พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์อธิบายปัญญาสามระดับที่พระสัมมาสัมพุทธเจ้าตรัสสอน คือ สุตมยปัญญา จินตมัยปัญญา และภาวนามยปัญญา พร้อมชี้ให้เห็นว่าการกำหนดรู้อยู่เสมอไม่เผลอคือรากฐานที่เชื่อมเราเข้ากับผู้รู้ภายใน ก่อนนำเข้าสู่การนั่งสมาธิเจริญเมตตาและอธิษฐานจิตตามแบบฉบับของท่านPhra Ajarn Suraphong explains the three levels of wisdom taught by the Buddha — wisdom from learning, wisdom from reflection, and wisdom from meditative cultivation — showing how sustained, unwavering awareness is the foundation that connects us to the inner knower, before leading into sitting meditation, loving-kindness, and dedication of merit.
Before Closing the Eyes: Establishing Right Mindfulness
Phra Ajarn Suraphong begins by reminding listeners not to close their eyes too quickly. Start with (sammā-) before . Relax, sit at ease, and listen to the heartbeat — thump, thump — and watch the breath moving in and out, which is already happening naturally. He points out that these ordinary bodily signals can all be used skillfully in meditation. Only when the mind returns to reside with the body can we truly know anything, because wherever the mind is sent, that is what it knows. If the mind stays outside the body, we cannot know anything at all.
Why We Must Know the Body Before Anything Else
Awareness, he explains, depends on body and mind working together. When the mind touches some part of the body — the seat touching the chair, for instance — we know whether it is hard or soft, because the nerve cells are doing their work. If the mind is not with the body, we cannot perceive anything, whether about other people or the outside world. Other natures may press, intimidate, or steer us however they wish, because outside the body and mind we cannot truly know anything. But once we abide with both body and mind, we become aware of pleasure, pain, neutral feeling, and every thought and feeling that arises — because all mental phenomena arise only at the mind, nowhere else.
Mindfulness: The Tool of Recollection
Mindfulness (sati) has two functions, he explains: first, recollecting — coming back to awareness of the body — and second, recalling whichever we intend to bring to mind. Mindfulness can reach into memories of the past or plans for the future; both still operate in the present moment, drawing on data bound up in memory. If unwholesome or neutral () forces possess the mind during this process, they too can operate through it — starting with familiarity, then advancing step by step until they have imprisoned us within their dimension.
Abiding with the Present Dhamma: Drawing in Pure Energy
The very sound you are hearing right now, he notes, arises fresh in each present moment; following it attentively is itself a form of abiding with present-moment Dhamma that nourishes deeper understanding. Pure energy is drawn in through system layering itself upon us as we listen to the teaching, gradually cleansing defilements. Simply staying with the present Dhamma without wandering to other thoughts brings a clarity that, once gained, serves for a lifetime — the faculty of wisdom is upgraded permanently.
Why Connecting with the Inner Knower Is Difficult
Most of us cannot connect with the inner knower, he explains, because we spend our time connected instead to the neutral, undetermined nature (abyākata) — a force that is neither good nor bad but simply occupies most of the day. He stresses that reaching the inner Buddha image first is not a prerequisite for this connection; it is enough that the mind is not devoid of, or is focused on, the wholesome nature, and the wholesome knower will transmit understanding. All that's needed is a clear channel. He notes that even in ancient times before the Buddha's era, or long after his passing, monks of other traditions still learned to connect with the knower within.
The Three Levels of Wisdom: The Heart of Learning and Meditation
This is the centerpiece of the talk. Phra Ajarn Suraphong explains that the Buddha taught wisdom in three stages.
**Suyapaññā** — wisdom born of memorization — is wisdom gained from remembering what is worth remembering: necessary for elevating one's life toward what is correct and good. The method for memorizing, he says, is simply to keep noting the same topic or story repeatedly. As we repeatedly know that content, the knowing mind draws in pure energy called merit, which cleanses the defilements in what we see, remember, think, and know, making them clean. Once the seat of memory is clean, retention happens naturally, with no defilement left to erase it.
**Cintāmayapaññā** — wisdom born of reflection — comes after memorization. We take up the topic we have memorized and turn it over again and again, contemplating it deeply. As we reflect, pure energy called merit is drawn in to cleanse the obscuring our understanding, growing lighter and lighter. We consider point by point, issue by issue. Once purified to a certain degree, clear knowledge (vijjā) arises on its own — like darkness gradually dispelled as light takes its place.
**Bhāvanāmayapaññā** — wisdom born of meditative cultivation — means holding that topic in mind continuously, reflecting on it whether using the restroom, bathing, walking to buy something, or working — staying focused on that Dhamma at all times. When the knowing mind is established and anchored to that Dhamma, it draws in pure energy continuously, dissolving the defilement standing between us and the knower, until the knower can transmit subtle understanding directly into our mind, bringing full clarity.
Once we learn to connect with the knower this way, he says, we begin to find joy in it — new knowledge arises that never grows stale, and we can generate understanding on our own, accurately and true to reality, turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. Life changes completely.
Awareness Without Lapse: The Practice That Holds Everything Together
The foundation of all this, the teacher concludes, is simply to keep noting — sustain by simply knowing, staying aware without lapse. The knowing mind draws in pure energy called merit continuously, anchored to whatever meditation object we have chosen — one with a clear, continuous signal for the knowing mind to hold onto.
Radiating Loving-Kindness and Dedicating Merit to Ancestors
As the stream of merit flows continuously, he leads the to ancestors waiting in the other world — recalling parents, siblings, grandparents, teachers of great benefit, guardian deities, caretakers and protectors, and all beings we may have wronged, our karmic counterparts, asking for mutual forgiveness. He then radiates , expanding it to cover the home, the neighborhood, the district, the province, the country, and finally the entire world and universe, wishing that all beings be free from suffering and find .
Setting the Aspiration
The talk closes with the customary aspiration — invoking the blessings and power of every Buddha, every Paccekabuddha, every Arahant, and the teaching lineage of his own masters, asking that this merit combine with all merit accumulated with good intention, purifying and brightening the elements of body and mind for all present, freeing them from misfortune and obstacles, granting into the Dhamma, good health, and unwavering resolve to build perfections all the way to the final goal of the Dhamma.