Q&ASpirit Rock Meditation Center Retreat7 May 2015
Group D session 4 — Maintaining Awareness in Daily Life, Working with Doubt, and Wisdom's Role
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 2 hr 7 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−2:07:41
Uses compressed audio.
AI-written summary
In this group interview, the teacher discusses maintaining awareness in daily life and working with sleepiness and subtle doubt. He explains the difference between greed and wholesome desire (chanda), offering guidance on being aware of defilements rather than resisting them.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Retreat · 38 talks
- 2942 minMorning instructions day 11 — Practicing Mindfulness While Speaking6 May 2015
- 301 hr 40 minGroup A session 4 — Defilements as Nature and Right Attitude Towards Them6 May 2015
- 3132 minMorning instructions day 12 — Knowing Intentions and Continuity of Awareness7 May 2015
- 321 hr 40 minGroup B session 4 — Defilements as Forces of Nature and Understanding the Mind7 May 2015
- 331 hr 33 minGroup C session 4 — Concept, Reality and Mind Door7 May 2015
- Viewing342 hr 8 minGroup D session 4 — Maintaining Awareness in Daily Life, Working with Doubt, and Wisdom's Role7 May 2015
- 3530 minMorning instructions day 13 — Maintaining Awareness in Daily Activities and Thoughts8 May 2015
- 361 hr 33 minGroup E session 4 — Knowing the Mind and Maintaining Continuity8 May 2015
- 372 hr 2 minGroup F session 4 — Mindfulness in Speech and Dealing with Defilements8 May 2015
- 381 hr 8 minMorning instructions · closing day — Continuing Practice at Home9 May 2015
Transcript
English
Okay. This is Thursday, the 7th of May. Interview discussion group is set on U Tejaniya as spirit walk. This is group D for 4th meeting.
English
Um, I am doing this retreat as a commuter, and because I live close by, I've been going home to my family each night. And this is, uh,
English
so I've been doing lots of mindful walking for the entire retreat, and it has been a very interesting experience because I've been, um, experimenting with different ways to maintain my awareness. The first few nights were very, very difficult. I was even forgetting that I was even on retreat, or much of it because I wasn't in the environment.
English
But as the momentum of the awareness built, I have been able to, um, maintain it when I'm at home, and that has, uh, allowed me to, like I say, experiment with a lot of different ways of maintaining awareness and keeping mindful talking going, that kind of thing. And sometimes things work, and sometimes they don't. And I get to come back each day here and kind of build up the awareness again, and then go back and try some new things that evening.
English
Um,
English
so the actually, the instructions that were given at the last session we had about, uh, doing intentions at the beginning of the day and reflections at the end of the day, I adapted that to my situation. And it has been very, very helpful to do intention when I first get home and reflection when I go to bed. And also, I've adapted that to each conversation that I have, too, where I so it's like purposeful talking, not just mindful talking.
English
It's like I what is my intention when I begin a conversation, and then as soon as the conversation is finished, then I reflect on what worked and what didn't work. Um, that's been really, really helpful. It's kind of given me a kind of a, a, uh, toolbox of things that work and to try again and to not try again another time, that kind of thing. Um,
English
so I actually am coming toward the end of this retreat feeling much more confident and having faith in things that I'll be able to continue being mindful after the retreat, more so than on other retreats. Um, but the one question that I do have is, um, I've been really limiting my activities at home so that it can be as retreat-like as possible.
English
And even that has been overwhelming at times, in terms of just things going on, because the pe other people in my house are not meditators, they're not mindful, and that kind of thing. Um, but when the retreat actually does end and I go back to full level of, of everyday living, um, just wondering if the side of my head anymore suggestions about how to deal with kind of that increased speed and intensity beyond what I've already been doing.
[Burmese segment]
English
Yeah. So I just think about, um, days as, uh, filled with moments rather than, like, think of it as a whole day.
English
Yeah, and, and take them, uh, in packets, yeah. Okay. Yeah. We, we can only deal with one moment or task at a time. We are not really, um, multitasking in the sense of, like, doing with our feet and, you know, we're not, like, doing two things at a time.
English
. Yeah. We just don't live. . Don't live a day at a time. Live an hour at a time.
English
. Yeah. He said that's, that's the kind of retreat he really wants, where, you know, people can come in and, and then they can make a real effort at home. . Yeah. Interview . Yeah. And all the yogis really need is the interview, you know, because they can go home every night and they, yeah.
English
. Yeah. Then we get a taste of what it's like to really try it at home,
English
continuously.
English
Yeah. He says to practice in real life, we have to really practice. The first thing we'll come across is how, when we're eager to do something, we lose mindfulness. If we're in a hurry, we lose mindfulness. So that's our first learn, learn, lesson, he says, and we have to use a lot of our wisdom.
English
We have to think a lot about how to strategize so that we can reduce that in order that mindfulness can remain. He says all of us have our own lives and our own ways, and he says we need to find our way, um, you know, our strategy that will work for our lives.
English
Yeah. He says that's why he's always saying to us, be interested in our practice, in our practice, because, um, he says we have to think about how to practice in order to practice effectively.
English
Yeah. He didn't know how to actually make it continuous in his daily life either, he said. But he just tried, and as he kept watching and, and then wanting to, because he wanted to, then thinking about how to do it, he said. Yeah. And, and learning from, you know, different situations, different moments, what he needed to do in, in those distincts.
English
He said he slowly learned lessons. He says in our lives, although we think we deal with many people, he says, it's always just these people. We're, we're not, you know, it's, it's usually the same people that we deal with.
English
The same work that we do every day, generally.
English
So long as there is that, um, intention to
English
have the Dhamma in our lives, the practice in our lives, yeah, he says, we will find a way. . It's only, yes, in the beginning that it's hard.
English
Yeah. At home, he says, when we get home, it's not going to, uh,
English
it's not going to be the way we want it to be. It's not going to fall. We're going to fall, he said. Mindfulness will fall away. Because the surroundings are different
English
Yeah. Well, that was kind of what I felt, like, the first few nights. Then I kind of, it started to blend, it started blending together, so I felt like I could really be. Yeah. More mindful at home, too. Yeah.
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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.…