Q&AShwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Retreat4 Mar 2017
Day 4 Discussion group A — Nature of Thoughts and the Sense of Self
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 1 hr 25 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−1:25:03
AI-written summary
In this group interview, the teacher addresses dullness, anxious thoughts, and attachment to how one is perceived by others. He explains the cause-and-effect nature of thoughts and emotions, encouraging yogis to maintain awareness with right attitude and understanding.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Shwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Retreat · 18 talks
- 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
- 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
- Viewing61 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
- 111 hr 19 minDay 6 Discussion group C — Working with Six Sense Doors and Reactions6 Mar 2017
Transcript
EnglishMarch the 4th, morning 8:30 a.m., in Kallol, 2017, group A. Okay, I'll go then. Sayadaw, the first day you talked a bit about this
EnglishDull Mind, and it was really help—Dull Mind—and it really helped. Oh, Dull Mind, yeah. But I was hoping you could talk more about it. For me personally, I have a problem: first of all, I don't sleep much, so I'm naturally tired when I sit, and the other problem is that I have over 30 years of improper practice, so I have bad habits where I worked with the breath, and I realize now that it was not the correct object for me, but I would just push myself for hours, like 2 hours a day sometimes, just trying to watch the breath, and so my mind easily goes to the Dull.
EnglishI'm embarrassed to admit how many hours I've spent just bored and trying to focus, but that created where my mind easily goes to that kind of Dull Mind, so. But I know that if I'm interested—like for instance, if I'm tired and I watch TV, I'm engaged and I can stay excited, you know, not fall asleep.
EnglishBut meditating, my eyes are closed, and it's easy just to go to that Dull state. So I'm trying to cultivate an interested and engaged mind, but I was just wondering if you could give me advice on how to do that.
[Burmese segment]
EnglishFirst thing is that you need to change your idea about what meditation is. So first meditation is about being aware. So whatever you—so long as you are aware, it doesn't matter what you're aware of. And the object can change or can remain the same, but you recognize that there is awareness. The second thing is, Sayadaw sis, is that you need to remind yourself regularly, or check in with yourself regularly, and just asking the questions, you know, questions like, "Am I aware?
EnglishDo I know that I'm aware? Have I got lost in thinking? Do I feel present?" Asking yourself questions just to ensure that you're still here. And then, Sayadaw says, open your eyes. Okay. Don't do sitting meditation with your eyes closed. Okay. Because it's a habit associated with sitting meditation.
EnglishNow you want to break it. You're going to make the mind work actively. So it's not a passive knowing, it's not a, not a, like a, you know, "What do I know?"
Englishthat sort of thing. It's an actual, a more precise and specific questioning of, you know, to make sure that you— Okay, so it's like, "What do I know? Do I know only this? Is the mind noticing anything else?" So really asking yourself questions deliberately about the practice, about how you are being aware, or what you are aware of.
EnglishEither one. But that will help the mind to actually be actively engaged. So you need that in the beginning to just get the mind sort of up and running. So until the mind feels very clear— Until the mind feels very clear that it knows its job, which is that it's knowing what's going on, it's knowing something or the other, yeah.
EnglishOkay. Thank you. Wow. That's very good.
EnglishSayadaw? Yes? So yesterday I sit, uh, morning, so I think whole sitting, huh, I have, uh, how do you say, want something, don't want something, but I. Realize this nature. The nature mind. The whole process is coming, you knowing, you know, okay, coming again.
EnglishSo whole sitting. Not again. New. New.
EnglishOtherwise you think it's the old one come back, but it's actually— No, no, no. New. New, new, new. Yeah, right. Another one has to come back. Past, past, past. Yeah, past meaning new come. Past, new come. But like, same like automatic, same like nature, always nature. Yeah, everything nature is always continuously process happening, nonstop.
EnglishAutomatic ladders. Automatic. Not automatic or— Cause and effect. Cause and effect, yeah. Cause and effect. Yeah, automatic. Not automatic. Oh, cause and effect. Okay. So the time I realized, wow, so like whole life like this, the mind is very strong. Yeah. I time and Yeah, the mind is going like that.
English The speed of the mind is one second, like, don't know how many hundred. Yeah, trillion, trillion minds. Change, change, change. This is his That's the speed of the mind. That's its natural. But until yesterday night, very, uh, how do you say, uh, yesterday I have somebody aloud, very— Oh, nighttime.
EnglishNighttime. Oh, aloud. Yeah, aloud.
EnglishSo I just, uh, wake up. So I saw the sound, I saw, wake up, so I think, wow, anything, I think I have somebody have problem. The mind, nature mind, thinking, a lot thinking, a lot thinking coming. Thank you. Cannot sleep. So thank you. So I saw after scared, I have worry, so I try again, away, the mind come up, wow, a lot thing coming.
English There's no more. Once the mind gets agitated, the thinking will be very fast. A lot. Yeah. A lot thing. So I realize the whole thing after I realize this, uh, how do you say, I realize. Yeah, realize. Analyze. Analyze. Analyze. Analyze.
EnglishAnalyze this, uh,
Englishdream or somebody have problem. Oh, oh, oh. So after cannot sleep, after
Englishwake up and say, "Hey, this dream," after I can sleep. Yeah. What dream? Sorry, sorry.
EnglishAnalyze somebody. Oh, so you think. I think this dream. They are dreaming. They are dreaming. So I can sleep. Yeah. Oh, oh, oh. Do environment. Right, right. So we'll tell environment. Yeah. So that person is dreaming. Yeah. Then the mind calm down, I can sleep. Yeah. So after morning wake up, huh, the memories will come. Until I ask.
EnglishI asked yesterday, "You hear something, somebody?" Yeah, Ping Chong dream, he say. Ping Chong? Ping Chong, I know. Dream. Ping Chong or Bodoga? I don't know, man. Oh, okay, sorry. Ping Chong. So So after just, uh, very No, I just discussed in Ping Chong this morning.
EnglishWho? Who? You know who? Ping Chong or Another One? You know who? Ping Chong? Is it Old Man or? No, no, no. Ping Chong is here anyway. He's not here. He's in the other room. This very funny thing coming. You need to learn about this. When the mind thinks, the dangerous tender, emotion come, right? Okay. The mind thinks it's no problem, the mind shut it down.
EnglishYes. Yeah. This is the idea that the way you think, the way you think, that's you need to learn. Actually, yeah, affect is the residual. The way you think affects the way you think. Okay.
EnglishSee that below, the low term. So that is the way we learn about the process. How the mind thinks, how the mind feels, right? How the mind thinks. It's the mind's context. How the mind feels. Okay. It's the mind and feeling and thinking relationship. Okay. Thank you. That's all? That's all. Good morning, Sayadaw.
EnglishSo, Sayadaw, I have a question, like, so when I'm travel in the car, so special the car on the highway sometime, or dangerous road, or windy road, I suddenly the mind just thinking, "Oh, it might have an accident. It might fall inside a hill or something." Then I said the mind is stupid. Why I think that it's unlucky?
EnglishIt's not, but it always, uh, have the mind always have thinking like that. I don't know why.
English Yeah. Sayadaw sis, the—this is also the nature of the mind. If the mind has a tendency to worry, then, um, the mind will always think of, like, what
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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.…