awareness alone is not enough PDF
Preview awareness alone is not enough
AWARENESS ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH Questions & Answers with Ashin Tejaniya NAMO TASSA BHAGAVATO ARAHATO SAMMA SAMBUDDHASSA Homage to Him, the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Self-Enlightened One ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My special gratitude goes to my teacher, the late Venerable - Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw Bhaddanta Kosalla Maha Thera, who taught me Dhamma and the right attitude for my spiritual development and meditation practice. I want to express my appreciation to all yogis. Their questions and difficulties have once again inspired many of the explanations and answers given in this book. I really hope that this second book too will help yogis to better understand mindfulness meditation and to deepen their practice. Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the completion of this book. Ashin Tejaniya 4 WE PRACTISE BECAUSE WE WANT TO UNDERSTAND Most people don’t seem to really appreciate the value of the work of awareness. They tend to think that the importance of meditation is in the things that they observe. But the objects do not really matter. People also spend a lot of time thinking about the results. They want to experience peaceful states; they want to ‘bliss out’. Then they get attached to these states and to the objects they focus on. The real value of meditation is not in getting such results, however enjoyable they may be. The real value of meditation is the actual process of being aware and understanding what is happening. The process is important, not the result! Instead of complaining about what is or is not happening, you should appreciate that you are aware – regardless of what you are aware of – and learn from it. Awareness alone is not enough! Having a desire to really understand what is going on is much more important than just trying to be aware. We practise mindfulness meditation because we want to understand. 5 CONTENTS Acknowledgements 4 We Practise Because We Want to Understand 5 Dear Reader 8 Questions about Practice 15 (topics listed on page 11) Questions on Terminology 165 (topics listed on page 13) Food for Thought 195 - Glossary of Pali Terms 206 DEAR READER, This book is a sequel to DON’T LOOK DOWN ON THE DEFILEMENTS, THEY WILL LAUGH AT YOU. Why a sequel? Is there really a need for yet another book on meditation? Ashin Tejaniya’s first book certainly covers the basics of his approach to meditation. We were, however, under some pressure to publish it and this left us with a feeling that we could have done a better and more comprehensive job. Not only were there areas we had not covered, but Ashin Tejaniya also keeps coming up with new ways of explaining and looking at things. It was also pointed out to us by several fellow yogis that while Ashin Tejaniya’s teaching was accurately expressed, the book did not represent his style. So the idea was born to produce a sequel in a question & answer format since this is the way Ashin Tejaniya teaches. We have used material from recorded Dhamma discussions plus from our personal notes and conversations. All material has been edited, some of it extensively, in order to improve comprehension and flow. Ashin Tejaniya read through the final draft and made further adjustments. Again, you will not get a comprehensive and complete explanation of what meditation is all about, but rather a collection of practical hints, ideas, and useful advice. There 8 will also be a number of repetitions since the same theme comes up in different contexts and is looked at from different - angles. If you are not familiar with a Pali term used in the discussions, please look it up in the glossary at the very end of the book. Just like the first book, this too has been produced for yogis practising at Shwe Oo Min Meditation Centre. It is meant as a source of information and inspiration but it most certainly cannot replace the personal guidance of the teacher. We would therefore like to add a word of warning to all yogis: A lot of the advice you find in this book is perhaps not at all useful to you. Please only apply what immediately speaks to you and what you can easily put into practice. We have tried to translate and express the teachings of Ashin Tejaniya as accurately as possible. If we made any mistakes, please point them out to us. Moushumi Ghosh (MaThet) Interpreter Walter Köchli Compiler and Editor 9 TOPICS IN ‘QUESTIONS ABOUT PRACTICE’ DEVELOPING AN INTEREST IN DHAMMA 15 INFORMATION — INTELLIGENCE — WISDOM 17 ONLY WISDOM UNDERSTANDS 23 DIRECTING THE MIND 26 CONSISTENT PRACTICE DEEPENS UNDERSTANDING 26 JOY IN THE PRACTICE 30 NO INTEREST IN THE PRACTICE 31 CULTIVATING RIGHT EFFORT 34 PRACTISING LIKE A SICK PERSON 36 MAKING A DECISION 36 SITTING 37 WALKING 37 LYING DOWN 38 NOTHING TO DO 39 TENSE OR RELAXED 40 FEELING RESTLESS 41 FEELING STUCK 41 NOT ENOUGH ENERGY — FEELING SLEEPY OR TIRED 46 DEPRESSION 52 SLEEP 54 DREAMS 56 AWARE OF AWARENESS 58 EFFORTLESS AWARENESS 74 DHAMMA AT WORK 77 11
Description:The list of books you might like
