พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าทำไมชาตินี้เป็นชาติที่สำคัญยิ่งในการสร้างบารมี ต้องอดทนต่อเสียงบั่นทอนภายในอย่างไร เหตุใดจึงควรดำรงอยู่ในความสันโดษไม่ทะเยอทะยาน และตอบคำถามเรื่องการได้ทำบุญกับพระอรหันต์ บุญเต็มส่วน และความสำคัญของช่วงบ่ายในการปฏิบัติธรรมPra Ajarn explains why this particular life is uniquely important for building perfections, how to endure the inner voices that wear us down, why contentment matters more than ambition, and answers on making merit with an arahant, "merit fulfilled in full," and why the afternoon session matters.
This is an important life. We have been born on earth, encountered Buddhism, met the community, met teachers who guide and instruct us, and come to know and understand the truth of life. Simply knowing this much, we ought to know what we should do — because if even knowing this we still fail to act, how could we possibly act in future lives?
The Inner Voices That Wear Us Down, and Endurance
Boredom, weariness, stress, irritation, exhaustion, discouragement, hopelessness, despondency, restlessness, and resentment are all tools side uses to overlay the mind — whichever quality is overlaid, that is what shows through. When unwholesome energy flows in, it wears us down further, making us want to give up on doing good. In every great merit-making event, even the celestial kings willingly leave behind the bliss of heaven to come share in merit with humans. We must therefore endure in building our perfections; every act of endurance earns us "tapo" (ascetic fortitude), which protects against the torment caused by unwholesome defilements. Anyone who becomes a celestial king in heaven must first have endured what is hard to endure.
This life differs from every past life, because the conditions are now in place to manifest the Great kaya Cetiya on earth as the center of the universe, complete with the means to gather millions of people, along with the re-emergence of Dhammakaya . We must therefore access this sacred knowledge to correct the mistakes accumulated across countless past lives, to attain the complete qualities of the "great being" body. If in this life we fail to endure, fail to do good, we are effectively letting the unwholesome side gain more power, and life will only grow harder.
Contentment Versus Ambition
Each life's "pattern of accomplishment" is set before birth. Without doing good, that pattern yields only its base 100%; living in accordance with system can raise it to 110–120%; but becoming entangled with the unwholesome system erodes it down to 80–90%. The quality we should hold onto is — with what we have and are — as opposed to craving (tanha), which chases results without regard for the causes behind them. Ambition beyond one's means creates trouble for both oneself and others. Living with contentment is like a child sfied with whatever their parents provide, never comparing themselves to others — such a life is untroubled. Everything develops in stages; nothing happens by leaps or by accident. Doing good, like doing wrong, must gradually raise its own ceiling step by step — everything follows a clear order, and it depends on whether we cooperate with the wholesome or the unwholesome side.
Making Merit With an Arahant
Someone asked: what causes and conditions allow an ordinary person to make merit directly with an arahant, as with the layman Punna and his wife?
To make merit with someone who becomes an arahant, one must have supported and helped them back when they were still an ordinary monk. When that person attains enlightenment in their final life, they will naturally think first of those who once supported them. If we wish for the opportunity to make merit with an arahant or a solitary buddha, we should support the monastic Sangha without favoritism, and aspire: "whichever monk I have supported who attains enlightenment, may I be born in his lifetime as well."
What Does "Merit Fulfilled in Full" Mean?
A further question: how would we know if we've made merit with an arahant? And does the chance to create great merit or great sin depend on "merit fulfilled in full, sin fulfilled in full"?
Everything follows clear, definite laws — nothing is coincidental. The Buddha had to accumulate perfections for at least four incalculable aeons plus a hundred thousand great aeons; arahants and the eighty great disciples each have their own required measure. Creating great merit or great sin requires the continuous development of the proportion among the three natures — it can't happen instantly, just as a career develops step by step from a junior to a senior position. We need only steadily accumulate merit with contentment and diligence; everything develops automatically — from merit to perfection (barami), from perfection to higher perfection (upa-barami), and from higher perfection to ultimate perfection (paramattha-barami).
Why the Afternoon Session Matters
Someone asked: why is the afternoon session, which Luang Phor calls "gathering merit," so important?
The morning is for offering rice to the Buddha, meditating, giving, and keeping precepts; the afternoon is when the teacher gives a Dhamma talk on building perfections, followed by leading an aspiration to set the pattern of accomplishment — completing that day's merit in full across giving, morality, meditation, and wisdom. Staying to hear the teaching and make the aspiration in the afternoon helps us understand the world and life correctly, as they truly are, and live our lives to their fullest completeness.