พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์ชี้ให้เห็นว่าแสงจันทร์และแสงอาทิตย์แม้ส่องสว่างในยามค่ำคืนและยามกลางวัน แต่ก็ไม่อาจทะลุผ่านสิ่งของต่างๆ ได้ จึงเกิดเงา ต่างจากแสงแห่งกุศลธรรมที่สามารถทะลุผ่านทุกอณูของสรรพสัตว์สรรพสิ่งได้โดยไม่มีเงา ก่อนนำเข้าสู่การเจริญสมาธิภาวนาเต็มรูปแบบPhra Ajarn Suraphong points out that moonlight and sunlight, however bright, cannot pass through solid objects and so cast shadows — but the light of wholesome dhamma can penetrate every atom of every being and every thing without casting any shadow at all, before leading a full guided sit.
Right Mindfulness: A Foundation Whose Value We Often Overlook
Meditation practice consists of and . Phra Ajarn wants to spend extra time on right , because we tend not to appreciate its benefit — we're usually eager to jump straight into eyes-closed concentration. We need to first understand right mindfulness, see its value, and train ourselves to put it to use.
Bringing the Mind to the Body: The First Thing, Before Any Goal
The moment we wake and open our eyes, the first thing to do is bring the mind to rest with the body — before setting any goal, before making any aspiration or determining any , the very first thing is bringing the mind to the body, establishing mastery within ourselves first, letting system be the ruling authority within us. We have chosen the side of the wholesome system, so we must let it be the ruling force in our life. No life is ever without some system supporting it — every moment, some system is present, whether wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral, each competing to be the one that overlays and supports us; whichever system supports us, that side benefits. How our life unfolds depends entirely on which system supports it. If we abide in system, life steadily declines, driven toward harm and destruction. If in the neutral system, there is neither benefit nor harm. But the wholesome system produces benefit alone, with no harm whatsoever, wasting no time — full of substance that matters to our life and our future.
Moonlight, Sunlight, and the Light of Wholesome Dhamma: A Difference With No Shadow
Right mindfulness is therefore always the first thing involved, because whenever the wholesome system manages to seize the heart as its ruler, the very first thing we gain is mindfulness — right mindfulness. Every time the wholesome system overlays us, the first thing present is right mindfulness. The moon shines at night and the sun shines by day, but neither moonlight nor sunlight can pass through solid objects — hence they cast shadows. The light of wholesome dhamma, however, is a light that can penetrate through every atom of every being and every thing. It can dissolve every kind of defilement. Benefit arises simply from abiding with right mindfulness — abiding with wholesome dhamma — in daily life. Having mindfulness lets us abide within the wholesome system. We determine the mind to extend outward, and the light of wholesome dhamma shines along with it. The mind is a field of accomplishment — it can be narrow or wide, as we determine. We extend our mind to encompass our home, our surroundings, our country, and the whole world; wherever the mind reaches, the light of wholesome dhamma reaches too, dissolving defilement, whether unwholesome or neutral.
Right Mindfulness: A Dhamma Always Arising Together With the Wholesome Mind
We therefore need to learn how to cultivate right mindfulness so it becomes established in the heart. Once right mindfulness is present, we can determine various dhamma states — , equanimity, resolve, compassion, sympathetic joy, and many more — letting wholesome dhamma take its seat in the heart, then extend our heart, filled with this wholesome dhamma, widely outward to benefit all beings and all elements, making them bright and clean too. This becomes the center of the world, of the universe. All day — standing, walking, sitting, lying down — we simply carry this shining wholesome dhamma, radiating it out to benefit all beings and elements as light. The light of the Triple Gem shines, bringing benefit to all beings, all things, and all elements. Right mindfulness is a dhamma that always arises together with the wholesome mind, or the wholesome system; whenever the wholesome system establishes itself in our heart, right mindfulness arises simultaneously with it.
Continuous Knowing Versus Broken Knowing: Why We Can Barely Control Ourselves
In daily life, if we do not abide with the wholesome system, we have no mindfulness — even though it seems as if we're mindful all day (otherwise how could we get anything done), we are not truly the master of ourselves, because our mindfulness exists only as one fleeting second passing into the next. In between those wholesome seconds, the neutral and unwholesome forces slip in, at a level of fineness beneath a second, so subtle we can't notice it — which is why it looks as if we know continuously, can talk, do everything, as though unbroken. But why, then, can't we manage to do wholesome or otherwise good things? Why do we have so little control? Everything gets directed by an inner voice telling us to do this, do that, as though we thought of it ourselves, and we end up following it, unable to escape. This is exactly why we must train right mindfulness to remain continuously recollected — both while meditating and while going about our day, eyes open, doing this and that. We need to cultivate right mindfulness, training the continuity of mindfulness so it never breaks — staying aware of our own body always, aware of our meditation object, or aware of every gesture and movement, knowing our own body at all times.
Putting It to Use in Daily Life: Mettā, Muditā, Upekkhā, and Extending the Heart
If we can do this, right mindfulness becomes continuously established, and the drawing-in of the pure energy called merit, together with subtle assets, arises. Life becomes easy in everything we do, because the wholesome system — which gives and nurtures growth — is constantly helping us. Even when we haven't fully cooperated with the wholesome system, it already yields this much benefit; imagine the result if we cooperated fully. Every thought, word, and deed becomes directed toward great benefit. If we abide with the wholesome system, that voice that feels like our own thought becomes a voice steering us toward happiness, prosperity, and goodness, both now and in the future. It's no harder than this: simply determine your knowing, know always without lapsing, know anything that does not darken the mind, know continuously — eyes open or closed, it doesn't matter. All we need is mindfulness, knowing always. Once knowing arises through our own determination, the sphere of not-knowing — — falls away, and this established sphere of knowing draws the pure energy called merit continuously into the center of its own brightness.
The Stream of Merit and Dedicating Merit to Our Ancestors
This pure energy called merit, together with subtle assets, flows into the center of our heart and body, and this pure merit-element dissolves the defilement that creates problems and obstacles in countless forms in our daily lives. We must therefore determine our knowing always without lapsing — every moment of knowing creates immense benefit, continuously drawing in the pure energy called merit — and we use this to dedicate merit to our ancestors: our parents, our siblings, our grandparents, the teachers who have helped us, the guardian devas who protect and assist us, and all beings we may have wronged, our karmic counterparts (คู่กรรมคู่เวร) — asking for mutual forgiveness, that they too receive a share of this merit.
Radiating Loving-Kindness to All Beings and the Universe
Having made this wish, we extend the heart, filled with loving-kindness, widely to encompass our home, wherever the mind extends, radiates its light of wholesome dhamma to dissolve defilement, shining throughout every atom of the surroundings — all beings, all things, all elements alike growing bright, clean, and pure, through the special quality of mettā that dissolves resentment until it fades completely. We then extend it further, across the village, the sub-district, the district, the provinces, throughout Thailand and neighboring countries, until it embraces the whole world, making it a crystal world, bright, cool, clean, and pure. May all beings — earth-dwelling devas, tree devas, sky devas, celestial beings of every heaven, brahma and formless-brahma realms, together with hell-beings, hungry ghosts, and animals — be free from suffering and find happiness together. We extend it further still, into the vastness of the universe, embracing countless stars throughout the ten thousand world-systems and the infinite cosmos, without limit.
Resting in the Triple Gem and the Closing Aspiration
We rest the mind, still, in the center of the Triple Gem — the Buddha jewel, the jewel, the Sangha jewel — and in the center of the great teachers who watch over our merit and Dhamma at all times, resting in the center of Nibbāna, in the center of every Buddha, every Paccekabuddha, and every Arahant. They take our seeing, remembering, thinking, knowing, and our earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness elements, and refine them to clarity and , dissolving karmic obstruction and calamity. They also connect us to a lineage of merit and fortune. We use this auspicious moment to make an aspiration, setting a blueprint for success now and in every life to come, for happiness and fulfillment of every righteous wish, for , happiness, and purity, closing with a Pali chant of dedication.