Q&ANirodha Insight Meditation in Finland Retreat4 Jun 2019
Week 2 day 4 group E — Being Aware of Thinking and Understanding the Heart-Mind
Sayadaw U Tejaniya · 44 min
Original audio: Burmese · English interpretation
0:00−44:44
Uses compressed audio.
AI-written summary
This group interview clarifies how to be aware of thinking without excessive effort or getting lost in mental stories. The teacher explains that the mind (citta) encompasses both thoughts and feelings, helping meditators recognize cause-and-effect processes rather than being swayed by craving or aversion.
Topics
Talks in this retreat
Nirodha Insight Meditation in Finland Retreat · 33 talks
- 1528 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
- Viewing1945 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
- 211 hr 55 minWeek 2 day 5 group A2 — Recognizing Conditioning, Right Attitude and Subtle Defilements5 Jun 2019
- 221 hr 23 minWeek 2 day 6 group D — Working with Restless Mind and Unpleasant Objects6 Jun 2019
- 2324 minWeek 2 day 6 group E — Agitation and Cultivating Interest in Practice6 Jun 2019
- 241 hr 31 minWeek 3 day 2 group F — Purifying the Watching Mind and Meeting Experiences with Equanimity9 Jun 2019
Transcript
EnglishAfter the last session 2 days ago I felt really, like, happy and excited and relieved, and then I noticed that all my mindfulness was, like, gone. And also later when I— something happened that made me kind of anxious and upset, then it was really hard to have any progress. So I'm wondering if I should just, like, be very passive from now on and try to avoid any— not do anything, because obviously my mind is not very stable.
English 10 80 When we are not so skillful at practicing, Seyadow says, yes, the highs and the lows can feel very rough.
EnglishYou know, we— it can— it feels so good when the practice gains some momentum, and then, you know, the momentum goes— dies, and then we crash, and then it— Yeah, and we become very excited when it's good, so of course when it drops the disappointment is— is bigger, because we were very happy.
EnglishSo— but he says, but these are lessons that we have to go through. The mind has to go through these cycles so that it— Starts to recognize that this is what happens, and then it starts to realize that even when things are good, it will fade away, and we— even when things are bad, it won't last forever. So we start to become less excited when it's good, and less disappointed when it's bad.
EnglishAnd, and, you know, that's how the mind works. Yeah. Seyadow says, all of us yogis go through this cycle. Especially the greed part. You know, some things get well— you know, happen.
EnglishWe have good experiences, and then we start to want it to carry on. We want the good experience to stay. We grasp it. Then we try to practice so that it will stay. And that is, like, the sure way to have it start— it starts going down. And even if we didn't try, you know, everything comes with momentum. So when momentum dies, it also dies. So, you know, so it's a lesson that we just have to— the mind has to figure out from the practice.
EnglishOkay. Yeah. Thank you.
EnglishYes. Hello. Um,
Englishthe question about while meditating
Englishand, like, kind of having a— this is pretty much about thinking process. Because, like, I have a quite creative mind, as many people
Englishhave, and I used to, like, create in my mind many things. Like, it's about my work and, like,
EnglishI used to draw a lot. Yes. Then I started, like, used to, like, model a lot. But then I, like,
Englishin the late, like, maybe 10 years, I've been, like, doing, like, kind of a design work in my head. It's kind of, like, kind of, like, building things up. It might be about, like, designing or, like, problem solving or whatever.
EnglishSo the question is— the first question is pretty much about, like, what is the mindful way to think?
[Burmese segment]
EnglishSo Seyadow says, we can be mindful when thinking. We can know that the mind is thinking while the mind is thinking and stay aware. But, um, but it takes a lot of practice. Like, you have to want to do it. You have to quite dedicate yourself to it. In the beginning, Seyadow says it, it's like we always put too much effort to be aware.
EnglishBecause the mind is not skillful. So when we put too much effort to be aware, it's like, you're aware but the mind can't think. But then when we don't try to put effort to be aware, we put a lot of effort to think. And then we get lost in thought. So then the mindfulness disappears. But if you persist, you know, if you are interested in this, Seyadow says, you do it every time you think.
EnglishEvery time you remember, say, okay, I'll be aware again while I'm thinking. And you start again and again and again. He says, your mind will get a feel for it. And then you'll find, like, the thinking mind does its own work and awareness does its own work. And they both happen at the same time. Okay. Yeah. And it's only difficult because it's something we have never done before, right?
EnglishSeyadow says, but everything comes easy with practice. So when— if this is something that interests you, and if you will, um, persevere, you will find that it's just as easy as being aware of anything else.
EnglishYeah, thank you. And, uh, another question. Yeah? It's about, like, a— like a situation while meditating and, like, kind of, um,
Englishsome process comes up and I kind of, like, think I'm aware of it. Yes. And, like, I'm just, like, following or, like, watching. Yes. At a story. Yes. It might be many things, but there was something, like, yesterday I started to follow and I kind of, like, I totally lost the time, the sense of time, and I had a— had the feeling that I'm not, like, kind of acting, like, actively taking part in the— in the story.
EnglishYou felt like you were actively taking part in the story? Like, I— I was not actively taking part. Not actively, okay. Yeah. So, like, the question is, like, because, like, after that I had the feeling that maybe I was aware, but, like, I'm not sure, like, if I was aware or not, because kind of, like, it was kind of a satori— satori kind of, like, kind of a feeling that I'm just, like, watching.
EnglishYes. And being a little bit, like. Away. Yes. Off the story, out of the story, but, like, kind of watching. Like, is it, like, kind of a— did I totally lost myself somewhere or was I aware or something like that? Yeah.
[Burmese segment]
EnglishSo he doesn't know what happened before that moment, but certainly in the moment that you felt that you were no longer participating in the act— in the story, he says, at that time the mind had seen clearly the difference between the two natures. The mind saw that the knowing is knowing, and that the— the— the story is just the thoughtful, you know, the— the thinking mind is creating a story.
EnglishAnd it could see both of these. And that's why you feel like you stepped out of it and you just see both natures. And so that's mindfulness of thinking. Yeah. This is— this is what he often calls being able to know thinking mind objectively, right?
EnglishYeah. And when the mind becomes skillful, it can do this quite naturally. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
EnglishActually, before coming here, I really didn't know what to say. And thanks for sharing your things. I am having these kind of troubles that my mind is just taking me away, and I just want to follow it. And then again, okay. And then again I'm aware that, oh, I like to follow my mind.
EnglishIt's so cool. And then again I'm just carry— like, it carries me away and I feel that, no, I want to just be here in this mind, what he tells, what kind of pictures it gives me, what emotions, and
EnglishI— I don't want to be aware. Ooh. Like, it disturbs me from these feelings, from these sensations, from even this taste. I cannot combine these two things. I can be aware that I'm tasting, I am enjoying, I'm aware, yes. I like it, yeah. Yeah, I like it. But it's not that. If I don't think I like it, then— then I like it.
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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.…