Q&AShwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Retreat26 Jul 2017
Dhamma discussion — Recognizing Thoughts as Objects and Practicing in Daily Life
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 1 hr 24 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−1:24:28
Uses compressed audio.
AI-written summary
The Q&A explains how to recognize thoughts and emotions as objects without getting caught in their storylines. The teacher advises maintaining awareness with a relaxed mind in daily life, distinguishing craving from wholesome desire, and letting go of attachment.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Shwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Retreat · 10 talks
- 11 hr 21 minDhamma discussion — Accepting Defilements as Nature and Watching with Equanimity15 Jul 2017
- 21 hrDhamma discussion — Tuning Effort and Relaxing, Right Attitude Towards Loss20 Jul 2017
- Viewing31 hr 24 minDhamma discussion — Recognizing Thoughts as Objects and Practicing in Daily Life26 Jul 2017
- 446 minDhamma discussion — Cause and Effect, and Maintaining Awareness31 Jul 2017
- 51 hr 20 minDhamma discussion — Using Wisdom to Learn from Defilements11 Aug 2017
- 61 hr 7 minDhamma discussion — Awareness with Wisdom, Middle Way, and Right View17 Aug 2017
- 71 hr 5 minDhamma discussion — Wrong Attitude, Identification and Anger25 Aug 2017
- 833 minDhamma discussion — Observing Anger and Just Knowing3 Sept 2017
- 91 hr 31 minDhamma discussion — Cultivating Awareness and Working with Defilements8 Sept 2017
- 101 hr 49 minDhamma discussion — Right View and the Process of Mind14 Sept 2017
Transcript
EnglishAnd I feel like every day I'm having an emotional roller coaster, like mood swings. I have part of the day really good mood, and part of the day I'm really depressed, and it's kind of hard because it's tiring and I really don't know what to do. I try to be aware of it.
EnglishSo if you're tired to be aware, meaning you use a lot of energy, I said. So don't use too much energy. And also, you need to check your mind: relaxed or not, right? If you're a little bit tense, you need to know, right, and step back. Your habit is trying to be focused.
EnglishIf you practiced before, this old habit is coming, right?
EnglishThat's why I say you need to learn how to practice with a relaxed mind. Be attention, but not focused. Be aware.
EnglishOkay?
EnglishIf you feel something tired, then you need to lean back, you need to rest. So what I meant is, like, there are times of the day you can really feeling depressed, like, really feeling bad,
Englishand— Mm-hmm. Okay. So the mind is always maybe changing, right? Sometime happy, sometime bad. Depressed, happy. So we need to think: whatever happening, just feel it. Don't forget to think this way, right? Don't complain about what's happening.
EnglishAnd try to be aware: this is happening.
EnglishOkay? So don't want to go away. Don't want to create anything. Don't resist anything. Just be aware what happened, whatever happened.
EnglishAnd right attitude, right view. This is feeling. Back quality of mind is back quality of mind. Good quality of mind, also good quality of mind. This is nature.
EnglishBut we should not follow
Englishthinking, right? We should try to become intentionally be aware and learn something.
EnglishWe are aware for learning, right? Not for disappear or not for something happen.
EnglishOkay? Understand?
EnglishYeah, the mind sometime happy, sometime sad, sometime—this is our mind is. If you're not skillful yet, if you cannot maintain your awareness very skillful, the mind is always change.
EnglishBut if you sometime—if emotion is so strong, difficult, you cannot face that emotion, you need to choose your neutral object and try back, back and forth.
EnglishOkay? Yeah.
EnglishBecause we are not very skillful to practice yet. If you're very aware about practice, very aware, then your all way your mind becomes neutral.
EnglishOkay? Right. Now we learn from this emotion. Sometime the mind up, going down, going up, going down. We see many time. Try to see and learn from many time. Why this happening, how this happening, and learn something.
EnglishThat's it. Understand? Okay.
EnglishI have a question. Mm-hmm? About the cause. Yes. So, um, do you think we should actually only observe thoughts? Because sometimes I feel like that the thoughts which come up are like pretty interesting, and so I sort of try to follow them. No. You should not watch the thought. Just recognize the thought is happening.
EnglishOkay. If you continue watching, then the mind more interest for the storyline. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then, then you're involved. Yeah. So because— So we are not interest the storyline. We are interest the nature. Yeah. Thinking mind, right? Uh-huh. The mind happening. Thinking is happening. Yeah. We try to learn about the nature happening. Not storyline.
EnglishYeah, yeah. Okay? If your more interest to the storyline, then you lost. Because, um, the last days I used to write down a lot of, like, thoughts which came up during meditation. Mm-hmm. And, um, I actually, like, there were some pretty interesting thoughts which I like to follow, but, um, today I actually noticed that I sort of started to create a lot of concepts out of this. Yes.
EnglishAnd I felt that I wasn't, like, free anymore because I thought, like, I had these expectations and expectations into the thoughts I developed, so. Right, right. Yeah. This is very important to know about this. That's why we need to know about our thoughts. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. Thought disappear is not important. We are learn from this process, right?
EnglishWhy the mind thinking too much? Because expect something. That is this is understand this. Beyond the from this experience, you notice, then you realize something about this. That we want, to understand something about the process. That's why we need to be aware.
EnglishOkay? Now this is your understand now. That's why you see the many thoughts again and again, and then you realize something about this, right? That is some understanding arising. Yes.
EnglishSo
Englishbeginner is difficult to watch the thoughts, so easy to involve because the mind not understanding yet about that this is object, right? If your mind understand this object, then the mind can aware. If your the mind not understanding yet this thought is object, then the mind start to think about the concept.
EnglishThis is our life, the whole life we already did like this. Every time we pay attention our thought, we know our thought and story, right? So this is very strong habit. So now try to change the view,
Englishto see thought as experience or object, or this is happening. Recognize and bring back. Recognize and bring back. Later, many time you practice like this, and the mind slowly understanding this thought is object, being known, right? That awareness is knowing. Mind is aware, and this is being known.
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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.…