Q&AShwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Retreat5 Mar 2017
Day 5 Discussion group B — Observing Defilements, Conceit, and Habits
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 1 hr 17 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−1:17:02
AI-written summary
The group interview covers facing fear, self-doubt, and conceit with right attitude rather than trying to make them disappear. The teacher advises maintaining awareness through sleepiness, mental habits, and aversion to discomfort. Recognizing whichever mind state is obvious naturally develops wisdom.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Shwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Retreat · 18 talks
- 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
- Viewing81 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
- 132 hr 16 minDay 7 Discussion group D — Observing Defilements and Looking for Cause7 Mar 2017
Transcript
English
Okay. 5th of March, 2017, 8:30 a.m., Group B. Yes. Yes, Doc? Yeah. Um, I had some, uh, health problem recently with my eyes, and I have only one good eye, and that was, uh, not bad, not well, and I was, uh, starting to be scary very much.
English
And in that situation, it didn't help me to repeat the sentence, "This is just your body." Yeah, yeah. It doesn't help at all. Although I know that I have to let go of my body someday. Mm-hmm. But in it is still in my head that I like my body, I like my eyes, I like everything. You need it, yeah.
MY
I need it. Yes. So I'm not only need it. I'm fond of it. I take care of it. What could I do in that situation? The sentence is just the body is too far away. It's theoretical. Yeah.’
MY
Yeah. It's more useful to just look at.’
English
. Yeah, he says with the fear in mind, it's impossible to just theoretically say these things to ourselves. He says it's better to just look at the fear. Yeah, to, to, uh, observe the fear and, and see, understand how it works and so on. He says when the mind has been able to do that and maybe understands more and feels more settled because of that, he says then the mind will be able to think in a more, uh, rational way that sort of, uh, suits the.
English
The circumstances, right? The circumstances you are in, right? He says but the presence of fear makes it difficult for the mind to accept platitudes, you know, to just say something. So don't try to say something, just, just be.
English
So as far as possible, he says. Fear . This is the opportunity to observe the workings of fear. Uh, it's, it's going to be very obvious. And as much as you can master, you know, um, have an interest in, in seeing it as objectively as you can. Yes, and, uh, concerned with that.
English
Feelings are sometimes a little bit tricky. So, uh, some feelings are easy to watch, like anger is very sharp and clear, and sadness, of course, but for instance fear or, or envy, they hide behind something else, and, and fear or scariness, it, it, it manifests sometimes in some sort of hardness. Yeah.
MY
So just watch the hardness then.
English
Just keep watching that, he says. Every time you notice it, just give it your attention. So I will continue. Um, I had a quite interesting discovery.
English
How do you say? Discovery. Yes. Um, I, I can see, I could already see a long time, a time ago, but now I, it is a different way, that almost every experience I make, there is just this little urge to correct a little bit. And now, since I'm not trying to correct anymore, it is, I can see how much dukha I created through this pattern to myself.
English
And it is really a, a incredible big relief.
[Burmese segment]
English
. That's. And there is another thing I want to speak about. I mean, since 20 years, I know that's the way I want to train my mind. And still, there is coming sometime, I mean, here it's very easy, surrounded by people who practice, who you can speak about Dhamma and everything.
English
But in, in daily life, I really often have still this self-doubt. Is this body-mind process really able to get free? And I, I would like to ask him if, if he has some hints
English
how I can, I mean, I, I look at it, I try not to identify with this, um, self-doubt. But in daily life, when I'm not surrounded by people who practice, I mean, it's a completely different, uh, surrounding. Sometimes this, um, self-doubt pops up stronger.
English
And then when it pops up, it, it really diminishes my saddhā, my vīriya, my paññā, everything. Yeah. Does he have some. Um. Hints?
English
Ex aside of just watching it? .
[Burmese segment]
English
. Chad says, he says, you know what's important is really, um, finding this, this strength, you know, this, um, the saddhā, the vīriya, the paññā. . In ourselves, you know. And the thing is, he says, when we are at home, he says, the, the surroundings are not going to support us.
English
They're going to pull us down, right? It's all going in the opposite direction. And he says, so the answer actually is that because we need to have more wisdom, that we need to have more attention, that we need to have more, more of this strength to rely on ourselves, we actually have to make more effort. In order to keep this mind's understanding and everything going, we have to make the effort to be mindful or to use the Dhamma in any way that we can, as much as possible outside.
MY
[Burmese speech]
English
Yeah. He says, you know, in daily life, if we truly use the Dhamma, all of it, you know, uh, awareness, right view, um, everything we know about the Dhamma, everything we understand about the Dhamma, if we really use it, he says, in, in, in daily life, actually. The power of the Dhamma is much more obvious. It's much more. .
English
You can really see how much relief we get from our own, you know, beliefs and, um, fears and all that, if we can bring the Dhamma in and, you know, and the, and the mind can, um, settle into its understanding. And then it, we can see it's so powerful that it's such a, uh, a source of relief for the mind, so.
English
Yeah. And then we can have. confident. Yeah. And then he says, we gain more faith in the, the Dhamma because we see that there is, it is effective, right?
English
He says, of course, if we get so well practiced that, you know, whenever a defalment rises, we can actually observe it and, and our, the power of our present-mindedness is strong enough that that alone makes the defalment fall away, then of course our sense of saddhā much is, it will be much, much stronger.
English
But even before that, you know, you can gain. Yeah. He says, of course, if you have some good example around you, you know, some good Dhamma friend or even just someone who's. Yeah.
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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.…