Q&AInsight Meditation Society Retreat9 May 2014
Group discussion — Working with Defilements and Mind-Brain Relationship
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 50 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−50:03
Uses compressed audio.
AI-written summary
In this group interview, the teacher discusses maintaining continuous awareness in daily life, relationships, and work. He instructs yogis to observe defilements with right view and clarifies the relationship between the mind and the brain.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Insight Meditation Society Retreat · 35 talks
- 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
- 301 hr 58 minDharma Discussion group D4 — Self-Criticism, Right Effort, and Defilements7 May 2014
- 3131 minMorning reflections — Momentum of Awareness and Detecting Subtle Defilements8 May 2014
- 322 hr 5 minDharma Discussion group E4 — Simple Awareness and Defilements8 May 2014
- 331 hr 47 minDharma Discussion group F4 — Natural Awareness, Sinking Mind and Dealing with Strong Emotions8 May 2014
- 3439 minLast words from Sayadaw9 May 2014
- Viewing3550 minGroup discussion — Working with Defilements and Mind-Brain Relationship9 May 2014
Transcript
[Burmese segment]
English
Am I 90 like, near when I do it yet? Oh, okay. It's a moment of clear seeing, of clear comprehension. It's like the mind just saw what was happening as it is, and when you see things as it is— ，，，，，，，，，？？ ，，，，？？ Yeah, so you said that when the thoughts were going on, they didn't stop, but when you— Suddenly the mind said, "Delusion."
English
And then you looked at the delusion, and probably in that moment it shifted, and the mind actually saw it for what it is, and that's what stopped it. And there were no thoughts for a while. Coming on. Yeah. For a while. Yeah. Kannad, you know, really get on.
English
Okay. No, no, no. Thank you. Right. Thanks again. So, Sayadaw, so— What?
English
Okay. So with the aspiration to practice continuously in daily life, I find it easier when doing physical things to maintain continuity of awareness, when there are a lot of things for the mind to do on the computer, or work, or research, much more difficult to maintain continuity of awareness.
English
And I just wonder, Sayadaw— ？？ He says, "Do it as much as you're able." Yeah. To take little breaks. If the mind leaves, I find a stop. Yang thap, yang thap, yang thap. Yeah, yeah. Start over and over again, trying to be mindful. And any place specifically when engaging with the mind and mental realms to anchor the awareness?
English
Any place more skillful? He would say the awareness. He would start from the awareness. Awareness, I mean, I love it. Because awareness is always doing that work, and it is the mind. We're trying to be aware all the time, right?
English
Yeah. Yeah. So awareness, I— 。 So awareness is the most— ，，，。 Yeah. When we're doing the work of awareness all the time, the quality of mind that becomes the most prominent is actually awareness, because that's what we're continuously trying to cultivate, right? Yeah. Now, right now, feeling it, thought, right?
English
Yeah, and feelings of thoughts are also quite obvious. Yeah. Yeah. When we're at home, he says the mind constantly has some agitation or other, most of the time. The mind always has this pressure, this, you know, it has to get things done.
English
So this eagerness that pushes it, like pressure to get things done. Yeah. You can feel that. You can feel whether the mind is feeling relaxed or tense. Yeah. When it's relaxed, it feels like it's so easeful inside, so much space, not contracted.
English
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He says, "Just, you know, just, just keep trying." He says, "As you keep trying again and again and again," he says, "it'll just slowly, you know, get get easier."
English
Yeah. You'll notice it coming together.
English
Okay there. Mayom de yom de. Yes.
English
This was in the vein of what I was going to ask anyway, but just on top of that. The awareness of the awareness, being aware of being aware, how deeply important or useful a tool is it? Because I've been trying to work with that, and I know you can't do something to make it happen, but I've seen the value of it already.
[Burmese segment]
English
Yeah. He says. He says, "When we observe objects all the time, it starts to become clear that the objects are not me." He says, "But we still maintain an identification with the knower, because I am aware." Yeah. So it's only when we begin to know the awareness that we can begin to see that awareness is also doing its own work, and it's not me.
English
Yeah. Otherwise, the identification with the meditator still remains. So that would be the usefulness of being aware of the awareness. Pulls you back a little bit.
English
Yeah. And because awareness is mind, and it's in the mind,
English
you know, then when you know awareness, you also become aware of other minds, because you're tuning into the mind. When you can tune into the mind, then you can tune into all other, like, stuff in the mind. Yeah. Yeah. How do you say thank you in Burmese? Chezutembare. Chezutembare. I think to a monk it's better to say, "Chezutchibare," maybe.
English
Hold on. But over, maybe. Chezutembare, it's better. Yeah, it's fine. He said, "Yeah." Yes. I have a question. I think the hardest thing for me, when I'm home doing my practice at home, what creates a lot of turbulence for me in the mind, is particularly the relationship I have with my partner. Because by its very nature, it seems like a relationship with a spouse or a partner
English
is, in its essence, in many ways, craving and delusion.
English
Right? Oh, very interesting. I mean, that's the core of it, in any respect. So does Sayadaw have some advice,
English
relationship advice, I guess? Is it only possible to become enlightened when you're single? No.
English
No, you don't have to be single to become enlightened. Yeah. Your partner could be your
English
support, the condition that propels you to enlightenment. Yeah. But you can, you know, you talked about the base, the very basis of getting into partnership with someone seems to be attachment, and
English
he says, "But you can change that basis." Right. Yeah. He says, "We're not always filled with
English
aversion and greed." You know, we're not all the time experiencing attachment and so on. He says, "So how you can practice is to notice the attachment." And every time you relate to your partner, to learn to see it with wisdom and awareness, to approach that whole. Family life，，family life，，， family，，，，，，，，，。 Yeah.
English
He says, "We, for example, family." When we relate to our family. He says, "Families live together, and they're together all the time." He says, "Why do feelings of anxiety, worry for each other,
English
anger towards each other, and stuff, why do they not, why doesn't it become better?" You know, why do we continue to live with those states of mind with each other? Yeah. Yeah. He says, "It's family.
English
When we see family, the feelings it should invoke are feelings of harmony, of love, trust." And he says, "Why is it that that's not the, why is it that that's not the experience?"
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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.…