Practice Is Abiding With the Wholesome System

Meditation practice is our abiding with the wholesome system. Ordinarily, we don't abide within the wholesome system all the time — sometimes it's the neutral, sometimes the wholesome, sometimes the unwholesome — but most of the time it is the neutral: neither good nor bad, life simply drifting along day after day.

Right Mindfulness Must Always Precede Every Wholesome Act

Abiding with the wholesome system consists of right mindfulness and right concentration. In truth, whatever we do that is wholesome — giving, keeping precepts, meditating, studying dhamma — right mindfulness must always begin first. If right mindfulness does not arise, wholesome dhamma cannot be established. Until now, we have abided within the wholesome system only because the wholesome nature has managed to seize the moment and become victorious as ruler of the heart, and so mindfulness has arisen. When the Buddha arose, he first taught the Sangha: "Monks should clearly discern body, feeling, mind, and dhamma, in order to purify craving and aversion toward the world." Determining is something nature will impose on us if we do not determine it ourselves — either we choose to determine it, or we will be compelled by whichever force takes hold.

Choosing a Meditation Object: The Crystal Sphere and the Buddha Image, Eyes Slightly Open Between Outer and Inner

Phra Ajarn recommends the "sammā-arahaṃ" meditation object, with a crystal sphere and a Buddha image at its center — reciting "sammā-arahaṃ" while visualizing the crystal sphere and Buddha image, eyes slightly open rather than fully closed, because fully closed eyes lead to pitch darkness, while slightly open eyes let in a trace of light, preventing that darkness. This keeps us at the threshold between the outer and the inner, not yet fully entering the inner realm into total darkness. The sensation begins near the front, then moves inward about a hand's width to the center of the abdomen, settling there. Within the crystal sphere is a Buddha image, and within the sphere or the image is a small, clear, bright point, twinkling like a star. Continue reciting "sammā-arahaṃ" with a deep, refined awareness — this refined awareness is what leads us into the inner dimension, connecting us with the inner "one who knows, one with power," a further level of help.

The Verbal Recitation and the Visualized Image: Name and Form as an Inseparable Pair

The verbal recitation (บริกรรมภาวนา) and the visualized image (บริกรรมนิมิต) always go together. The recitation is the "name" — a label given to whatever inner state appears; a state of relaxation is called "relaxed," a state of openness is called "open." The visualized form is the container, the package, like a sphere that holds wholesome dhamma — a clear, bright sphere; an unwholesome package, by contrast, would be a dark, black sphere. This is the "form" aspect. The Buddharatana appears as a sphere; the Dhammaratana is the Buddha image at its center; the Sangharatana is the sphere that fully envelops the entire body — unlike the human body's sphere, which sits only within the body itself.

Vihāra-Dhamma: Choosing a Wholesome State as the Dwelling of the Mind

The dhamma-sphere of the Buddharatana fully envelops the entire body — not a small sphere sitting within the body like a human's, but one that covers the whole body, protecting, guarding, and caring for it. Dhamma exists precisely to protect the body; the Buddharatana abides in dhamma, and this dhamma protects him in turn. This is a fine model showing that we, too, need to rely on wholesome dhamma. When we abide within the wholesome system, the wholesome system protects us — we become, as it were, a วิหารธรรม, a "dhamma-dwelling." A vihāra is an abode, a dwelling place — spacious and open. If we wish to have dhamma as our dwelling, we must choose some wholesome dhamma to embody it: it can be "sammā-arahaṃ," or stillness, relaxation, ease of body and mind, equanimity free of liking and disliking, or loving-kindness — there are countless options we can choose as our vihāra-dhamma, the resting place of the mind, just as the dhamma body has a dhamma-sphere that fully envelops it.

The Sphere of Knowing Arises, Ignorance Falls: The Gradual Process of Purifying Defilement

Our own dhamma-sphere may be only the size of an egg yolk — that's fine; it doesn't need to be larger. What we need first is simply the sphere of knowing to arise. The sphere of knowing is a wholesome sphere, clear and bright; once it arises, ignorance — the sphere of not-knowing — falls away. This sphere of knowing, resting on our meditation object or on whatever form of knowing we sustain without lapsing, draws in the pure energy called merit, flowing into the center of the brightness of the sphere of knowing. This sphere of pure energy contains the dhamma-element of happiness and purity — happiness that brings ease and comfort, and purity that purifies defilement, able to dissolve every suffering, harm, and hardship that results from defilement until it fades away entirely. Faith helps us trust that the stream of merit, together with its lineage of assets, is indeed flowing through the center of our body and heart right now; this bright sphere of faith supports us, allowing us to sustain beneficial practice continuously.

From Calm to the Sphere of Brightness at the Seventh Base, Center of the Body

As we know always without lapsing, we may notice various states arising in sequence — the process of clearing away turbulent defilement, gradually giving way to a settling calm. A sense of openness and spaciousness arises continuously, until we sense a cleanness, a purity — the process by which a mass of happiness and purity continuously forms, until brightness appears together with happiness and purity. We then bring this brightness to rest at the center of the body, sustaining our knowing with that brightness continuously — stopping within stopping, stilling within stillness — abiding within the center of that brightness, at the seventh base, the center of the body. The purification of defilement at this position continues until the defilement grows light and then falls away entirely ("ตกศูนย์"). If this falling-away frightens us, that's fine too — simply determine to know it falling away once more, and the defilement will lighten naturally. Once defilement is fully cleared, the fusion of the earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness elements occurs, merging into a single image; the dhamma-sphere rises prominently to the seventh base at the center of the body and draws us into its own center. Everything, from beginning to entering the dhamma-sphere, happens on its own — our role is simply to determine our knowing, to know always without lapsing.

The One Human Body That Can Benefit Countless Bodies

We can see that the human body alone, among all forms of existence, abiding within the wholesome system and cultivating goodness, can bring immense benefit to countless bodies along our lineage of merit and dhamma. Not only that — we can also dedicate merit to our relatives, becoming not merely our own refuge, but a refuge for others as well.

The Stream of Merit and Dedicating Merit to Our Ancestors

As we determine our knowing, the sphere of knowing draws the stream of merit in continuously, and we use this to dedicate merit to our ancestors — parents, siblings, grandparents, the teachers who have helped us, the guardian devas who protect 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

We then cultivate loving-kindness, bringing great benefit to the world and all beings: may all beings who share this same suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death be free from suffering and find happiness together. We extend the heart, filled with this loving-kindness, to encompass our home, our village, sub-district, district, province, throughout Thailand and neighboring countries, until it embraces the whole world, making it a crystal world, clear, bright, and pure. May all beings — the brahma devas, tree devas, sky devas, celestial beings of every heaven, brahma and formless-brahma realms, hell-beings, hungry ghosts, and animals — be free from suffering and find happiness together. We extend it further, into the vastness of the universe, embracing countless stars without limit. This special quality of mettā dissolves resentment to purity.

Resting in the Triple Gem and the Closing Aspiration

The Triple Gem, the great teachers, and the countless Buddha-fields of Nibbāna gather together at the bright center of our being; our body and heart become the seat and dwelling of the great teachers and of Nibbāna, bringing immense benefit, without limit, to all beings, all things, and all elements. Great merit arises continuously, flowing in continuously, together with many other assets and blueprints for success that the great teachers and Nibbāna bestow through their sacred power. We rest the mind, still, in the center of the Triple Gem, in the center of the great teachers, in the center of the countless Buddha-fields of Nibbāna, in the center of every Buddha, every Paccekabuddha, and every Arahant — at the seventh base, the center of the body, the gathering place of the subtlest body, the meeting point of all that is good: the Buddha jewel, the Dhamma jewel, and the Sangha jewel. Using this most auspicious moment, we make an aspiration, setting a blueprint for success for both ourselves and for the benefit of the world along our entire path of building perfections, for knowledge, happiness, purity, and the fulfillment of every righteous wish, closing with a Pali chant of dedication.