So we're exploring the continuous cultivation of awareness as taught by Sayadaw U Thayjaniya and in our last practice we talked a little bit about the weeds in the mind.
The hindrances are essentially mind weeds and the roots of what hinders our practice.
Those roots are the roots of craving,
Of aversion,
And delusion.
And these roots can go very very deep.
And if we were to stay with the plant analogy,
Weeds suck out all the nutrients in the soil and out of all of the surrounding plants.
That's why the plants die.
And the weeds are craving,
Aversion,
And delusion.
And they're said to be unwholesome because they keep us from health.
They keep us from freedom.
And so because these mind weeds are kind of like a thicket.
They can be very entangled and unruly in our operating behaviors.
U Thayjaniya suggests that we grow the wisdom qualities of the mind.
So what does wisdom mean in this context?
Wisdom is understanding the nature of reality.
So that's big right?
So what what do we know about the nature of reality?
Well we know that everything comes and goes.
That change is a constant.
We know that there is contraction,
Contention,
Dissatisfaction that is part of living a life,
Inherent in life.
And we understand that this is all of us,
All beings.
It's not personal.
It's not a personal attack.
It's every person everywhere.
So they're also,
You know,
These are known as the three characteristics.
The nature of reality,
Impermanence,
Dissatisfaction,
And not self,
Impersonal.
So practicing wisdom is to keep this understanding close.
But it takes a little bit of effort to be aware.
Much less effort than you may think.
Do you need to concentrate or focus to know that you're seeing?
Or when you're smelling toast burning in the toaster?
Or you hear a sound,
A garbage truck?
So long as you are aware of any of your six sense perceptions,
You're aware.
And the six sense perceptions are seeing,
Hearing,
Tasting,
Touching,
Smelling,
And thinking.
So these are the organs of perception.
And they're called the sense doors.
The sense doors.
Each time an object meets with seeing,
Or hearing,
Or smell,
Or a taste,
Or a touch,
Or a thought,
There is a moment of consciousness in which the object of perception is known.
Like this.
It doesn't require much energy to be aware of the sound.
It's just difficult to do it continuously,
Right?
That's why we practice.
So right effort isn't intensely focusing our attention on something.
It's relaxed.
It's interested.
It's curious.
Whenever we're trying to experience something particular,
Or avoid something,
What happens in the body is we get tired.
I asked you on Tuesday to reflect on your attitude when you come to meditation.
That will be our topic of discussion.
If the mind is trying to make something happen,
Or get something out of it,
It's important to notice that.
Like it's trying to create preferred experiences.
And then to notice the effort of trying to create a preferred experience.
It takes effort to bring about some desire.
And it also takes effort to push something away.
So you have something unwanted happening in your practice,
And that pushing away takes some effort.
And here's the interesting part.
It takes very little effort just to notice that the mind is doing all this this work.
Like maybe just relax and drop in,
You know,
What is being known right now?
There's a little bit of interest,
You know,
What is being seen right now?
What is being heard right now?
Automatically,
You know,
Liking and disliking tend to compel most of our actions throughout the day.
It's a habit of the mind.
And there's weeds in there.
When we want experience to be a certain way,
That's craving.
And when we put a lot of energy in getting what we want,
That's craving.
And when we're dissatisfied with something,
That's aversion.
And we put forward effort to make it go away.
Focusing hard to make it go away.
And what that does is it makes us tired.
So we,
As we practice,
The suggestion is to soften our focus and relax.
Instead of using energy to focus,
We can actually use curiosity,
Interest.
We're learning to wait and to watch.
Interested to see what is arising in awareness now.
And noticing how the mind is doing its own work of recognizing,
Knowing thinking,
Knowing seeing,
Knowing hearing,
Acknowledging that the mind is already doing its work.
And just being aware.
Let's try a little experiment.
So most of you right now are sitting.
Are you aware that you're sitting?
It's likely that you're seeing.
Are you aware that you're seeing?
Are you aware that you're hearing?
When did you become aware of hearing?
It was just now,
Wasn't it?
Just in the suggestion.
That's the effort I'm talking about.
We usually put a lot of effort into or not enough into.
Like we're either over-efforting or under-efforting.
But a light touch.
Be aware of.
That's it.
It just takes a tiny bit of energy to know that you're aware.
And I'm suggesting that we keep it going,
You know,
Moment by moment.
It takes a little bit of time,
Patience.
But the more we practice this moment-to-moment awareness,
The more confidence we have in it.
The more energy we have to be in our life,
The more attention and stability in the mind,
And the more wisdom grows.
So thank you for your attention.
