Q&AShwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Retreat2 Mar 2017
Day 2 Discussion group A — Adjusting the Mind and Observing Experiences
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 1 hr 20 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−1:20:26
AI-written summary
The group interview addresses maintaining alertness and using self-reminders to counter mind wandering and dullness. The Sayadaw advises knowing oneself and bodily feelings with right view, treating all mental states as natural objects.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Shwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Retreat · 18 talks
- 136 minDay 1 · introduction talk — Right Effort and Right View1 Mar 2017
- Viewing21 hr 20 minDay 2 Discussion group A — Adjusting the Mind and Observing Experiences2 Mar 2017
- 31 hr 19 minDay 2 Discussion group C — Motivation in Practice and Understanding Realities2 Mar 2017
- 41 hr 24 minDay 3 Discussion group B — Seeing Thought, Concepts and Realities, and Sensations3 Mar 2017
- 52 hr 4 minDay 3 Discussion group D — Wrong View, Reactions to Objects, and Meditation as a Way of Life3 Mar 2017
- 61 hr 25 minDay 4 Discussion group A — Nature of Thoughts and the Sense of Self4 Mar 2017
- 71 hr 47 minDay 4 Discussion group C — Recognizing Wrong Attitudes, Defilements, and the Nature of Mind4 Mar 2017
- 81 hr 17 minDay 5 Discussion group B — Observing Defilements, Conceit, and Habits5 Mar 2017
- 91 hr 47 minDay 5 Discussion group D — Natural Effort and Not Personalizing Experiences5 Mar 2017
- 101 hr 15 minDay 6 Discussion group A — Free Will, Knowing the Mind and Anchor Objects6 Mar 2017
Transcript
English
March 2, 2017, in Kalo,
English
Burma.
English
Morning session 8.
English
Anyone in group A from group A can speak.
English
Yes? Sayadaw? Yes?
English
I still have an issue on sitting meditation.
English
I'm more alert, and awareness is clearer when I'm doing daily activities or when I'm doing walking meditation. So I've been exploring: every time when I sit, the mind just goes into thinking, and it just follows the thinking. And then I try and come back to my breath, to ground myself again, but somehow, very quickly, it just drowns into the thinking.
English
Compared with when I do walking,
English
there seems to be more groundedness. So then I explore why. And this morning an answer came as if when I'm doing daily activities, especially, let's say, walking, when every step I make, there is a grounding so I'm present. I come back to that moment.
English
Even in daily activities, even though I'm very busy, the awareness is still there because there's a certain alertness that I have to do my daily tasks, and therefore awareness is present at the same time. But when it comes to sitting, it's like I'm lost. So I don't know how to— ?
[Burmese segment]
English
Yeah. Saodam says in walking and all, we are already helped by the posture to be awake and alert, and our eyes are open. In sitting, he says, you have to make it your objective to be alert. Okay? So that's got to be foremost in your mind. So you have to be always checking, am I still aware? And then you need to be checking, am I aware of the object properly?
English
So you almost need to verbalize the questions to yourself. That gives you your mind energy and makes sure that you are doing that work. So you might need to do this a few times to ensure that the mind— a few times, maybe quite a few times— to ensure that your mind— check ? Yeah. Throughout the sitting, you are still awake and aware.
English
Okay? So always
English
when you start feeling alert, don't think, "Oh, it's okay." You have to keep checking. So you— Yeah, keep checking. Yeah? You have to keep going like, "Am I aware? What am I aware of? Am I aware properly?" And then, say, what do you do? Rising, falling? Or breath, or— Just breath. Just breath. So then, in fact, with the breath, am I thinking that I know the breath?
English
I don't seem to know the difference between just thinking that I know the breath, or am I truly aware of the breath? So can you feel the breath? Yes. So you should check whether you are feeling the breath. So when I'm feeling the breath, am I involved in the object already? For now, it doesn't matter.
English
I wouldn't know any of it. In the beginning, you will be. You need it. Now you need it. Yeah. Because if you're not staying in the object properly, the mind is easy to get lost. Yeah. So you need to be in touch with the object. I don't know. Daily activity I do, I say I'm no job, I will just be there. Yeah. Thai knowledge I don't use anything. Yeah. So daily activities, the mind is already taking the objects up properly.
English
But in sitting, there's some habit, so the mind is not used to
English
being in touch with the object. Or it may have an idea that it needs to know the watching more and stop really being in contact with the object. So when the mind is not strong enough, it cannot stay with the watching. It needs to know the object. Checking or reminding, huh? Right? So always— Reminding. Often, I don't know. Yeah. I don't do it.
English
So— . Yeah. So we don't always stay with the knowing mind or the watching mind. If the mind starts to be wandering like that, you must go back to the object. So you need to, at that time. When you say go back to the object, that means, say, if I'm taking breath as an object, then I come back to the breath, keep reminding myself to come back to the breath. And remind about your the mind to stay there or not.
English
Yeah. Is the mind thinking or aware? Keep checking. Okay. There are times when there is awareness when I'm sitting, but somehow the mind goes into a blur state. There is still awareness. It's not going into sleeping yet. Blur keeping. The deal was she a blur keeping.
English
, FOK . So when you know that you are in the blur state, you cannot just stay like that. So what do I do? FO , FO . He says at that time you lack, the mind is lacking effort and wisdom already. That's why it's blur. So you need to put in effort. That means do I know properly? You need to start asking the questions using your wisdom.
English
Right? Do I know properly? I'm blurred. What should I do? Shall I open my eyes? Right? You need to think of different ways to deal with it, but you cannot stay in the blur state and try to be aware. How do you use your wisdom? Because the mind is not strong enough. How do you use your wisdom?
English
Do you know how to use your wisdom? Well, I would—well, I blur when people do something. , I learn it . Sometimes I may consciously ask the question. That's it. That's it. I look and I. That's one of the—yeah. That's why I want to— Okay.
English
For thinking about your practice. Ah, but I— Thinking about your the way to practice. But I was afraid. When I keep on asking that question, I was like thinking too much. No, no. Then I came to a worried state, "Am I thinking too much?" That time is necessary. That time you need to push something, push to awareness, walking. So long as the thought brings you to awareness. Because the sign will show you the blur.
English
That sort of conscious thinking to direct your mind, what you need to do is not call wandering mind. And it's not being involved in thinking. So long as it brings you to direct your mind to pay attention. Right? When you're just thinking, it means you're kind of like lost and the mind is just like wandering.
English
It's not under your control. But if you are consciously thinking what to do, that's not thinking. , Phạm Lưu, Saman, anh em, . It's like a student, right? Like a child not doing his work and the parent or the teacher needs to keep pushing him. .
English
Thank you, Sayadaw.
English
He says we must learn to recognize the states of our mind and
English
learn what we need to do to adjust the state of mind, the activity of the mind, to suit the state of mind. So he says, if things are becoming light and bright and energized, he says, we recognize that this is a good state, but we must also recognize that complacency can set in. Right? So you need to always be checking more, actually, so that you don't go back into.
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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.…