becomes continuous, it will just the mind will just brighten up by itself. Effort Yeah. So effort is not about focusing.
English
Effort is about keeping the moments together. Like one moment after the next. Yeah.
English
Because I noticed I've been looking at, um,
English
whether the whether there's tension, pushing. And today I've sort of noticed that the body is more relaxed, but I'm noticing pushing in the mind. Mind. Ah. I don't know. Focus. Ah. Sorry. Right. Yes. Yeah. So you see that. That's good. . Yeah. It's so important to see how the mind is working.
English
He says then we when we know how the mind is working, we can use it most helpfully. Otherwise we're so busy watching the object, we don't know how the mind is watching it. Whether it's too much energy.
English
He says really the objects are not important at all. They're our stepping stones. You know, they're what we use to be aware. But it's how we are being aware that's the most important. Because it's the awareness that must be pure. The object is just an object. So when the way we are aware, if there's craving in the awareness, then the awareness is not strong.
English
Yeah.
English
And maybe that's when I'm feeling tired as well because I've been pushing it. Wanting too much. Yes. Possibly. He said. There are people who like regularly feel that, you know, throughout the day, their energy sort of they start off really well and by the end of the day, in the evening, they really can't keep their mind together anymore because they've just burned it out using too much energy.
English
So it's great that you saw that the mind is this how the mind is putting in energy. Yeah. To become skillful in practice, first we have to know our mistakes.
English
When we know the mistakes, we can correct them.
English
. When we can't see the mistakes, then it's hard to find out what what is needed in the practice. Ok. . Ok. . And do you see it's quite interesting. You're you've relaxed, but the old habit is still doing its own thing.
English
It's so clear that the mind is a force of nature. That if you've given it a habit to follow, then that pattern just repeats itself just automatically.
English
Then sometimes I see there's like a
English
widening, like the mind wants to not focus. Yeah. Yeah. But I think the wish to focus is still a bit more strong. . Yeah. . Calm it down. Good. Good. Good that you see.
English
Very good.
English
Okay. Next.
English
I felt such a relief
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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.…