28 February 2014

The Joy Of Giving by Brother Swas Tan of BHS


The Joy Of Giving
Written by Brother Swas Tan
of Bodhi Heart Sanctuary
Penang, Malaysia





Interview with Danish Yogi in Hpa An, 16th April 2013 (Last Part)



Interview with Danish Yogi
in Hpa An
16th April 2013

(Last Part)

Q : About the Chinese treatment Sayadaw is having at the moment … some people say disease is because of defilements, is it so?
Sayadaw  :  From my side, I see the desire (intention) of the physician.  She has strong desire to help people with her medicine. I can feel her mind, and this is why I accept the treatment. For me, compared to the body, I understand that the mind is more important.  If your mind is in good condition, it is useful.  If your mind is not in good condition, it is not useful.

This is why I accept her treatment, because of her goodwill.

Q: But the question is if the diseases are caused by kilesa?
Sayadaw  :  For me, I can detach from all the suffering of my body so no problem for whatever happens to my body. But because I have connection with the physician, in this way she also has the chance to change to my side (follow my teachings, the Middle Way). Now she is not on my side.  If we have no connection she will follow her way and I will go on my way. Because of connection together it is possible for her to follow the Middle Way.

For me, I accept her treatment because…they have power, created power, intending for long life.  They have strong attachment for that situation of having long life and being healthy. For me a lot of people have desire that they get a long life and stay healthy.  Although they have desire, it is not sure they will get a long life and be healthy.

As a physician though she has strong attachment for long life and health, she also does a lot of good deeds. This is why I accept her treatment because for my created life it is also useful to use her created power. It means not for me, for other people, for everyone. This is also one of the reasons why I accept her treatment. For my own desire (sake), no need treatment for me. I can go on my way.

Being healthy or not cannot be the same or constant.  So if I am healthy it is better. If I am unhealthy I will feel more tired.  If I am healthy I will feel less tired.  The situation is different.  This is one of the reasons why I accept her treatment.


Q : So if you never take care of yourself how can you be healthy?
Sayadaw  :  My actions, my doing good deeds is causing my long life, save life of other people and my life too. I am not a doctor, so I cannot cure by myself but I use the power of detachment to help other people. Doing like this is also necessary for me.

Q : What is the cause of the disease?
Sayadaw  :  For me, the food, the habit and the lifestyle.  What I am eating and my lifestyle is causing my disease.

Q : For everybody?
Sayadaw  :  Yes for everybody but not only food, what they are doing is also the cause.

For concentration you can pay attention to the in and out breathing (inhaling and exhaling) and also to the abdomen. But when you practice concentration, you should try not to forget the truth, not to forget the right understanding … ‘to do-only, to use-only, to be mindful-only, not to be attached as reality and to be detached’.

Do not grasp or not pay emphasised attention to the thought. If there is pain, do not pay emphasised attention to the pain too. Just pay emphasised attention to the right understanding…‘to experience-only, to be mindful-only, not to attach them as reality, and to detach them.’

Automatic emphasising will happen on the pain and on the thought but what you must do intentionally is not to forget the right understanding…to do-only, to experience-only.  To be mindful-only.


 Q : Experience-only means to notice without taking it too seriously?
Sayadaw  :  To experience-only means, you must try not to place central emphasis to yourself and to people outside and your experiences. Because of cause, there will be effect, this is why it happens. Whatever happens is to be experienced-only. Not to be grasped as something real. Not to be experienced with the idea of someone, but to be experiencing-only or mindful only. You must try to understand like this.

You are used to experience with the idea of ‘I’, because of that wrong habit, whatever happens to you, you accept it with the idea of someone or of something. It is necessary to abandon that traditional habit in order to be free from sufferings and attachments.

End of the interview.

(Note  :  Questions are by Danish Yogi and answers are by Thabarwa Sayadaw U Ottamasara in English language.)



The Middle Way : Anatta Dhamma


The Middle Way
Anatta Dhamma Teachings of 
ThaBarWa Sayadaw U Ottamasara





27 February 2014

Interview with Danish Yogi in Hpa An, 16th April 2013 (Part - 3)

Interview with Danish Yogi in Hpa An
16th April 2013
(Part – 3)

Q : I cannot meditate very well yet because I still don’t know what to focus on?
Sayadaw  :  The problem is that there is attachment to something. So you can focus on that right understanding.  You need something because of attachment to something. You need someone, especially you, because of attachment to someone. 
If you can detach yourself, you will not need yourself, not need something. In this way, it is perfection. No need of something or of someone. When you meditate, just focus on the right understanding.  
You are used to place central emphasis on something or someone, this is why there is attachment to something and someone and thus it is necessary for you to have something to focus on. That habit should also be abandoned. 
Just change the traditional habit of your mind. Just think about the right understanding. Just listen to Buddha’s teachings or my teachings with detachment. Don’t forget my teachings and in this way you will be able to detach from something or someone. 
You will not think about yourself too much. It is not only your habit.  This is everyone’s habit.  This is why everyone must abandon this habit.
Q : I think it will take me long time to understand ... is there a shortcut?
Sayadaw  :  My teaching is not only a teaching but it is combined with my actions of detachment. Although I am establishing different center one after another, the base is different from other centers. With the time, the difference between my centre and other traditional centre will be more and more obvious. The weakness of other centers is that there is attachment to something. In order to solve that problem I made my centre like this.  
I have been teaching for over 5 years before making (establishing) my own meditation centre. At that time it was difficult for the yogis to follow my way because they came and listen to my teachings in the dhamma hall but they could not live with me.  So they came to listen to my teachings day after day, and follow me from house to house where I was teaching but as they are staying at other meditation centres their mind was influenced by the tradition.  So I decided to do my own meditation centre.
And later I arranged it (my centre) not to be as the traditional one because I know the weakness of the traditional meditation centers. 
 To Be continued .....

25 February 2014

Interview with Danish Yogi in Hpa An, 16th April 2013 (Part - 2)



Interview with Danish Yogi in Hpa An
16th April 2013
(Part – 2)

Q : I want to learn to meditate but also clear up my mind but also I am reluctant to step in as it is completely opposite from the entire fundamental I have been taught since child.

Sayadaw  :  Because of our traditional habit, we want to grasp something, this is why if you are not relying on your body you will rely on your mind. We are grasping our mind as being our own.

If you can accept that everyone is just created truth it will not affect you. And then, every experience won’t affect you anymore. Whatever happens to you or to other people will not be important.

When the original wisdom appears, it is very powerful. That original wisdom knows about the original truth and the created truth. Now we all are using the created truth but we don’t know about the truth of the created truths because there is no original wisdom.

If there is original wisdom, the original wisdom will know the created truth as being created. Also the original wisdom knows about the real impermanent nature and permanent nature.

Now you have to think about your life.  If there is original wisdom, no need to think about your life as real importance.


Because of using the created wisdom you are thinking about yourself.

Everyone is the same.  Because the power of created wisdom is very limited it thinks about oneself. The power of original truth is very great.  It can think about everyone, it is quite opposite. Now you think about yourself but if there is original wisdom and you will be thinking about everyone, and your understanding will change.

Now you can think only about yourself.  You are ‘only one’. For the created wisdom you are only one. For the original wisdom you become everyone.  You will understand like this. This is why you become very powerful. It is not only you but everyone. You can help everyone.

Now you think about yourself so you can work specially only for yourself. If you think you are everyone, you can work for everyone. And if you can solve that problem, you can also teach to other how to solve that problem, how to understand the original truth.

My work is specialized in teaching how to help others understand like this. Other works are not so important. Although I am doing a lot of good deeds, my special work is to help other people to have right understanding or connect with original truth and original wisdom.



Q : About love, which is attachment but may be it is still important?

Sayadaw  :  If you can detach from that attachment, you can understand about real love, real love means original love. Even the mother love is just created love. If you don’t know the original truth you might think that the created truth is truly good and bad.

If there is comparison between created truth and original truth, you will know the weakness of the created truth. The mother love is also necessary but compared with original wisdom which knows about the original love, it is quite the opposite. That is why detachment is necessary for everything. If you can detach the created truths, that power of detachment can make connection with the original wisdom which is complete and perfect.



Q : So in the original truth, original wisdom there is also love … but not created love?

Sayadaw  :  Yes, not a creation.  All creation can be destroyed.

Original truth cannot be destroyed.


To be continued …..

24 February 2014

Thabarwa Sayadaw U Ottamasara and the Sangha Going for Alms Round in Penang






Interview with Danish Yogi in Hpa An, 16th April 2013 (Part - 1)


Interview with Danish Yogi in Hpa An
16th April 2013
(Part – 1)

Q : What is the true nature?

Sayadaw  :  There are two kind of original truths in nature. One is ever new impermanent nature and the other one is constant permanent nature.

Because of not knowing the original truth there is misunderstanding as my mind, we think of ourselves as reality, we think our wisdom as real, we think what we know (our knowledge) as real. This is because of not knowing the original truth. In order to know the original truth we have to meditate, we have to use our life and use our intelligence not for our sake.  Using our intelligence for our sake is not doing good deeds.

Using our intelligence not only for few people but for all, not for a limited number of people but for all who are doing good deeds. What we should do is to meditate, to take precepts and to work for other people. And beside this, while doing so we should not pay attention to the mind or to the body or taking them as reality.

We should not pay attention to the result, to the time or to the place. Paying attention is because of attachment. In order to be free from any attachment we should try to abandon our habits.

There are a lot of habits in everyone. We are using our habits. We accept ourselves and habits as being reality. This is a wrong idea.



We should do good deeds.  We should try to be able to abandon our habits. In order to do so, we must not think about ourselves. We must just use our life and our intelligence but without paying emphasised attention to our intelligence, without grasping to ourselves and to other people.

It is possible for everyone to pay emphasised attention to the right understanding and focusing on the right understanding. The right understanding is to do-only, neither to be attached nor to reject. It is possible not to forget this right understanding and to do good deeds as much as possible.

If you forget the right understanding, you will do good deeds with wrong understanding and with the idea of ‘I’. The truth is not something, not someone. Just ever new impermanent nature. In order to know the ever new impermanent nature, you must try to abandon paying emphasised attention to living beings and non-living beings.

If you watch your mental actions, you will see that your mind is working with living beings and non-living beings and it is always busy with something or everything, someone or everyone. That is our old habit.

While doing good deeds you must not use your old habit and in this way you are doing good deeds in the right way. Doing good deeds with our habits is not following the middle way. Doing good deeds without placing central emphasis on someone or something is following the middle way.



You must control your mental actions and you must control the action of your mind with right understanding. If you cannot control your mind it will use its old habit which thinks everything as real, individual, emotion, feeling, thinking and knowing as being real. This is not the right understanding.

If you are doing good deeds without the right understanding, there is mistake. My teaching is specialized in doing good deeds without mistake. In order to correct your mistake you must try not to obey your desire. ‘I want to do like this’, or ‘I want to stay here’.  This is our desire.  It means that the mind is grasping to the place and to the method. This habit is wrong. You can stay here, you can do what you want but you must try not to grasp to something or someone.

Created truths seem to be real because of not knowing the constant impermanent nature.  ‘I’, ‘you’, men and women, all are created truths.  They are alive because of not knowing the original truth.  We all are created truth. We are living in a created life.

Created one is not original. It will appear at one time and disappear at one time.

The original truth is always the constant, no beginning and no end. The original truth is always true, never changing.

Because of attachment to the created truth we are unable to understand the original truth. This is why it is necessary to detach created truth from our mind and our life. To detach from the time and place is necessary in order to understand the original truth.  For me also, because of knowing the created truth as being created, no need to worry about myself or about other people. That understanding has power. This is why all my actions are using the right understanding, because of power of detachment.



To be continued…..

A Letter from Anna Fischbacher


23 February 2014

Teaching of Thabarwa Sayadaw U Ottamasara to Myanmars Living in Malaysia


တရားန႔ဲတြဲလုပ္ရင္
ဘာပဲလုပ္လုပ္
အဆင္ေျပမွာပါဟု
ဆရာေတာ္မွ
မေလးရွားေရာက္ျမန္မာ
မ်ားအားၾသဝါဒေပးပါသည္

"Everything (all your tasks and endeavours) will go smoothly if you carry out your tasks and endeavours with dhamma in mind (be mindful of dhamma teachings)".

- Thabarwa Sayadaw U Ottamasara's teaching to Myanmar citizens in Malaysia -
(23rd February 2014)