Someone asked Pra Ajarn to explain Khun Yai's teaching on aspiration: that whatever we aspire to, we should anchor our mind to nibbana every single time, because keeping the mind anchored to nibbana allows it to teach us to do only good and keep us from falling any lower. As we draw on nibbana daily, our mind rises higher each day, until we can see the way to liberation.

Why Anchor the Mind to Nibbana

Khun Yai taught that aspiration should connect us to nibbana, so that it has the opportunity to teach us to do only good, to safeguard and correct us so that unwholesome karma cannot drag us down, and to lift our hearts higher each day until we can attain liberation. Nibbana exists as countless, innumerable Buddhas. When we anchor our mind to nibbana, we dwell at its center, and it dwells at ours — and because of this, it is able to teach us. Our role is simply to direct our mind: whatever we direct it toward, the mind connects with that. When we direct it toward something good, that good appears within the mind, and mindfulness brings that goodness into being.

Aspiration must rest on truthfulness as its foundation — both truthfulness at the everyday level, such as honesty, sincerity, and purity of heart, and ultimate truthfulness (paramattha-sacca), than which nothing is greater: nibbana itself. If we anchor ourselves to nibbana, that being of immeasurable wisdom, purity, and infinite compassion will certainly help us succeed. There is no such thing as an aspiration of ours that cannot succeed — any delay is only because of how much defilement remains in our minds. When we ask for help, that help works to reduce what is heavy to what is light, and what is light, away entirely.

How far-reaching and profound our aspirations can be depends on our own wisdom and understanding, so we should continually study and learn more, and aspire as often as we possibly can — upon waking, before every meal offering to the Buddha, and before sleep. We need to build a way of life and set of activities that create frequent opportunities to aspire, so that our wishes attach within the brightness of pure energy, strengthening our pattern of accomplishment. And every time we aspire, we should add: "Nibbanapaccayo hotu" — may this goodness be a condition for ending the cycle of rebirth and reaching nibbana — because the cycle of birth and death in samsara is exceedingly long. We are fortunate to belong to a special sphere of merit, where our teachers protect and watch over us so we never fall into the lower realms. Even if we lack sufficient merit on our own to reach the special sphere of merit in the Tusita heaven, the merit-power of our teachers can still bring us into that realm.

What Does "Whoever Flashes Into Your Mind Is the Rightful Owner of That Merit" Mean?

Someone asked about Khun Khru Mai Yai's teaching: before going to carry out our duty, recall your own merit, recall all the accumulated perfections — of Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and Khun Yai — gathered at the center of the body, and make the mind clear and bright, because we are in the midst of a battlefield; we must add to our merit and perfections, and aspire for success. Whoever flashes into your mind is the rightful owner of that merit — don't overthink it, don't worry, just go and invite them to make merit. Does this relate to the subtler workings of the merit side?

When we recall our own merit before carrying out our duty, that merit arises and purifies the defilement that the unwholesome side would otherwise seize to occupy our mind. If our own merit isn't yet strong enough, we recall the perfections of Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and Khun Yai; doing so, we become bright at their center and they become bright at ours, and their merit and perfections shine forth to purify our defilements, giving the wholesome side enough strength to take hold of the mind. As for making the mind clear and bright, simply directing our attention toward clarity and brightness causes it to appear in the mind exactly as directed, because the mind is a nature that responds to what we set our intention on — unlike a physical object, which must be obtained through difficult effort.

As for "whoever flashes into your mind is the rightful owner of that merit": when we go to invite someone to do good, we connect with inner wisdom through insight (nana). If we dwell in wholesome dhamma, that wise and powerful wholesome presence knows our intention and sends us the information of who the rightful owner of that merit is, causing their image to appear in our mind — this isn't something we've dreamed up ourselves, because everything in human life has its causes and conditions. We are only the ones who must verify whether what appears in our mind is true, by going to that person and inviting them. We shouldn't worry or presume on their behalf, because the unwholesome side often tries to plant worry in us to undermine our resolve.