มีผู้แชร์คำสอนของวิทยากรร่วมสมัยเรื่องการอธิษฐานในเชิงวิทยาศาสตร์ พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าคำสอนเหล่านั้นสอดคล้องกับหลักธรรมอย่างไร และเล่าเรื่องพระบรมโพธิสัตว์แบกมารดากลางทะเลเพื่อสอนว่าการอธิษฐานจิตในยามทุกข์ที่สุดของชีวิตกลับทรงพลังที่สุดได้อย่างไรAfter hearing contemporary teachers explain aspiration in scientific terms, Pra Ajarn addresses how that aligns with Buddhist teaching, and tells the story of the Bodhisatta carrying his mother across the sea to show how a heartfelt aspiration made at life's very lowest point can be the most powerful of all.
Someone shared clips of several contemporary speakers explaining aspiration and manifestation in scientific terms, and raised a point of confusion: one speaker taught that we must first cultivate positive emotion and a high vibrational state before an aspiration can succeed, yet many people have experienced the opposite — praying to Luang Pu for help while sobbing in their deepest suffering, and receiving miraculous results. Is it truly necessary, from a Buddhist standpoint, to be in a positive emotional state before an aspiration can work?
Suffering Can Lead in Different Directions
The suffering that arises at any given moment depends on which force — merit or sin — is operating behind the scenes at that time. If side is behind it, it will lead us toward bad company, toward the wrong way of coping, and into a deepening cycle of suffering. But if side is watching over us, our suffering will instead lead us to a who points toward the light, toward someone wise and capable who can help release us and teach us the truth of life — and from that point our life develops for the better.
Nearly everything in our lives depends on what operates behind the scenes; what we do ourselves is only a small part. Becoming good requires the push of our surroundings, but behind those surroundings, in turn, is that same background force. When the unwholesome side is operating behind our suffering, once we understand this mechanism, we can make our aspiration right then and there: may we be freed from this state; may our family and followers never experience the same. Turn the waste into fertilizer. Aspiration is therefore necessary in every state, whether suffering or joy, because the wholesome system is always glad to grant us everything — it is a being of infinite wisdom and immeasurable power. Whatever emotional state we're in, we can always make our aspiration.
The Story of the Bodhisatta Carrying His Mother Across the Sea
Pra Ajarn told the story of the Bodhisatta, when he was a young merchant running a trading ship, who brought his mother along on a voyage. The ship was caught in a great storm and sank; the passengers floated in the open sea, losing hope and dying one by one. The great being carried his mother on his back, clinging to a piece of driftwood, floating for seven days and seven nights — starving, freezing, scorched by the sun, with no shore in sight. At that lowest point of his life, an inner voice told him not to despair, because his mother's life depended on him, and to recognize that all beings in the world suffer just as he did, without wisdom or refuge, longing for someone wise and powerful to help them — yet no one had appeared.
In that moment, the great being made the aspiration to become a being of immeasurable wisdom and power, to benefit all beings, to be a shelter for the world, and to lead all beings out of suffering. This was the very first life in which he made the aspiration to become a fully enlightened Buddha — made at the very lowest point of his life. When he made this vast aspiration, the power of his intense faith caused his sphere of merit to shine radiantly; the Triple Gem and nibbana shone brilliantly at his center; an immeasurable current of merit arose, illuminating the entire universe — so powerful that it shook the seat of Sakka, king of the devas, who used his divine eye to perceive the cause and inspired the deva guardian of the ocean to go and rescue the great being immediately.
The Lesson From This Story
This story shows that even at life's most painful moment, if we refuse to let the unwholesome side possess the mind and instead raise our wholesome mind to its highest, most noble state, an immeasurable current of merit can still arise — and life's crisis comes to an end, because that current of merit purifies away all defilements and misfortune. Life can be transformed through this very act of aspiration. Even at life's absolute lowest point, we can still make our aspiration and receive its liberating result. There is no need to wait for positive emotion or a "high vibration" before an aspiration can work — what matters most is a sincere, wholehearted intention directed toward the one of infinite wisdom and immeasurable power.