Q&ASpirit Rock Meditation Center Retreat2 May 2015
Group F · session 2 — Seeing and Looking, Right View, and Investigating Aversion
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 2 hr 2 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−2:02:46
Uses compressed audio.
AI-written summary
This group interview explores transitioning from concentration meditation to natural awareness, along with the role of right view and right attitude. The teacher explains how to recognize sense processes, aversion, and subtle mental states. Yogis are advised not to reject concepts, but to know reality as it is.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Retreat · 38 talks
- 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
- 181 hr 43 minGroup E session 2 — Greed, Aversion, and Stabilizing the Mind with Right View2 May 2015
- Viewing192 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
- 241 hr 34 minGroup C · session 3 — Building Awareness and Managing Defilements in Daily Life4 May 2015
Transcript
EnglishOkay, so this is Saturday, the 2nd of May, interview discussion group with Sayadaw U Tejaniya, at Spirit Rock, interview group F, the second meeting.
EnglishAre you ready? Okay. Yes, I— I'm ready.
EnglishSo I haven't, um, shared in a big group like this because there's a lot of nervousness around this.
EnglishFirst, I just wanted to say thank you so much for, um, your method of teaching. I have not been— I did not have a lot of contact with it before coming here. I did, um, I sent a chita, um, "Let Me Hear Dhamma Everywhere" book, and I read it, and that's all the experience that I had with this method before I came here.
EnglishSo, um,
EnglishI just have to say that, um,
EnglishI came here with a sense of curiosity, and my practice has been turned upside down. Um, there was— mostly my practice was a concentration practice, and
Englishpeople told me this, but I just didn't see it until I came here, um, at least not very well. It was just very tight and controlling and, um,
Englishyeah, like that. Just— and, um, so practicing in this more open way, although there was some initial resistance because my mind wants to go down and close all the doors,
Englishsitting or walking or moving around with everything open feels very vulnerable and also very free. It's just, um, just very beautiful. So, um,
EnglishI would— I mostly wanted to practice when I first got here. I was very excited. After being on three months of retreat where I sat a lot, I wanted to practice, like, walking around. And so I started out with, um, really paying attention to walking meditation and trying to bring awareness to that, and I came up with this little method that I'm— was kind of, um, I'll do it in slow motion, but it goes a little faster now that I've been doing it for a week.
EnglishSo the first thing I do, and I had to start out when I first got here just standing still and checking in with the body. And usually there's, like, touching the earth. There's usually some energy moving through the body, and there's gentle pressure, tingling sensation in the heart center. And then I add hearing.
EnglishNot— not going away. I add it to what's already happening, okay, so sounds. And then— this was such a surprise. So— and then when I add seeing, it's just like, "Kabang!" And, um, it's like I've never seen the world before. It's so vibrant and so bright and so clear, but it also just looks like
EnglishI can just do that and there's nothing behind it. And so, um, that was pretty cool when I first— when I first started experiencing that. And then, um,
Englishbut it was dropping off a lot, and there was a lot of greed at first, and then I realized— there was a point where I realized a couple days ago that there's no need to be greedy about it. It's just a matter of remembering, and it's always there. And so
Englishafter practicing a few days with mostly being able to connect with that awareness when I was walking, I started trying to bring it into, like, the working meditation, eating, which is kind of the final frontier for me. It's usually kind of a blackout
Englishwhen I'm eating, at least when I get to the lunch line. It's usually— there's a blackout when I'm actually serving myself. Um,
Englishand it's gotten so that I don't have to go through that kind of slow-mo, like, bing, bing, bing with the lights. They actually just kind of— I go to the body center, and then it just goes, "Whoa."
EnglishAnd so I'm smiling a lot. And, um,
EnglishI don't mean to imply that there's nothing in my mind and that the violence aren't coming up, but in general, when I'm practicing in that way and I can be with that, I'm just— it's free and open. So I would like to hear any comments. Am I to— am I missing the mark? Because I hope not, because this is really, um, it feels like just something I could take everywhere.
EnglishLike, the fear in the body when I was getting ready to speak, which is— I realized when I was doing walking meditation, it's just another thing to be known in the body. And that being able to frame it that way is something new to being here and hearing these teachings. So just very appreciate that.
[Burmese segment]
English So this is just in reference to when you were, you know, when you were doing— when you were slowly trying to build your awareness in walking and all that, and when you got to the bit where you add sight and then it was, like, such a shock.
EnglishUm, he said it's basically, um, we've never seen sight before. Yeah. And, uh, we're just used to the things that we see. Yes. But we don't see seeing or sight. We just see the things. And he says, and what you were doing is just being mindful. You weren't thinking about the concepts.
EnglishYou were just being mindful, how to bring in more mindfulness of what, and then— and then you brought your mindfulness there, and then it's like a shock. You suddenly see the reality. It's just like that.
English — Yeah, this is, yeah, sight is one of the strangest,
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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.…