Q&AInsight Meditation Society Retreat4 May 2014
Dharma Discussion group D3 — Working with Defilements and Right Attitude
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 2 hr
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−2:00:37
Uses compressed audio.
AI-written summary
A group interview addressing defilement recognition, balancing effort, and maintaining right attitude. The teacher explains that excessive effort and craving for relief fuel defilements, whereas right view allows the mind to face present experience naturally.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Insight Meditation Society Retreat · 35 talks
- 201 hr 39 minDharma Discussion group A3 — Doubt, Nature of Awareness and Objects, and Dukkha3 May 2014
- 212 hr 9 minDharma Discussion group B3 — Working with Defilements, Pain, and Effort3 May 2014
- 2228 minGuided meditation — Noticing Defilements and Continuous Awareness4 May 2014
- 231 hr 46 minDharma Discussion group C3 — Defilements as Objects and Awareness of Mind4 May 2014
- Viewing242 hr 1 minDharma Discussion group D3 — Working with Defilements and Right Attitude4 May 2014
- 251 hr 51 minDharma Discussion group E3 — Investigating Defilements and Reality of the Mind5 May 2014
- 262 hr 14 minDharma Discussion group F3 — Being Aware of Awareness, Personal Effort, and Looking Internally at Defilements5 May 2014
- 271 hr 41 minDharma Discussion group A4 — Practicing with Regret, Delusion, and Emotions6 May 2014
- 282 hr 1 minDharma Discussion group B4 — Wisdom, Delusion, and Relationships Between Defilements6 May 2014
- 291 hr 53 minDharma Discussion group C4 — Conditioning, Mind-Matter, and Aware Speaking7 May 2014
Transcript
English
So this is May 4, discussion group D, in Sayadaw U Tejaniya at Insight Meditation Society. And with that, first group, raise your hands again—so, Sayadaw and Matet, can you see me?
English
Eight.
English
Okay.
English
I— I have a question. Go. A little bit of a lead-in. We were— we were— it's been mentioned a few times about the defilements, how they keep on arising, and how they even have their own swatting. Mm-hm. When I start in the meditation, I have a bowing procedure that helps me a lot, right?
English
You know, some wholesome words that I bring up, like "may I have acceptance and faith," and I go through a full list, and I feel a whole lot better for it. And I go in, and everything seems to be right for a good meditation, but they seem to find a way in.
English
It's fine. I check in with the breath, I check in with the body, I check in with the energy. And
English
I— maybe it's just my imagination, but I think there's like 3 or 4 ways I've noticed that they get in, so far. Only 3 or 4? One— one is, is, is they kind of— like if there's a word, or a vision, or something in your mind that may be part of a wholesome thought or something, but it's also a similar word that can be associated, that it can take advantage of and take your mind away.
English
Then it— sometimes it scoots my mind away, and sometimes, you know, there can be— I think it's vaginal reactions, or— or things that keep on going, and going, and going. So the mind starts thinking. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And the second one— another way is that they pretend to be friendly. Yeah. It— it's— you can think that they're wholesome, like there's a wholesome feel to it, but it's really a nasty thought.
English
Ugh. It can— it can go a— it can go a fair way before,
English
before you realize it. You know, and sometimes too, they can just take advantage of a mood that's sour and then just take you anyways. Mm-hm. Is— is another one. And another one is that they just seem to find a sneak away under the canopy. I didn't get it. So, you know, like you can have everything that's wonderful, and somehow it's like they're constantly probing for a way in.
English
Anyways, that's— that's so forth. So I'm just wondering if it's— if it's good to stay with, you know, the awareness and catch them as they arise, and hope that you can arri— you know, find them when they're still in their subtle stages and haven't grown,
English
you know, develop a wholesome quality, or if there's special ways
English
so that, you know, that you can know that they're coming in this way or that way.
[Burmese segment]
English
[Burmese segment]
English
do sao? . No special. . No special way. No special way.
English
He says,
English
um, we have to build awareness, bring, you know, establish momentum, have awareness become more natural, more strong. When awareness is, um, stronger, more present— sometimes he likes to use the word "sharp"— then, um, then it detects, um, whatever arises in the mind more quickly, more when it's more subtle, when it's more in its infancy.
English
We also become skillful at recognizing the mind and what's happening in the mind, so
English
matter of practice. Okay. Yeah. And he also said, don't believe thoughts right away. Yeah. We are
English
Yeah. He says, sometimes the words might seem sweet, but what you have to do is check in with how it actually feels, and the feelings are a better indication of whether it feels right or wholesome, or whether there seems like something is not right.
English
Yeah.
English
Thank you. Yeah.
English
Yeah. Um, several things. At times I notice I have quite a few thoughts floating through, but I— they're sort of in the background, and they're not very powerful or strong. They don't last very long. They're just kind of— Also, um, I've been looking a little bit at intentions when I make a change, like to get up to walk or, you know, what is my state of 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.…