Q&AMaui Retreat16 Nov 2016
Questions and answers — Expectation in Generosity and Continuity in Daily Life
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 1 hr 17 min
Original audio: English
0:00−1:17:44
Uses compressed audio.
AI-written summary
The Q&A explains how to handle expectations in generosity and manage unwholesome mind states or physical pain. The teacher emphasizes cultivating interest to maintain continuous awareness and build momentum in daily life.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Maui Retreat · 18 talks
- 11 hr 5 minMorning instructions — Continuity of Awareness and Right View16 Nov 2016
- Viewing21 hr 18 minQuestions and answers — Expectation in Generosity and Continuity in Daily Life16 Nov 2016
- 335 minMorning instructions — Checking Attitude and Knowing Awareness17 Nov 2016
- 41 hr 15 minQuestions and answers — Wisdom Supervising Mindfulness, Delusion, and Preparation for Death17 Nov 2016
- 514 minMorning instructions — Personal Effort, Natural Effort and Continuous Awareness18 Nov 2016
- 61 hr 32 minQuestions and answers — Concept vs Reality and Noticing the Attitude Towards Suffering18 Nov 2016
- 724 minMorning instructions — The Object, the Knowing, and Awareness19 Nov 2016
- 81 hr 34 minQuestions and answers — Choice-Less Awareness and Physical vs Mental Sensations19 Nov 2016
- 942 minMorning instructions — Being Aware in the Present Moment20 Nov 2016
- 101 hr 35 minQuestions and answers — Working with Greed, Fear, and Pain20 Nov 2016
Transcript
EnglishSo, this is a recording of Sayadaw U Tejaniya meeting with a group of students in, uh, Maui on November 16, 2016.
EnglishThank you very much for— Thank you.
EnglishWho wants to begin?
EnglishYes. Okay, I'll go first. Um, the issue that I have, uh, been struggling with in my practice has to do with generosity, and the background is that my practice started as a practice of generosity, which for many years brought great joy. But over the last number of months, I've found there's been a restriction: that the generosity is tougher to find, that I think that it's never enough, that people want more, or people aren't grateful enough.
EnglishSo I've been struggling with the suffering over a practice that for years had brought me joy. Hmm.
[Burmese segment]
English , , , , , , , , , , ? , , , , , , , , - , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Sayadaw says indeed, uh, this practice begins with Dhamma because the Buddha has a progression of Dhamma, Sila, Bhavana, right?
EnglishAnd he says Dhamma is essentially the practice of non-grasping, non-greed, uh, which is or letting go, right? He says, and the problem comes in the practice of generosity, he says, when we have expectations. Because in the practice of giving, Sayadaw says, it is just to give.
EnglishOur part is just to give. And if we have expectations of where it'll go, how it'll be used, or how we'll be received, or— once the expectations comes, expectations come in, the expectation is another form of greed. So it interferes with the spirit of non-greed, and that's why it starts feeling difficult.
English, -, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Yeah. So he says— , , , , , , Generosity, he said, is a great practice for watching our minds, for seeing what's in our minds, he says, because we look in our minds and see the, the, the wish to, to give, and it has to be given freely.
EnglishHe says, but if you start noticing the, the, the filaments, you know, of the, the mental, um, feelers that wonder what's happening to what we give, he says, then we know, we can see why it's starting to get become difficult to practice gen this generosity. Mm-hmm.
EnglishGenerosity is only about this side, but we're starting to think about the other side. , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , He says it's a great, um,
Englishlesson in remembering that things don't always turn out the way we want them to. That when we, um, set out to do something, even plan a retreat and so on, he says, things won't work out the way— the, the easier we can be with the way things turn out. We do our best, and the easier we can be with the way things turn out, the better we're practicing letting go, which is the essence of generosity.
English , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Yeah. So the practice of meditation is, you know, at one, at one, um. And it's a, it's about learning to let go. Not being attached to anything. Not what we, um, do, not what we give, and not what we receive.
EnglishWe do the best we can. That's all. And why do we do it? Because it makes the quality of the mind good. It is a good, um, practice of the mind. And when this mind, which is trying to practice something wholesome, is not feeling wholesome, is not feeling good, it means that something unwholesome has come into this mind.
[Burmese segment]
English, , , , , , He says, we give and give, and it will never be enough. It's true.
EnglishYeah. This is a question about practicing in life at home, since I've had very little mindfulness today to talk about.
EnglishUh, so at home, sometimes I find, like, that comment about that the, the next mind inherits the qualities of the previous mind. I find that I'm, like, land, I awaken into a mind that has inherited a lot of qualities that are, um, you know, maybe, like, like, I kind of wake up into a, a pressive state of mind.
EnglishYeah. Um, that seems to have come from a period of an unchecked kind of momentum. Yeah. And I find, even though I wake up and I'm like, oh, this is happening, it's like, it feels, the feeling feels so big that I don't quite, like, that moment of waking up is not enough to go, okay, here we go again.
EnglishIt's like, I don't quite know how to dismantle
Englishwhere I've landed, like, what I've wake, woken into. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Um, and in my life, what happens is it starts to, like, I ha I start to form, like, a little bit of a self, or a big self around what's happening, and, um, so I guess I just want to know how to work with a state of mind that has, like, a lot of momentum.
EnglishYou kind of become conscious, but there's a lot of unwholesome momentum going on, and it seems like it's disorienting. ਹੂੰ। ਤੂੰ ਆਪਣੀਆਂ, ਉਹ, ਸ਼ੰਕਿਆ, ਪਿਆਰ ਲਈ, ਸਿੱਕਾ, ਸ਼ੇਨਸ਼ੀ ਦੇ, ਉਹ, ਬਾਲ, ਤੂੰ। ਭੀਖ ਮੰਗਣ ਆਇਆ, ਯਾ ਨਹੀਂ? ਭੀਖ ਮੰਗਣ ਆਇਆ, ਯਾ, ਸਿੱਕਾ, ਤਾਂ ਠੀਕ ਆ, ਮਾੜਾ ਜਿਹਾ। ਤੂੰ ਆਹ, ਤਾਂ ਕਰ ਲਈ, ਭਵਾਂ, ਮਾਂ, ਤੇਰੀ, ਤੇਰੀ, ਮਿੱਠਾ, ਉਹ, ਬੈਠਾ, ਵਾਲ, ਆਵੇ, ਅਨਚੈੱਕ, ਸਾਰਾ, ਤੇਰੀ, ਮੈਂ, ਮੈਂ, ਚੀਸ਼ੂ, ਠਾਓ, ਭੋ, ਇਹ ਲਓ, ਤੂੰ ਕਰ ਲਈ, ਲੋ, ਮਸਾਂ, ਸ਼ਾਹ, ਠਾਓ, ਹੁਣ, ਇਹ ਲਓ, ਲਾ ਰਿਹਾ, ਖਾਮਾ, ਸਿੱਕਾ, ਭੋ, ਯਾ, ਤੂੰ ਆਹ, ਭੋ, ਭੋ, ਭੋ, ਭੋ, ਭੋ, ਭੋ, ਭੋ, ਭੋ, ਸੋਹਣੀ, ਭਾਵਾਂ, ਮੈਂ, ਕੌਣ, ਤੂੰ, ਮੈਂ, ਕੌਣ, ਤੂੰ, ਮੈਂ, ਕੌਣ, ਤੂੰ, ਮੈਂ, ਕੌਣ, ਤੂੰ। ਭੋ, ਭੋ, ਭੋ,
[Burmese segment]
EnglishHe says, in Vipassanā, there's a very, very simple, um— , , , , Yeah, it's, it's, and it's so simple that it's hard. Uh, and the simple tenet is, um, to know what is happening as it is. Just to acknowledge it. And just to begin there.
English, , , , , , , , , , , , , , And this ties in with what he said this morning about everything is nature. Like, remember that this is just nature. This is happening. , , , , , It's just another way of seeing it. Know what is happening as it is. What is happening as it is, it's, it's nature.
EnglishRight? Again.
EnglishAnd the little niggle there, you know, when we wake up and we don't really know what to do with all that stuff.
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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.…