Dhamma talkInsight Meditation Society Retreat9 May 2014
Last words from Sayadaw
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 38 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−38:48
Uses compressed audio.
AI-written summary
Sayadaw urges yogis to maintain continuous practice and right view at home instead of letting defilements take over. Knowing whether the mind is peaceful or agitated sustains momentum and supports wisdom in daily life.
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
- Viewing3439 minLast words from Sayadaw9 May 2014
- 3550 minGroup discussion — Working with Defilements and Mind-Brain Relationship9 May 2014
Transcript
English
So, some last words from Sayadaw, he said—
English
. Yes. At the end of every retreat, he does this.
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Support the alone. I mess up stuff, they all— everybody, yogi, they all— alone. Firstly, he wants to thank everybody who made this retreat possible: IMS, the staff, the support staff, and— and all the yogis.
English
English
ơi. And the yogis have practiced diligently. All of you. Rồi. khám bi, bì rồi. Ừ. khám bi, bì đã bạn. Ừ, meditation ơi. And although the retreat is over, he said the practice is not over.
English
Meditation is not over. He said, "Please don't let it be over."
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He said he always says this. Delusion loves this line when it hears that the retreat has ended.
English
Yeah. Because the way we usually say it to ourselves— well, in Burmese is, you know, "We've finished meditating."
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So it sounds like if the— the meditation practice has ended, then it's time for the defilements to come out and play again.
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The defilements look at the yogis and say, "You want to practice? All right. How long do you want to practice? One month? Two months?
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Three months? All right, I'll leave you alone." And then— then it's my turn.
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. And it's really their turn.
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. He said it's true.
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So please don't. Don't let the practice end. Don't let meditation be finished.
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He said he went for long, long retreats when he was younger: 6 months, 8 months, 10 months. And long retreats. But he says, once he finished the retreat, he says he was back to square one.
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Yeah. He didn't change. He didn't change his life. While he was practicing in retreat, he says, yes, his mind was better, but because he didn't continue practice at home, then the mind went back to where it was before.
English
So the very nature of meditation is that we have to meditate all the time. Sīla, samādhi, paññā, noble 8-fold path. He says, "All these must be." We must be walking on that path all the time, practicing all those factors all the time.
English
, abhidhamma di nanna, dhamma di dhātu viṣākāhu., phi , phi . Anh abhidhamma nā . The Buddha always reminded his followers to not be heedless, to not forget that all things are impermanent, that mind and matter are impermanent, and to— to always have that in mind.
English
In other words, to always have the Dhamma in mind. He didn't say when to have the Dhamma in mind. He just said, "Have the Dhamma in mind." Be. . Don't be heedless.. And if he just said, "Do not be heedless," it means all the time. , moha , moha . And that's because the Buddha understood the— how harmful delusion is.
MY
Because when awareness and wisdom are not present, delusion is automatically always present.
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Moha? . But if once delusion is in and has opened the door, he says, then all the other defilements can troop in. . And
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this— this particular
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aspect of meditation, that it— that you need to practice all the time for it to— to be alive and to be giving benefits, he says,
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that becomes most apparent to someone who does continually practice all the time. That you can't stop.
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For someone who is practicing all the time, the— the depth of the meaning of "do not stop practicing" or "you have to practice all the time," yeah, the depth of meaning for that person is great.
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. His teacher always reminded him when he finished a retreat and went home. His teacher would always say, "Continue practicing. Continue practicing." . But he never did.
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So he got into deep trouble. And when he was in the deepest trouble, then he tried to practice at home. Yeah. And when he began to practice continuously at home is when he began to realize why you need to keep continuing to practice all the time.
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He says, "To— to grow in the Dharma, we need to be close to the Dharma." Like— like a close friend.
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And we need— it's only when we are close to— in such
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close communication with the Dharma all the time that we can grow in the Dharma, he says. Otherwise, he says, there's not much growth. . If— if we are not always living with the Dharma, he says, how can the Dharma grow? anh nghe nghe. .
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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.…