พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าบุญที่ทำในยามยากลำบากที่สุดด้วยใจที่ยังชื่นบานไม่เสียดาย มักส่งผลเร็วและแรง เพราะตรงกับวาระที่ฝ่ายบาปหมดกำลังพอดี พร้อมยกตัวอย่างชาดกพระบรมโพธิสัตว์ที่ตั้งความปรารถนายิ่งใหญ่ในยามใกล้ตายThe teacher explains that merit made during the most extreme hardship, with a heart still joyful and free of regret, tends to ripen quickly and powerfully — because it coincides exactly with the moment the unwholesome force runs out of strength. He illustrates this with the jataka tale of the Bodhisatta making a great vow while near death at sea.
Someone asked the teacher to elaborate on a teaching that whatever is difficult to accomplish is exceptional — that merit made during genuine hardship, with a heart that remains joyful and free of regret, tends to bear fruit quickly and powerfully, almost immediately. Why is this so?
Why Merit Made in Hardship Yields Results So Quickly
The teacher explained that in times of hardship, unwholesome nature is pressing us down as far as it can — but if the mind doesn't sink along with it, remaining full of wisdom, diligence, , truthfulness, resolve, kindness toward oneself, and equanimity — the complete set of the ten perfections — that marks the very lowest point, beyond which there is nowhere lower to fall. This is precisely the moment when force's own strength runs out, and wholesome strength can rise to take its place — like a wave reaching its trough just before rising into a new one. All ten perfections converge at that moment, driving out defiling im and producing tremendous courage and inspiration. He noted that not everyone experiences this turning point; some people keep sinking lower and lower with no such reversal.
An Example: The Bodhisatta's Life as a Shipwrecked Traveler
The teacher recounted a jataka tale: in the very first life in which the Bodhisatta made his aspiration to become a fully enlightened Buddha, he was a young merchant traveling by ship, bringing his mother along on the voyage. When a great storm wrecked the ship, he clung to a plank, carrying his mother, adrift at sea for days and nights, enduring hunger, cold, exhaustion, and despair, as the crew who floated alongside him gradually sank one by one. Though his despairing mind urged him to let go of the plank and sink beneath the waves, the great being reflected that if he died, his mother would die too. He turned against that current of despair and made a tremendous vow: to become a refuge for the world and all beings, resolved to attain supreme perfect enlightenment in order to free the world from suffering. In that moment he performed no other good deed — only this sincere vow — yet a flood of merit and perfection poured forth instantly, producing astonishing strength, and the power of that merit reached even the throne of Sakka in the heavens, prompting him to send divine help.
A Case in Point: Two People Receive a Lump Sum and Use It Differently for Merit
Someone posed a hypothetical case: two people were laid off from their jobs, each receiving a severance payment of one million baht. The first donated only a tenth of it, keeping the rest to live on while job-hunting; the second donated the entire million to sponsor a robe-offering ceremony, without holding anything back. Why would two people think so differently? The teacher explained it comes down to the underlying balance — the proportion of merit-force to demerit-force each person carries at that moment. Someone able to let go of everything does so because the merit-force outweighs the demerit-force within them at that time, allowing the heart to give completely. The resulting merit for the two therefore differs entirely. Someone who gives everything without regard for the future has, in effect, entrusted their whole life to the feet of the Buddha and to Nibbana; their brighter sphere of faith draws in far greater pure energy. He noted that not everyone can act this way right away — it takes steady accumulation, brightening one's faith gradually through one's own sustained practice.