About this talk
Transcript
Click a timestamp to listen from there. Machine translation, which may be inaccurate. You can suggest a fix for each sentence. The transcript is companion text; the audio itself is untouched.
All, um, meditate then.
But my English is not very good, but I tried my best. To tell you about mindfulness meditation and right attitude.
So, can you hear me? Okay.
So,
everybody knows mindfulness, awareness, right? The meaning of awareness, or meaning of mindfulness. So, mindfulness meditation means we try to be aware about our—our self, our body, physical process, and mental process. So first I try to tell you is, meaning of meditation.
Actually, the meaning of meditation is we try to cultivate a good quality of mind. That is the meaning of meditation. So, mindfulness meditation means we—awareness or mindfulness is a leading, and other, uh,
awareness, stability of mind, there's a samādhi. You know samādhi? Concentration. But I don't want to say concentration. I try to trans- translate: it's a stability of mind. Samādhi is stability of mind, effort, faith, and wisdom. And with—together with awareness.
Awareness is a leading. So we try to cultivate this quality of mind. That's what we call mindfulness meditation. So, pract—meditation means it's a cultivation. Cultivation means it's try to, uh, grow or allow this quality of mind again and again and again. That means it's a cultivation.
So we should be practicing mindfulness meditation all the time.
So we—our center also practices meditation. The schedule is morning wake-up and sleep time. It is a schedule. Meditation must be practiced like this. Because of this, uh, cultivation, you need to cultivate moment to moment.
Because if you don't practice a good quality of mind, then you are not practicing wholesome quality of mind. A wholesome quality of mind is already there. So that's why we need to practice a wholesome quality of mind. Allow it to happen again and again, and moment to moment. So this is the meaning of meditation: we try to cultivate the quality of mind.
So first, very important point is, uh, don't force too much.
A lot of meditators, they use a lot of energy to focus too much. Awareness means it's not focus too much. Awareness means it's, uh, remembering in the present moment, recognizing. I use this word: recognizing, remembering, in the present moment. Uh, recognize that your sense door.
That is the meaning of awareness. So this is not need too much use there, focusing. So mindfulness awareness is not focus too much. For example,
do you aware of yourself now? Do you recognize you are sitting?
Okay.
Right?
Do you know you are sitting right? Yes. Okay. Do you recognize you are seeing?
Yes. Do you recognize you are seeing? Yes. Okay. When you start to recognize you are seeing?
When you ask. Yes.
That's—that's correct. So we are morning wake-up, open the eye, we see. But we do not recognize we are seeing. Right? This recognizing about it, this is the meaning of awareness. So how much energy we need to know?
A lot of energy. Need to—we need a lot of energy? Not much. No. No. Okay. So this is the meaning of awareness. The awareness is to recognize your sense.
You recognize you—everybody has a sixth sense door. Sixth object. Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and the whole body sensation, and the mind door. It's a sixth sense door. Everybody has a sixth sense door. There is a sixth object already there. Sight, sound, smell,
taste, and the whole body sensation, and the mind activity. This is the object. We use this object to grow our awareness quality.
So we try to aware our seeing, we try to aware our hearing, we can try to aware our smelling, tasting,
and body sensation, and the mind activity. So we—we can recognize directly only this sixth object.
This is a reality, nature object. Not concept object. Concept is the mind created the concept, then we know the concept. So we can experience directly, experience only this sixth sense door. It is a reality, nature. So we try to aware, not forget the nature.
We are not forget the present moment, what happening yourself. That is the meaning of awareness. Not focus too much. Right? So awareness yourself is not difficult. It's difficult to aware yourself? Is it difficult? To remember.
Yeah. Right, right. To aware yourself is not very difficult. Right? It is tired. It is tired? Not tired. Right? So meditation is not tired. Also not very difficult. If you understand the meaning of meditation, you are not very tired.
But people, they know the meditation is a two-way. One way is, one technique is concentration practice. They use a lot of concentration practice. This is a, we call samādhi practice. One point of concentration and to make the mind calm down. This is a concentration practice. What mindfulness meditation is, we use, we are inside meditation.
We call inside meditation. We try to cultivate our good quality, our wisdom, understanding, to growing. So we call this inside meditation.
So people, they only know, get the information about
concentration practice.
But we personally practice is inside meditation. It's people, they not, they don't know too much about the idea about the practice, the way to practice.
So that's why I try to explain about this idea about how to practice mindfulness meditation and Vipassanā. And also right practice.
So when you try to practice, you need to know this is an object and the mind. There's two parts. You need to understand two parts. One is the experience, one is the mind. Meditation is the mind work. Not experience or work. This is the object, this is the mind.
This part, two parts, you need to understand it two parts. We try to aware what? The object. Right? So I explain about the object is the sixth sense door.
Seeing, hearing, you can aware. You can aware your seeing, you can aware your hearing, you can aware your smelling, and you can aware your taste also. But people are mo- most of, most of the people, they only know the body sensation is object. But you can use six objects.
Any object you can use. Which object is better?
For example, somebody use ana, breathe in, breathe out, anapana. Somebody use rise and falling. Which object is better?
Either. Huh? Either. Yes. An object is object.
This breathing also object. Rising falling also object. The sound also object. Touching also object. Heat also object. Sound also object. Object is, there is an object is a meaning. The what the meaning of object is, something known by the mind.
Object meaning is a being known. The mind can know. He is a being known. That is the object. So object is the same. Anapana also. Breathe in and breathe out also. Object. Rising falling also object. Not better. We can use any object. Right? So important meaning is, object is not meditating.
The mind is meditating. We no need to try to cultivate the object. Object is already there. If your sense is, sense door is a good, the object is already there. So we try to cultivate it. That's why I said meditation is a cultivation of a quality of mind.
So meditation is a mind work. Not object work. Or not physical work. No need to use physical like this. Right? No need to use a lot of energy for your bodily. The meditation is a mind work. We try to cultivate the quality of mind. That's it. So
very important, the quality of mind. But a lot of people, they practice it with the craving. You know craving? Craving, aversion, and delusion, right? So if you practice with the craving, we cannot call this is right practice. So we use a lot of energy. If you use, if you want something, you use a lot of effort.
A lot of energy. That's why your mind is tense, body is tense. So the body becomes painful or becomes tense. Suffering. Because of wrong practice. Motivation is craving. If you try to get something to practice, if you cannot get it, aversion comes. And many people, they practice with the aversion.
Very hard. A lot of energy to use. So, and also, if you don't know how to meditate,
this is diluted. You don't know what the meaning of meditation, how to meditate, how much energy we need to do. If you don't know, also, we use a lot of energy. Or not enough energy. Because we don't know. So diluted also, we a lot of energy we use is, this is not necessary.
That's why I explain about the, just now I explain about the, do you recognize your seeing? Meaning is, not much energy to aware of your seeing. You understanding what I'm saying, then you can do this. No need focus too much. But people use a lot of effort because they want something. They want to calm down, they want to, uh, they want something special, they want to achieve something.
That's why they use a lot of effort. So if your motivation is a craving, we said this is a wrong practice. No benefit anymore. If you practice the whole day, worse and worse and worse.
Craving. Second, aversion or delusion. We practice with this defilement, then we cannot call this is right practice. This is wrong practice. So we cannot get the benefit. Better than not practice better.
Right? But beginner, we don't know. That's why we must have knowledge, information. Very important. There is a three kind of understanding. One is information. Knowledge. Right information, very important. Second is intelligence yourself. You have a, already have intelligence. We listening and we can think our, we use our intelligence and that is the insight.
First, first, first and second is we need to use to practice. Then the third one is the conditioning. Insight is a come from the some conditioning. You practice very smooth, very well, then the insight is coming later. So you cannot create insight immediately. So this is a effect later.
First and second in, in wisdom is we need to use meditating. So someone, he never heard about this information or some subject, he never think about this. And also he cannot do about this. So information, right, information, very important. That's why people need to listen in Dhamma talk or discussion and get the information first.
Then you practice, try to use, apply experience and think about yourself, your, your intelligence and how to practice. And experience teach you how to meditate, how to practice. Then slowly later, then insight, understanding can arising.
So information is very important. We try to listening first. If you're wrong information, then you doing wrong, thinking wrong way, doing wrong way. So that's why I said this information also important. And also practice with the defilement. Defilement meaning is unskillful mind. Craving is unskillful mind. Aversion is unskillful mind.
Diluted is unskillful mind. Worry, anxiety, whatever. This is unskillful mind. We practice with this defilement or unskillful mind, we cannot call right practice. This is wrong practice.
So
you need to know about your mind. What state of mind are you meditating? Because meditation is a mind work. If you don't know your mind, what state of mind you're meditating, you don't know, that's a problem.
You're practice right or wrong, you don't know. So you need to check your state of mind. How do you feel? If you're right practice, mind is relaxed, peaceful, awakening, that is a, right, if you right practice, the mind quality of mind must be better. If your practice is wrong, then your quality of mind, quality of mind is become suffering.
Become, become tense.
So you need to check your quality of mind. What state of mind are you? So craving meaning is expectation. Something to expect to something, to achieve something. Expect something to be good or better. Try to achieve something. This is expectation. So we need to check.
If you have an expectation, then let go. Relax again. If you practice with the craving or aversion, your mind is become tense. So you need to relax again.
So we can use six objects to cultivate the, your awareness and samādhi and wisdom to grow.
So first I want to tell you is very important point is, don't use too much effort. Because
if you use a lot of energy is because of maybe, because of craving, aversion, and delusion. That's why you need to check your energy and also because of practice the whole day. If you use too much effort, you cannot practice the whole day. Even a one hour, after one hour you concentrate too much.
After one hour you, you cannot concentrate anymore. Let go of your awareness. Focus too much, then you cannot maintain the awareness continuously. So mindfulness meditation key of the very important point is continuity of awareness. It is a key of the mindfulness meditation or Vipassanā meditation.
It's a continuity of awareness is a very important part.
Because continuity practice make your awareness become natural. We need this natural energy. We not all the time use the personal energy. It's all the time involved with the practicing too much effort. Beginning we start to use the personal effort, try to aware of this slowly.
But later the awareness become mo- natural, become momentum. The ne awareness become habit. That time natural energy is growing.
This is very important point. Otherwise you don't know about this natural energy is coming. We all the time use a lot of, involved with the personal effort too much, use too much. Then meditation is not improved. Because,
uh, idea of self is all the time is present. I am meditating. I am meditating. When the awareness become nature, you no need to force to aware. Awareness automatically naturally coming. Then nature is meditating. That time I'm not meditating. Idea of self is that time
decrease.
Meditation is anattā. No self. Nature is meditating. Nobody meditate. That time anattā idea is very strong. Then your, your understanding level is increasing. So this natural momentum is very important.
So if you all the time use too much energy, then the idea of self is not decrease. I am meditating. I am meditating. Then the right attitude, right idea is not coming. So first step, first important point, I try to remind you the first important point is, don't use too much effort. Not necessary.
And continuity of awareness. Just recognize yourself all the time. As much as you can. Right? You know you're sitting, you know you're walking, you know you're seeing.
Do you know seeing and looking the same?
Or different? Different. What different?
Seeing and looking. What different? Looking is focused. Huh? Looking is focused. Yes. Looking is focused. Focus something. Pay attention, concentrate, uh, focus with what do you want to see. Yeah. Right? If you're not looking, there is a seeing happening.
Seeing is a passive. Looking is active.
What do you think? Because of seeing, we can look or because of looking, we can see.
What do you think?
Looking that you can see. Huh? Seeing.
Because of craving. Craving is looking and then he can see. Because he want to look what he want to see, right? Wisdom is, he know the seeing first. Then he choose what he want to see. Then look. So, uh, seeing and, uh, seeing and listen and looking, hearing and listening the same.
So looking and listening and pay attention is functioning the same. The mind quality is the same. But the door is different. So you can practice your seeing, your looking. It's difficult. Right? Now you look at me. Do you know you are looking at me?
This is not difficult. Right? Just recognize yourself, what you are doing. What happening yourself. What experience about your physical process. What you are doing. You know you are sitting, you know you are walking. You know you are eating. You know you are standing. Right? You know you are joking. Whatever. Just recognize yourself.
This is not difficult. But one thing your difficulty is continuity of awareness. Because of you have no habit.
People, they never continue aware of themselves. The mind, their mind is always paying attention to the outside. Or daydreaming.
This is their nature. People mind their nature. Now meditation is, we try to, this radar, our mind is radar is like this. To open the, the outside. Now try to change to your ourself.
People, they never experience all the time to aware of themselves. They don't have this experience. Very strange. Try to practice. If you want to know, you try to practice. This is very strange experience. If you aware all the time yourself, maybe one hour, two hour, continuously aware yourself, that's a very experience is, a strange experience is coming.
Because people are never aware of themselves for one hour, two hour. They always thinking, daydreaming, pay attention outside. They never aware of themselves all the time. So that's why you, you can try. How do you, what, what difference? Aware all the time yourself or what different?
You need to check. So meditation is try to aware our sense door. Uh, seeing, hearing, right? You can practice. Not all the time this anappana or rising phony or physical sensation. You can use the seeing, hearing also. Right? Smelling also we can meditate. You should be meditate.
But people, they never meditate seeing, smelling. It's good smell, they liking. Bad smell, they stop this breathing. They never practice smell, smell also.
Seeing also very difficult. Because when they meditate, they all close the eye.
They don't know open the eye how to meditate.
Very difficult for them because they never practice.
In the Satipatthana Sutta, mindfulness meditation, this already, uh, instru-instructed about this. All sense door you must skip, skip to practice.
But people, they don't never use their seeing and looking.
That's why the daily life practice very difficult. If you close the eye, they can meditate. This is for concentration practice is okay. But for mindfulness meditation and Vipassanā insight meditation, this is not important. This is, I meditation is not eye work. The mind work.
If I close the eye also, you must have awareness and samādhi and wisdom. Open the eye also, you must have awareness, samādhi and wisdom. But people, they no know, they say, I, I try to practice with open eye. Because they never skillful. They don't know how to practice and seeing and seeing and looking. So you need to, you should be practicing seeing and eye, eye object, hearing object, smell, taste, whatever.
But people, they only practice as physical sensation.
And so people, they not skillful. Then watch the mind. More difficult. How do you know? Do you know how to watch the mind?
Do you have a mind? Yeah. Oh.
Okay.
Are you sure?
Do you have a mind?
Yeah. Yes. So I want to know, tell me, show me what is a mind.
Huh? You cannot show? You cannot tell me?
Everybody? Don't know what is a mind? Thoughts. Yes. Thoughts. Thought, thought is a mind. Right? Physical cannot think, cannot talk, cannot think. Right? Thinking, thought is a mind. Okay. Anything else?
Think, think, think.
So watch the mind is more difficult. Watch the body is very obvious. Because
the mind is nowhere, no, no form, no shape, no color, no form, no place. So the mind, you cannot concentrate the mind. Because you want to concentrate, you must have a con location. The mind is nowhere. How to concentrate? Where, where you need to concentrate?
No place. So no location. How do you, how can we concentrate? There's no place, no location.
So mind, watch the mind is a little bit difficult. But not very difficult if you know. Now you know thoughts is a mind. Anything else?
There's a definition have. What the meaning of definition of mind is in our Buddhism. Dhamma can know, can think, can pay attention is a mind.
Okay? This is basic, uh, definition of mind. So the mind must be think. Because the nature of the mind is thinking. Can think is a mind. Something can thinking. This thing is can think. That thing is a mind. Definition of mind is can think, can know, can know the object.
Okay? So knowing is mind. Thinking is a mind. Anything else? Feeling. Feeling. Yes. You know how do you feel? Pleasant, unpleasant, happy, sad, upset, depressed. You can feel. Right? Mental quality, mental, mental state, mental feeling.
It's feeling also mind. And anything else? Intention. Intention. Desire or intention. So you want to eat. Right? Desire to eat, intention to eat, intention to go, intention to try, intention to go to toilet. Obviously. But when you're hungry, the intention to eat is arising.
Right? Desire to eat arising. You know, you can know the, what is it? Hungry. Hungry is a physical process. Physical process. You can see, you can know that your stomach is warm or hungry. You can feel. You can know the stomach. But do you know you have intention to eat?
You can know, right? Everybody know. Everybody know. Where?
No, not, this is not physical process. This is mental process. But you can know, right? So the mind is no form, no shape, no color, no, cannot see. But you can feel, you can know this is happening or this is working.
Right? When you're thinking, you pay attention, the mind pay attention, then you can know. Right? Pay attention, pay attention this, pay attention that. You can feel. So now you try to explain about the thinking, feeling, intention,
uh, knowing, pay attention. It's a mind. If you understand, if you can aware of this happening, if you recognize this happening, then you can aware of the mind.
For example, the thought. You know your thoughts mean is you aware the thoughts. Right? Thinking is object. Not problem.
Right? Thinking is object. The mind. This thinking is the mind. You can aware your thinking. Right? Thinking also object. Feeling is object. Mental feeling, mental state. This object. Avoidance and stressful, you can feel your mental state.
And focusing also you can know.
That's why I explain about looking, listening, and pay attention the same. So you can know you are looking, you can know you are listening. Right? Now you are looking and listening to me. Do you recognize you're doing this?
Sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. Every time you try to practice like this, slowly the mind become habit. Slowly the mind understanding how to watch the mind. This is, you need a lot of experience. A lot of practice and a lot of experience. And slowly the mind know, understand how to watch, how to aware of the mind.
So this is a six object. Physical is a five sense door. One door, mind is one door. Or together is six, six object.
So for meditator, for meditation, the object is not disturb you. Object is always helping you to grow your quality of mind, awareness, samādhi, and wisdom. You can use the object, six object as a object. If you have a right view or right attitude.
Because normal people, they also, also, also have six object. When they are seeing what happening?
When they are seeing the craving, aversion, craving, liking and disliking already there. When they're hearing something, liking, disliking already there. So they also have six object. Meditator also have six object. Why different mind quality is different?
Because we have a right, the view is different. Idea is different. We have knowledge. We have a knowledge. We think this is a nature. This is a object. That's why we use this object to aware and growing the awareness and samādhi and wisdom.
Normal people, not meditator is, they think this isn't, like this is a good or this is a bad. Always judging. Always thinking about the concept. And they judging, they think they good, they liking. The mind judge this is a bad, the mind resist. All the time the mind judging about the experience.
Meditator mind is not judging. They have a right view already there. So this is a very important right view. You cannot, you don't have a right view, you cannot practice Vipassanā or mindfulness meditation. Cannot practice. Awareness alone is not enough. Aware, aware, aware, aware, pay attention is not enough. You must have idea.
The wisdom, there must be knowledge. Then you can think right way, then you can practice right way.
So I want to tell you the first very important point is, don't focus too much, don't use energy too much, don't practice with the craving, aversion, and delusion. Right? Second is a very important point is the right view.
Why right view mean is we try to think as a nature. Every sense door, every experience is become nature.
Nature mean is impersonal. In nature is no good, no bad. Nature is they do their job. Nature mean is that they have their conditioning. The cause and the effect is happening, the process we call nature. In the nature there is no for nobody there. There's impersonal. So any experience is nature.
Object is nature. There's no good, no bad. For example, when you meditate, what do you think? The sound. A lot of problem is for meditator is sound, thinking, and pain. This is the most, the most difficult problem. So I try to think about this. Sound. When you hear the sound, when you're meditating, there's a sound, a noise or no noise, quiet, silent.
Which is better?
Neither. Huh? Neither. Why? Because it just is. Huh?
Either is an object. Okay. Okay. That is a right thoughts, right view. Then sound coming also he not upset. Right? Already stable. If you quiet also you're not very happy. Because as an object. He understanding this object. So the mind is not happy, not sad.
So the mind is already stable.
That is also samādhi, stability of mind. No need to concentrate. Only thinking right way, samādhi already there. This is a Vipassanā meditation. Use the that kind of samādhi. No need to concentrate to make calm down. If you have a right thinking, right view, right thought, the mind already stable.
Because understanding. Right view is because come from the understanding, right thinking. So if you think the quiet is good, then somebody make the noise, what happen? Somebody gone. Yes. Then your samādhi gone. Your stability is gone already. If you think this is a good, obviously it's your bad.
So you have a judgment then the mind always liking and disliking come all the time. The mind is unstable. Right? Another word. When you meditate, a lot of thinking and less thinking, which one better?
As long as you're aware. Yeah. Okay. Now you know the information. So you can think right way. If you're not thinking, you're not thinking, this is not problem. Problem is you are fighting with the thinking.
You are angry with the thinking. You are fighting with the thinking, then you cannot meditate anymore. Thinking is not problem. Thinking is nature. The mind can think.
This is a, in Vipassanā meditation is very simple. They said if you recognize there is a lot of thinking, you recognize a lot of thinking.
There is less thinking, you recognize there is less thinking. That's it. Very simple. Thinking as it is. But you think this is a judge. This is good, this is bad, then a lot of problem come. So then the more higher question coming.
Pain and no pain, which one better?
If you understanding this level, your mind is total, a lot of relief. This is a lot of understanding then that you can see the pain and no pain the same. What the same? Object is the same. But nature is not the same. But object is the same. Right? So if you understand that much, your pain coming, you're not upset.
Pain disappear also, you're not happy. Now a lot of yogis meditate, ah, pain, pain, pain. Ah, they bear, it's very hard to bear. Then pain relieved, they are,
they think this is nice, good. The pain is not good. So then the mind is not stable. The wisdom cannot growing. Right? So right view is very important. If you have a right view, think as a nature and in the nature is no good, no bad. If you're windy, it's good or bad.
But people say sun coming, oh, beautiful day.
Then the cloud coming, oh, very ugly day.
Right? But they are doing their job. Nature they do, they have no good, no bad. Good or bad is your mind idea. The creator, your mind creating good or bad or upset or happy or sad is you create the job.
Your nature. Right? Outside nature is not problem. They do their job. Winter time, the snow come. Summer time, hot. This is nature. It's no good, no bad. But people, their mind all the time judging. Because they like this, they like, they don't like this. They have a lot, a lot of idea.
They cannot think as it is.
They cannot think as it is. They always thinking, liking and disliking way.
So now we need to use the right view. Then your mind is stable. You can accept the nature as it is. Then accept the situation. Then you can learn something about this. If you cannot accept, you resist it. How do we learn?
Meditation is a learning process. Why are you aware?
Because we want to understand. What it is.
What is this? What the physical process, what is the this process, physical and mental process. We want to understand. That's why we are watching awareness. We are trying to aware about our process, physical and mental process. What their relationship have. We want to know. We want to understand. That's why we are aware.
Not because of
other things. Our meditation aim is to understand something. Even the peacefulness is not our aim. Peacefulness is a byproduct, it's coming together. This is not our aim. If your peacefulness is your aim, when the peacefulness arising, what you need to do next?
Peacefulness come, what to do? And enjoy. And sleepy. That's it. So if understanding, this is our aim is understand level. To grow the understand level. The peacefulness already there. This is no need to be aim. So wisdom, we try to cultivate our wisdom nature.
So meditation is a learning process. We try to see the process again and again and again. We aware this process again and again. We try to get some understanding from this experience. That's a learning process. Not blindly aware. We aware aware, not blindly aware. We intelligently aware.
We need to investigate what is it, what is this, how this happening, why this happening. Then you're watching.
Okay? Try to ask some question. Sometime we have a rising falling the abdomen. It's rising falling, right? Why this happening?
Because you breathe. Yes. Because of breathing. Why you breathe? Why breath is happening? Because body breathes. Nature.
This is your thinking. Not from your experience.
Because of rising falling is because of breathing. This is your experience. That you understanding from your experience. Now I ask him why the breathing is happening. Nature. Nature. Everything is nature. But there's a cause. What cause? So you want to know about carbon dioxide and the blood. That's why we watch our awareness, we're breathing.
Why this happening?
Good question. So you can live.
This is your think, I think idea. I don't know. Yeah. So if you want to know, try to aware your breathing.
That's why we are aware. We are watching. The motivation is want to understand. This is intelligent. Want to know. That's why we are watching. Some questions don't have an immediate answer. Yeah, no. You must have a lot of experience then you can get the answer. Question is for question, use the question is for investigate.
For wisdom is evolve. Not for answer immediately.
Interest is present moment, that's enough.
There's a, because of breathing, there's intention. Because of intention, your breathing happening. Intention is so subtle. You don't see, then you don't know what is happening. Then people think this automatic happening. Because they don't know the cause, they said automatic. But they have some cause. So we try to see this cause and effect.
For example, rising falling and because of breathing, right?
Which one first? Breathing first or rising first?
Both. Huh? Both.
Yes. That's why it's right.
This same time happening because of our body is inside our body. It's not vacuum. There's a pool of air already. So breathing and rising is like this.
But people idea is cause and effect. Cause must be first. Effect is later. No. Nature is sometime cause and effect simultaneously. But you need to learn. But if you're watching only one object, you don't understand. You must have overview. The same time what happening, many objects simultaneously.
This hand, this, you can see the both object together, then you can understand. Right answer can come. Otherwise you don't have right answer. Everybody think because of breathing this coming. If you aware the same time, you can aware this happening, then answer is, right answer can come.
So investigate.
It's very important. Why are you angry?
Do you want to angry?
Angry is good or bad?
Angry is necessary or not?
Yes.
If you want to know,
every time you're angry, watch, aware. Then you can understand sometime. Because of every experience, you learn from the experience. Then you learn something about this experience.
Why the angry is arising. But you don't want to be angry. But many time the angry coming. You said not necessary, but all the time happening.
Why? Because of you don't know why. If you know why, you can stop.
Because of craving or aversion. Huh? What? Craving or without craving or aversion, there wouldn't be anger.
Watching is anger already.
Right? This is a relationship have. Before your mind is craving, before your mind is aversion. If your awareness all the time you can see your mind all the time, then you can see the whole process happening. Then you understanding. Why this happening. So first you need to know about physical object. You aware the physical object.
How to aware the physical object. Seeing, hearing, smelling, this, whatever. Second, we need to aware your feeling.
And third, we need to know our mind. And later, awareness becomes stronger and stronger and sharper and sharper. Then you can see these three things is together.
Right? Awareness becomes stronger, very skillful. Simultaneous he can know the everything. Physical object also, feeling also, thought also. He can see the whole view. Then we try to investigate, then get the answer. So we start to practice with the physical object. Easier. And grow our awareness and samādhi.
Later,
try to see our mind.
Feeling, thoughts. Thought and feeling is relationship
have. And what state of mind, what idea you think, how do you feel? Negative thinking, negative feeling come. Positive thinking, positive feeling come. Right? This relationship have. Also the mind and body also relationship have. If you see these three things become relationship. If you're more understanding about this nature, then idea of self is slowly fade and fade.
Beginning we have, we think the idea of self very strong. Bodily also me. Mentally also me. I know. I feel.
I hear. I see. Actually it's a seeing process happening. Hearing process is happening. There's no body there. But idea of self, if we don't understanding the nature, we believe in very strong self.
The body also me. Pain also me. Hardened also softened also me. Everything is me.
How do you always keep remembering? Huh? How do you always keep remembering? I always forget. Yeah. You need to practice. You need to practice. Again, again, again. Try to aware yourself. Right? And few second too, come back. A few second you lost. Come back, come back, come back.
Try to practice, come back. Day by day, day by day, then slowly awareness become momentum.
Right? This is a lot of practice we need. That's why we need to practice the whole day. Our center, every yogi practice, morning wake up, they know they're wake up. Oh, I'm wake up. I'm rushing tea. I'm go to toilet. I'm sitting. I open the door. I close the door. Then I ask them, when you go into the room, head first or left first?
They don't know.
But they aware, they must know. If you're aware, they can know. When you brush the tea, which hand do you use?
Right hand, right? What happening your left hand?
People, they don't know about dancer very well.
They know very well about dancer. They know a little bit about this dancer. So when, and also we not use one object all the time. We use one object to grow awareness first. Then slowly we need to more recognize every object. Then awareness more worker.
So you need to use all day practice. Then awareness become stronger and stronger. Right? Sitting, walking, eating, every moment.
Try to aware yourself. Slowly awareness better and better, your experience change. And you are telling me about your experience. We discuss about this. And we try to explore about your practice. Practice theory and practice get together like this. Then slowly the mind, the yogi understand how to practice more and more better and better.
And slowly they know their mind. After that, they go back, they're home. They need to practice their home. Center is, they come to learn how to practice. How to watch your body, how to watch your mind. This center is learning camping. Like a camp. You try to train.
After training, like to go back and you need to practice in your life. Then your life become change. Otherwise your life cannot change.
In the center, many people come to center, they practice very hard. And go back, they not practice.
Because
they are not skillful to practice. That's why they cannot maintain the practice continuously. They not skillful, they don't know how to watch your mind. They not skillful, they not very skillful about practice. That's why in daily life a lot of aversion, a stressful car, they cannot handle their peacefulness.
Then they said, oh, okay, free. Then when you have holiday and go and practice.
Right?
So
I think this is enough.
Because I talk too much, you cannot get it. Right? Now you know how to be mindful, right? How to aware yourself. It's obviously I said twice. As much as you can. You go back your home, your walk, your walk in your daily life, try to use.
What different?
Very different about yourself. If you can practice more and more, your stressful is less and less.
People, they never stop their stressful. It's very strong, very stressful. So what you want to ask? Well, just specific to my experience of my daily structure and going from this to that to that to that. And knowing I need to be there at a certain time, I get sucked into that.
So you need to go there, this is to do there, right? So where you are going? Right now I'm right here. Yeah. Then go, you know you are going. That's it. Every moment, present moment, do you recognize or not?
Now this IMS retreat finished after
before three days. Then I said, now you can talk. Ten day, they cannot talk. Silent. After four day, two weeks retreat. Later, after the ten days, I said, you can talk now. So try to be mindful. Try to aware you are talking. This also already have instruction, but nobody practice.
In daily life, they cannot practice their talking meditation. Then a lot of problem comes. A lot of angry come. A lot of aversion come. Because of they not aware of their talking.
They don't know their motivation is craving, aversion. You also the same. They also the same. Talk, talk, eat like this and finish.
So peaceful, cannot peaceful, can misunderstanding a lot. Cannot hear each other. Very loud, but they cannot hear. Because their mind is full of what they want to talk.
So now I said, you can practice talking meditation.
So we try to aware when you are talking. Anything, anything. About yourself, your action, your feeling, your thoughts. Anything. You can start to aware your talking time. When your talking time, be recognize yourself. Something, anything. Slowly start it.
Then slowly your talking is become more skillful.
Very beneficial. Because a lot of talking is make trouble.
Each other they use the word to painful.
Right?
So
every action, whatever you do, try to aware instruction very simple.
You just try to meditate. Your experience coming. One week, two weeks, three week what happening. See.
Okay? Yes? I'm asking this because one of the first things you said was that it's important to
maintain a meditation schedule. So I want to explain what I'm doing and see if that qualifies as a schedule.
I get up in the morning, about 3 o'clock, make tea,
sit down and read something from the Dharma and drink the tea outside. Then I,
here's a change I've made. I've been doing a time. I've been using timing myself. My morning time is 50 minutes. But I've quit timing lately, but put down the timer so that I can see how long I did. Because sometimes I wanted to quit before 50 minutes, but sometimes that ding, ding, ding got in the way of my meditation.
So that's my morning meditation. That's the schedule for that. Now the evening meditation. Only 15 minutes? 5-0. 5-0 or 15 minutes? 5-0. 5-0, okay. 50. But now that I'm not using the timer to time it, it's often going longer. Some longer.
My evening meditation isn't quite as well scheduled.
And it's usually only about 40 minutes. And it's whatever I'm doing for the evening, when I'm done, basically then I'll read something for a little while again and go outside and sit
for about 10 minutes less usually than my morning meditation. And then go to bed. Does that count as a schedule? Because I don't have a specific time. Okay. Meditation, I try to say, meditation is not pusher. Only not sitting pusher. Right, I understand. I say too that I now realize I'm not meditating usually very well anyway.
When I get up, when I walk over to get the tea going, and I'm going to be much more aware of that than I did then. Yes, that's it, that's it. So if you want to meditate improving, really want to improve,
I try to talk about this. One day is 24 hours. How many hours you sleep?
Maybe 6 hours. Right? 18 hours left. Right? 24 hours, 6 hours you sleep. Maybe 8 hours. Okay? 16 hours left. So your morning one hour meditate, evening one hour meditate, two hours meditate. Every day, no? But then how many hours left?
14 hours. So 14 hours you not meditate. So that time the loaded and aversion and craving is already there. So
14 hours and 2 hours. Switch. No match.
You never improve. So what did you mean by schedule? That's why schedule is all the time. All the time. Moment to moment is a meditation time. Every time is meditation time. That's not a schedule, that's all the time.
To work in daily life, you have to think, you have to perform, you have to do things. What do you do then? What do you do then? What you do then, if you try to aware when you are talking time or what you are doing time, your quality might differ.
Very different. When you have aware something you are doing, this quality become better and better.
You aware and you doing something, this quality become better and better. And also your quality of mind is totally different. If you are not aware, there's a deluded mind. There's a deluded mind, any defilement can come. So you can create, you can angry immediately. Sometimes people respond so quick.
Boom. If you're angry, you talk back, boom. A lot of problem come. Right? If you are aware, you know the mind is angry. You're not talking yet. You have a space. Then you can take how to do.
Should talk or not. You have a space. That is a wisdom is involved. Then wisdom is should not or should or not.
Then your quality become different. Understand? Very, very different. Every time your mental action, verbal action, physical action, is motivation, is awareness and wisdom present,
you are secure. Everything is smooth. Because of problem come from craving, aversion, delusion, motivate.
Then a lot of problem come. All the time you're suffering. Right? Try to practice first. Then you see how different. Yes? The judging that you talked about, how important it is not to judge. I judge all the time. How do you go from? Yes. So old habit, old habit die hard.
Right? Old habits die hard. So you cannot change immediately. So every time you're judging, you recognize. Try to recognize. When you recognize, your wisdom can chance to think this is not necessary. Next time, you learn from this experience. Every time you're judging, you try to aware. That's enough.
Right? Naturally, slowly, slowly you learn something from your, you can change your behavior.
American
idea is complaining.
Everything is smooth. They complain something.
This is American idea.
But this is good, I think.
But good mean is for other people. They can change. Right? They can learn from the complaining the something weak. So you can complain it, right? For complain person is all the time agitation come. Not for complain people. For other people is okay.
For complain, you are very upset. You need to, because of you are all the time agitate, upset, this negative ideas can come.
Can talk. You are peaceful, you might not want to think about negative. Because if you negative thinking, you have negative feeling already there. Right? When your mind meditate are very peaceful, you can start to complaining, your mind is calm. Peacefulness is calm.
When
or how would you
have the knowledge that you are a stream enter? Because
a stream enter is an understanding level. Western nature is he know very well clearly what is this. Right? So this is no need to ask.
The yogi know itself. So it's a self-aware. Yeah, very well. Very well.
No need to ask other people said. Because of meditation is a growing western nature is he knowing clearly what happening. What it is clear, did they everything, did they understanding very well. This is a western nature. So a letterman person is very well about what happening. No need to ask other people.
If you ask other people, mean is you're not get there.
Understand nature is he understanding what is good, what is bad, what is right, what is wrong, what is call, what is effect. This is a nature of understanding. This is two way. They see, they understanding the cause, they understand already effect.
This is nature of understanding is
two way, not only one. One is your understanding is very low. If you know this is a white, you must understand this is not black.
Right? Opposite, you need to understand opposite way. So if you know what is right, you understanding what is wrong already.
Anything?
About practice, you can ask. Only one day.
If your practice already practice, then better to ask the discard. If you're not experienced, then
no questions coming. So if you are practicing all the time, then when we meet, then we can discard about your experience. So have a question answer better. So you need to experience path. Maybe next time I come, then discard about this. Right?
Every day we have practice in the center.
Every day we have a discussion time. The whole day practice, evening we discuss. Sometimes alternate day, you have experience, then we discard about this.
Otherwise, you don't have experience, then we cannot talk. Right?
So yes. I've sat with several groups and
you've mentioned both with the eyes, whether your eyes are open, your eyes are closed.
If I understood your comment, it seemed that if you're beginning a practice, it's okay to practice with your eyes closed, but as you become more skilled, you
should practice with your eyes. Because what I'm finding is
it's what works for your meditation. And if you do better with eyes open and can focus on an object, or you can do closed, it doesn't matter. No, it doesn't matter. Beginner also is start to use eye open also, more easy to awake. Close eye, they also is
sleepy. No, I said already meditation is mind work, not eye work. Your eye open, but mind pay attention to yourself, inside your body. Not pay attention to your eye. If you pay attention to your eye, you're looking and you're thinking about outside, then you cannot awake. But eye open, eye closed, close an eye and meditate is for concentration practice.
Because they want their one object. That's why they need to cut out any object. Seeing, hearing, sometimes people they meditate like this.
This is a concentration practice. They try to quote what they want. But inside meditation is not necessary.
You can use the seeing also object, one object more. Right? So no problem. If you understanding the instruction, you can practice. Because most of the yogi, they have a wrong old idea is close eye, a lot of practice like this. That's why immediate open eye, they cannot know how to practice. That's why they think it's difficult.
But this is actually this habit.
One yogi said,
"I'm very afraid to practice close eye." I said, "Or open eye." I said, "Why?" "I open eye, my concentration is gone." So I said, "Your concentration cannot use anymore." If you open your eye, your concentration is gone. Your concentration cannot use.
So your concentration must be open eye or close eye must be present. Then you can use your concentration.
Because they've said their concentration is the one point of concentration. Not Vipassanā concentration. Vipassanā samādhi, they don't have Vipassanā samādhi. They try to get the one object concentration. The eye open,
a lot of percentage of mind is come to the eye. That's why they cannot get what their object. 100%. So half, 50% is come to the eye. So they cannot get 100% what they want to observe. That's why they said their concentration gone.
For samādhā, they cannot practice open eye.
I have a question. It's very hard to be aware all of the time. So is it okay eye aware? We can start with the one object. Impossible at my level. So is it okay if I'm aware, sometime I catch it, you know, on video camera, I'm aware, I'm doing this for a few minutes, and then it's gone right away. And then I try to capture it.
I mean, trying to aware it. That's okay, right? Do you know you're driving the car? Yes. How many object do you know? A lot. Yes. Not difficult. Naturally, the mind know many object. Naturally. This is the one object is you are trying to focus, try to practice only.
Nature is already know the many object. You know you're seeing, you know you're hearing, you know your hand moving, you know you're doing this, even if you're eating something, you phone call. You can do everything.
Same time. But naturally, the mind know. But you are trying to practice concentration one object. That's why later you cannot do this. Difficult. Naturally is, but awareness, beginning awareness difficult to aware of the one object. Start to use the one object to be awareness present.
Continue practice one object. But naturally, awareness better and better, he can receive some object. For example, you start to aware your Anapana. Slowly, you know this Anapana. Also, same time, you know the thoughts.
Right? Same time, you know the heat. You know the pain. Slowly, awareness become better and better, he receive more object coming. Eventually, we will get there. We need to allow to know. But your practice want to be concentrate one object, then you said, "Ignore. Ignore. Ignore."
Then your mind become change habit. Meditation, Vipassanā meditation need to move out object. For samādhā practice, they need one object concentration. So what do you want?
There's two way. You can choose this way or that way. But you only know this way, then you practice Vipassanā also this idea.
No match. There's no,
how to say? No growth? Yeah, cannot growing wisdom. Because of different approaching.
Different idea. Right? If you want to calm down, okay, one object, no problem. You're alone, you go to the toilet. You go to the toilet, you leave to the forest.
Nobody there and you can concentrate one object. It's easier. Right? In the supermarket, how do we concentrate one object? Difficult. Right? Then if you agitate, then you don't know how to do. Cannot go forest, so better to toilet. Close the door.
That make mind calm down.
So different idea, different practice. Right? Vipassanā is can practice any posture, anywhere, any time, any job.
Even your home or your office, you can maintain awareness.
Then your job become better and better.
If someone's completely aware, do they need to still practice sitting? If your awareness become momentum. The awareness become momentum mean is you, the mind know how to practice where you are. It's careful. That time, he no need to personal effort to meditate.
Automatic, awareness they do their job. You doing also, they do their job. Awareness also, they do their job. So that mean is the mind very aware, very skillful. That time, meditating is happening.
Not like a beginner to wear this or wear that, there's no necessity. No necessity to do that. But this must be long time practice. Yeah.
Become nature. Nature is meditating. Right? Beginning is personal effort. There's two kind of effort, personal effort and natural effort.
So now they are a lot of job require multitasking. So the increasing awareness
without help, or there will be difference. What? What do you mean? Difference between by applying the awareness for whatever around you, and in the meantime, can that help you to do multitasking in your job? Multitasking when you are. No, no, no. Many goal.
Many goal. If you are skillful, can do this. Or anything. If you are not skillful, it's one thing, two thing, it's very difficult to do this. Right? If you are very skillful, two, three thing, you can same time, you can do the what is more important, what is next. The manage, everything, if your wisdom is involved, wisdom is awakened, everything went into place.
Because of wisdom, naturally, he can choose, he can manage, and he can do, he can choice. Already manage. You are no need to do too much. When your mind simple and honest, clear, the wisdom is take care of your everything. Unbelievable.
This is a, you cannot imagine this way. Because you are never get this level. Yet. That's why you cannot imagine this level. When you get this level, then you can understanding what I'm saying. Unbelievable.
Also another related questions. There's an imagine about
take breathing as an example, right? In and out and breathing. But actually, you can, when you are in a much subtle way, you can not only sense your breathing in, the air, also the temperature. Sometimes even you can feel the light, right? Light, heaviness, lightness, heaviness.
Lightness, heaviness, and in the meantime, physical body, the energy flow too, right? Yes. So that means awareness, it has a different level. Yes, become increase. Aware, aware. So it's not as just one layer. So maybe when you are doing that practice again, again, even the breathing, it can lead you to a much, much deeper. Yeah, right.
Only the breathing, before we only know breathing, only this one area. And later and later, you can know the relationship about the breathing, the whole body and mind. How
many can know? Right? Because it depend on your awareness quality.
Okay, I think this finish. Enough, right? I'm tired now.
When I mentioned, I haven't used the translator. Very relaxed. There's nothing today. But now, no matter then I use my English, but also very tired.
My jaw is very painful now.
Okay.
Thank you all for coming today and sharing this time. With gratitude.
I also very glad to meet you.
See you next time.
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.…