Q&AMeditationszentrum Beatenberg Retreat23 May 2016
C 2 Group interview — Natural Awareness, Observing Thoughts, and Non-Identification
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 2 hr 11 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−2:11:12
AI-written summary
This group interview covers anchoring the mind on feelings rather than getting lost in thought storylines. The teacher explains the natural, neutral quality of objects across all six sense doors, emphasizing right attitude and continuous awareness without ego-driven striving or craving.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Meditationszentrum Beatenberg Retreat · 22 talks
- 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
- Viewing92 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
- 111 hr 51 minD 2 Group interview — Recognizing Awareness and Understanding Dukkha24 May 2016
- 1217 minMeditation instructions — Knowing the Mind and Developing Awareness25 May 2016
- 132 hr 29 minB 3 Group interview — Simple Awareness and Observing the Mind25 May 2016
- 142 hr 29 minC 3 Group interview — Natural Awareness, Checking the Attitude, and Facing Experiences25 May 2016
Transcript
English
Hello. I'm very much thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking. Hmm. Since I— I'm done.
English
I tried different
English
ways how to deal with it, so first I tried— I realized I tried to stop it. I was rather aversive,
English
then I saw, no use, it doesn't function, it was getting stronger.
English
So with seeing this aversion, I relaxed, it was better. At the moment it was better. I stayed there. But then again it started, and it always— I try to
English
watch it, but it always draws me into it. I get lost. I come back. I get lost.
English
Come back when you're gone. And when you come back, what do you come back to? Feeling that chi. To knowing I'm thinking. Oh. . You didn't look at your feelings?
English
. If you get lost in thought easily, better to ground yourself with watching the feelings. The feelings. objective . Yeah. So you anchor your mind to the feelings.
English
You don't ignore the thoughts, but you anchor your mind to the feelings. You just know that the thought is happening, but you don't pay attention to the thought. Because the feelings have no story. It's easier to remain aware and not get lost, but the thoughts have the story.
English
It's only the story we get lost in. So keep your mind on the feelings. Yeah.
English
Yeah. Don't watch thought continuously, directly. Yeah. So we are watching thought indirectly by watching the feelings, or sensations, directly. But you know the thoughts are happening, so that's how you know it indirectly.
English
And I don't pay attention to the thought. Not directly. Not directly. The mind knows already there's a thought. When we look directly at thought and we don't recognize this is the thinking mind, then we tend to get absorbed in the story it's telling.
English
Yeah. And that's how we get lost in thought. Yeah, that's the point. Yeah.
English
Right? Okay.
English
Well,
English
the good thing is I realized that while meditating,
English
the awareness gets stronger. When I start, sometimes it's rather weak, and then in the end of the meditation, in the sitting meditation, it gets stronger.
English
Right. That's good. Yeah. So you can detect the quality of your awareness. Yeah. That's good.
English
, yoga . We should know the quality of our awareness when it's good, when it's not so good. Yeah. I love . And then as we keep knowing, we will also begin to know why it becomes weak and why it becomes strong. . Yeah. You don't have to look for it. The mind will see as you keep continuously aware.
MY
[Burmese speech]
English
I love . It says. I love . It shows that you are alert. The mind is alert. Yeah. Awareness chai . The mind, the awareness is alert. That's why it can detect. Awareness , yoga . Yeah. It can detect its own qualities. So that discerning quality that was known is there.
English
Yeah.
English
feeling . If you can detect the quality of your awareness, why can you not—if you can tell that your awareness is weak or your awareness is strong, why can you not? . Awareness .
English
In your sitting meditation, when you felt that your awareness was getting stronger, what were you watching mainly?
English
Body. Body sensations. Body sensations and feelings. Feelings, yeah.. But you cannot watch your thinking mind that way, the way you watch your body and your mind and your feelings. No. Yeah. Ok. feeling , sensations . Yeah. So again, he reminds watch the feelings and the body sensations.
English
Thinking mind, we just know as like a—like a from the side of the eye. Yeah.
English
Yeah.
English
Good.
English
Anything? Anything?
English
I only want to say I enjoy very much the awareness while eating.
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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.…