Q&ANirodha Insight Meditation in Finland Retreat2 Jun 2019
Week 2 day 2 group E — Maintaining Awareness and Observing Mental Habits
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 28 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−28:14
Uses compressed audio.
AI-written summary
A group interview addresses self-judgment, when thoughts are recognized, and subtle control causing tension. The teacher advises not identifying with mental processes, using less effort, and simply maintaining natural awareness of whatever arises in each moment.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Nirodha Insight Meditation in Finland Retreat · 33 talks
- 1137 minWeek 1 day 8 — Practicing at Home and Cultivating Wholesome Qualities1 Jun 2019
- 121 hr 47 minWeek 2 day 1 group A1 — Talking Meditation and Working with Defilements1 Jun 2019
- 131 hr 10 minWeek 2 day 1 group A2 — Wisdom at Work, Subconscious Mind, and Decision-Making1 Jun 2019
- 1459 minWeek 2 day 2 group D — Recognizing Thoughts as Mind and Working with Judging Mind2 Jun 2019
- Viewing1528 minWeek 2 day 2 group E — Maintaining Awareness and Observing Mental Habits2 Jun 2019
- 162 hr 6 minWeek 2 day 3 group A1 — Attitude Toward Experiences, Greed, and Reality3 Jun 2019
- 171 hr 46 minWeek 2 day 3 group A2 — Dangers of High Concentration and Right View on Thinking3 Jun 2019
- 181 hr 20 minWeek 2 day 4 group D — Self, Relationships, and Working with Strong Emotions4 Jun 2019
- 1945 minWeek 2 day 4 group E — Being Aware of Thinking and Understanding the Heart-Mind4 Jun 2019
- 201 hr 42 minWeek 2 day 5 group A1 — Recognizing and Acknowledging, Existence of Objects, and Right Attitude5 Jun 2019
Transcript
EnglishYou can just hold it like this— Okay, yeah, I'll just tell about my experience. So, um, yeah, it's the first time I'm trying something like this. I've done some meditation at home and, uh, anywhere. If I feel bad in the car or something, I— I start breathing and that usually helps. And, um,
Englishtrying this, um, in this form,
Englishit's, uh, it's different, of course. The first day was maybe easier. This morning was— was more difficult. I find it easier, um, outdoors if I'm, um, looking around in nature especially. It's more easy to come back to the— to the present.
EnglishAnd, uh, yeah, the hardest was
Englishwhen— when my mind starts to go more crazy, for example in— in today's, um, in the morning, in the— in the— we were sitting together
Englishand, um,
Englishbut I think,
Englishuh, what I've learned so far is that it— I can kind of rely that sooner or later I can catch it again, like, get back to the now. Yes. And, uh, I just don't know yet if it's going to be more often or not, but I think I'm, yeah, I'm— I keep trying and it feels— it feels that it makes sense, so.
[Burmese segment]
EnglishSo long as you keep practicing every day and, um, all day long as much as possible, Seyadow says, certainly the, you know, the— the remembering to be— come back to the present moment will start becoming more frequent.
English Yes. And Seyadow says, do make it a habit to acknowledge the thoughts when they arise. You know, when the thoughts arise, just acknowledge them. Just sort of, like, give them a little attention. Acknowledge, you see, the mind is thinking, and then come back to your breath or whatever your primary object is.
English Seyadow says, you know, the practice we're doing is the practice of awareness, right?
EnglishIt doesn't matter what we're aware of, it's the awareness that is continuing. And there are two reasons we want to practice awareness. One is that when we keep being aware, awareness will become stronger. And when awareness is stronger, when it has momentum, there's a very different quality to it than we usually know it. The other one is that as we become— keep being aware of the many things that, um, we experience, Seyadow says, our understanding of the things we experience, um, starts to grow.
EnglishBecause we are watching as continuously as possible. So, um, and what we begin to understand is the nature of what's happening. So, for example, Seyadow says, when we acknowledge a thought, right, he says what we want to recognize is that the mind is thinking.
EnglishWe don't want to get caught in the story that the mind is thinking or the— the, you know, the stuff that the mind is— that the thought is about. We just want to recognize that the mind is thinking. Yeah? Mm-hmm. Okay. Makes sense. Okay.
EnglishYou don't want to be recorded? Mm-hmm. Yeah.
[Burmese segment]
EnglishIs it on? Yes. Yeah. It doesn't— it doesn't amplify. It just records. Yes. Thank you.
EnglishWell, I don't have a long history in meditating. I haven't really meditated much. So, um, I want to thank you for organizing this retreat because already these two days have been very, very useful, very, uh, informative. Um, yeah, I have, um, like, noticed many things about the— the mind that, uh, well, that aren't— they're not very pleasant, but, uh,
Englishit's very useful to notice them. And one very strong, uh, unwholesome quality that visits the mind very often is, uh, this feeling of, uh, judgmental— judgment and, uh, feeling of being judged by others and, uh, feeling of judging other people, especially people closest to me, but— and especially myself.
EnglishAnd, um, then sometimes it's, um, when I try to focus my, uh, attention on my mind
Englishand I— I realize that I'm being, uh, judgmental, then I become judgmental about being judgmental, and then I become judgmental about that.
[Burmese segment]
English Seyadow says as an objective of meditation, you know, you see what's happening in the mind, so the objective is achieved. There's awareness of what's happening. That's fine. He says you do want to be careful, um, about the sense of identification. Because the— the sense that, um, there is judgment and then there is judgment of judgment, there's already a sense that, you know, oh, this mind shouldn't judge.
EnglishRight? And you think, oh, it's— it's not good to judge. And then— then that's the judgment. And then feeling, oh, that— that's not very good. It's still doing it. And then the judgment comes again. So— so recognizing that and, um, you know, uh, just that seeing that this is just the process of the mind.
EnglishThat it has this habit and this is what it is doing. Right? Um, and Seyadow says the— the results of this observation, they don't come right away, but when we start to observe this process of mind and when we can successfully, um, at first we will be a little identified, but we keep trying.
EnglishRight? And when we successfully don't identify with it and we begin to see it for the process that is happening, Seyadow says, the mind begins to understand what is beneficial or not or useful or not about it, and the mind finds its own way. You know, it understands this nature and then it starts to make its own choices about what is beneficial or not and what it wants to do or not.
EnglishAnd we have to wait for that process to unfold. But this is a good start. Yeah. Thank you very much.
EnglishOkay. Hello, everybody. Hello. And thank you for the possibility to be here with you. Yeah. Um,
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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.…