Q&AShwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Retreat6 Mar 2017
Day 6 Discussion group A — Free Will, Knowing the Mind and Anchor Objects
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 1 hr 15 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−1:15:13
AI-written summary
This group interview clarifies the conditioned nature of mind and awareness, addressing free will through anatta. Yogis are guided to observe thoughts and discomfort without identification, seeking understanding rather than mere peace.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Shwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Retreat · 18 talks
- 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
- Viewing101 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
- 141 hr 10 minDay 8 Discussion group A — Cause and Effect, Anatta, and Role of Samatha8 Mar 2017
- 151 hr 57 minDay 8 Discussion group C — Samādhi, Quality of Awareness and Attitude8 Mar 2017
Transcript
English
6 March 2017, Monday, in Kallong, morning, group A. Yes, Sayadaw. So yesterday morning I woke up, went to the toilet, and after the whole process, sitting,
English
I feel new coming, new coming,
English
like a thing coming. Object mind. Whatever you're doing, just— Okay. Check, walk, anything. Coming, I know. Okay, no more. No more. After I feel like automatic to do something.
English
That's right. Okay, that's right. Object and mind is calling you, new, new, come and go, come and go. So after I sit, I think
English
more than half an hour, I feel like the whole process, mind here, knowing, so
English
automatic. Everything changed. Yeah, everything changed. That's good. So after walk, after come out walk, also same.
English
So what did you learn? So I learned some, I recall the, like, this same like one cell, recall, I remember, remember. Remember one cell? So the away feeling, the away coming. The away feeling. Away. Away coming. So every time I walk, I remember back the— Remember what?
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I remember the
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automatic run. So the away— What time you don't get this? Sorry? That time you don't get this feeling. That time yes. That time yes. Sometime I walk, daily life. So why you remember this? Do you remember that, Bianna?
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So you already have this experience, right? Yes, yes, yes. Why you could recall? Sometime, like, I think, what, know this moment. DJ Mashido? Sometime. Sometime. There's no time. No, the normal time. Daytime, walk, sometime I think, no away, but I recall back, I remember back.
English
You recall back this experience. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I know now. She has a woman. Remember that experience? Okay, okay. So the away has— Have this again. Okay, yes, yes, yes. I know now, I know now. So the remember is very important. Yeah, also recall, remember, you know already before, then you can use bring back.
English
Because this is understand level. You have this experience, you understand this, you thinking about this, then this present moment that experience comes again. Remember that she always calling you. Calling me out. And this morning, I go and sit, because yesterday I think I sleep not
English
enough, so the body have weak, weak lah. So I go and sit,
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have sleepy. Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy. So the, what,
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angry coming. Angry. Oh, angry. Angry coming. So I notice angry coming. So after the wisdom say, this nature. This nature, after no more. Angry, no more. So after the sit, only away. Wake up, yeah. Only away.
English
So you down, wake up, no wake up. The one is called right attitude. Yes, right. If you know this nature, the understanding, the meaning of nature, this right idea, right attitude, you can call back, so the mind become wake up. So whole process I only know. Okay.
English
Thank you. Yes. I want to ask you take on
English
this concept of having a free will. When I look at free will more closely, it seem there is more freedom with more awareness, less attachment to the object of mind. But when it comes to decisions or doing or things with the mind, I cannot really see a free will.
English
Like it's either the conditioned mind, or it can be more wholesome from the unconditioned mind. But I don't see like a I or individual will in it. And as I look, I don't see really a free will. But I wonder what's your take on it.
English
So free will, so I think that's Sayadaw, you know? Mm-hmm. Reach it. Reach it, Ms. Sayadaw. Free will, I thought you knew that already. I thought you knew that already. Free will, so I thought you are doing right now, Kyora. That meant
[Burmese segment]
English
The one
English
who are letter there, the other charm here, you know, the conditioned mind and unconditioned mind, they are tied together. Conditioned mind has to work with that, what you know. The unconditioned mind could also fit together. They get around, they are alone. I thought you said don't know that. Yeah, but she is a bit older.
[Burmese segment]
English
Free will, so you reach her and then go and see the sort of nyan shima, nyan machine. Nyan. Feel it. Feel it. Feel it.
English
Okay. A little bit shy about it. Nyan, feel the kind of Kuma charm sitting. You go and see it. Go now. You go and see the whole. I feel the charm machine. Automatic reaction feeling. So. Just the word you're using. This branch, Buddhism or something, there is we don't talk about the unconditioned. There is no unconditioned except the unconditioned is when you get enlightened.
English
So in Samsara, there's no nothing that's unconditioned. Everything is conditioned. To him, free will is when the mind has a choice, and the mind only has a choice when wisdom is present. So wisdom can choose. Whereas if the mind is governed by defilements, then the mind has no choice because the defilements pull is so strong usually that the mind is swept away by it.
English
But wisdom has the choice to pause and choose what is beneficial. But even the wisdom mind, it. It can be not strong enough. And it also, it has no maybe I could say I cannot see like an individual
English
free will. Yeah, no. You have got a whole loo, loo, yeah, free will machine. Loo machine, loo machine, shima machine. Loo and anatha already. Because it's also anatta. Yeah, it's anatha too. In that sense, there is no individual because there's nothing personal. It's all these forces at work on. Individual Dhamma like that. Dharma, guru, dhamma like that.
English
Individual. And individual is a concept that is constructed by the mind. Illusion. Can I follow up with the question?
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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.…