Dhamma talkSpirit Rock Meditation Center Retreat26 Apr 2015
Morning instructions day 1 — Five Spiritual Faculties and Right Attitude
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 1 hr 8 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−1:08:16
Uses compressed audio.
AI-written summary
Meditation instructions explaining how to maintain continuous awareness throughout the day with right attitude. Yogis learn to recognize thinking, pain, or anger without identifying with or feeding them. The teacher clarifies that only the mind knows, emphasizing the cultivation of steady awareness.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Retreat · 38 talks
- Viewing11 hr 8 minMorning instructions day 1 — Five Spiritual Faculties and Right Attitude26 Apr 2015
- 234 minMorning instructions day 2 — What Is Knowing and What Is Known27 Apr 2015
- 31 hr 40 minGroup A · session 1 — Mind's Reaction to Pain and Open Awareness27 Apr 2015
- 41 hr 43 minGroup B · session 1 — Watching Defilements Objectively as Natural Processes27 Apr 2015
- 540 minMorning instructions day 3 — Recognizing Thoughts and Valuing Awareness28 Apr 2015
- 61 hr 32 minGroup C · session 1 — Investigating Aversion, Observing Objectively, and the Role of Wisdom28 Apr 2015
- 738 minMorning instructions day 4 — Differentiating Object and Knowing29 Apr 2015
- 81 hr 54 minGroup D · session 1 — Working with Delusion and Understanding the Mind29 Apr 2015
- 91 hr 27 minGroup E · session 1 — Investigation, Stillness, and Subtle Intentions29 Apr 2015
- 102 hr 20 minGroup F · session 1 — Working with Defilements and Right Effort29 Apr 2015
Transcript
English So since we're going to be practicing sati-pattana meditation, it means that we use sati or awareness as the lead in order to, um, cultivate five qualities.
EnglishThese five qualities are called the five faculties of mind. The five faculties are, um, include awareness itself, sati, and then there's samādhi, I'll call it stability of mind. There's viriya, we'll call it right effort. There's saddhā, which we'll call faith or confidence in yourself and the practice. And lastly, wisdom, which is called paññā.
English So the word in Pali for meditation is bhavana. And bhavana literally means cultivation. And the reason why cultivation is important is because the nature of the mind is that every moment of mind arises and passes away.
EnglishSo the mind is discreet. It arises and passes away. But what it leaves is a legacy for the next mind that will arise. And so cultivation is important so that the right cultivation of the right things is important so the right legacy is passed on.
English So whether you whatever you allow to, um, live in your mind, whatever you allow to grow in your mind, that quality, whether positive or negative, will, as you allow it to remain in the mind, grow stronger and stronger because that legacy is being passed on.
English So that is why if we want to cultivate meditation, we want that to grow, we have to practice nonstop. - So meditation is not a part-time, it's not a pastime, it's not a part-time, um, occupation.
EnglishIt's something that we need to integrate into our lives as part of our lives. Something that's always there. Because the mind is like a zero-sum game. You're it's either positive or negative. So we sh we need to try to make what's in the mind every moment be something positive.
EnglishBecause if it's not positive, it's going to be negative.
English In other words, either something skillful, otherwise it'll be unskillful. - This is the nature of meditation, yeah, this need for how you cultivate it.
EnglishAnd he's trying to bring this to light for you because he says the time for meditation is just all day long, from the moment you wake up and open your eyes till you fall asleep at night. Every moment is time to meditate.
[Burmese segment]
English So he's going to give you a few, um, pointers. He'll pick out what he feels is most important for the practice of meditation.
EnglishSo the meditating mind, the mind that's doing the work of meditation, that mind needs to be, um, a wholesome mind. And what do we mean by wholesome minds?
EnglishRemember the five faculties I mentioned earlier? The awareness, stability of mind, right effort, faith, confidence, and wisdom. Those are good qualities of mind. And this is what we're trying to, um, cultivate. So every moment of awareness brings these five qualities of mind into the present moment. And of these five qualities, um, it's when we try to make effort that, often or sometimes, um, defilements come in and it becomes wrong effort.
[Burmese segment]
English So if greed comes into the practice, it becomes wrong practice. If aversion is the motivation for practicing, it becomes wrong practice. If delusion is what's present while we're practicing, it becomes wrong practice or wrong effort.
English Whenever these defilements are present and motivating the practice, um, we begin to overexert. We begin to over-effort. When we're striving for something, when we want something to be a certain way, we start to put in too much effort.
EnglishWhen we're dissatisfied with something, we start to put in a lot of effort. When we don't know what to do, we start to, um, to sort of flail about in the dark. And then we still use too much effort. When there's not enough wisdom or understanding about how to practice correctly, how to what right effort is, when there's not that understanding yet, then there will be this sometimes too much efforting and sometimes not enough effort.
English So Sayadaw wants us to be particularly aware of how much effort we're putting into the practice because he is very concerned that we do not over-effort. He doesn't want us to be focusing too much or trying too hard. He doesn't want us to practice in a way that makes the mind or the body tired.
English When you practice meditation, do you think it'll make you peaceful or happy?
EnglishSorry. Will it make you tired and unhappy?
English If we're practicing correctly, with this right effort, it will definitely bring peace and joy. But if we're putting in wrong effort, yes, we will find that we're getting tired while practicing. Maybe unhappy as we practice. The moment there's things that we want, things that we want to have, things that we don't want, we don't like, we disagree with, then it begins.
EnglishWe start to get tired in our practice.
English But simple awareness itself is really not tiring at all. He says because all it is, is not forgetting in the present moment to be
[Burmese segment]
EnglishIn our capacities to be aware, he says, it's easy to be aware because all we can be truly aware of is our six senses. What we can directly be aware of. We have six sense doors. And if we're aware of one or the other of the six sense doors and what we're experiencing through it, awareness is present.
English So to be aware of yourself, how much effort do you think it requires?
English- Live demonstration. Ourselves as guinea pigs. You're sitting. Are you aware you're sitting?
EnglishMm-hmm. Feeling seated?
English You're seeing. Are you aware that you're seeing?
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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.…