พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์เล่าเรื่องภิกษุที่ทูลถามพระสัมมาสัมพุทธเจ้าว่าเหตุใดความคิดและความรู้สึกที่ไม่ตั้งใจจึงยังปรากฏขึ้น ทั้งที่พยายามห้ามแล้ว เพื่อชี้ให้เห็นว่าเวทนา จิต และธรรมที่แทรกซ้อนเข้ามานั้นมีที่มาของมันเอง ไม่ใช่ตัวเราไม่ใช่ของเรา แล้วนำเข้าสู่การเจริญสมาธิภาวนาตามแบบฉบับของท่านPhra Ajarn Suraphong retells the canonical story of monks who asked the Buddha why unintended thoughts and unwanted feelings kept arising despite their efforts to stop them — and the Buddha's answer that these things have their own origin. He uses the story to teach that feeling-within-feeling, mind-within-mind, and phenomena-within-phenomena are not truly "us," before leading a full guided sit.
Meditation practice has two parts. Right (sammā-) is the part we must first establish firmly. Right concentration (sammā-) is about entering subtler and subtler inner dimensions. If we cannot yet stay settled, then perceiving the subtle states needed to enter those inner dimensions is simply not possible.
Phra Ajarn explains that settling the mind is not actually difficult — it's an ordinary, everyday thing. Whatever we pay attention to, we naturally settle into it. But when we sit to meditate, we sometimes try too hard, and that effort turns into a kind of forced heaviness — or our mind stays snagged on some unfinished worry. Both of these, he says, are the deliberate work of and the neutral () forces, turning our unfinished business into a hook for our attention, or making us grip too tightly.
The right way is simply to "know" — to be aware the way we're aware of our own body. Know the breath coming in, going out, simply and without forcing it. Just feel the air touching the nostrils, whether entering or leaving. Attend, stay with it, reflect gently — and settledness arises on its own.
Knowing What Belongs to the Body, Knowing What Belongs to the Mind
He emphasizes knowing only what is connected to the body and to the mind — not things outside ourselves. The breath belongs to the body; awareness of the body belongs to the body; the heartbeat belongs to the body. What belongs to the mind is pleasure, pain, and neither-pleasure-nor-pain — the states called vedanā (feeling). The mind (citta) is our thinking: whatever is unresolved in us, we think about. When we think, we simply know that we are thinking; when we are not thinking, we know that too. Yet this thinking-data keeps appearing regardless — because, he says, someone else's thoughts keep slipping into ours. This is what is called "mind within mind."
The Story: A Monk Asks Why Thoughts Arise Unbidden
Phra Ajarn recounts the teaching as the Buddha gave it: "Monks should clearly discern body, feeling, mind, and phenomena, in order to remove craving and aversion toward the world." One monk, having practiced exactly as instructed, found himself perceiving thoughts and feelings arising in his mind that he had never intended. Puzzled, he approached the Buddha and asked: he had had no intention at all to think of this or that — so why did these thoughts keep appearing, even as he actively tried to suppress them?
The Buddha answered: when you were not thinking, you knew you were not thinking. Yet the thoughts arose anyway. This proves they must have their own source.
The Story: When an Unwanted Feeling Refuses to Leave
Another monk struggled with feeling during meditation. He tried to cultivate pleasant, comfortable, joyful states so his mind would settle — but instead a painful state, one that must be endured and is hard to endure, kept appearing. No matter how he tried to remove it, he could not. He, too, brought this before the Buddha. The Buddha told him: you have tried to eliminate this feeling entirely, yet it will not go — sometimes it even grows stronger despite your effort. That is because these feelings, too, have their own origin.
The Story: When Other States Intrude and the Object of Meditation Cannot Be Established
A third monk tried to establish a wholesome state, a proper meditation object — but other states, other feelings, kept intruding, so that he could not settle into his meditation at all. He, too, brought this to the Buddha, who told him: you have proven for yourself that no matter how hard you tried to remove the unwelcome state and establish another, wholesome one, you could not overcome it — because that other state, too, has its own source.
Not Us, Not Ours: Feeling-in-Feeling, Mind-in-Mind, Phenomena-in-Phenomena
Feelings, thoughts, and phenomena all have their own origin, Phra Ajarn says. Vedanā is a feeling that layers itself onto our own feeling — this is "feeling within feeling." Citta is a thought that layers itself onto our own thinking — this is "mind within mind." is a state that substitutes itself for our own state — this is "phenomena within phenomena." None of this is ours. Just ac it — don't assume it is you or belongs to you, because it is neither. Understand, as it truly is, that another nature is constantly intruding on us, complete with a directing, commanding voice that feels exactly like our own inner voice. All of this proves that there is a "body within the body" with its own source — even though we cannot yet see these bodies directly with our own eyes, we have learned of them through the teachings of our elder masters and through the scriptures, where the Buddha spoke of body within body, feeling within feeling, mind within mind, and phenomena within phenomena.
Why We Must Keep Re-affirming This
We need to repeat this to ourselves again and again: feeling-within-feeling, mind-within-mind, phenomena-within-phenomena are not us and not ours, and they are constantly trying to intrude on us. Every intrusion is meant to cause us harm. Our life becomes suffering precisely because these forces command and direct us into wrong speech, wrong thought, wrong action. If we keep recognizing the root cause of this suffering, again and again, we will come to genuinely wish to be free of it — and once we wish for liberation, the sphere of liberation (vimutti) already present within our own body will do the work of freeing us.
Calm and Insight: Like the Left Foot and the Right
Early-stage calm () supports our ability to develop into subtler dimensions further on — and it requires both calm and working together throughout, like the left foot and the right. When one foot settles, we step forward with the other. Samatha brings peace from the turbulence caused by mental impurities, especially and sensual desire. Vipassanā gives us true understanding so we can resolve problems. Samatha is the one who purifies — belonging to "the one with power" — while vipassanā belongs to the removal of , giving rise to wisdom that connects with "the one who knows." Practice requires both.
Clear Knowing in Body, Feeling, Mind, Dhamma — to Remove Attraction and Aversion
When we discern body, feeling, mind, and phenomena clearly, we come to understand what causes attraction and aversion — the two forces that swing the mind back and forth like a pendulum, never able to rest, always swung to one extreme or the other. Both are forms of captivity in a dimension that is not our own. Seeing this clearly gives rise to wisdom that illuminates what is causing the mind to waver. Mindfulness (sati) is recollection, arising the instant wholesome states manage to seize the moment. Clear comprehension () is the continuity of that mindfulness, knowing fully whatever state is present in each moment.
The Noble Eightfold Path: The One Way
The Buddha taught that the Noble Path is the single, unique way for a human being to become pure and free. While every factor of the path matters, the fullest detail is found in . This is why the great teachers of old, whenever they opened a place of practice, always taught right mindfulness and — simply keeping awareness present without lapsing, clearly knowing body, feeling, mind, and phenomena, to remove the world's attraction and aversion completely. Even if this sounds like an unfamiliar language, we have already learned countless unfamiliar things in this life; there's no reason we can't learn the one thing that matters most.
Dedicating Merit and Radiating Loving-Kindness
As we sustain this steady knowing, a stream of merit flows in continuously. Phra Ajarn leads the dedication of this merit to our ancestors — parents, siblings, grandparents, teachers who have helped us, the guardian devas, and all beings we may have wronged, our karmic counterparts (คู่กรรมคู่เวร), asking for mutual forgiveness. He then extends () to all beings who share the same suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death, wishing them all freedom from suffering and — extending this warmth outward to fill the home, the village, the district, the province, the country, the whole world, and the entire universe, without limit. This quality of mettā has the special power to dissolve resentment (paṭigha) in our own hearts and in the hearts of all beings.
Resting in the Triple Gem and the Closing Aspiration
Phra Ajarn then leads the mind to settle, still, in the center of the Triple Gem — the Buddha jewel, the Dhamma jewel, the Sangha jewel — and in the center of the great teachers who watch over our merit and Dhamma at all times, resting in the center of Nibbāna itself. He describes the stream of merit from the deepest, subtlest part of Nibbāna flowing in to purify every sphere and every body within us. Using this auspicious moment, he leads an aspiration for lasting wisdom, happiness, , and success in all that is right and good, in this life and in every life to come, closing with a Pali chant of dedication.