Q&ASpirit Rock Meditation Center Retreat2 May 2015
Group E session 2 — Greed, Aversion, and Stabilizing the Mind with Right View
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 1 hr 42 min
Original audio: English
0:00−1:42:32
Uses compressed audio.
AI-written summary
This group interview clarifies how to work with greed and aversion through right attitude and right view. The teacher explains that samadhi arises naturally when the mind accepts reality without expectation or intervention. Meditators learn to skillfully acknowledge defilements rather than confronting them head-on.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Retreat · 38 talks
- 1433 minMorning instructions day 6 — Concept and Reality1 May 2015
- 151 hr 28 minGroup C session 2 — Awareness and Wisdom with Everyday Activities1 May 2015
- 161 hr 45 minGroup D · session 2 — Reality and Concepts, Investigating with Right Attitude1 May 2015
- 1740 minMorning instructions day 7 — Interest, Pure Mind, and Understanding2 May 2015
- Viewing181 hr 43 minGroup E session 2 — Greed, Aversion, and Stabilizing the Mind with Right View2 May 2015
- 192 hr 3 minGroup F · session 2 — Seeing and Looking, Right View, and Investigating Aversion2 May 2015
- 2040 minMorning instructions day 8 — Observing the Nature of Mind and Defilements3 May 2015
- 211 hr 39 minGroup A · session 3 — Wrong View, Stories, and the Sense of Self3 May 2015
- 221 hr 46 minGroup B · session 3 — Working with Defilements and Nature of Mind3 May 2015
- 2329 minMorning instructions day 9 — Wisdom, Concepts, and Ultimate Realities4 May 2015
Transcript
EnglishSaturday, May 2, at Spirit Rock Meditation Center with Sayadaw U Tejaniya, group E, second session.
EnglishWelcome. Every day I wrote down a question as they came up, and then every day they resolved themselves. So I don't really feel I have a question so much, because I'm trusting that that might happen again. It'll keep resolving in some way. But I do want to just share, I guess, what I was experiencing. So around the fourth day I realized how
Englishstuck—or I don't even want to call it stuck—but how dependent upon my breath I was on stability. And I really, I didn't even realize how much I used my breath for stabilizing. And everything could happen around it. I was able to investigate other things: avenas, and the aggregates, and becoming is a big part of my practice, really recognizing becoming in the thoughts.
EnglishSo that was all able to happen, but I really needed the breath to stabilize, always. So at day 4 I was still there and sort of looking for the fourth mango, you know, it's like.
EnglishAnd I decided to sit in a chair on day 4, and just something about really strong, consistent effort and energy sort of—it just all shifted. Like that just, whatever happened, happened. And I was able to use awareness as
Englishmy stabilizer, I guess. Or that became stabilizing. But I feel like a toddler in it, because I have to use words like awareness, knowing,
Englishmind, knowing, whatever, dot dot dot. Awareness. And I'm still sort of doing that, and it's helping me to really see. And then when I notice
Englishsomething coming in—we'll call it defilement, but it feels like a strong word right now—just that it feels rocky. I would notice it was because my stability just wasn't there anymore.
EnglishSo I feel like it's going well. And one of the things I noticed I was doing too that's so nice is that this awareness is so peaceful and non-judgmental and accepting, and it's very restful for my mind. And even when I started to investigate something and I didn't have completion, I found there's like a little filing cabinet I have right over here in my skull, and I put it in a file, just incomplete investigation.
EnglishAnd that was a relief too. I don't have to figure it out right now. So one of my investigations— Stop. Okay. Sorry.
EnglishSorry.
EnglishI just lost my mind.
[Burmese segment]
EnglishSomething you said right at the end after you said that. Investigating. Investigating. The filing cabinet. The filing cabinet. The filing cabinet, yes. Thank you.
[Burmese segment]
EnglishIt's okay. Okay. So what I was noticing is that calm and samadhi and equanimity are a little muddy for me. They're kind of like a block for me. PT and energy and sati I can find. They're very specific. But those—so like I said, I don't feel like I need some—it's not a question.
EnglishIt's just
Englishit's part of the investigation.
[Burmese segment]
EnglishDon't ask, trust me.
[Burmese segment]
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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.…