Q&AShwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Retreat3 Mar 2017
Day 3 Discussion group B — Seeing Thought, Concepts and Realities, and Sensations
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 1 hr 23 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−1:23:52
AI-written summary
This group interview clarifies the distinction between reality and concepts, and how the mind constructs images over sensations. The teacher explains the nature of thought, subtle greed, and the difference between genuine acceptance and merely tolerating experiences.
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
- 21 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
- Viewing41 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
English3 March 2017, K'Loag, 8:30 a.m., group B.
EnglishUm, I was just wondering if you could, uh, elaborate a bit on seeing thought as object, thought as mind, and thought as happening. I think in one of the books it says there are a few different ways to see thought, but just based on those words, I don't know if, uh,
Englishlike, which one I'm doing. Or which one might be happening. So, like.
EnglishRepeat: thought as object, thought as mind, thought as happening. I think, yeah, I think there were three different ways. One of the books described, I think, ways that thought can be seen.
EnglishIt's actually the words I use to help the yogi to identify what they might already be experiencing. It's not telling you to try to do it in three different ways. Oh, no, no. But. You can't do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But when you see it, you might experience it as one of in a different way. You might just say, you know, the thought is happening, and you might not see that the thought is mind.
EnglishBut that's okay too. That's what it's that's why all these suggestions I've given. Actually, more like, what is it like to see thought as mind? Like. Okay. Is there a way of describing that? Because, yeah. Okay. Sound it.
English
EnglishA Nariro no. Yeah. Understand level, understand level. These are actually things that will come to you. Like, it's a realization that, you know, when you have that. Yeah. That understanding, you're like, oh, that's what it is. This is what's happening. You know, you it's not. Constant reality. Yeah, it's not something you can say. Constant reality qua ora. Concert qua ora. A tui a sala o a gym, se vuoi.
EnglishConcert. Yeah. A me de tui de capovo Nalia. Tui de capovo sei lo poi. It's some understanding of the nature of what's happening right then. And you might understand a different aspect of its nature. Because there are many facets to its nature, right? And whatever facet you, um, your mind sort of gets a look into, you know, that.
EnglishAnd, you know,
Englishyou might sometimes use a different word. I, you know, but these are the words that would help you. No a considerare. Inizia a tue te. Yeah. Taglia tue te da vuoto. A tue te lo lote. Mh. Era un solo tao Nalia. Sei tu Nalia. Sethas is like, you know, he often says, the mind is defined as that which thinks, right?
EnglishAnd sometimes, as you notice the mind thinking, you can realize that this is actually just the mind. Or just a thought. Or, you know, however you realize it, at that time it will be, you know, quite, um, clear to you. You know, that this is what it is. And it feels different from how you usually saw it, you know, slightly.
[Burmese segment]
EnglishYeah. So it's understanding. The body. the body. It's understanding some reality about, you know, this experience. So Seata says, for example, first we know thoughts. You know, we recognize thoughts. We are not sucked into them. We recognize them happening. And then Seata says, you might start to recognize that they come and, well, they're there, and then that they go, or they stop.
EnglishAnd, um,
Englishnot permanently. Just that, you know, in that moment you notice that they do. And he says, sometimes when you see more detail, you can see that they come and go. You know, that they come there and then they go and then they, you know, come and go again. But
Englishit's not actually the
Englishseeing the thought come and the seeing the thought go. That is the reality. It's when you when your mind touches the
Englishsense of the fact that things
Englishgo. You know? That's understanding the nature of that things, you know, come and go, sort of thing. the big pool. Sometimes sometimes it might not even be that you notice it go.
EnglishIt could just be change, he said. Even noticing that change happens, that's the nature of things. They change. But noticing that change is the nature of things. You know, so not that the things are changing, but getting in touch with the change itself. You know, the nature of change itself..
English. Yeah. And when we don't, it's not that you have to try to, but, you know, when the mind hasn't quite come in touch with that, Seata says, then it's the mind is, you know, we're still with things the way we think things are always around. You know, we don't notice that things are always fresh or new or changing yet.
EnglishReality always changing. . . In reality, everything is changing. Everything is new. There's nothing old in reality.
EnglishSo it's more like just seeing a thought or whatever, but it seems like you're seeing it from a different perspective then. And there's different perspectives. Yeah. When the understanding comes to you, then you'll use your words to describe it. It might not be the words that I use, yeah. But you'll get a sense of something. Yeah.
English. Yeah. So you'll get a sense that it's. respect. Expression. Yeah. When we experience things, we have different words for what we experience. And sometimes to recognize that the words we use reflect something that somebody else might say in different words, but they have similar natures.
EnglishOkay. Yeah, because there's I think there's some passages where it said, don't watch the mind until you can see thoughts as objects. So I was wondering if thoughts as objects mean just recognize it's happening, like the thoughts are happening. Um, the what? Can you do that? Rather than being totally lost. Yeah. Can you see the thoughts are happening and not be lost? Yeah..
English. Yeah. So he would say that if you can watch the thoughts and they're happening and you're not getting lost in them, you are watching thoughts as objects. Okay.. Yeah. So that's one level.
EnglishAnd then there's another level where you start understanding that whatever you know is just the object. That it's just being known. And that's understanding the nature of that which is being seen versus that which is seen. Seeing those natures, right?. being known with the object.. Yeah. That's another way of understanding the realities that are present, right?
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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.…