Question: Dear Sayadaw, I am a beginner meditator coming to the meditation course for the first time, so I don’t know how to sitting meditate properly, and observing mindfulness and detachment is still weak. Please teach me how to practice meditation correctly and more continuous every day! And what is it like to especially let go of falling asleep while meditating? For a couple of days, I felt irresistibly sleepy when I comes to Dhamma teaching section so I couldn’t hear anything?

When we practice meditation or mindfulness and detachment, we should combine with doing all kinds of good deeds. The more we are able to do good deeds, the more we will be skillful in practicing meditation or mindfulness and detachment. On the other hand, the more we are able to practice mindfulness and detachment, the more we can do more and more good deeds.

When we are doing good deeds or practicing mindfulness and detachment, we should use right understanding, that is no beginning, no ending, no I, no you, no senior, no junior. Doing good deeds with mindfulness and detachment with this right understanding is really important. Most of the senior meditators are able to practice meditation or mindfulness and detachment. But they don’t emphasize on right understanding, which is no I, no you, not mine, not yours, no beginning, no ending, just the cycle of cause and effect of evernew impermanent nature.

Practicing mindfulness and detachment and doing all kinds of good deeds should be done with the right understanding of non self, no self, just cause and effect cycle of ever new impermanent. Now there is attachment in your practice. Attachment on the life of the beginner in practicing meditation, on someone or I. We should not accept beginning or ending in the mind, I or you in the mind. We can say or use the word I or you, mine or yours, beginning or ending, with mindfulness and detachment. That is really important in practicing meditation. This will be the key in practicing meditation.