THE DAILY TEJANIYA — 2023

How to Relate Wisely to Food (1 of 12) When we are eating, we tend to
get lost in concepts. We need to see
the difference between the concepts we
use to create a convincing mental pic-
ture of reality, and reality itself.

Don’t Get Lost in the Movie of Opinions, Ideas and Stories (2 of 12) When we get lost in our ideas,
opinions, and stories about life,
we easily confuse them with life
itself. It's like forgetting that a
movie we are watching is just
a movie and not life itself.

Food as Concept vs Food as Reality (3 of 12) Whether a piece of food is
fish, chicken, pork, beef, or vege-
table is really only a concept. These
are only names, and we can't eat a
name or an image. What is real is the
nature of food—the tastes, textures,
temperature, smells, and combina-
tions of all such qualities that
we directly experience.

Is the Mind Knowing Concepts or Reality Right Now? (4 of 12) We must constantly check to
see whether the mind is more aware
of the concepts of our experience or
the reality of our experience.

With Awareness + Wisdom, We Eat Only to Maintain Health (5 of 12) When hunger arises, so
too does the desire to eat, fol-
lowed by the intention to eat. If
awareness and wisdom are pre-
sent at this point of intention, we
will eat only what is necessary
to maintain a healthy body.

Craving for Food Floods the Senses (6 of 12) Unfortunately, for a lot of us,
the conceptual mind takes over at
the point of intention to eat. Aware-
ness and wisdom fly out the window,
and craving appears in all the sense
doors in an instant, usually below
the level of awareness.

Know When the Body Says, “Hunger Has Been Satisfied” (7 of 12) Simply be aware and know
the difference between reality and
concepts. Know the tastes, textures,
and smells of the food, and especially
know when the body sends a signal
that hunger has been satisfied—
this comes from simple aware-
ness with wisdom.

Craving Serves Itself At Health’s Expense (8 of 12) Craving may come along
and tell us, "One more piece of
chicken will do no harm. It tastes so
good." This is a concept, a thought
that craving uses to serve its own
purpose of self-preservation—
at our health's expense.

See the Thought of Craving as Just a Thought (9 of 12) When we can see the
thought of craving as just
a thought, we can gain some
distance from it. We see its
nature as craving, and
can choose to let go.

Between Desire and Wisdom, Only One Will Win (10 of 12) Notice that at the point of in-
tention to eat, either wisdom or
desire will be dominant, and only
one will win. In a flash, it can go one
way or the other—wisdom or desire.
Lose awareness for even a moment
and we can be lost in attachment
to a thought such as "just one
more piece will do no harm."

Right View is to Have No Preference When the mind judges, or has
a preference for an experience to
be better, then it will automatically
develop a reaction if the opposite hap-
pens. So, right view is to have no pre-
ference. For example, sound is
just sound. It's nature.

Keep Tabs on the Mind All the Time We have to keep tabs on the
mind, always watching the mind,
always aware of what's going on.
And we need to keep working
at it. It's a full-time job.

We Meditate Because We Want to Understand Having a desire to really under-
stand what is going on is much more
important than just trying to be aware.
We practice mindfulness meditation
because we want to understand.

The Middle Way is Watching With Wisdom The Middle Way is watching
what is happening without craving
for a "good," "pleasant," or "desir-
able" experience; nor with pushing a-
way of experience as "bad," "unpleas-
ant" or "undesirable." This is the
way of watching with wisdom.

The Experience of Calmness is Not So Important The experience of calm-
ness is not so important. It is
more important to know and
understand why calmness
does or does not arise.

Don’t Fight With Thoughts and Thinking When there are thoughts, please
don't fight them. Thoughts are na-
ture. It's a process that is happening.
When you realize, "This is mind, mind
is thinking," then you you won't get
lost in thought. It won't happen.

Watch the Feeling, Not the Thought Causing the Feeling If you feel something unpleasant,
like annoyance, look at the feeling of
annoyance, not the thought that is caus-
ing the annoyance. Notice how it feels:
"This is annoyance, this is how it feels."
Stay with it to discover how the feeling
changes, and what happens to annoy-
ance as you keep watching it.

Keep Delight Alive It is important to keep alive
the delight we get from uncover-
ing our inherent wisdom, our de-
light in the Dhamma. Nothing
comes close to the satisfaction
we can gain from this.

Awareness Is Like a Satellite Dish Awareness is like a
satellite dish. The better
the dish, the more chan-
nels you can receive.

Let Go of the Breath and Stay With Awareness Once you know there is aware-
ness of the breath, notice the aware-
ness more than the breath. Let go of
the object and stay with the awareness.
When you know the awareness and not
just the object, this awareness knows
many things, and you will know
what the awareness knows.

Stay With Awareness When a Person Speaks If you put too much atten-
tion on a person when they speak,
there won't be enough attention for
yourself. So, stay with awareness when
a person speaks. You'll still be able to
to follow them, but you'll also be able
to notice many other things that are
happening in awareness.

Once You Understand Anger, You Cool Off We discover more about our anger
by following the mind process, not
the story. We can investigate: "Why was
the mind not angry before, but now it is?"
"What activity made the mind angry?"
Whatever understanding we gain about
the process, the anger will decrease
by that same amount.

Study Anger Down to Its Smallest Details There is no way for anger to inten-
sify if you observe it every time it arises.
So, study anger as it's happening, with
the view that it is nature—not your anger,
or that you are angry. What is the experi-
ence of anger? How does it work? How
does an anger-motivated mind think?
Study and learn every single time,
down to the smallest detail.

Nothing About Anger is Beneficial Is it ever necessary to get angry?
I used to think so. But after I'd been
observing my mind for a long time,
I realized that nothing about an-
ger is beneficial in any way.

When You Personalize Experience, How Does It Feel? Watching yourself, what will you
see? All you will see are objects that
you know,* and the knowing of the ob-
jects. Whether with reference to the ob-
jects or the awareness, what is it like
when the experience is personalized?
How is it different when it is not
personalized? Find out!
* For example, sensations of the body, thoughts of
the mind, and perceptions of the world.

The Meditating Mind is Alert, Working, and Sensitive We use all our meditation skills
situationally. We see when it is ap-
propriate to use what. The correctly
meditating mind is not cruising. It's
alert, working, and sensitive.

If You Know, “There Are Thoughts,” That’s Good Enough The mind is thinking. If you know that,
it's good enough. There are thoughts.
If you know that, that’s good enough.

Whatever You Do, Know Yourself As You Do It Whatever you do, know your-
self as you do it. Know your action
as you do it. Know how you feel as you
do it. Take the Dhamma seriously.
Practice with dedication.

See If You Can Be Simple and Just Know If you see wanting and dis-
satisfaction in being aware, let
go of these if you can. See if you
can be simple and just know.

Don’t Dwell on What Makes You Angry If there is anger in the mind, don't
think more about what is making you
angry. Instead, notice there is anger and
get interested in it: "There is anger; this
is anger; this is the nature of anger. What
is this like?" Bring this awareness con-
tinuously. In this way, you don't work
at being angry, you work at be-
ing continuously aware.

How to Quiet and Stabilize the Mind If we take the role of observer
and watch what's going on in the
mind and body without reaction,
the mind will automatically be-
come quiet and stabilize.

Always Check: “Am I Aware or Just Thinking?” Always check whether the mind is
more aware of the concept of an exper-
ience, or the reality of the experience.
Learn how to tell the difference between
the content of a thought, and the nature
of thinking. With awareness you will
know, "Thinking is happening. This
is thought, and that is reality."

Acceptance Does Not Mean Surrender If there is anger in the mind, to
some extent you can't help but accept
it, and roll with it. Because anger has its
momentum, which you can't stop. But ac-
ceptance doesn't mean surrender. What
you are not doing in the present
moment, is feeding the anger.

Watch One Key Process in the Mind In meditation, when investigating
the mind, it is only important to recog-
nize when there is identification with
objects,* and when there is not.
* Such as sensations of the body, thoughts of
the mind, and perceptions of the world.

Imagine Going All the Way Either there is momentum on
the wisdom side, or craving, aversion
and delusion will have the momentum.
If you let go of the wisdom momentum
even for a bit, it will take quite a lot to
begin again. Beginning again is not that
easy. That's why you can't let it stop.
Imagine going all the way.

The Mind Naturally Investigates Reality The mind naturally investigates
reality; it wants to know the nature
of the mind and body. It studies itself
by asking questions to discover what is
happening, and why it is happening.
Understanding what is happening
brings peace to the mind.

Craving and Aversion Arise Out of Ignorance Craving and aversion
arise out of ignorance. What
is ignorance? It is simply not
seeing what is really hap-
pening in the mind.

Make It A Habit to Be With Your Body Make it a habit to be with your
body. When you put on your clothes,
know that you're putting on your clothes.
When you put on your T-shirt, does your
right arm or your left arm go through first?
Or does your head go through first?
In what order does it happen?

When You’re Tired, Rest in Awareness Awareness is really helpful when
you're tired, because you can just rest
in the awareness of the tiredness.

If You’re Not Sure What to Do, Just Wait Whenever you get the
feeling of not knowing what to
do, just wait. Don't do anything.
Meditation is watching and wait-
ing patiently, with awareness
and understanding.

The Learning Process Happens At Its Own Pace The learning process happens
at its own pace. You can't rush
it, you can't panic through it.
So, just maintain your inter-
est. Relax and learn.

Seeing People in a Fixed Way is Delusion The moment you start disliking
someone, an imprint is created with-
in your mind. The imprint then causes
you to see that person in a fixed way, and
prevents you from seeing how he or she
really is. This is delusion at work.

Deep Insight Can Arise from Bad Experience People are often reluctant to
work with bad experiences in med-
itation. But you can usually learn more
from bad experiences than from good
ones. In fact, very deep understanding
can arise from working with bad ex-
periences. So, learn to accept both
good and bad experiences.

When Resistance Arises, Learn to Feel It Directly When a sense of resistance arises
in the mind, learn to feel it directly.
Alternate between checking the feel-
ing of physical sensations, and the
attitude behind your resistance.

There Aren’t Many Problems, Per Se There aren't that many problems,
per se. "Problems" arise when there
is a lot of craving, aversion, or delusion
in the mind. We can't accept things as
they are, and so exhaust ourselves with
desire for things that aren't present,
and desire to push things away
that are already there.

With Eyes Open, Observe the Inner World I learned how to be aware with
my eyes open because fellow shop-
keepers used to tease me when I med-
itated at work with my eyes closed.* They
thought I was sleeping on the job! So I
learned to pay attention to the inner land-
scape while keeping my eyes open. After
that, the people I worked with didn't
even know that I was meditating.

Understanding True Nature Helps You Do Well in Life When your understanding of the
true nature of things grows, your val-
ues in life will change. When your val-
ues change, your priorities change as
well. Through such understanding, you
will naturally practice more, and this
will help you to do well in life.

When Speaking, Know That You Are Speaking When we are speaking, we tend to
pay a lot of attention to the person we
are speaking to, instead of to ourselves.
If we put too much attention on the other
person, there is not enough attention left
for ourself. We need to develop our skill
at speaking while knowing that we are
speaking, and how we are speaking.

Wisdom Always Investigates Wisdom never believes;
wisdom always investigates.

All Day Long, Keep Your Attention Inwards All day long, keep your attention
inwards. From the moment you wake
up, ask yourself: "How does my body
and mind feel?" Pay attention to your
body and mind. Whatever you do, keep
your mind-radar focused inwards.
Understand? Not difficult, right?

Stay With Feelings to Discover How They Change If you feel something unpleasant,
like annoyance, look at the feeling of
annoyance, not at the thought that is
causing the annoyance. Notice how it
feels: "This is annoyance, this is how
it feels." Stay with it to discover how
the feeling changes, or what hap-
pens to annoyance as you
keep watching it.

Everything You Need is Surrounding You Everything you need for under-
standing to arise is surrounding you
in this moment. It is all on your door-
step: family, friends, work colleagues,
and any other relationships you may
have can all be powerful catalysts to
your work of revealing wisdom.

“What I See, I Cannot Be” There is a saying that sums up
awareness of objects* very well:
"What I see, I cannot be.”
* Sensations of the body, thoughts of the mind, and perceptions of the world.

Reside in Awareness and See What Comes Along Reside in awareness and
see what comes along. Be with
your experience as it is, and al-
low things to turn out without
trying to control.

When You Eat, Enjoy the Understanding When you eat, enjoy the un-
derstanding, not the food. Be
really interested in seeing and
understanding whatever is
happening in the mind.

Wisdom Pays Attention to Causes Wisdom pays attention to causes;
craving always wants the results.

Don’t Follow Thoughts That Agitate the Mind When thoughts arise that
agitate the mind, and make it
suffer, don't believe or follow
those thoughts. They are
nonsensical thoughts.

With Awareness, Understanding Will Be There Some yogis are very mindful
while practicing, but at mealtimes
they forget to queue! This should not
be. When one remains aware, the un-
derstanding of "suitable or not," or
"necessary or not," will be there.

Don’t Try to Have Good Experiences (Or Not Have Bad Ones) Insight meditation is a learning
process. You don't try to control your
experience. You don't try to have good ex-
periences, or not to have bad experiences.
You just see what is happening as it is, and
you see if you can stay with it. When you
are continuously aware, you learn
from what is happening.

The Wandering Mind is Not a Problem The wandering mind is
not the problem; it is a natural
mental activity. Your attitude that
it should not be wandering is the
problem. Right attitude is accept-
ing, observing, and learning from
experience just as it is.

Keep Adjusting the Quality of Observation What you are always
trying to adjust is the qual-
ity of observation.

A Yogi Queues Up In the Dining Hall A yogi queues up in the dining hall.
She sees two types of fruit: bananas and
pineapple. She doesn't like pineapple, so
she looks at the bananas, and straightaway
the mind chooses the best one. Suddenly,
shame arises in the mind. Awareness
sees the whole process.

Put All Your Energy Into Awareness Awareness is where to put
your energy. Put all your energy
into awareness. Awareness,
awareness, awareness.

Right Effort is Reminding Yourself to Be Aware Right effort is not about
using energy to focus on an ob-
ject. Right effort is reminding
yourself to be aware.

Wisdom Inclines Towards the Good But Is Not Attached to It Wisdom inclines towards the
good, but is not attached to it. It
shies away from what is not good,
but has no aversion to it.

Wisdom Unfolds Naturally With Awareness Always remember that it is not
you who removes craving, aversion,
and delusion. Wisdom does the job,
and wisdom unfolds naturally when
you are continuously aware.

When Things Are Going Well, Ask Why If you don’t question and discover
the factors that contribute to a positive
state of mind, the mind takes those good
states for granted. So, when things are go-
ing well, ask yourself questions like: "What
is happening now?" "Why are things going
so well?" "What attitude is present?” You
want to recognize the factors that are
contributing to the positive state.

Relax. Observe. Learn. Relax. Observe. Learn.

Tension is Never Only in the Mind Tension is never only in the
mind; it will also be translated
into tension in some part of the body. When you consciously
relax those tensions, it's a
kind of meditation.

See Yourself as Nature Happening on Nature’s Terms Everything that you experience
is a natural process of cause-and-effect.
You can think, "This is nature, and nature is
just nature." Or you can think, "This is just
an object that is being known." Either way,
nature is happening on its own terms. You
have to watch yourself from this point
of view, which is right view.

Stay Committed to Being Aware When you finish a sitting medita-
tion, does your commitment to aware-
ness change? Or do you carry that com-
mitment with you? That same zeal to be
aware? Changing posture should be un-
important. It is unimportant. You need
to stay committed to being aware.

Insight Meditation is Very Simple (1 of 3) The practice of vipassana is not
to do anything, or to try to make
anything happen. It is just to recog-
nize what is happening; to accept it
as it is; and to try to understand the
mind's nature and how it works.
That's all. Very simple!

How to Meditate All Day With Energy (2 of 3) Recognizing that we are hearing,
seeing, feeling or thinking is meditation.
How much energy do we need to do this?
Zero. All we need to do is notice, and not
put in anything more. We're not expending
energy, or focusing, or doing something.
We're just noticing, and since that's all
we are doing, we can sustain it all
day long and not get tired.

How to Know and See the Mind (3 of 3) Yogis come to me and say, "You
are always telling us, 'Watch the mind!
Watch the mind!' But I can't see the mind!"
They don't see it because they are looking for
something special. The work is simply to be
aware of what is being perceived at each one
of the sense doors— seeing, hearing, tast-
ing, touching, smelling, thinking—in
this moment. That is all!

Student and Teacher Are Both Inside You One finds answers by be-
ing aware, and by questioning.
The student is inside you. The
teacher is also inside you.

Investigate Your Eagerness to Think If you think you have something
very important to think about, stop
and ask yourself: "Why am I so ea-
ger to think about this? Is it
truly important?"

If You’re Aware With Understanding, You’re Meditating Maintain awareness in
all postures as continuously
as possible. No matter what pos-
ture you are in, if your mind is
aware with understanding,
you are meditating.

Learn to Watch Anger as Anger, Not “I’m Angry” Learn to watch greed as greed,
and anger as anger, and not as "I
am greedy" or "I am angry."

Notice What Naturally Interests the Mind To keep returning attention
to the breath is useful for calm-
ing the mind. But I encourage all
yogis to remain aware of whatever
happens, and of whatever natur-
ally interests the mind.

Recognize What’s Happening Without Getting Involved YOGI:
How can I drop desire in or-
der to really meditate? SAYADAW:
Don't try to drop it! Recognize de-
sire is present, that’s enough. You just
want to recognize what's happening,
without getting involved.

Feed Your Understanding Into the Observing Mind Whatever you already under-
stand, whether intellectually or from
experience, feeding that into the
observing mind will help you
to see things more clearly.

Learn to Be Interested in Difficult Situations Learn to be interested in difficult
situations. By being present with them
in a gentle manner, you may suddenly
understand what caused them.

Noticing Details is the Territory of Wisdom YOGI:
Why should we try to maintain
continuous awareness of activities
like brushing our teeth, putting
on socks, and so on? SUT:
Noticing details is the territory of wis-
dom. That’s why we should train to notice
details. Only when the mind is trained to see
details can it properly see causes and effects,
such as what thoughts and actions give
rise to wholesome mind states.

Mind Your Own Business and Stay Within Yourself Mind your own business
and stay within yourself. Every-
thing will fall into place.

Every Moment is New, Fresh, and Interesting When If we are practicing correctly,
life is always new and interesting, be-
cause we are always seeing more. Every
moment is new, every moment is fresh, so
we are really interested. We've never seen
this before! This is observing nature
in the deepest possible way.

Be Natural and Simple. Relax. Be natural and simple. Relax.
There is no need to slow down un-
naturally. You simply want to see
things the way they are.

You Don’t Need to Know Every Detail You do not need to know ev-
ery detail of your experience. Just
be aware and know what you are
aware of. Practicing in this way,
the mind stays fresh.

See to the Root of All the World’s Problems My teacher always said that all
the problems in the world originate
from the trio of craving, aversion and
and delusion. Keep an eye on them.
Watching these bad qualities is impor-
tant because if you can keep them at
bay, all the good qualities will
automatically come in.

Things Happen When the Conditions Are Right Things don't happen because
you want them to happen, but be-
cause conditions are right.

Delusion Says, “Now, Let’s Party!” If wisdom is lacking, delu-
sion will be right there to say,
"We've finished meditation.
Now let's party!"

Delusion Says, “This Whole Thing is Fantastic!” We may initially be attracted to one
or two qualities of an object that we ob-
serve. However, as we move towards the
object, we become trapped. Just these few
qualities reeled us in at first; but now de-
lusion ensnares us whole by saying,
"This whole thing is fantastic!"

When Craving and Aversion Arise, Get to Know Them Let any experience arise.
Craving, aversion and delusion
are objects like any other, so there
is no need to fear them. Just get to
know them. Know they are there
as tools to develop wisdom.

Don’t Try to Be Aware, Be the Supervisor Don't try to be aware. Just be
the supervisor, regularly checking
whether awareness is doing its job.
Keep asking whether awareness
is present and at work.

To Deal With Pain Skillfully, Try This To deal with pain skillfully, try
this: From the moment you start
feeling pain, no matter how subtle
it is, check your mind and body
for tension, and then relax.

The Relaxed Mind Feels Less Pain The more relaxed and calm
the mind, the less intense you
will perceive pain to be.

Unskillful Qualities Are Uprooted in Two Ways Unskillful mental qualities are up-
rooted in two ways. One is that you sim-
ply become aware of them, and they nat-
urally disappear. In this case, awareness
does the work. The other way is that un-
derstanding arises about whatever un-
skillful quality is present. In this
case, wisdom does the work.

Unskillful Thoughts Can Support Awareness When we see our unskillful thoughts
with right view,* even these unskillful
thoughts can support awareness, stability
of mind, and wisdom.
* Sayadaw defines right view as "understand-
ing the mind is nature, not an 'I' or 'me.'"

Don’t Struggle With Your Thoughts Thoughts are nature. They are a
process of mind. We should recognize
thoughts, acknowledge them. Thoughts
are not a problem. It's important not
to struggle with your thoughts.

Don’t Try to Stop the Mind From Thinking Most people when they are med-
itating are afraid of their thoughts,
and want to avoid them, or stop them.
But you cannot make the mind not
think. If you are trying to stop the
mind from thinking, you are try-
ing to do the impossible.

If You Lose the Desire to Meditate, Don’t Panic If you lose the desire to meditate,
don't panic, and don't try to make your-
self meditate. Just remind yourself to re-
lax. The desire to meditate will naturally
come back after a while. Trying hard
will just make things worse.

Feed Understanding Into the Observing Mind What you are always trying
to adjust is the quality of observa-
tion. Whatever you already under-
stand, whether intellectually or from
experience, feeding that into the
observing mind will help you
to see things more clearly.

Most People Want to Live With Greed and Anger Most people actually want to
live with greed, anger and delu-
sion. Only when the mind becomes
truly fed up with them, does it
become able to free itself.

Rely On the Positive Qualities of Mind The Buddha said, "Rely on
yourself." What he meant was
to rely on the positive qualities of
mind like awareness, selfless love,
joy, generosity, patience, truth-
fulness and equanimity.

Each Moment Leaves a Legacy for the Next Moment It is the nature of mind to arise
and pass away every moment, but
each moment leaves a legacy for the
next moment. That's why it's impor-
tant to cultivate the mind's whole-
some qualities such as patience, joy,
perseverance, and equanimity—so
that these qualities become the
legacy that is passed on.

Insight Meditation is Very Simple The practice of vipassana is not
to do anything, or to try to make
anything happen. It is just to recog-
nize what is happening; to accept it
as it is; and to try to understand the
mind's nature and how it works.
That's all. Very simple!

How to Meditate All Day With Energy Recognizing that we are hearing,
seeing, feeling or thinking is meditation.
How much energy do we need to do this?
Zero. All we need to do is notice, and not
put in anything more. We're not expending
energy, or focusing, or doing something.
We're just noticing, and since that's all
we are doing, we can sustain it all
day long and not get tired.

How to Know and See the Mind Yogis come to me and say, "You
are always telling us, 'Watch the mind!
Watch the mind!' But I can't see the mind!"
They don't see it because they are looking for
something special. The work is simply to be
aware of what is being perceived at each one
of the sense doors— seeing, hearing, tast-
ing, touching, smelling, thinking—in
this moment. That is all!

Don’t Think of the Mind as “My Mind” Thinking of the mind as my mind,
complicates watching the mind. Try
instead to see the mind as a process of
nature that you can observe. This will
make watching the mind feel natural and you will be able to bring a learn-
ing attitude to observing the mind.

The Mind’s Own Natural Work is Meditation Everything that you experience
is a natural process of cause-and-effect.
You can think, "This is nature, and nature is
just nature." Or you can think, "This is just
an object that is being known." Either way,
nature is happening on its own terms. You
have to watch yourself from this point
of view, which is right view.

If You Can, Take Some Time to Study Craving Meditation isn't about trying to
get rid of what's happening; it's about
recognizing what's happening. So, once
you recognize craving, your work is to ob-
serve it, not to judge yourself for having
it, or trying to push it away. If you can,
take a little time out to watch it.

It’s Your Own Experience, You Need to Learn From That I often get questions from yogis
like, "Sayadaw, I was observing such
and such, should I have continued sit-
ting or should I have gotten up?" When
I get that question, I always say, "Why are
you asking me whether you should sit, or
stand, or walk? It's your own mind. You
need to learn from your own mind and
experience. Do something, and
then learn from that."

If We Keep Going, Wisdom Can One Day Pull Ahead Initially, our practice is al-
ways mindfulness first, followed
by effort and samadhi, with wisdom
trailing behind. As we keep plodding
along, wisdom slowly catches up,
and hopefully one day is strong
enough to pull ahead.

When the Mind is Foggy, Bring Out a Bit of Wisdom When the mind seems to be up
against a wall, and it's all fog, there's
a lot of delusion and you can't see through
anything. This is a time to bring out a little
bit of curiosity. "What is happening here?"
"What am I not seeing?" Bring out this
quality of wisdom, to help the mind-
fulness of the present moment.

If You Think You Can Take It Easy, You Will Suffer If You Think You Can Take It Easy, You Will Suffer

To Recognize the Unwholesome Is Itself Wholesome Be sure to appreciate that
when you recognize something
unwholesome, the very recognition
that there is something unwhole- some, is itself wholesome.

Try to Recognize and Fully Accept Dissatisfaction Try to recognize dissatisfac-
tion; to fully accept it; and to
watch it very alertly. During this
process, its causes may become
clear. Understanding the causes
of dissatisfaction will dissolve it,
and help you recognize if the
causes arise again.

We Must Find a Still Point in Our Minds The answers to our problems
can be found in our own minds.
We must find a still point that
is not dependent on anything
for our happiness.

If We Look After the Dhamma, the Dhamma Will Look After Us The dhamma is a law of
nature, so it's just. If we look
after the dhamma, the dhamma
will look after us. If we don't look
after the dhamma, the dham-
ma can't look after us.

To Overcome Unhappiness, First See How It Starts in the Mind We overcome unhappiness only
by becoming clearly aware of the
process that creates it in the mind.
With interest, we observe the pro-
cess of mind called unhappiness. In
this way, we gradually learn about
this process, and how it gets
started in the first place.

Take Care of the Relationships Within Us. We should be interested in the
relationships within us: the interplay
of objects*, states of mind, wisdom,
awareness, and craving, aversion and
delusion. These are the relationships
that we want to take care of.
* Sensations of the body, thoughts of the
mind, and perceptions of the world.

It’s Not the Posture That Meditates, It’s the Mind SAYADAW:
People associate the word “meditation”
with “sitting.” The two words have become
synonymous, but this is a mistake.
YOGI:
What role, then, does sitting
meditation play?
SAYADAW:
I often say that it’s not the posture that's
meditating, it’s the mind. That's how I
understand meditation.

Right Effort is Persevering in a Relaxed Way Being mindful is not difficult. But
it's difficult to be continuously aware.
For that you need right effort, which is
effort with wisdom. It does not require
a great deal of energy. It's a relaxed
perseverance in reminding your-
self to be aware.

When You Really Understand, You Can Laugh YOGI:
How does humor play
into our practice?
SAYADAW:
Wisdom sees the joke in ev-
erything. When you see the truth,
it's easy to laugh. You can be going
through something really difficult,
but when you really understand,
you can laugh.

If You Practice, You Cannot Fail If you practice, you cannot
fail. The moment you're doing
it, you're already profiting.

“Bad” is Just a Label, Don’t Label Yourself That "Bad" is just a label. Don't
label yourself that. When the
mind is wholesome, the person
is good; and when the mind is un-
wholesome, the person is bad. It's
only for that moment, and it's
always changing.

Continue to Practice and Take Your Time Continue to practice and take
your time. Just keep learning. The
fact that you are practicing shows
that the mind wants to become bet-
ter, and that means that the mind
will become better.

With Continuous Awareness, Practice Becomes Effortless When awareness becomes
continuous, remembering and
knowing the mind at work, prac-
tice becomes effortless. The mind
becomes familiar and intimate with
itself. It is always with itself, and
it likes being with itself.

The Wish for Everything in Life to Be Okay Everyone has a lot of craving,
but there is one especially strong,
but elusive, craving. This is the de-
sire for everything in life to be okay.
The desire for everything to be okay
is very powerful, but we are not us-
ually aware of it, because it hits
us at the subconscious level.

We Get Upset When Tiny Things Go Wrong We grow up thinking that everything
must work out the way we want it to, and
we become upset when something tiny goes
wrong. For example, if we want 10 things and
we get all 10, the mind calms down without a
problem. If we can't get one or two out of 10,
the mind becomes agitated. If we can't get
five, the mind goes into depression. If we
can't get any, the mind may go crazy.

Don’t Expect That Everything Will Be Okay Don't expect that everything
will be okay. The future is open
and there is a fifty percent chance
that things that we do not want
will happen to us. We need to
be prepared for this.

Delusion Is Darkness and You Have a Tiny Flashlight Delusion is darkness, and you have
a tiny thief's flashlight. When you turn
it on, it will light up a small area in front
of you. You may think, "Oh, I know a lot
now." But what about everything that you
do not notice? That's vast, and you only
know what you know. But you do not
know what you do not know.

Investigate the Mind’s Phenomena at Work Investigate and study the mind's pheno-
mena at work. For example, recognize the
internal chatter every time there is thinking.
What kinds of thoughts arise when you are
alone? What kinds of thoughts arise when
you are with others? How does the mind
think in each of these circumstances?
You need to see all of these things.

Understandings Pass Away, Like Everything Else Awareness is the ground that
allows wisdom to arise, over and
over again. This is why we need to
be aware from moment to moment:
because new understandings pass
away, just like everything else.

Love As Much as You Can, Without Getting Attached What emotions come up when
you think about someone you love?
If there is only love, there is only hap-
piness. But love can get mixed up with
attachment, and that's followed by
fear. So, love as much as you can,
but do not get attached.

Keep a Light, Steady Awareness Going in the Backgroud A light, general awareness allows
us to do all our daily activities, while
it works steadily in the background.
It's not continuous to start, but even-
tually it gains momentum. When it be-
comes natural and continuous, you'll
feel like you're living this awareness
in everything that you do.

It’s Okay if You Don’t Understand Things Right Away It's helpful to think about the
Dhamma, and it's okay if you don't
understand things straight away. The
Buddha recommended this kind of con-
sideration, because you never know
when the mind might be in the right
state, and suddenly understand!

There Is An Element of Choice in the Present "Everything is conditioned" just means
that there is a stream that's going on, and
the present moment has been conditioned
by the past. At the same time, there is an
element of choice in the present through
wisdom, because wisdom has free will.

Learning to Cultivate Wholesome Mental Qualities is Meditation Everybody has wholesome and
unwholesome qualities in the mind;
learning to cultivate the wholesome qualities is meditation.

Mental Intentions Are Everywhere in the Body Mental intentions are present
everywhere in the body. What in-
tentions are you aware of while you
are walking? Do you notice the want-
ing to move? What do you want
to move? Every movement in-
volves mental intentions.

The Quality of Our Thoughts, Speech and Actions (1 of 7) I can't emphasize enough
the importance of noticing in-
tentions. It is a critical skill to be
able to notice and assess our inten-
tions because the quality of our
thoughts, speech and actions
are entirely based on them.

Intentions Are An Energy That Pushes Forward (2 of 7) Intentions that arise in the
mind are a mental energy that
pushes forward. It is the mind
that causes all movements of all
kinds. The body can't move
without the mind. See if
you can notice this.

Intentions Push Every Moment for Motion and Stillness (3 of 7) There are lots of intentions
happening continuously, form-
ing a stream of mental energy to
move and to do. The mind is push-
ing every moment, not only for
motion but also for stillness. In-
tentions are always there.

Intentions Are Neutral Bursts of Pure Energy (4 of 7) Intentions in and of themselves
are neutral bursts of pure energy.
They are subtle and can be noticed
only once we have developed a calm
and stable mind and have a certain
amount of continuous awareness.

While Walking, Be Aware of Intentions to Stop of Move (5 of 7) While you are walking, be
aware of the intentions to stop
or move. When you come home,
notice when the intention arises to
reach for your door keys. For some
people, it's when they are still on
the sidewalk; for others, it's
while walking up the stairs.

Notice the Continuity of Intention Behind All Actions (6 of 7) Intentions don't only occur
at the beginning of movements
or actions. They occur throughout
the beginning, middle, and end of
all movements and actions. See
if you can notice this.

When Intention Comes from Wisdom, Things Turn Out Well (7 of 7) If our intentions are controlled
by our fixed and rigid habits of liking,
disliking, and ignoring, things will end
badly. But if our intentions come from
wisdom, we'll create less suffering for
ourselves and others, and things
will turn out well.

It Takes a Real Practice to Deal With Real Situations A retreat is not the only
place for us to train our minds.
Training at home, the results and
the benefits become much more
real. It takes a real practice to
deal with real situations.

The Fire on the Stove Won’t Hurt You My teacher used to say,
"The fire on your stove won't
do anything to you. It's the fires
of greed, hatred and delusion
that will get you."

Notice When the Mind Says “I,” “Me,” or “Mine” In meditation, when inves-
tigating the mind, it is only im-
portant to recognize when there
is identification with an object,*
and when there is not.
* Such as sensations of the body, thoughts of
the mind, and perceptions of the world.

It Is Important to Notice Your Assumptions It is important to notice
your assumptions. Assumptions
are based on wrong views, and
prevent you from seeing the
true nature of things.

Bring Energy and Joy Into the Mind Interest brings energy to the mind,
so bring in some interest if it's miss-
ing. You could drop a word, or a short
simple question, into the mind: "What
is this?" "What is happening?" "Why
is this happening?" Observing like
this gives us energy and joy.

Transform Greed and Hatred Into Understanding A wise and skillful person can
turn poison into medicine. In the
same way, a skilled meditator can
transform hindrances (e.g., greed,
hatred, sleepiness, restlessness and
doubt) into understanding.

When Awareness Gets Stronger, Craving Gets More Cunning When awareness gets stronger, crav-
ing and aversion get more cunning. They
can no longer attack with a frontal assault,
so they transform themselves, disguise them-
selves, and try to sneak into your awareness
through a back door. Sometimes, they are
there and you don't even know it.

“How Do I stay Mindful in a Job?” YOGI:
How do I stay mindful in a job
where I always need to be fast,
efficient, and on deadline?
SAYADAW:
In a light and gentle way, just try to be
aware of how you feel, and what mind states
you experience. Be natural and simple. If you
make too much effort to practice, you won't be
able to do your job. If you focus too much on
the job, you won't be able to be mindful.
You need to find the right balance.

Practice Like a Sick Person I have a saying that a lot
of you will have heard: "Practice
like a sick person." The mind of a sick
person doesn't want to do anything; it
just wants to be quiet and observe. When
we are ill there is less striving, and we
are very much in touch with sen-
sations and our feelings.

Be Natural and Simple, So the Mind Stays Fresh When you are truly aware, you are
are not focusing, yet you are aware of
sensations, thoughts, perceptions and
emotions. You don't need to know every
detail. Just be aware, and know what
you are aware of. Be natural and sim-
ple. Practicing in this way, the
mind stays fresh.

A Checklist for Right Attitude (1 of 7) Acknowledge and observe
whatever happens—whether pleasant
or unpleasant—in a relaxed way.

Don’t Try to Make Things Turn Out How You Want (2 of 7) Don't try to make things turn
out the way you want them to turn
out. Instead, just try to know
what is happening as it is.

Don’t Feel Disturbed By the Thinking Mind (3 of 7) Don't feel disturbed by the
thinking mind. You are not prac-
ticing to prevent thinking, but rath-
er to recognize and acknowledge
thinking whenever it arises.

Don’t Try to Create or Reject Anything (4 of 7) Don't try to create anything, and
don't reject what is happening. Trying
to create something is greed. Rejecting
what is happening is aversion. Not know-
ing if something is happening or has
stopped happening is delusion.

Notice When the Mind is Free of Likes and Dislikes (5 of 7) Notice when the mind is free,
or relatively free, of the tendency
to automatically label experience
as liked or disliked. Just this much
noticing will strengthen the mind's
wholesome qualities including con-
fidence, energy, mindfulness, sta-
bility of mind, and wisdom.

Don’t Try to Have the Right Attitude (6 of 7) Don't try to have the right atti-
itude. We all have wrong attitudes; we
cannot help having them. So, instead,
try to recognize if you have the wrong
attitude or the right attitude.

A Light and Free Mind Enables You to Meditate Well (7 of 7) Double check to see what at-
titude you are meditating with.
A light and free mind enables
you to meditate well. Do you
have the right attitude?

The Mind Is Not Yours, But You Are Responsible For It The mind is not yours, but
you are responsible for it.

Whatever You Do, Know It As You Do It When you open a door, hold a
glass of water, read a book, chop car-
rots, sweep the floor, go to the toilet, talk
with a friend, smell a flower—know each
thing that you are doing, when you are do-
ing it. What is our aim? It is to know, to
be aware, to awaken. Every moment
that we bring awareness to life weak-
ens the darkness of delusion.

Learn to Notice the Desire to Think When the mind is thinking non-
stop, it’s not enough just to know,
"the mind is thinking.” We need to
see the desire to think, because non-
stop thinking will diminish only
when that desire diminishes.

If You Remember to Be Aware You Are Meditating Whether you are standing,
sitting, lying down or walking,
if you remember to be aware
you are meditating. You are
cultivating this wholesome
quality of mind.

Practice Like There’s No Tomorrow The main lesson to learn and
remember is that we are going to
die ourselves one day. So before
we die, practice. Practice like
there's no tomorrow.

When the Body Weakens, We Can Keep the Mind Strong When there are sensations
in the body, always remember
to keep an eye on how the mind
is feeling towards them. As we get
older, the body will not get better.
It will break down, but we can
keep the mind in good shape.

Seeing Pain As A Process Frees the Mind When we can see our physical
aches and pains as a natural pro-
cess, it frees the mind. We will feel
ready to die, and to face death peace-
fully. Otherwise, if the mind is not
prepared in this way, we will re-
sist death, and be in turmoil.

When We Don’t Meditate, Craving Has a Field Day When we don't meditate, craving
and aversion have a field day. They
make us tired, and we suffer. Life is
so much more comfortable when we
are mindful. So, why don't we do it?
It's because craving and aversion
are cunning: they trick us into
not wanting to meditate.

If Greed Arises, Observe It Without Self-Judgment YOGI:
I like to set goals, but it can feel
like greed sometimes, too. So then
I try to stop myself, and it becomes a
mental battle. How can I improve? SAYADAW:
Trying to reach a goal is a positive
quality. It's when you think you shouldn't
have greed, that you've gone wrong. Just
take a little time to watch the feelings, with-
out judging yourself, until they become
less. And then, let that teach you.

Craving and Aversion Can Help Develop Wisdom Let any experience arise. Craving,
aversion and delusion are objects like
any other. Because we are getting to know
them, there is no need to fear them. Just
know they are there. They are tools for
you to further develop wisdom.

Any Place, Posture or Time is Good for Meditation Thinking that meditation needs
a particular place, posture, or time is
nonsense. These are not related to med-
itation. Time is time, place is place, and
posture is posture. For someone who un-
derstands right meditation, any place,
any posture, and any time is always
good for meditation.

Right Attitude Makes Right Meditation Right attitude allows you to ac-
cept, acknowledge and observe what-
ever is happening—whether pleasant or
unpleasant—in a relaxed and alert way.
With this right attitude, anywhere and
anytime is right for meditation.

Even A Bad Experience Can Be Interesting People try to control experience;
that's the problem. Experience is
experience; experience is nature.
I like natural experience, wheth-
er good or bad. Even bad ex-
perience is interesting.

With Awareness + Wisdom, The Mind is Already Relaxed I don't try to relax. I try to be
aware, because the mind under-
stands that if you're aware of what
is happening, and wisdom is there,
the mind is already relaxed.

Awareness is The Cause, The Relaxed Mind is The Effect
Awareness is the cause, and
the relaxed mind is the effect.
That's why my instruction is to
try to be aware. Try to learn
how to be aware. That's it.

Check On the Motivation of Your Thoughts Don't believe your thoughts,
without first checking their moti-
vation. They might be wholesome, or
they might be coming from craving,
aversion and delusion. You can on-
ly know for sure by checking.

We Practice to Discover Right View The mind is not a self. It is
not personal; it's not me, not
mine. No one is there. This is
right view, and we practice
to discover this nature.

How to Relate Wisely To Food (1 of 12) When we are eating, we tend to
get lost in concepts. We need to see
the difference between the concepts we
use to create a convincing mental pic-
ture of reality, and reality itself.

Don’t Get Lost in the Movie of Ideas, Opinions and Views (2 of 12) When we get lost in our ideas,
opinions, and stories about life,
we easily confuse them with life
itself. It's like forgetting that a
movie we are watching is just
a movie and not life itself.

Food as Concept vs Food as Reality (3 of 12) Whether a piece of food is
fish, chicken, pork, beef, or vege-
table is really only a concept. These
are only names, and we can't eat a
name or an image. What is real is the
nature of food—the tastes, textures,
temperature, smells, and combina-
tions of all such qualities that
we directly experience.

Is the Mind Knowing Concepts or Reality? (4 of 12) We must constantly check to
see whether the mind is more aware
of the concepts of our experience or
the reality of our experience.

With Awareness + Wisdom, We Eat Only What’s Necessary (5 of 12) When hunger arises, so
too does the desire to eat, fol-
lowed by the intention to eat. If
awareness and wisdom are pre-
sent at this point of intention, we
will eat only what is necessary
to maintain a healthy body.

Craving for Food Floods the Senses (6 of 12) Unfortunately, for a lot of us,
the conceptual mind takes over at
the point of intention to eat. Aware-
ness and wisdom fly out the window,
and craving appears in all the sense
doors in an instant, usually below
the level of awareness.

Know When the Body Says: “Hunger Has Been Satisfied” (7 of 12) Simply be aware and know
the difference between reality and
concepts. Know the tastes, textures,
and smells of the food, and especially
know when the body sends a signal
that hunger has been satisfied—
this comes from simple aware-
ness with wisdom.

Craving Serves Itself at Health’s Expense (8 of 12) Craving may come along
and tell us, "One more piece of
chicken will do no harm. It tastes so
good." This is a concept, a thought
that craving uses to serve its own
purpose of self-preservation—
at our health's expense.

See The Thought of Craving as Just A Thought (9 of 12) When we can see the
thought of craving as just
a thought, we can gain some
distance from it. We see its
nature as craving, and
can choose to let go.

Between Wisdom and Desire, Only One Will Win (10 of 12) Notice that at the point of in-
tention to eat, either wisdom or
desire will be dominant, and only
one will win. In a flash, it can go one
way or the other—wisdom or desire.
Lose awareness for even a moment
and we can be lost in attachment
to a thought such as "just one
more piece will do no harm."

How Do We Resist the Craving Mind? (11 0f 12) How do we find the strength
to resist the craving mind? We
don't resist it. We become aware
of it, observe it, and know it as
it is, because as a quality of
mind, it too is nature.

When You Learn From Life, Life Goes Well (12 of 12) Once we know how to learn
from life itself, and not from our
thoughts and concepts, life quite
naturally starts to go well.

We Must Find a Still Point in Our Minds The answers to our problems
can be found in our own minds.
We must find a still point that
is not dependent on anything
for our happiness.

To Recognize the Unwholesome is Itself Wholesome Be sure to appreciate that
when you recognize something
unwholesome, the very recognition
that there is something unwhole-
some, is itself wholesome.

If You Think You Can Take It Easy, You Will Suffer If you think you can take
it easy, you will suffer.

When the Mind is Foggy, Bring Out a Bit of Curiosity When the mind seems to be up
against a wall, and it's all fog, there's
a lot of delusion and you can't see through
anything. This is a time to bring out a little
bit of curiosity. "What is happening here?"
"What am I not seeing?" Bring out this
quality of wisdom, to help the mind-
fulness of the present moment.

If We Keep Going, Wisdom Can Pull Ahead One Day Initially, our practice is al-
ways mindfulness first, followed
by effort and samadhi, with wisdom
trailing behind. As we keep plodding
along, wisdom slowly catches up,
and hopefully one day is strong
enough to pull ahead.

Take Some Time to Study Craving Meditation isn't about trying to
get rid of what's happening; it's about
recognizing what's happening. So, once
you recognize craving, your work is to ob-
serve it, not to judge yourself for having
it, or trying to push it away. If you can,
take a little time out to watch it.

The Mind’s Own Natural Work is Meditation When I say "Do the work,"
what I really mean is to step
back and allow the mind to do
its own work, which is meditate.
This is what the mind does.
This is its nature.

Investigate What’s Happening With Interest and Joy Agitation is interesting. When it
arises you could ask, "What is agi-
tation like?" Instead of trying to make
it go away, allow it to be fully present,
so that you can watch and learn its na- ture clearly. If it weren't present, you
couldn't study or learn. So, think of
its presence as an opportunity.

Don’t Try Hard to Look for Awareness. SAYADAW:
Put your hands together. Can you
feel the sensations? Do you recognize
that you know the sensations? YOGI: Yes. SAYADAW:
That's awareness of awareness. Don’t try
hard to look for awareness; relax and
see that it is already there.

Regularly Check Whether You Are Relaxed or Tense It is important that you
regularly check whether you
are relaxed or tense. If you are
continuously aware of your state
of relaxation, you will become
even more relaxed.

Personal Effort vs Dhamma Doing Its Job YOGI:
Can you explain the difference between
what is usually called personal effort, and
what you call "Dhamma doing its job?" SAYADAW:
I'll give you a simple example. Let's assume you are doing awareness of breathing and the mind’s attention strays elsewhere. Will you bring awareness to the breath, or will you just let it go with the flow? Bringing it to the breath is per-
sonal effort; letting it go with the flow is Dhamma at work.

Wholesome and Unwholesome is Our Field of Research Why does a wholesome mind
arise? Why does an unwholesome
mind arise? What is this wholesome
or unwholesome mind? Why does a
wholesome mind decrease or fade
away? Why does an unwholesome
mind fade away? This is our
field of research.

Understanding Dissolves Greed, Hatred and Delusion If you understand the
nature of greed, hatred and
delusion, they will dissolve.

The Buddha’s Main Advice to His Followers The Buddha's main advice to
his followers was to be aware all
the time, as much as possible.

What Is Our Understanding of Life? First, we must ask ourselves: What is
our relationship to reality? What is our
understanding of life? From this, we will
find meditation is really the only sensible
approach to our reality, and the prob-
lems that can arise from living.

First, Learn to be Comfortable and Relaxed If you can't observe, don't force
yourself. Learn how to relax, how
to be comfortable, first.

Wanting to Understand is a Wholesome Desire Wanting to understand, de-
siring to understand, is a whole-
some and positive desire. Having a
desire to truly understand what is
going on is much more important
than just trying to be aware.

There Is Never a Good Reason to Be Angry If a person says something to
make you angry, that's their bus-
iness. There is never a good reason
for you to become angry. Instead of
attaching to the words that arouse
your anger, get interested in your
reactivity. Study and learn.

We Need to Practice More In Our Homes Craving, aversion and delusion
are very strong at home. Why? Be-
cause it's my house, my chair, my wife,
my husband, etc. There's a lot of attach-
ment at home. We can't even stand to
throw away our old shoes! Therefore,
we need to practice more at home.

How to Practice With Feelings of Overwhelm When we feel overwhelmed, we
need to take strength from tiny mo-
ments. Take a moment to go within
yourself. Meditate, don't think. Don't
think of anything. Keep awareness
focused on a single object, and in
this way calm the mind.

“My Mind Lacks Interest, What Should I Do?” YOGI:
You encourage us to ask
questions in order to enliven
the practice and stir up interest.
It does not seem to work for me.
The mind does not seem inter-
ested. What can I do?
SAYADAW:
Ask the mind why it is not interested!
[Laughter]

Don’t Keep Your Awareness on the Body Only Don’t try to avoid thoughts
by keeping your awareness on the
body only, or you will miss the na-
ture of how the mind works.

Wholesome Desire Feels Fresh, Confident and Clear Wholesome desire feels
fresh, alert, confident, clear;
that's what wholesome qualities
feel like. It feels good to practice;
you feel happy about practicing.
It's all positive, that's why
it's called wholesome.

Focusing on Results is Craving at Work A mind which is focused on
achieving a certain result is mo-
tivated by craving. Wisdom knows
cause-effect relationships, and there-
fore concentrates on fulfilling causes
and conditions. Wisdom only thinks
of what to do; craving always
craves for results.

Make It A Habit to Watch Out for Emotions Make it a habit to watch out
for emotional disturbances. When
the mind is clear of them—when
there is no eagerness to get things
done—then wisdom can come
in and make decisions.

Daily Activity Keeps the Mind On Its Toes People who like calmness are fond of longer sittings; while those who like aware- ness prefer activity. I encourage people to be active because it forces the mind to be “on its toes,” so to speak, and to really work at being mindful in the present moment.

Curiosity Is An Expression of Wisdom As your practice develops, the mind will develop a sense
of curiosity, a natural tendency
to investigate. Curiosity is an
expression of wisdom.

You Don’t Need to Know Every Detail of Experience You do not need to know
every detail of your experience.
Just be aware and know what
you are aware of.

We Don’t Need to Stop Thinking or Anything Else There is no need to make ob-
jects* disappear, and it is irrelevant
whether they disappear or not. You
are observing because you want to
know and understand the nature
of all phenomena.

When It Is Quiet or When It Is Noisy, Which is Better? When it is quiet or when it is
noisy, which is better? When the
mind judges or has a preference for
something to be better, then it will
automatically develop a reaction if
the opposite happens. So right view
is to not have a preference. Sound
is just sound; it is nature.

Meditation and Prayer Can Happen at the Same Time YOGI:
I pray every time after meditation.
Should I pray when I meditate or is
it better to pray at different times? SUT:
Meditation is about being aware
with the right understanding. You can
be aware of the fact that praying is hap-
pening. So praying and meditation
can happen at the same time.

Knowing the Mind is An Opportunity for Change YOGI:
I often observe myself wanting
other people to do poorly, so
that I will look best. SUT:
Yes, that's good, you know your
mind! It is in the nature of the mind
to always want to be better than others,
to want to see others as inferior. Only
when this is recognized do we get
the opportunity to change.

All You Need to Do Is Explore All you need to do is take
in the information you're given,
and explore. There is no need to
believe in the existence or non-
existence of anything.

Keep an Eye on Desire, Not on Objects of Desire If desire arises because of a
particular object, you should stop
observing that object. It is not a dham-
ma object; it is an object of desire. The
object you need to watch in such a sit-
uation is desire itself. Watch the feel-
ing that comes with the desire.

The World Is a Creation of the Mind The world is a creation of the
mind. So there is no need to look
outside. Everything is happening
right here in our own minds.

Forgive By Understanding, Little By Little, Over Time One yogi experienced very strong
hatred every time he remembered a par-
ticularly difficult encounter. I suggested to
him that whenever his mind felt really stable
and calm, to bring up the memory in order to
see what he could learn from it. He did this over
a long period of time and, little by little, he be-
gan to understand things. Then, at some point,
he no longer experienced any anger when the
memory of that event came up. He was able
to forgive because he had really un-
derstood the situation.

Don’t Assume Conditions Are “Bad For Practice” There is a lot you can learn
from what you think are unfavor-
able conditions for meditation. There
may be unhappiness or suffering. Don't
make judgments that these conditions
are bad for practice. In Dhamma, there
is only what's happening. Accept the
situation and be aware.

Are You Aware or Just Thinking? Are you being aware or are
you just thinking?

Why Seeing and Hearing Seem to Happen “Out There” It's obvious that touching, smell-
ing and tasting occur in the body. Why
is it that we perceive seeing and hearing
as happening "out there"? Actually, see-
ing and hearing happens right here, too.
But we believe in the concept of "out
there" that the mind is using.

The Mind Wants to Be Lost In Thought (1 of 7) The mind works from habit pat-
terns. You understand a little bit that
this habit causes tension, but wisdom
is weak and the habit pattern is strong.
Therefore it is really important for you
to see what is motivating your thinking.
You need to really watch out and no-
tice the mind is wanting to think,
wanting to be lost in thought.

The Mind Doesn’t Wander or Go Anywhere (2 of 7) We often use the expression
"wandering mind," which seems
to suggest that the mind has wan-
dered away, or moved somewhere.
The truth is, however, that the mind
does not go anywhere. The mind is
only happening here and now. All
it does is rise and pass away.

Keep Watch on Your Thoughts (3 of 7) Just watch thinking when-
ever you become aware of it. As
you watch your thoughts, some
understanding can arise. You might,
for example, realize that a thought
is completely useless. Such an under-
standing will make the thought dis-
appear. This is wisdom at work.

When the Mind Sees Clearly, It Lets Go (4 of 7) SAYADAW:
How do you tell if a
thought is unskillful?
YOGI:
I get very tense.
SAYADAW:
When the mind actually un-
derstands that—when it clearly
sees that a thought is unskill-
ful—it will just let go.

It Doesn’t Matter If Thinking Stops or Not (5 of 7) It doesn't matter wheth-
er thinking stops or not. It is
more important that you under-
stand whether your thoughts are
skillful or unskillful; appropri-
ate or inappropriate; neces-
sary or unnecessary.

Remember Awareness If A Story Is Pulling You In (6 of 7) Don't get so far into any thought
or story that you forget the aware-
ness that is enabling you to know
that thought or story. Value
awareness above all.

Our Thoughts Are Not Who We Are (7 of 7) Our thoughts tell a story.
This story is just a concept. It
is not who or what we are.

You See It, You Know It, It’s Gone My teacher taught me: "If you know
it, be happy." That really stuck with me.
I could be angry, or do something unskill-
ful, but when I became aware of it, I was
happy. When something unskillful came up
up in the mind, with awareness it didn't
stay. Right view is so powerful: You
see it, you know it, it’s gone.

Ask Questions Not for Answers But For Awareness Ask questions not to get an-
swers but to strengthen aware-
ness. You don't need to find an-
swers; simply asking questions
awakens awareness.

Fighting Defilements Is Already a Lost Battle Yogis often view defilements*
as enemies to be fought. But that
is already a battle lost. Defilements
like it when you fight, because
fighting is itself a defilement.
* E.g., craving, aversion and delusion

What Is Different In Your Practice Today? My teacher would always ask
me how I was practicing, and that
is what I'm asking you now. What are
you doing in your practice? What is spe-
cial or different today? Yogis who are
practicing will have an answer; those
who are not practicing will not.

Thinking About Practice Helps Pull Things Together Thinking in the right way
is part of the practice. We use
wisdom to make fewer mistakes,
and we actively reflect on what's
useful in our practice. When we
are observing, experiencing, and
thinking about how to prac-
tice, it all comes together.

How and When Your Life Really Changes You may learn a technique at
a retreat, but it's only when you go
home that you can apply that tech-
nique continuously, all the time.
That's when your life changes.

Seeing the Mind Clearly Helps You To Let Go We need to look at what is
in our mind, and know it until
the mind realizes that it doesn't
want to be that way anymore.
That realization will help you
learn how to let go.

Wait Patiently for Gentle Awareness to Grow We do not believe that gentle aware-
ness will work. We do not trust that it
will grow into something, so we get im-
patient with gentle effort, and exert per-
sonal effort. Instead, we could wait pa-
tiently for momentum to grow, which
uses a natural process, a natural
law, and natural energy.

Be Careful With Your Motivation to Practice Be careful with your motivation to
practice. If your motivation is to feel
relaxed or to feel better, this will get in
the way of relaxing. The right attitude
is to practice in order to cultivate
wholesome minds, and to learn.

Awareness Is Very Helpful When You’re Tired Awareness is really helpful when
you're tired, because you can just rest
in the awareness of the tiredness.

Peace is a Side Effect of Practice YOGI:
This morning’s session was really
peaceful and I feel that I’m on my
way in the practice. SUT:
What if your meditation hadn't been
peaceful? Would you still feel that you’re
on your way? Being on the way is being
aware; it's not when things feel good. When
we walk the path skillfully, peace inevitably
comes. But peace is a side effect of practice,
not the goal. The goal is to keep walk-
ing the path of wisdom.

Don’t Believe the Stories the Mind Tells YOGI:
There is a lot of sadness in my life
lately. I’m aware of the sadness and the
mind says: "It’s my sadness.” SUT:
Don’t believe the stories the mind tells you.
You can choose to bring in right view by remind-
ing yourself, ‘This is the nature of the mind that
wants to hang on to the self." Or you can choose
to simply recognize, "This is happening."

The Meditating Mind is Relaxed The meditating mind is
relaxed. We never need to focus
too much, nor try too hard.

Understanding Craving and Aversion Helps Dissolve Them Understanding the causes of dissatis-
faction helps to dissolve them. You will
see more and more clearly the harm that
craving, aversion and delusion cause to
the mind and body. You will become more
mindful of your judgmental attitudes
and gradually abandon them.

We Can Use Any Object to Cultivate Awareness There's no need to go around try-
ing to find an object of choice to fol-
low like the breath, thoughts, or emo-
tions. In this kind of meditation we pay
attention to the meditating mind, and to
cultivating wholesome mental qualities.
As such we can use any object to culti-
vate awareness, develop stability of
mind, and gain insight into the
nature of phenomena.

A Comment on Insomnia Not being able to sleep is not
a problem. Only craving, aversion
and delusion give us problems.

Patiently Watch Impatience You should patiently watch
impatience. I myself became more
patient because I watched impa-
tience every time it arose.

You Don’t Have to Believe in Rebirth You don't have to believe
in other realms or in rebirth.
Just keep on practicing. Once
there is greater wisdom, the mind
will start understanding these
things in the right way.

The Most Important Thing to Do The most important thing
to do is to keep recognizing awareness and to under-
stand that everything else
is there with it.

A Yogi Says: I Want Others to Do Poorly YOGI:
I often observe myself want-
ing other people to do poorly
so that I will look best.
SAYADAW:
Yes, that's good, you know your
mind! It is in the nature of the mind
to always want to be better than others,
to want to see others as inferior. Only
when this is recognized, do we get
the opportunity to change.

Wisdom Desires, But Very Differently From Greed YOGI:
Is it possible to like something
without having greed?
SAYADAW:
Let me put it this way: Wisdom
desires things, but very differently
from greed. Wisdom has a different
motivation. It understands the true
benefit of something and there-
fore it moves towards that.

Is There Identification With the Body or Mind? In meditation, when investigating
the mind, it is only important to recog-
nize when there is identification with
an object,* and when there is not.
* E.g., the body or the mind

You Are Doing Fine If … As long as you find joy
and interest in the practice,
you are doing fine.

Dealing With the Good and the Bad When things are good, learn how
to detach from them. When things are
bad, learn how to accept them.

The Right time to Make Decisions You are able to make the right
decisions when there is no craving
or aversion in the mind.

Just See What’s There Without Adding “I” Learn to watch greed, anger
and delusion as greed, anger and
delusion, and not as "I am greedy,"
"I am angry," "I am deluded.”

Observing Alone Is Not Enough Observing alone is not
enough; know what attitude
you are observing with.

Good and Bad Experiences Are Okay You should not be concerned
whether you have good or bad
experiences. You should only be
concerned about your attitude
towards these experiences.

Practice Turns Hindrances Into Understanding A wise and skillful person
can turn poison into medicine. A
skilled meditator can transform
hindrances—craving, aversion,
sleepiness, restlessness, doubt—
into understanding.

Don’t Be Eager to See Something Special Looking for something we
think we're supposed to see is
not meditation. Meditation is
just being aware of what-
ever comes your way.

Whatever You Observe, Don’t Call It “I,” “Me” or “Mine” Whenever you observe some-
thing,* don’t identify with it. Don't
think of it as ‘I,’ or as ‘mine.' Accept
it simply as something to know, to
observe, and to understand.
* E.g., the body, the mind, perceptions,
emotions, or any object at all.

How to Deal With Angry People YOGI:
In my work, I often have to deal
with very demanding and sometimes
very angry customers. Can you sug-
gest how to handle such situations?
SUT:
Every time you are confronted
with an angry or demanding person,
check to see how your own mind feels.
Their greed and aversion is their prob-
lem. You need to see whether there is
greed and aversion in your mind.

Once Awareness Is Continuous, Wisdom Starts to Work When awareness becomes
continuous the mind becomes
calm, and you begin to under-
stand which issues are impor-
tant and which are not.

Emotions Don’t Need to Go Away Emotions don’t need to go
away. The objective is to know
what the emotions feel like; what
thoughts you are having when there
are emotions; and to understand
the nature of emotions.

How to Skillfully Handle Any Emotion Once a strong emotion has
subsided you will be able to look
at the feelings, thoughts, and body
sensations involved. The better you
understand how these all interrelate,
the more skillfully you will be able
to handle any kind of emotion.

If You’re Not Sure What’s Going On, Try This If it is not clear to you what
is going on, you can ask yourself
questions, such as: "Am I accepting
and learning from my experience,
just as it is?" Or, "Am I dealing
with craving, aversion or delu-
sion right now?"

Awareness Alone Can’t Prevent Craving, Or Remove It What is going to prevent craving
or aversion from arising? What is go-
ing to remove them if they're already
present? Awareness alone can't do
it; only wisdom can do it.

Don’t Hurry. Just Keep Learning. Don’t hurry. Just keep learning.

Take Experience Just As It Is, And Learn In your practice, don’t try
to create any particular kind
of experience. Instead, take your
experience just as it is, and try
to learn something from it.

If Wisdom is Present, Everything Is Possible Right attitude is accepting, observing
and learning from your experience, just
as it is. If this wisdom is present, then
everything else becomes possible.

Desire For Spiritual Growth is a Wholesome Desire "Chanda" is wise desire;
a desire for spiritual growth.
When you act from wise desire,
the mind becomes powerful:
you don't feel elated when you
succeed, and you don't get
upset when you don't.

Understanding Brings True Stability of Mind Samadhi that requires silence
is brittle. It relies on silence, so you
lose the samadhi if the silence is bro-
ken. I am interested in the kind of sa-
madhi that develops because of wisdom.
When the mind understands things
there is true stability of mind, clar-
ity of awareness, and insight.

The Ultimate Task Is Learning to Deal With Defilements Wherever we may start in
our practice, the ultimate task is
learning how to deal with crav-
ing, aversion and delusion.

Never Try to Force an Issue Never try to force an issue.
Just acknowledge, accept, and
keep observing until things
unfold naturally.

If We Don’t Learn Our Lessons, They’ll Be Back If we don’t learn our les-
sons when they present them-
selves, they will come up again
and again, until we give them
our attentiom and learn from
them. There is no shortcut.

Look At Experience In A Simple, Honest Way We need to look at our experience
in a really simple and honest way. In
the watching, we should have no ideas
at all about how things should be seen
or experienced. We should learn from
our experience just as it is. This is the
right frame of mind to meditate.

“Why Is There So Little Wisdom?” YOGI:
Why is delusion so strong, and
why is there so little wisdom? SUT:
Because delusion wants to remain
deluded, and because we have been
"practicing" delusion for eons.

Don’t Try to Maintain Equanimity Don't try to maintain equanimity;
only try to maintain awareness.

You Can Learn to Eat Without Greed You can learn to eat without
greed. To do this, change your
attitude so that you choose to eat
something not because you like
it, but because it is food.

Keep the Delight Alive It is important to keep
alive the delight we get from
uncovering our inherent wisdom,
our delight in the Dhamma. No-
thing comes close to the satis-
faction we gain from this.

What’s Being Known Now, Concept or Reality? Always check whether the
mind is more aware of the con-
cept of the experience, or the
reality of the experience.

There is No Point In Feeling Guilty There is no point in feeling
guilty. Guilt is from the past,
a concept. The feeling of guilt
is happening now, so it is an ob-
ject. Our awareness should
be on the mind's reaction
to this object.

Hold On Tightly to Awareness Hold on to awareness. You
can move, change posture, do
anything you want—but don't
let go of awareness. Hold
on to it tightly.

Knowing Reality is a Lifetime’s Work Knowing reality should
never be uninteresting because
it is our lifetime's work. So how
can we use this wisdom to create
interest, and find the motivation
to move forward in our practice?
We begin by working with
awareness itself.

Thinking You Know Enough is Delusion When we start to develop ex-
perience, and awareness becomes
consolidated, there is a danger that
we think we know enough, that we
have enough understanding. This is a
problem that many yogis encounter
as they progress in their practice.
It is a form of delusion.

Step Back and Let the Mind Do Its Work When I say "Do the work,"
what I really mean is simply
step back and allow the mind to
do its own work, which is medi-
tate. This is what the mind
does. This is its nature.

Meditation is Often the Last Resort Quite often meditation
practice is the last resort.
Everything else has been
found not to work.

“What Does It Mean to Truly Relax?” (1 of 7) YOGI:
What exactly does it mean
mean to be relaxed?
SAYADAW:
Feeling relaxed is really about
being free of expectations and anxi-
ety. You can only be totally relaxed
when the mind is free of craving,
aversion and delusion.

If You Are Tense, Watch the Tension (2 of 7) It is important that you
regularly check whether you
are relaxed or tense. If you don't,
you will not be aware whether you
are relaxed or getting tense. When
you find yourself tense, watch the
tension. You cannot practice
when the mind is tense.

How to Become More and More Relaxed (3 of 7) When you are continuously
aware of your state of relaxation,
you become even more relaxed.

Don’t Be Too Anxious About Your Practice (4 of 7) Don't be too anxious about
your practice. The mind needs
to be able to adjust accordingly,
walking the middle road between
too much and too little effort.
The wise mind makes adjust-
ments as needed.

Find a Balance Between Relaxation and Interest (5 of 7) People usually try to balance re-
laxation and effort, by using more or
ess effort. But if the mind is interested
in learning something, effort is already
present. So the proper balance to find
is between relaxation and interest.

A Wonderful Thing Happens When You Are Relaxed (6 of 7) A wonderful thing happens
when you are relaxed—really re-
laxed—and aware. You not only notice
whatever it is you're observing; you also
notice that you are observing. You no-
tice that awareness itself is work-
ing to help you be aware.

Practice In a Relaxed Way, But Don’t Stop Practicing (7 of 7) Practice in a relaxed way, but
don't stop practicing.

How to Deal With Pain in the Body or the Mind (1 of 7) The moment we have wrong view,
we have wrong thought. Once we think
in that way, the calm and stable mind is
destabilized. Right view is that pain
is just nature, a natural process.

Do We Label Pain as “Good” or “Not Good”? (2 of 7) How do we view pain? Do we
mentally label pain as "good or not
good"? Generally, we think pain is a
negative experience in life. The word
"pain" itself feeds that image into our
mind, and so when we have pain, the
mind's automatic reaction, whether
we are conscious of it or not, is
actually to not like it.

How Does the Mind React to Discomfort? (3 of 7) When we come across
discomfort in the body or the
mind, we need to check to see
this negative reaction the mind
has toward this experience.
Then we need to adjust it.

Seen As a Natural Process, Pain is Neither “Good” nor “Bad” (4 of 7) We need to remind ourselves:
pain is not just a negative exper-
ience, pain is nature. Pain comes
from a set of conditions. It's an ef-
fect of some causes coming togeth-
er. If we see this as a process, we
see pain as just what it is. It's
neither good nor bad.

Allowing Opens to Observing and Learning (5 of 7) Only when we can accept
that pain is nature, can we allow
it and learn from it. Otherwise, we
are so busy resisting pain that we
can't understand anything about
its nature or its process.

The Only Difference Between Meditators—And Not (6 of 7) Whatever we are observing,
whether it's in the body or the
mind, remember we are holding
the view that this is just nature,
this is just a process. This is the
only difference between someone
who is trying to meditate, and
someone who is not trying to
meditate, who is not a yogi.

The Relaxed Mind Interprets “Pain” Differently (7 of 7) When the mind is clear
and cool, with the right atti-
tude present, you can observe
anything you want. The relaxed
mind, when looking at what was
considered "pain" before, will
no longer consider it "painful."

Sharing Tomato Seedlings Say your neighbor and you
decide to share a container of to-
mato seedlings. He grows a bumper
crop, and you grow a good crop, but
not as good as his. It all depended on the
conditions—sunlight, water, soil, shade,
compost and so forth. And of course, the
seeds grew at their own pace. This is
the same with the meditating mind.
After all, it too is nature.

The Buddha Gave Us Wonderful Guidlines The Buddha in his wisdom gave
us wonderful guidelines to purify
the mind. But that is all they are—
guidelines. The experiences you
have within those guidelines will
be unique to you and the way
in which you practice.

The Meditating Mind is Beyond Reason We can read a thousand words
and try to reason our way toward
balancing the mind and revealing un-
derstanding. But ultimately we must
do the work and create the conditions
for this to happen. The meditating
mind is beyond words, beyond
reason, beyond self.

When There Is Nowhere to Turn But Within When I was going through the
worst stages of depression, I had no-
where else to turn but to face my own
suffering. Only then did the mind begin
to take an interest, and begin to find the
cause of why this suffering was happen-
ing. Sometimes this is what takes to
free the mind from craving and
the bonds of attachment.

Only Try to Know What’s Happening You are not trying to make
things turn out the way you
want. You are trying to know
what is happening, as it is.

Death, No Problem! Right now, in this moment, any-
thing may come and anything may
go, even death. No problem!

A Rich Source of Inspiration for Practice If you take the time to ob-
serve closely, the natural and
animal world is a rich source
of inspiration and insight
for our practice.

Reside in Awareness and See What Comes Along Reside in awareness and
see what comes along. Be with
your experience, as it is. Allow
things things to happen, with-
out trying to control.

In Meditation, Quiet and Unquiet Minds Are Equal A quiet mind is something
we can be aware of. Thus, it
is an object. An unquiet mind
is also an object. So from the
meditation point of view, as
objects they are equal.

A Calm and Still Mind Simply Waits to Be Revealed. The samadhi I would like you to
understand and experience is a mind
that is calm, still, and stable. This mind
is already present, already there. It is
simply revealed once awareness be-
comes more open, with right view.*

* Understanding that the mind is
nature, not an "I" or "me."

When the Mind is Unsettled, Practice as Usual If we think that it's better
to practice when the mind is
quiet, we will always find prac-
tice difficult when the mind is
not quiet. And, we will be at
a disadvantage because
of this attachment.

Emotions Subside as “You” Exit the Story If emotions are overwhelming,
turn your attention to a neutral or
pleasant object such as the breath, a
efreshing breeze, or a tree. Doing this
distracts the mind and can stop or re-
duce thinking. "You" will no longer
be involved in the "story," and
emotions therefore subside.

No Need to Focus, No Need to Try Hard If you're aware, that's
enough. There's no need to
focus, no need to try hard.

If We Can’t Accept, We Can’t Learn If we can't accept, we can't learn.

Wanting to Understand is Wisdom; Wanting a Result is Greed Wanting to understand is wisdom;
wanting a result is greed.

Thoughts Arise and There’s Only One Problem We say the mind "wan-
ders," but it doesn't really go
anywhere. Thoughts arise, that's
all. The only problem is we
think they shouldn't.

Think of Everything as Nature When we think of things as be-
ing natural—as being what they are
supposed to be—we don't react with
aversion or attraction. This right view
is very, very important when we
are practicing Dhamma.

The Mind Can Know Its Limits If you are aware of what-
ever you are doing, the mind
will know its own limits.

The Snoring Yogi’s Story YOGI:
In the Dhamma Hall I heard
this loud noise of groaning and
snoring. I waited for quite some
time thinking, "Why is this person
not waking up?" And then sud- denly I realized it was me!

Skillful Doubt Makes the Mind Curious YOGI:
How can we differentiate
between doubt as a hindrance,
and skillful doubt, which
helps us to clarify things?
SAYADAW:
If the doubt is unskillful, it
causes more confusion and agita-
tion. It makes you feel less and less
comfortable. Skillful doubt makes
the mind curious; it puts the mind
into an investigative mood.

Right Effort = Patience + Perseverance Right effort does not
mean exerting great energy.
It means practicing with pa-
tience and perseverance.

Faith Keeps Us On The Path (1 of 2) When we practice meditation,
faith should increase. Only if we
have trust and confidence in some-
thing, can we actually apply ourselves
to it. We must recognize the faith we
have—however little or much. It's
what keeps us on the path.

Find a Balance of Faith and Wisdom (2 of 2) Very few people know about,
or do any balancing, of faith and
wisdom. Those who are very intel-
lectual, and think too much, have very
little faith. They do too much question-
ing. But if someone has a lot of faith
and does not do any questioning,
wisdom becomes weak.

Why Some Yogis Say Meditation is Hard Many yogis tell me that med- itation is difficult. What they are
actually saying is that they cannot
get what they want. Craving
(lobha) is the problem.

Don’t Buy Into “Why Is This Happening to Me?” Right view is the idea that men-
tal and bodily processes are nature. They have their own nature, and they
are showing that nature to us. If we can
tap into this truth, we won't struggle so
much. We won't be buying into the sto-
ry, "Why is this happening to me?"

The First Instruction to New Yogis: “Relax and Be Aware” The first instruction I give
to a yogi who is new to this prac-
tice is to relax and be aware; to not
have any expectations or to control
the experience; and not to focus,
concentrate or penetrate. Instead, I
encourage him or her to observe,
watch, and be aware.

Do Not Practice Too Seriously Do not practice too seriously, but
peacefully and respectfully.

Observe, Examine, and Ask Yourself Questions Whenever you experience doubt,
uneasiness, dissatisfaction, tension,
frustration or elation, look at them.
Examine them. Ask yourself questions
such as: “What kinds of thoughts are in
my mind?” “What is my attitude?” This
will help you to understand how greed,
hatred and delusion affect you. You
need patience, interest, and a sense
of curiosity to do this.

Be yourself. Don't pretend! Be yourself. Don’t pretend!

To Dance With Awareness is to Dance With Nature To dance with awareness is
to dance with nature, and to
allow awareness to grow.

Know the Natural Flow of Awareness (1 of 3) If we can get in touch with
the natural flow of awareness,
working with the awareness that
is, we can be mindful in an easy
and natural way. We need to know
this natural awareness, and to
avoid very purposeful, very intense awareness.

Awareness is Constantly Taking In and Letting Go (2 of 3) Natural awareness is constantly
shifting, constantly sweeping around.
It's letting go of some objects and tak-
ing in other objects. It's shifting from
one set of objects to another.

A Sense of Freedom You Have Never Experienced Before (3 of 3) Once your practice has momen-
tum, you will remain aware natu-
rally. This natural awareness has an
almost tangible feel to it, and gives
you a sense of freedom you have
never experienced before.

“When the Mind Lacks Interest, What Should I Do?” YOGI:
You encourage us to ask ques-
tions to enliven our practice. But
my mind just does not seem in-
terested. What should I do?
SUT:
Ask the mind why it
is not interested!

Whenever You Are Upset, Look Within Whenever you are upset,
look within. There is nothing
and nobody out there you can
blame for your state of mind.

Try This and See How You Feel in the Morning YOGI:
I find it very difficult to
control the mind when I am
in bed, ready to sleep.
SUT:
Your mind is wandering because
it doesn't have an objective. You're
not giving the mind a task at that time.
You need to aim at remaining aware un-
til you fall asleep. Try it and see how
it makes you feel in the morning.

Don’t Try to Create Your Experience, Just Learn From It Practice with the idea of
not trying to create an exper-
ience. Instead, just take your
experience as it is and try to
learn something from it.

Whatever Is Happening, Just Know That The whole objective of medi-
tation is not to quiet the mind.
The objective of meditation is to
know whatever is happening, just
as it is. If the mind is quiet, then
it's quiet. If it's not quiet, it's
not quiet. Just know that.

With Joy and Interest You Are Doing Fine As long as you find joy
and interest in the practice,
you are doing fine.

The Dhamma Takes You By the Hand We can take heart in that
after all the effort we put in,
at some point it becomes easier.
The Dhamma sort of comes in,
takes you by the hand and
shows you the way.

Whatever It Is, Don’t Make It Personal Learn to watch greed, anger
and delusion as greed, anger and
delusion, and not as "I am greedy,"
"I am angry," "I am deluded.”

Meditation is Watching and Waiting Patiently with Understanding Meditation is not trying to
experience something you have
read or heard about. It is watch-
ing and waiting patiently with
awareness and understanding.

When the Mind is in a Positive State, Take Note When you are in a
positive frame of mind,
it is important to recog-
nize it. Recognition tends
to strengthen wholesome
states of mind.

How to De-Energize Greed and Hatred When you put energy
into awareness, you take
energy out of greed, ha-
tred and delusion.

Don’t Worry About Observing Every Detail When you are eating, experi-
ence the sensations, smells, and
tastes; the mental states; what you
like and dislike; and bodily move-
ments. Don't worry about observ-
ing every detail. Just remain
aware of your experience.