Knowing the Body Before Closing the Eyes: Like a King Ruling His Realm

Phra Ajarn Suraphong teaches that right mindfulness is something we need to cultivate at every moment, even during ordinary daily activity with the eyes open. Before closing the eyes, bring the mind to rest in the body, then compare the difference between this state and the moment before, when awareness wasn't present. The balance felt during body-awareness is unmistakable — we can rest in our own sovereignty, controlling and perceiving everything clearly, both within and around us.

He compares this to how, in the past, a king ruled his realm; today, most countries have a leader who represents the people and oversees the nation. A ruler must understand every situation arising within his domain. Right now, we are like that king — our body and mind are the realm we must govern, look after, and correct — which we can only do once we perceive every situation that arises. The Buddha taught that two qualities are of the greatest help: mindfulness and clear comprehension. Mindfulness is the capacity to recall — beginning with knowing the body — after which it directs clear comprehension toward whatever object of meditation we have carefully chosen.

Wanting to Rest, or Wanting to Sink Into Darkness: How to Tell Who Is in Control

As we continue this practice, our eyes begin to feel tired and we want to close them and rest — strange, since we never felt eye strain during an entire day with the eyes open, yet the moment we establish mindfulness, the urge to rest the eyes appears. **This is exactly where we need to examine why we want to rest.** There are two possibilities: wanting genuine rest, or wanting to sink into darkness and oblivion.

If we genuinely want to rest, closing the eyes to settle calmly into the inner dimension with mindfulness and clear comprehension — that is one thing. But if the pull is toward sinking into darkness, that is something else entirely. **This distinction reveals what is steering us at this very moment** — whose intention it serves. Does it want us to close our eyes in order to sink into darkness, or to rest calmly into the inner dimension with mindfulness and clear comprehension? Once we can clarify this, we come to recognize the thinking of the overlapping consciousness superimposed on us.

Once we're certain the wish is for genuine calm rest, gently close the eyelids — just enough for the eyelashes to touch and let a little light through — staying aware of the body continuously, without lapsing, knowing what we know, resting on the clear, continuous object of meditation we have chosen.

As We Grow Familiar with the Practice, Happiness Gradually Forms

If we haven't yet chosen an object of meditation, or don't know what to choose, settle into the verbal recitation together with a mental image — though this takes a little effort, since this signal must be deliberately established, unlike the breath, which is already present in every moment. Use the recitation "Samma Arahang, Samma Arahang." Its advantage is that we can set the pace ourselves, fast or slow — but stay anchored to each syllable, repeating until it becomes fluent and familiar.

If it isn't yet familiar, we must repeat it until it becomes so; once familiar, we come to like it, and as liking deepens, happiness gradually arises — a genuine fondness for the practice, because happiness comes from awareness drawing in pure energy that clears defilement until it thins and disappears. A neutral, empty feeling then appears — nothing there — because a subtle layer of defilement still remains, overlapping. As we continue, awareness draws in pure energy to clear that subtle layer too; the mind becomes clean, a mass of purity begins to form, and happiness starts to arise. Our fondness for the practice begins from this very point. Phra Ajarn Suraphong reminds us: to train (ฝึก) is really to push against resistance (ฝืน) — because it isn't yet familiar, we must push through gently, cultivating willingness, again and again, until liking arises naturally, because familiarity has set in.

Form and Mental Quality, and the Virtues of the Buddha Jewel

The word "Samma Arahang" is the verbal representation of the Buddha jewel (พุทธรัตนะ). When we establish the name, its corresponding form naturally appears, because form and mental quality are paired — wherever there is form, there is the quality it carries, just as a body carries a mind, just as a lump of sugar carries sweetness, just as a grain of salt carries saltiness.

Samma Arahang is one far removed from defilement, the overseer of the wholesome system that is our true nature. His virtues are threefold: supreme wisdom, absolute purity, and boundless compassion. He is the all-knowing, all-capable presence who dwells with us, with our mind, at all times, tending to and correcting us every fraction of a second without fail. We, not knowing any better, keep loading him with our defilement — greed, aversion, delusion, craving, wrong view, and clinging. We can help him by merging ourselves with him into a single unity, beginning simply by knowing the body, or by recalling him directly.

Merging Into the Whole-Body Crystal Buddha Image

As we gradually merge the mind with the body in this state of body-awareness, uttering his name — Samma Arahang, Samma Arahang — let awareness settle on each syllable while entering into the center of him. He protects, cares for, and helps us. Having found this all-knowing, all-capable being of supreme wisdom, absolute purity, and boundless compassion, we take refuge within him — a subtle, pure, warm dimension. Simply sense the peace and warmth that fills his center completely, with faith; sense whatever we can, and let that be enough — no forcing.

The corresponding form appears at the center of our mind, complete with his good qualities, and he expands to merge as one with us. Our head becomes a clear crystal of the Dhammakaya, crowned with a lotus-bud finial (เกตุดอกบัวตูม), radiant, refined, soft, and gentle. The forehead, eyes, and face become the crystal face of the Dhammakaya. The neck, shoulders, and arms down to the fingertips become clear, pure crystal. The chest, belly, back, hips, thighs, knees, shins, and feet all become the crystal Buddha image, luminous and pure, from head to toe. We are the Buddha image; the Buddha image is us — reaffirm this every time we recall it.

Receiving the Stream of Merit

As we merge ourselves, this image, and Nibbana into a single unity, we appear luminous at the center of Nibbana, at the center of the Triple Gem, at the center of every Buddha, every Silent Buddha, and every Arahant — the boundless, all-capable presence who refines our elements of seeing, remembering, thinking, and knowing, along with the elements of earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness, purifying them, linking us to streams of merit and blessing. However long we abide with him, that long he refines us. The stream of merit from the deepest, most refined part of Nibbana pours into the most refined center of our own Dhamma body, flowing through every sphere, every body.

Radiating Loving-Kindness and Dedicating Merit

Receiving this flowing stream of merit and blessing with a heart full and joyful, dedicate this merit to our ancestors — parents, siblings, grandparents, teachers who have helped us, guardian spirits, caretakers, and all beings we may have wronged, our karmic counterparties (คู่กรรมคู่เวร) — asking mutual forgiveness so all may share in this merit equally.

Set the wholesome intention that all beings be free from suffering and find happiness; may those with much suffering have less, and those with much happiness have ever more. Extend this heart full of loving-kindness to cover our home. Loving-kindness, born from the heart, shines only as far as the heart extends, and carries the special quality of dissolving resentment and irritation wherever it touches. Extend it to the village, sub-district, district, province, Thailand and its neighbors, until it covers the whole world, turning it into a crystal world, bright and pure. May the devas and all beings in every realm be free from suffering and find happiness.

Dedicating the Heart and Setting the Blueprint for Success

Extend loving-kindness without limit into the vastness of the cosmos as the stream of merit pours through its center. Gather the mind, resting still at the center of the Triple Gem and the boundless Nibbana. Using this auspicious moment, set an intention — a blueprint for success — that we encounter only growth and goodness, filled with knowledge, happiness, and purity; that we be freed from calamity, karmic obstruction, and hardship; that greed, hatred, delusion, craving, wrong view, and clinging be extinguished without remainder; that we gain the eye of Dhamma, reach the Dhammakaya, enjoy good health, and carry unfailing resolve toward the path to Nibbana; and that in whatever life comes next we be born where building perfections continues freely. The session closes with a chant invoking the protection and blessing of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.