พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าธรรมชาติ 3 ฝ่ายชิงช่วงเป็นเจ้าเรือนแม้ในยามหลับฝัน จึงทำให้ฝันถึงเรื่องเก่า และอธิบายกระบวนการของสมาธิตั้งแต่สัมมาสติจนถึงฌานระดับต่าง ๆThe teacher explains that the three natural forces compete to become master of the heart even while we sleep and dream, and describes the process of meditation from right mindfulness through the stages of jhana.
A lay follower asked: why, during sleep, do we often dream about old memories from the past, even without having thought of them beforehand — or is it because the mind clings to old matters before falling asleep?
The Three Natural Forces Compete Even in Sleep
The teacher explained that our life is bound up with the three natural forces at all times. When we fall asleep, the senon of the coarse human body fades, and we pass into an inner body — . Every body, whether the coarse or refined human body, the divine body, the Brahma body, the formless-Brahma body, or , has these three natural forces competing to become master of it at all times, without pause, for as long as one has not yet attained arahantship and gone beyond them. During dreams, some things we forget; others are impurities lodged in the heart, causing us sometimes to wake with a start, sometimes to feel uneasy, and sometimes to feel nothing much at all — depending on which force manages to seize control at that moment, and on how much im we carry.
Why the Mind of Someone Who Doesn't Meditate Grows Restless and Weak
A follow-up question was asked: a revered teacher once said that someone who doesn't meditate develops a restless mind, weakened in strength, leaving an opening for sadness, boredom, and worry to easily take hold. Could this be explained further?
The teacher explained that meditation begins with — establishing steady awareness by staying present with the body or a meditation object, so the sphere of arises within, bringing mind and body together as one, allowing energy to be drawn in. We exist as two parts, mind and body, and the three natural forces compete over both. The mind gets "programmed" and controlled directly; the body gets programmed at the nerve centers — bases two through seven — through the six sense doors: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, since consciousness carries out completed programs through these very doors. Whoever controls this can alter and adjust things.
When a wholesome mind unites with the body, pure energy is drawn in through the brightness of sphere, purifying impurity in both body and mind. Holding awareness at each of the seven bases purifies the impurity at each one in turn — wherever awareness is held, energy is drawn in there. Mindfulness sustained through each present syllable of recitation lets the stream of merit flow in and settle. Concentration is precisely this focus and settling; once settled, one can drill down into the inner dimension, much like a drill bit that must be held steady at one spot before it can bore through wood.
Once settled, arises — mindfulness transforms into clear comprehension, perceiving the details of that refined state, drawing in energy that purifies the middling impurity until it clears. Once the subtle impurity clears, the mind becomes utterly clean, and a mass of purity continues building. Someone who doesn't meditate has a restless, weakened mind precisely because impurity remains; none of this process ever occurs for them. Coarse impurity that remains only thickens further, growing more powerful at generating problems and obstacles. The mind grows weaker and weaker. Sadness, boredom, and worry are all tools system overlays onto the heart, then compels us to feel accordingly, drawing in unwholesome s to pull in the energy of demerit that produces suffering. As the stream of demerit flows in continuously, the heart darkens more and more — sadness deepens, boredom deepens, worry deepens.
What Is Jhana, and What Are Its Stages?
Another question followed: what state of mind is called jhana, and how do the first, second, third, and fourth jhanas differ, and how does mundane jhana differ from supramundane jhana?
The teacher explained that jhana is a state holding a single object of attention, in which restlessness and other hindrances cannot arise. It begins with initial application (vitakka) — raising up a particular state of and fixing attention on it, since the mind can only register one thing at a time. With continued, undiscouraged practice, progress steadily improves, because we cooperate with the wholesome to sustain that state together. Next comes sustained application (vicara) — continuously reflecting on and examining that object. As initial and sustained application continue, pure energy is drawn in, clearing away coarse and middling impurity until the mind is clean; () then arises as a natural result of that purity. As purity deepens, the mass of purity thickens, and () arises. Once subtle impurity is fully cleared, unity between oneself and that purity appears as one-pointedness (ekaggata). This entire sequence — from initial and sustained application, through rapture and happiness, to one-pointedness — constitutes the first jhana.
Through sustained effort, day after day, the impurity at the starting point steadily thins, making entry into jhana progressively easier — what once took fifteen minutes to produce rapture might shrink to ten, then five minutes, until simply holding the intention brings one directly into that state. The second jhana no longer needs to start from initial and sustained application; the third jhana can begin directly at happiness rather than rapture, because the remaining impurity has grown minimal and the strength of jhana has grown greater. As our cooperation with the wholesome system strengthens its purifying power further, we progress to the fourth jhana, where the wholesome system can set the process so we move directly into one-pointedness without passing through the earlier stages at all — all of this depends on how much we cooperate with, and strengthen, the wholesome system.
As for mundane versus supramundane jhana: mundane jhana still abides in a body within the body that is a form-Brahma or formless-Brahma body, which does not yet possess supramundane , so it cannot be called supramundane. Supramundane jhana requires the inner body to be the Dhamma body at the threshold of attainment, or the Dhamma body of stream-entry, once-returning, non-returning, or arahantship — bodies that possess supramundane knowledge — only then can it be called supramundane jhana.