Why He Repeats the Teaching on Right Mindfulness Every Time

Phra Ajarn Suraphong opens by explaining why he must repeat this point every time he teaches: most people still don't understand that practice has two parts. When someone sets out to meditate, they think practice simply means sitting in concentration, and they put their head down and push at it without knowing where concentration actually begins, how it unfolds, or what result they're even after. Not knowing, they settle for "I just want some calm" — and if calm doesn't come, they're dissatisfied.

Practice must begin with mindfulness — right mindfulness established first. We need to learn what settling the mind is even for. If we don't yet know what mindfulness is, we cannot settle it. Cultivating meditation means entering the inner dimensions to be freed, level by level — from the outer dimension into the inner, from one inner dimension into a subtler one still, freed layer by layer, drawing closer to the knowing, empowered ones within.

Don't Let the Stains Pile Up Like Unwashed Dishes

This is the standout image of today's talk. He teaches that clearing away the stains that have piled up is like eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and never washing the dishes — letting them pile higher and higher into a mountain, then finally, come evening, washing the whole heap at once. Instead, he says, wash each meal's dishes right after eating: wash after breakfast, wash after lunch, and put everything away tidily by evening.

This, he says, is something we must recognize. Cultivating right mindfulness isn't difficult at all — it's simply a matter of keeping aware: aware of our own body, aware of the meditation object, aware of the breath. We're already aware of this and that all day long as a matter of course — so if we're already knowing things, why not also keep knowing our own body and presence at the same time? That way we can feel the difference between having mindfulness and lacking it.

He adds, half in jest, that it's already a good thing we come in the evening to practice, clearing and correcting day by day rather than letting things build up across days. But if we could do this all day — morning, midday, afternoon, evening, and night — the stains would never pile so high that they became hard to clear.

The Drill Bit: Settling Before Boring In

He adds a supporting image of the drill: cultivating meditation is like drilling into wood or metal. The first step is to press the drill bit against the wood or metal and let it settle, balanced, before doing anything else — not simply snatching up the drill and jabbing it straight in. He notes that most practitioners, in his experience, do exactly that: grab the drill and jab it in immediately, hoping to bore through without realizing they need to settle it steadily first, and only then gradually move it inward.

Settling relies on right mindfulness pressed against the wood or metal — the mind, resting on mindfulness, settles. Mindfulness is a mental factor, the mood of the mind, settling onto the position we have chosen well: our meditation object, with its clear and continuous signal.

Knowing Clearly What Appears Right Before Us

He teaches us to keep aware continuously, knowing what we know, clearly aware of that thing first — whether it's our own body, or the breath: in-breath known, out-breath known, short and long breaths known — or keeping aware through the silent recitation of Sammā Arahaṃ, one syllable at a time, not dwelling on syllables already passed, attending only to the Dhamma present in this very moment. The object may be the crystal Buddha image or a sphere of light — continue examining it steadily.

He warns that concentration itself can belong to the wholesome, the unwholesome, or the indeterminate side, so we must check which side what we're doing belongs to, because the result follows the system of whichever side it is. Using the wholesome method, before and after sitting will feel satisfying in different, pleasant ways. Using the unwholesome method, one might come out of the sit with a splitting headache. Using the indeterminate method, one comes out feeling merely dazed — not quite good, not quite bad either.

Mental Spheres: Both Wholesome and Unwholesome Arise Only in the Mind

He explains that all 84,000 sections of the Dhamma — wholesome, unwholesome, or indeterminate — can arise in only one place: the mind. Nowhere else. Once arisen in the mind, each shows its own qualities there. The wholesome brings only benefit; the unwholesome, only harm. Boredom, ennui, stress, oppression, weariness, discouragement, hopelessness, gloom, restlessness, irritation, resentment — all of these are unwholesome mental spheres. Once established in the mind, they draw in the energy of the stain — the sphere of sin — flowing into the darkness at their center.

He therefore teaches that we must let the wholesome sphere of knowing arise, so these unwholesome spheres never get the chance to take over our minds. He compares the mind to a pendulum clock: swing far toward delight, and it must swing equally far back toward grief. So we must train the mind toward balance, abiding in the state of equanimity — neither delight nor aversion.

Equanimity as a Dwelling That Shields Us From the Stains

He teaches that equanimity is one of the ten perfections — the tenth, the very last — which requires the foundation of the other nine: generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, effort, patience, truthfulness, resolution, and loving-kindness. Whoever has cultivated these nine well can abide in equanimity far more steadily, settle far more easily, without the mind swaying back and forth.

He has us stay continuously aware without lapsing, neither delighting in nor resisting whatever appears before us, whether eyes open or closed. As we sustain this awareness, a continuous stream of merit flows through the center of our body and mind without interruption.

Dedicating Merit and Radiating Loving-Kindness

He has us use this moment, while the stream of merit flows continuously, to dedicate this merit to our ancestors — recalling our forebears, parents, siblings, 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.

Having dedicated merit, he leads loving-kindness practice for the benefit of the world and all beings, that all may be free from suffering and share happiness equally, then has us expand this loving-kindness-filled heart — covering our home, spreading across village, district, province, country, and finally the whole world, until it becomes a radiant crystal sphere, clean and pure, through loving-kindness's special power to dissolve resentment from the heart — and expanding 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 since beginningless time combine into sacred, potent merit. May we be freed from misfortune, karmic results, demonic obstruction, 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.