Tea Side Discourse with Ajahn Yiu

Tea Side Discourse with Ajahn Yiu

Even though I (Ajahn Yiu) have taught a lot, it is still about two main points – “relaxation” and “awareness”. 

“Relaxation” refers to a relaxing and inward type of meditation. It is to calm the mind and release it from the five hindrances. The key point is “to relax”. 

On the other hand, the key in daily life is to “be aware”. 

Calming the mind and releasing it from the five hindrances are all for the sake of “awareness”. 

Why would the mind not be aware? It’s because the five hindrances have always been covering our minds like five dark clouds. 

This makes us unable to see clearly, hear clearly, and think clearly. Therefore, the purpose of meditation is to sweep these dark clouds away temporarily, and let the internal sunlight shine again. This is awareness. 

In daily life, no matter one is doing meditation – sitting meditation, or walking meditation, we need to try to keep the mind awake every single moment, but not to keep the calmness. This is a very important point. If spiritual practice is mistaken as to calm the mind all day and night, you are actually going in a wrong direction. Calmness is to allow the mind to have a rest temporarily, and to be cleaned temporarily by sweeping away the five hindrances. The aim is for awareness. 

When the dark clouds dissipate, then sunlight shines forth. 

When this shining forth of sunlight is mastered, even if the weather is bad, and clouds are dense, the sunlight is still there. 

No matter what the weather is, the sunlight is always there, it is just blocked by the dark clouds temporarily. 

If we do not have wisdom, we are obsessed with the dark clouds in front. However, when there is wisdom, you will know that no matter how dense the dark cloud is in front, behind it is still the sunshine. 

This is wisdom. This is awareness.

24 August 2023