พระอาจารย์อธิบายโสฬสกิจ (เสร็จกิจ 16) คือการเจริญอริยสัจ 4 ในกายทั้ง 4 ระดับ (มนุษย์ ทิพย์ รูปพรหม อรูปพรหม) ด้วยธรรมจักษุและญาณทัสสนะของกายธรรมแต่ละภูมิ นำไปสู่การหลุดพ้นเป็นลำดับตั้งแต่พระโสดาบันจนถึงพระอรหันต์และเข้าถึงพระนิพพานPra Ajarn explains the sixteen accomplished tasks (solasa kicca) — the cultivation of the Four Noble Truths across four levels of body (human, celestial, form-brahma, formless-brahma) — using the Dhamma-eye and knowledge-and-vision of each dhamma body, leading step by step from stream-entry all the way to arahantship and the attainment of nibbana.
Someone asked Pra Ajarn to expand on "the sixteen accomplished tasks" (solasa kicca), a teaching given by Luang Pu of Wat Paknam.
The Sixteen Tasks: The Four Noble Truths Across Four Bodies
Pra Ajarn explained that solasa kicca literally means "sixteen tasks," set down as a fixed formula. It is a teaching spoken by the Buddha himself and recorded in the Pali Canon, referring to the tasks that bring one to the accomplishment of arahantship — free of defilements, far removed from them. This set of sixteen tasks is also known simply as nibbana. It consists of , the truth of the origin of suffering, the truth of the ceson of suffering, and the truth of the path — each contemplated within the human body, the celestial body, the form-brahma body, and the formless-brahma body: four truths times four bodies equals sixteen.
Each Stage Requires the Dhamma-Eye and Knowledge-and-Vision of Its Own Dhamma Body
For an ordinary person, simply learning and understanding can help release some of life's basic suffering, easing the intensity of it somewhat. But to actually attain the fruits of a noble one requires relying on the body appropriate to each stage. It begins with the dhamma body of the stream-entry path, which carries its own inner . One must enter that knowledge and contemplate the truth of suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path — as they pertain to the human body — relying on the -eye and knowledge-and-vision of the stream-entry-path body to lift up suffering, the basic truth of the human body, for deep contemplation, until true disenchantment (nibbidā) arises: seeing the sheer intensity of suffering, seeing all manner of separation and loss, until the sphere of liberation can free one from clinging to the human body. Relying on the sphere of cessation to extinguish the defilements that bind, and on the sphere of the path — consisting of right view, right intention, and the rest of the eightfold factors — to purify completely, one becomes free from the refined human body and attains the fruit of stream-entry.
From there, one relies on the dhamma body of the once-returner path, which likewise carries the knowledge of the Four Noble Truths, to contemplate the coarse and refined celestial bodies — seeing the intense danger in the five sensual pleasures of the celestial body, seeing clearly the mechanism of craving that binds it, until disenchantment is complete. Relying on the sphere of cessation and the sphere of the path to perfect right view, one becomes free from the celestial body and attains the fruit of once-returning. Next, relying on the dhamma body of the non-returner path, one contemplates the form-brahma body and its refined counterpart, seeing the danger even in the boundless bliss of that still keeps one bound to the cycle of rebirth, giving rise to disenchantment and freedom from the form-brahma body, attaining the fruit of non-returning. Finally, relying on the dhamma body of the arahant path, one contemplates the formless-brahma body and its refined counterpart, until liberation is complete and one attains the fruit of arahantship — utterly free from the cycle of birth and death, reaching the supreme bliss of nibbana.
At every stage of this entire process, one relies on the Dhamma-eye and knowledge-and-vision, which in turn depend on boundless inner brightness capable of seeing every subtlest particle of refinement. Every stage requires both the "knower" (knowledge) and the "one of power" () working together to cleanse away defilement, level by level, body by body, all the way to the very end of the mass of suffering.
One Must First Wish to Be Free Before the Eightfold Path Bears Fruit
Someone then asked: if an ordinary person skipped straight to cultivating the Noble Eightfold Path without first understanding the danger of suffering, could they still attain liberation? Pra Ajarn answered: it can be done, but the motivation would not be strong enough to truly break free from confinement. It's like how only someone who has known poverty truly fears it, and only someone who has known hunger truly understands the suffering of hunger and has no wish to remain in that state again. Once that kind of wish arises, relying on desire (chanda) to act rightly along the noble path becomes the very condition that lets one see the depth of suffering and danger for oneself. Right view then develops into right intention — resolving to renounce sensual desire — which requires first seeing the danger in liking and disliking within the five sensual pleasures and the five aggregates. Only then does cultivating the Noble Eightfold Path truly bear fruit.