Q&ABangkok Retreat7 Nov 2015
Dhamma discussion group A1 — Meditation Is Being Aware
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 1 hr 26 min
Original audio: English
0:00−1:26:58
Uses compressed audio.
AI-written summary
This group interview clarifies that meditation sustains awareness with right attitude rather than controlling experiences. Yogis learn to recognize all bodily and mental phenomena as natural processes without identifying with them.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Bangkok Retreat · 22 talks
- 11 hr 5 minDay 1 instructions — Right Effort, Right Attitude, and Working with Experiences7 Nov 2015
- Viewing21 hr 27 minDhamma discussion group A1 — Meditation Is Being Aware7 Nov 2015
- 317 minDay 2 instructions — Mind as Nature, Knowing and Object8 Nov 2015
- 41 hr 23 minDhamma discussion group B1 — Facing Emotions, Dropping Methods, and Knowing Without Labelling8 Nov 2015
- 52 hr 3 minDhamma discussion group C1 — Can We Really Make a Decision? / Resting in Awareness8 Nov 2015
- 612 minDay 3 instructions — Reality and Concepts in Meditation9 Nov 2015
- 71 hr 55 minDhamma discussion group D1 — Knowing with Right View and Observing Reactions9 Nov 2015
- 81 hr 58 minDhamma discussion group A2 — Observing the Mind, Working with Greed and Fear9 Nov 2015
- 915 minDay 4 instructions — Knowing the Mind and Continuity of Awareness10 Nov 2015
- 101 hr 33 minDhamma discussion group B2 — Mind as Reality and Working with Pain and Attitude10 Nov 2015
Transcript
EnglishAs you've tried to be mindful today, what have you experienced? Have you had any difficulties? What do you feel about the practice? You can tell him all this. Then if, you know, if he thinks there's a way he can help you, he will tell you something.
EnglishFor me, most of the time I forget. Most of the time I forget about the, uh, need to be mindful. Another thing is the, another question is, this is the wisdom journey, and
EnglishI don't find myself as an intelligent person. Yeah, so because I read from the book, you mindfully, intelligently, to be aware. Yeah. So if a person not so intelligent still can follow, is it?
EnglishIntelligent not in that way. So I've got a study thing, like a study method, but this thing maybe I'll, you know, put it on the nirvana method or put it on the nir-siddha method, whichever you prefer. I never thought about nir-siddha method at all, you know. Yeah, but. What would come? What would come out of that, like? Because again, the details, you know, like information is so naive and you're not allowed to look at it.
EnglishSaraswatha, you know, intelligence is a quality that we actually all have. We all have. And when you are mindful continuously, your mind knows more and more about yourself. And the intelligence, inverted commas,
Englishthe understanding of yourself grows. And wisdom of
Englishthe nature of this mind and body grows. The details, you know, the power of that, the details, you know, like the intellectual tamsiññā to the pāla tadi, the bhava tadi. So the nature of the mind is that when you are mindful, aware, repeatedly, over and over again, consistently, I won't say continuously, just, you know, whenever you remember you keep trying to do it, which means you're more mindful than you were before, right?
EnglishI'm saying with the handover rule. And when you do more and more of that, Sayadaw says,
Englishit's important also for you to recognize the kinds of wisdom that come. Like I said, you know, earlier this morning, Sayadaw says, clear comprehension is a type of wisdom. Understanding when something is beneficial, understanding when something is suitable. Different kinds of wisdom can arise.
EnglishBut I'm using the details, so yeah. Details, like details in the sea, yeah. Sayadaw says, you just have to remember that the reason that you, that we are trying to be mindful is because we want to understand more than we already know now, right? If you have that interest, if you're interested in knowing, interested in knowing more about yourself, Sayadaw says, then just keep paying attention and you will begin to see more.
EnglishRule that you might never see by the, by the tongue rule, right? Yeah. So everybody has this quality called wisdom as a potential in our minds.
EnglishIt's just about whether we practice that wisdom and make it stronger. You know, it's just like somebody who practices badminton will become good at badminton. Someone who plays golf will become good at golf. So, but everybody can play golf or badminton if they practice enough, right? So same with wisdom. So saying that, to say with, you know, to say with the habit, so allow like that.
EnglishSo Sayadaw says, you know, mainly it's about interest. Taka taka, you know, the learning pattern of information is so, yeah, like this, so yeah, to say that, allowing to come, like to allow it to change content that, yeah, content that, like maybe now, yeah, like I don't bother me about it. Sayadaw says, any work that we do, right, if we do it a lot, you know, we become better at it.
EnglishAnd then we find it more interesting. Like say cooking, you know, people who cook every day, they become really skillful at cooking. Then, you know, they know how to, you know, whether a little bit of salt will make it taste better or a little bit of sugar will make it taste better. And that's something that people who don't cook, they don't know what, how to do, right?
EnglishBut it's, that is a kind of wisdom. Knowing how to cook is a kind of wisdom. You understand? Yeah. So that's how we grow the wisdom. Now, Saba, you know, do the gogo, you know, the details, the kama method,
Englishthe bhava method, the legend of the sīla. You know, who are trying to, can only look to a monk, can only look to a monk. That's your mindful, you know. And Sayadaw says, and mindfulness is something that most of us haven't done all our lives. So when you first try to be mindful, you'll find that you forget to be mindful, right? Yeah. It's just like somebody who doesn't know how to cook.
EnglishHe does one recipe and the next time they cannot remember, they have to look at the book again, right? So, but, you know, if you keep doing it, when you remember, you're like, okay, let's try to be mindful. And then you forget. And then you remember again, you're like, okay, let's try to be mindful. So you just
Englishbe happy with the times that you remember. Because now you're doing it. You're doing something that you didn't do before. Yeah.
EnglishOkay.
EnglishThank you very much. I feel so blessed that I'm here and to be able to learn from our teacher. So I really appreciate.
EnglishCan I say a little bit about my background first, before questions?
EnglishYes. Okay. I just recently learned about meditation and do it, started doing it about one and a half years ago. And
EnglishI don't have a comprehensive knowledge about meditation. I just know that you just sit and then try to keep your mind calm. And I know
Englishabout meta-meditation, loving-kindness meditation. That's one that I'm still practicing now. And recently I know more about, there's many other kinds of meditations, like Vipassanā also. So I have a few questions. First, my first question is,
EnglishI was, I feel sometimes confused between
Englishmany kinds of meditations because different, I don't have a deep understanding yet. But I read, like from the website, and they said that some meditation, you focus on one object. Other meditation, you do, you just keep your mind open. So I was wondering, do you need to follow consistently one kind of meditation?
EnglishOr you can just go to medit, you can do meta-meditation and then you can do Vipassanā or how, how do you deal with that? That's my first question.
EnglishSo after that, the next question is, I'm not sure, nibbāna method. I'm going to, you know, can you tell me, nibbāna, can you tell me your usage as well, pāla method? Or the name of the sea, the chho? I mean, the food that you find there, the chho that you find, point bottom, dig in that sea, look out there. The one method, the cool method.
EnglishI'll tell you the one method. Why, upamamita, looking at Vipassanā, then looking at pāla method. Dhammacāna and Vipassanā, are you using method of motivation method, lobha-loading method, or are you sādhā method?
EnglishSayadaw says, basically there are two types of meditation. And the difference between the two types of meditation is your motivation. Like, what is your objective? What do you want to achieve from meditation? Dhammacāna and your methods are there. Vipassanā and deep methods are there. Now, what methods are there? So one type of meditation is about calming the mind, about collecting the mind.
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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.…