Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration: The Two Halves of Practice

Phra Ajarn Suraphong opens by explaining that meditation practice is made up of two parts: right mindfulness (sammā-sati) and right concentration (sammā-samādhi). Right mindfulness means settling the mind first, so that it can then proceed step by step into the inner dimensions of right concentration.

He compares this to drilling into wood or metal: first you must position the drill bit evenly and steadily, balanced before you press in — only after that do you drill into the wood or metal. Practice works the same way. We need right mindfulness to settle firmly on one meditative state first; only then do we use clear comprehension (sampajañña) to enter more and more deeply into the content of that state. This happens automatically once we simply keep knowing what we know, and stay focused on that object.

The scriptures record this as two functions: raising an object of attention is called vitakka, and dwelling on and examining that object continuously is called vicāra. As we keep doing vitakka and vicāra, a current of pure energy is drawn in continuously, and this pure energy is what cleanses the stains — the defilements that create the obstacles known as the five hindrances, which give rise to suffering and hardship.

When the Sphere of Knowing Arises, the Sphere of Ignorance Falls Away

This pure energy is what does the cleansing — not us. We don't know what a stain looks like, nor how to deal with it directly. Our only role is to keep knowing, so that the "sphere of knowing" (duang-rū) can arise. When it arises, the sphere of not-knowing — ignorance — falls away. This sphere of knowing draws in the pure energy called merit, letting it flow through the center of its own brightness.

He warns against fighting sin head-on without understanding what sin actually is — the harder we fight it, the coarser our mind becomes. Our only task is to keep knowing. If we don't take charge of directing our own awareness, something else will direct it for us, and that is where problems begin.

The Mind's Stains, Like a House Never Swept or Mopped

Purity and defilement are a pair, he teaches — where there is a stain, we need a tool to cleanse it. It is just like a dirty house: we take up a broom and sweep, take up a mop and wipe the floor. The broom and the mop are the tools used for cleansing the dirt.

Our role, he says, is simply to keep knowing, so that the sphere of knowing arises — that is our only job. The true cleansing agent is the pure energy drawn in by that sphere of knowing, just as the broom and mop are the tools, not us wrestling with the dirt directly.

We must keep cleansing the stains continuously until the stains within the dimension we currently occupy grow light and finally disappear. If we fail to cleanse them, the stains will find a way to strike back at us and drag us down into a coarser dimension. A sign of this: if we close our eyes and still find suffering there, it means the stains are pressing in on us.

Familiarity: The Key to Rising in Both Worldly and Spiritual Life

If our outer, worldly life is comfortable and happy, he explains, it means the fruit of past merit is ripening. But to rise from one level of being to a higher one, we must be ready to face new forms of hardship and obstacle belonging to that next level — we must be able to endure. Only then can we rise from one dimension into a subtler one. The worldly path and the spiritual path work the same way in this respect.

The single most important tool for handling the stains of our current dimension is right mindfulness. Without it, ignorance takes over as the ruler of the house. Giving alms and keeping precepts help only a little, in the ordinary sense — they cannot bring us into subtle meditative states, nor connect us with the knowing, empowered ones within. Familiarity matters greatly, he stresses, in both the inner and outer worlds — it begins as familiarity, ripens into closeness, and finally becomes warmth, love, and happiness, all of which are the fruit of the sphere of knowing drawing in pure energy to lighten the stains, again and again.

Resting Awareness on the Body and the Breath

To train right mindfulness, he teaches starting by bringing the mind to rest on the body — feeling the body itself, as with watching the breath: in-breath known, out-breath known, short and long breaths known. Or one may notice the pulse, the touch of one hand resting on the other, or awareness of the whole body at once. All that's needed is for this "felt sense of the body" to arise. Compare it with the moments when we are unaware, and the difference becomes clear: this knowing carries its own sovereignty, its own balance, a stillness free of confusion.

Staying continuously aware without lapsing lets the sphere of knowing settle. From there, clear comprehension carries us into the inner dimension. As clarity in the meditative state grows steadily, we begin to feel refinement, softness, and ease, until the body seems to dissolve into its surroundings, entering a dimension of open, empty spaciousness free of any hindrance.

The Triple Gem Shines at the Center of Our Being

As we keep knowing, the system of wholesome states settles into place — and this, he says, is no small matter; it is something truly great. In that moment we appear shining at the center of the Triple Gem, and the Triple Gem appears shining clear at the center of our being. Both we and the noble ones appear shining at the center of nibbāna — the boundless knowing and empowered ones, every Buddha, every Paccekabuddha, and every arahant. They take up the elements of our being — seeing, remembering, thinking, knowing, earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness — and cleanse them clear and pure, dispelling greed, hatred, delusion, lust, ignorance, wrong view, and clinging, the roots of suffering, sorrow, and misfortune, while also connecting our stream of merit and fortune.

Dedicating Merit to Ancestors and Karmic Counterparties

As we continue in this knowing, a continuous stream of merit and its subtle treasures flows in. He has us dedicate this merit to our ancestors — recalling our parents, relatives, grandparents, and teachers who have shown us kindness, along with the guardian spirits who protect and support us, and all beings — including our karmic counterparties — whom we may have wronged, asking for mutual forgiveness so that all may share equally in this merit.

Radiating Loving-Kindness Across the World and the Cosmos

After dedicating merit, he leads an aspiration of goodwill for the world and all beings: may all be free from suffering and share happiness equally; may those with much suffering have less, those with little suffering have none, those with little happiness have more, and those with much happiness have ever more. He then has us expand this loving-kindness outward — over our home, our village, district, province, our country, neighboring countries, and finally the whole world, until the world becomes a radiant crystal sphere, clean and pure. He notes that the light of loving-kindness is subtler than sunlight and so casts no shadow; it carries the special quality of dissolving resentment and irritation from the heart. From there it expands further still, across the countless stars and galaxies of the boundless cosmos.

Closing Aspiration

In closing, Phra Ajarn leads an aspiration for success to be established in us, now and in all lives to come. May the merit and blessings of our teachers and our own accumulated goodness, gathered since beginningless time, combine into sacred merit. May we be freed from misfortune, karmic results, and obstacles of every kind; may greed, hatred, delusion, lust, ignorance, wrong view, craving, and clinging come to an end; may we gain the eye that sees the Dhamma and penetrate the knowledge of the Dhamma body; may we be strong in health and steadfast in spirit as we build perfections toward nibbāna. He closes by asking that old wrongdoing be forgiven and that new merit bear fruit successfully for us all.