Why Every Life Must Practice

Phra Ajarn Suraphong opens by pointing out that every life has an urgent need to practice Dhamma, because without it, life simply drifts according to circumstance, endlessly seized and controlled by the competing three natures. But after the Buddha's awakening, he came to know the truth: that wholesome dhamma is of tremendous benefit, and every human being needs to cooperate with the wholesome side so that it can take up residence as the ruler of the mind. Cultivating right mindfulness is the most essential way to make that residence possible.

Clearly Knowing Body, Feeling, Mind, and Mental Objects, to Remove Covetousness and Grief

He cites the Buddha's teaching to the monks: to clearly know body, feeling, mind, and mental objects, in order to remove covetousness and grief regarding the world — that is, to eliminate joy and sorrow from the heart entirely. Joy and sorrow swing back and forth like a pendulum: laughing one moment, weeping the next, life alternating endlessly between delight and dismay.

The Pendulum of Joy and Sorrow: A Simile for the Mind's Imbalance

This is the point he emphasizes most. When we cultivate right mindfulness to the point of stable balance, the mind no longer swings toward joy or sorrow, but rests in equanimity — neither pleased nor displeased — allowing it to settle firmly into vitakka and vicāra: focused attention and sustained reflection on the Dhamma, continuing through diligent contemplation until calm is reached.

From Rapture to the Fourth Jhāna: The Sequence of Deepening Calm

He describes the sequence of development: as we continue focusing and reflecting on the Dhamma, rapture (pīti) arises first. As rapture recurs, tranquility (passaddhi) follows. After that, concentration — steadiness sustained continuously — arises, and equanimity follows, bringing balance to life. We enter the first jhāna, the second, the third, and the fourth — each one calmer, stiller, more balanced, arising more easily and more quickly than the last.

Sacred Merit: Walking on Water, Handling Fire Unburned, Walking on Air

This is the heart of this teaching. He teaches that the stiller and calmer we become, the more we reach pure merit — and the purer the merit, the more sacred and potent it becomes. Whatever we direct, so it becomes. Once sacred merit is reached, if we wish to walk on water, we can; if we grasp fire and wish not to be burned, we can; if we wish to walk on air, we can — because sacred merit fulfills whatever the mind directs. The method is simply to keep knowing, relying on mindfulness and clear comprehension to draw pure energy in to cleanse the stains.

The Five Hindrances: Obstacles to Goodness That Must Be Cleansed Away

He explains that stains are what create problems and obstacles, appearing at first in the form of the five hindrances: sensual desire, ill will, restlessness and worry, sloth and torpor, and doubt. These hindrances all block goodness entirely — we cannot do good when the mind is scattered or so drowsy it has no energy left. We must therefore keep knowing, to draw in pure energy that cleanses these defiling stains.

Constant, Unlapsing Awareness: Focused Attention Word by Word

He teaches that our knowing must be directed at abandoning both joy and sorrow entirely. When stains press and constrict us with dissatisfaction, suffering arises, and we must be able to endure it, without letting joy or sorrow intrude. Recite "Sammā Arahaṃ" one syllable at a time, focusing and reflecting on each syllable, not dwelling on the syllable just passed, staying only with the newest, freshest syllable each moment. Remain still, letting the mind grow ever finer.

The Sphere of Knowing Arises, and the Triple Gem Shines Bright

When the sphere of knowing arises, the sphere of not-knowing — ignorance — falls away. The sphere of knowing, being the sphere of mindfulness, becomes the ruler of the mind, drawing pure energy into the center of its own brightness. Each sphere of merit contains pure, sacred elements of Dhamma, possessing power and potency capable of dissolving suffering, sorrow, misfortune, and every kind of karmic result. Nothing else can cleanse these stains — only merit can.

Dedicating Merit and Radiating Loving-Kindness

As the stream of merit pours continuously through the center of the sphere of knowing's brightness, he has us dedicate this merit to our ancestors — recalling our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and the teachers who have shown us kindness, together with the guardian spirits who help and support us, and all beings we may have wronged, our karmic counterparties, asking for mutual forgiveness so that all may share equally in this merit. He then leads an aspiration of goodwill for the world and all beings, including our own body and mind, that all may be free from suffering and share happiness equally. He has us expand this loving-kindness-filled heart outward — 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 the special quality of loving-kindness that dissolves resentment and irritation from the heart. From there it expands further still, across the countless stars and galaxies of the boundless cosmos, resting the mind at the center of the Triple Gem and nibbāna.

Closing Aspiration

In closing, Phra Ajarn leads an aspiration for success along our entire path of building perfections, 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.