Sayadaw U Tejaniya - Relax and Be Aware: Mindfulness Meditations for Clarity, Confidence, and Wisdom

Sayadaw U Tejaniyas truly defining quality as a meditation teacher is that he teaches by direct transmission. If you strike a tuning fork near a piano, strings in the piano will sound that same tone. If you listen to Sayadawhow he talks, how he instructsyour mind starts to resonate with his. You feel an inner alignment with the understanding that he models, getting deeply interested in your life right down to the subtlest details. You notice more and more about the minds root levels where stress starts, and where it can end. You begin to receive his transmission of the transformative art of meditation.

Some years before I met Sayadaw Id had the privilege of meeting his own teacher, the renowned Burmese monk and meditation teacher Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw. I had just finished five years of living as an ordained monk in Burma, and I went to visit Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw at his monastery. I was deeply impressed by the elder monk, who despite his fame insisted on living in utmost simplicity and austerity. His monastery of simple wooden buildings was in a grove of trees that he refused to cut, despite being located in a bustling Rangoon suburb.

He received me quietly, gently, and with total attention. As we spoke, I felt a deep resonance with his words, as if he were perfectly articulating the very path I had chosen and that I aspired to walk in this life.

Some years later, after Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw had passed, I learned that a younger monk, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, was his successor, and I was eager to meet him.

I reached out, and Sayadaw agreed to see me privately, with his translator, Ma Thet. He also invited me to see him in daily, one-on-one interviews during a six-week retreat at his Rangoon meditation center. He usually sees students in groups, so I was very fortunate. He offered me a little introduction to the practice and a trifold brochure, and I started practicing.

At first I didnt get the gist of his approach. I had been practicing for thirty years, including, most recently, five years in another meditation tradition in Burma. In that tradition, the emphasis was on noticing details of every experience and reporting those observations to your teacher during check-ins. I knew that I was hearing something different from Sayadaw, but I couldnt understand how to do the practice as he instructed it. Instead, I would tell him in our daily meetings what I was noticing.

After two or three days, while I was doing my walking practice outside, Sayadaw sent Ma Thet to speak with me.

Sayadaw wants to know, she asked, why you are telling him about your experiences during the check-ins? I responded, Thats how I understand practice. And she said, Sayadaw doesnt really need to know what your experience is. He wants to know how you are practicing. He wants to know how are you being aware, not what you are you aware of.

This was really different for me. I realized right then that I didnt know how to speak about awareness without itemizing the experiences I was havingobjects of awareness such as thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions.

I really wanted to learn Sayadaws approach, so I resolved that I would put aside everything Id known before, including every technique Id ever learned or used. From then on, every time I saw my mind going toward a well-worn, tried-and-true technique, I just dropped the technique and instead asked, What is awareness doing right now? After about two weeks, I felt like Id gotten the hang of it; I was gaining momentum and could move on.

Then came a big revelation. Whenever my mind was going toward the technique, and I said No, I noticed that a new space would open in my minda space I had been missing. I realized that whenever something like a distraction or a disturbance arose in the mind, and I went to a technique to deal with it, my mind was then with the technique rather than with the underlying mental state. This insight was a breakthrough for me.

Looking at experience in this way keeps us continually aware not of objects of perception but rather the state of the observing mind, where we are either creating stress or not. If we are, this mode of seeing offers a way to proceed wisely, because continuous awareness brings in the wisdom quality of mind.

This is one instance of Sayadaws intensely practical approach to meditation, and Ill mention two others: awareness while walking and while talking.

With walking meditation, Sayadaw gives the instruction to maintain a normal pace, not focusing attention on any special sensations but rather staying continuously aware of the state of the observing mind. How is awareness receiving and processing what is known? Is the mind seeing experience clearly, or is craving, aversion, or delusion present? If you can be aware like this while walking, youll be aware more often during the day, always learning about your mind.