พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์แยกให้เห็นชัดระหว่างฉันทะ ความรักในการประกอบเหตุ กับตัณหา ความอยากได้แต่ผล พร้อมเตือนไม่ให้ใช้ยาหรือพึ่งสื่อทรงจิตเพื่อเร่งประสบการณ์ทางสมาธิ เปรียบการตั้งมั่นในกรรมฐานเหมือนการตั้งสว่านให้สมดุลก่อนเจาะไม้เจาะเหล็ก ปิดท้ายด้วยการแผ่เมตตาและอธิษฐานจิตPhra Ajarn Suraphong draws a sharp line between chanda — the wholesome love of doing the work itself — and taṇhā, craving only the result, warning explicitly against using drugs or spirit-mediums to force a meditative experience. He compares settling into a meditation object to steadying a drill bit before it can bore into wood or metal, closing with mettā radiation and merit dedication.
Training Right Mindfulness Before Right Concentration
In meditation practice, we must first train sammā-, . Once that is understood, sammā- is the process of entering progressively subtler inner dimensions, using a meditation object as the tool. We need to fix on one object, know it clearly until we're firmly established in it, and it will then expand, carrying us into inner dimensions of great subtlety — each one yielding subtler energy and treasure.
Three Feelings with Eyes Closed, and Whichever Nature Is in Charge
The instant the eyelids close, we notice we've entered an inner world. The Buddha taught that the first thing we encounter is feeling — pleasant, painful, or neither, one of the three. This is because, at the outermost layer of the heart, two natures — wholesome and unwholesome — compete to govern it. If we enter and feel at ease, side is currently in charge.
When the Wholesome Side Is in Charge, Keep Knowing the Ease
When the wholesome side governs, practice becomes easy and results come quickly. Keep knowing that ease continuously. The wholesome sphere of knowing draws in the pure energy called merit, flowing continuously into the center of our being. As merit enters, it dissolves defilements bit by bit.
When Suffering Is in Charge: It Exists to Be Known, and Endurance Helps
But if, with eyes closed, there is no ease at all — only a state hard to bear — side is currently in charge. The Buddha taught that suffering exists simply to be known, because it carries a strong, continuous signal that makes it easy to fix our attention on. As we know the suffering clearly, endurance comes to our aid, along with an inner resilience that keeps suffering from tipping into torment. Bear with it just a little at first, and it becomes bearable.
The Coffee-Straw Bubble Simile
It's like dipping a coffee straw into water and blowing — bubbles rise continuously. The stream of merit is the same, only far faster than any bubble. Within each sphere of merit is a pure, sacred nature, powerful enough to dissolve karmic consequences and misfortune entirely. Nothing but merit can clear away these defilements.
Reciting Sammā Arahaṃ Word by Word, with Chanda — Not Taṇhā
If there is neither pleasure nor pain, turn to the breath or to the recitation: Sammā Arahaṃ. We must stay latched onto each word, knowing every single repetition. What matters most is unbroken awareness — no gap through which the unwholesome side can slip in as suffering or drowsiness.
To become firmly established, we need to grow familiar with that state; there's no need to rush. What we want is refinement and delicacy in our attention. Here Phra Ajarn draws a critical distinction: chanda is the wholesome love and satisfaction in sustaining the cause continuously, with a focused heart. Chanda cultivates in us a love for doing the work correctly, without fixating on the result.
Taṇhā, by contrast, is craving fixed only on the result, indifferent to the doing. Someone driven by taṇhā sits for barely a minute before demanding calm, demanding a good experience right away. This is the difference between abiding in the system of wholesome states — which uses chanda as its tool, leading us to sustain the right cause — and abiding in the system of unwholesome states, which uses taṇhā as its tool, fixated only on results while ignoring the cause.
The Drill-Bit Simile: Steady First, Then Bore Into the Subtle Dimension
Becoming firmly established is like using a power drill to bore into wood or metal — we must first steady the bit against the surface until it's balanced, and only then bore in; otherwise it slips. Practice works the same way: we must first become firmly established in our meditation object. Once established, we need not force anything further — the state of the object expands on its own and draws us automatically into the inner dimension.
Good Experiences Are a By-Product, Never the Goal — No Drugs, No Mediums
What we actually want is the fruit of experience, which arises from defilements growing lighter and increasing. We sit in meditation to purify the mind, to reduce defilement. Good experiences are a by-product — never the direct target. As defilement decreases, difficulty decreases; as the mass of purity increases, good experiences arise naturally on their own.
But some people misunderstand this. Fixated only on the experience, when it doesn't come fast enough, they turn to other means — using drugs, or relying on mediums — hoping to force a good experience quickly. What they fail to realize is that the true goal of practice is to purify the mind of defilement. As defilement lightens, brightness arises naturally, on its own timeline — it is never something that can be forced through a shortcut.
Form and Name Are Paired: Seeing the Bright Crystal Image
Whenever we utter a name, its form appears. As we recite the name of the Buddha-jewel, Sammā Arahaṃ, his form arises as a crystal-clear Buddha-image with each recitation. Once he appears in the heart, he expands into us, becoming one with our body and mind. Our head becomes clear crystal of the ; the forehead, eyes, chest, abdomen, back, hips, thighs, knees, shins, calves, and soles all become clear, pure, radiant crystal.
Radiating Loving-Kindness to the Universe
We then expand a heart filled with , covering our home, then the whole village, district, province, and country, making the surrounding atmosphere clear and pure, dissolving friction and resentment in the hearts of beings and in the atmosphere itself. Expand further to cover the whole world — may this world be a world of clear crystal — may all beings and all people be free from suffering and find . Expand further still, covering the whole universe, every star, countless and beyond number.
Whatever faith a person holds, or none at all, so long as they abide in goodness within the system of wholesome states, they too shine with the light of Nibbāna's stream.
Dedication of Merit
In this auspicious moment, Phra Ajarn leads the , invoking the blessing of every Buddha, every Pacceka Buddha, every Arahant, together with the blessing of the revered teachers. May all the merit sincerely accumulated gather into sacred, powerful merit, freeing us from misfortune, bad karma, and obstacles, granting the eye of that progressively reaches the Dhammakāya. May we have good health, long life, and unceasing resolve to build merit, heading straight toward Nibbāna. May every good wish come to fruition for us all, from this moment forward.