Q&AShwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Retreat4 Mar 2017
Day 4 Discussion group C — Recognizing Wrong Attitudes, Defilements, and the Nature of Mind
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 1 hr 46 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−1:46:58
AI-written summary
In this group interview, the teacher addresses controlling tendencies, subtle greed, and doubt. He emphasizes the importance of right attitude, patience when facing defilements, and maintaining continuous awareness in daily life.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Shwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Retreat · 18 talks
- 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
- Viewing71 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
- 121 hr 36 minDay 7 Discussion group B — Being Aware of Thinking and Noticing Judging Mind7 Mar 2017
Transcript
English
Okay. 4 March 2017, in Khalol,
English
um, 6:00 p.m., group C. Yes. Um, notice the mind has a tendency to control, always like to control. Then, um, this realization came—whereabout, uh—you notice that why it likes to control is because there's identification of, uh, the I. So it actually compares with the past, uh, the moment of realization versus, uh, the normal daily life.
English
It notices that, um, the control or the I happens, uh, always. But, uh, yet, that understanding only come at, uh, that brief moment. So hence, um, I have a question, uh, in the sense of, uh, whether that understanding will only come, like, once, then it, it will wait for a long, long time period, uh, for observation before another rela similar realization comes about.
[Burmese segment]
MY
Depends on your practice.
MY
When it will be again. How soon and so on. All depends on practice, right? And so... So we just keep practicing. Yeah? Will something will be understood or the other. Yeah? Already you have understood something. So sure.
English
. Yeah. So if the conditions are right, it will happen. khu . No understanding is enough to have only once, okay? We must have the understandings also arise again and again, just like we, uh, try and have awareness again and again all the time.
English
. And the stronger the understanding is, then every time we are aware, the str—that understanding will come with the awareness, yeah? Will be present with the awareness. Okay. Um, Sahadong, I'll continue reporting from two days ago. So, uh, you advised me that I just use my own ruler to judge myself.
English
Use what? My own ruler to judge myself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. And— Cool, cool, cool, cool. Yeah. And then everything's enough for me. Use your own defaulments too. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's true because. Is, the, the mind is very contented, it settles down, it stops judging itself so much. Mm-hmm. Uh, the doubt sort of didn't come up so often.
English
Mm-hmm. And
MY
He started to notice thinking and seldom indulge in the thinking already. And the frequency, the mind reminds itself to seeing things as nature. The frequency is more.
MY
It tells itself, you notice it's nature, you notice it's conditioning. Even though it doesn't understand, but it prompts itself to notice that way.
English
From intellectual level, I understand, but that's not realization. intellectual ? Yeah, that's how we start. intellectual start? Everything starts from the intellectual. And then you also. Right attitude. Today it's not the check attitude again. And I notice that most of the time it is still, uh, wanting, greed running the show.
English
Wanting? Wanting, wanting to be aware, wanting to be clearer, wanting to have thoughts less. But it, it, it starts to notice that. Yeah. So it's okay with that. Đúng rồi, okay vậy không? Yeah, that's right. That is okay.
English
It is more important to actually notice those wrong attitudes. Because if we're noticing them, then we will understand them. Then right attitude will happen.
English
And we're still being aware. I tried a few times, uh, open eyes walking. And looking and seeing. Open eyes walking. I'm using your eyes with your mouth. And I myself.
English
So I open my eyes. Sometimes, sometimes when I stand, I close my eyes. But now I open my eyes and I compare seeing and looking. Because sometimes I don't really understand that. And I, I heard Sahadong mention that, uh, in the, in the looking, there's always craving.
English
And I don't get it. Today, when I compare seeing, looking, seeing, looking again, yeah, I notice in the looking, there's a wanting. There's a wanting to see the bird clearer. There's wanting to see the tree and the flower clearer. And it's quite, it's quite healthy for me to notice that because I'm always curious.
MY
What means? Yeah. That's craving behind the looking. So to me, it's not so much of a intense craving, but it's a wanting. It's wanting. It looks very harmless. Wanting, wanting. And that's a, that's a difference, these two. So I'm happy I noticed that.
[Burmese segment]
MY
Yeah, so we don't notice it usually, but now you begin to notice the more subtle sort of this sort of minds at work. Sayadaw doesn't say that there is always craving in looking. He says that there can often be craving in looking.
English
Yeah. So he says, you see, you just work steadily. The mind will keep discovering things. No need to hurry. No need to compare. That's okay. What we do, we get. We get from it. You just said the doubt likes to come. Doubt
English
You see? So what repairs doubt? Know the doubt, right? Know the doubt. Notice the doubt. It's also another type of defaultment, and you can, um, discover the way it works. The challenge sometimes is that I don't know whether it is doubt as it is, or is it more of a question, and I must know the reason and the answer for that.
MY
[Burmese speech]
English
Yeah. So when you keep looking at it, you'll get more clues. Because you keep watching it, you'll get more clues, and then the mind will begin to understand what exactly it is. Being vacational. Knowing what is happening.
English
Knowing what is happening for what it is, right? Like when we have greed and we know this is greed. That is wisdom. When there is a version, you recognize this is a version, even if it's very subtle. That's wisdom, you know? So. tri . Recognizing the nature of what is being experienced is also a kind of wisdom.
English
So it will clarify if you keep watching. Xe chi . Tao. . Yeah. As you keep observing it, it will become clearer. So rather than try and find an answer, just observe it so that it will, will reveal itself to you. That's the last part which I had, had an impatience about. Yeah, yeah. .
English
Yeah. He says, be patient. . Yeah. He says that's how, you know, the, the defaultment greed is everywhere, interfering with our practice in meditation as well. . Everything starts from knowing it, right?
English
If we know it, we have the opportunity to understand it and then be free of it. But if we don't know it, then we will not have that opportunity. In my case, when I do meditation, I'm looking at my Buddha and then the picture starts to appear on my head. At first it's very big and I, I notice that surrounding on, you know, um, like the aura around Buddha's head.
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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.…