พระอาจารย์อธิบายคำสอนของคุณยายว่าการเข้าใจผู้อื่นต้องเริ่มจากการมองเข้าไปในใจตนเอง เพราะปัญหาทั้งปวงมีต้นเหตุจากธรรมชาติ 3 ฝ่ายที่ชิงช่วงบงการใจเราอยู่ตลอดเวลา เมื่อเข้าใจกลไกนี้แล้ว เราจะแก้ปัญหาด้วยใจที่สงบเยือกเย็นแทนการโทษผู้อื่นPra Ajarn explains Khun Yai's teaching that understanding others begins with looking deeply within — because all problems originate from three natural forces constantly competing to control our minds. Understanding this mechanism lets us resolve problems with a cool, composed mind instead of blaming others.
Someone asked: why does Khun Yai teach that any problem must be solved from within ourselves first?
Khun Yai's Teaching: Look Within to Understand Others
Khun Yai taught, back in 1981: to understand others, we must look deeply at ourselves — into our own hearts — because the whole world exists within us. Once we see ourselves clearly, we can easily understand everyone else too. Solving problems must begin from within; trying to solve them from the outside never truly ends, because every problem and every tangle originates within us. Once we've settled things inside and become still, we can then resolve outer problems with a cool, composed mind, and everything falls into place.
What Are "Problems" and "Obstacles"?
The lives of people who don't flourish seem to have hundreds, thousands, even millions of causes — enough to leave us confused about where to even begin. But looking closely, there are really only two things holding us back: problems and obstacles. A problem is something we don't know — including not knowing that we don't know it. An obstacle is something we know is blocking us, but cannot overcome.
Tracing the Cause Behind the Cause: From Wrong View to the Three Natural Forces
Problems and obstacles seem to have countless causes, but the true root cause is usually hidden, because what we identify is rarely the actual root — there's always a cause behind the cause. When people quarrel, we blame each other back and forth. Understand a little more, and we see defilement and craving behind it. Deeper still is wrong view, and deeper still is () — rooted in and indeterminate natural forces. We need to trace things all the way to the root, or we'll go on quarreling forever. That root is the three natural forces — (), the unwholesome (), and (avyakata) — constantly competing to occupy our minds, down to increments finer than a fraction of a second.
The Hidden Mechanism: The "Simulated Realm" and Its Director
Whichever force seizes the mind first becomes its master, controlling us — pulling data from memory and assembling it into a "simulated realm" that fits the present situation, complete with the mental states and factors that match. This gets carried out through our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body, making us play a role exactly as scripted — like an actor delivering lines and gestures on cue — all in order to draw in the energy called merit or demerit. Sustaining that role requires concentration: if the moment is wholesome, wrong concentration if it's unwholesome.
Completed Spheres of Merit and Demerit
When the "performance" concludes, it leaves behind a completed pattern — a finished sphere of merit or demerit — made up of three parts: energy, and the resulting fortune or misfortune, shaped by the nature of that activity. All of this is directed with a purpose.
Understanding the Mechanism Brings Compassion, Not Anger
Once we understand how this works within us, we realize others operate exactly the same way — and so we come to feel compassion for people rather than anger, because all beings are being driven by these forces. Behind every behavior someone displays, there is a director at work. In that moment, they are under pressure, unable to control themselves — even knowing right from wrong, they cannot act otherwise, because they are entirely under this control.
Why Everyone's Virtue, Concentration, and Wisdom Differ
This is why no one becomes an arahant all at once — growth happens gradually, resolving one issue at a time. Each person therefore has a different level of sila (their own baseline of normalcy), a different depth of samadhi (their inner foundation), and different wisdom and understanding. All we can do is teach each person sila, samadhi, and panna to the extent they're able to receive it.
The Five Faculties: The Key to Self-Mastery
True self-mastery requires the five spiritual faculties: , faith, wisdom, concentration, and effort. With all five present, we can govern ourselves and keep the unwholesome and indeterminate forces from taking over. Once we understand what's happening within ourselves, we understand others too — and see that those who haven't yet gained this self-mastery deserve compassion, like someone sick in body and mind.
Why Solving External Problems Never Truly Ends
Someone then asked: why does solving external, everyday problems seem to never end? Pra Ajarn explained: because we are locked in by our own inner defilements, which draw in circumstances and people matching the pattern of whatever demerit is currently ripening — influencing those around us to act in ways consistent with that pattern. We then blame them for behaving that way, without realizing they too are simply components being driven, just as we are. When friction occurs, the unwholesome energy in each side amplifies small matters into large ones, past the point of forgiveness — because the ripening demerit behaves like a time bomb, aiming precisely to keep things unresolved: wanting "interest," wanting things to escalate rather than end simply. Not understanding this, people refuse to accept the situation as it is and let it end easily — instead fighting to win at all costs, which brings turmoil not only in this life but carries consequences into future lives as well.
Solving Problems Requires Seeking Out Those Who Know
To resolve a problem, we must abide in — only then can the wholesome system step in, and those with and power guide us. A problem is, by definition, something we don't know, so solving it means turning to someone who knows, rather than racking our own brains. Those who know exist both outside us and within — nowadays, an outer "knower" might simply be a Google search, say, for how to change a tire. But whatever an outer knower cannot answer, we must turn to the knower within.
Reaching the Inner Knower Requires a Foundation
Connecting with the inner knower requires two foundations: wisdom born of listening and learning (suya-panna), and wisdom born of reflection (cintamaya-panna). We must study and reflect until understanding crystallizes into just a few essential key points — these become the key that unlocks the door to the inner knower, who can then build further knowledge on that crystallized foundation. Without that crystallization, no new understanding can be transmitted.
Learning Dhamma Means Entering the Inner World of the Mind
Learning differs from other kinds of learning, because the mind is the only place where dhamma — wholesome, unwholesome, or indeterminate — can arise; nowhere else. To learn dhamma, then, we must turn inward, into the world within the mind, or else our knowledge stays at the level of textbooks, understood only superficially. Entering within requires established mindfulness to clear away , and to know exactly what's present in each moment. This calls for sustained, refined attention to connect with the inner knower, who then purifies the obscuring defilements so knowledge can be transmitted — while the hindrances constantly try to disrupt that connection. This is why practice comes first, as the foundation for : because what disturbs the connection is precisely the hindrances.
Understanding Only Superficially Makes Practice Hard — Faith Sustains Us
Someone added that these teachings are so profound that, without careful reflection, they're hard to grasp — and even once understood, hard to put into practice. Pra Ajarn agreed: without deep reflection, understanding stays superficial, and practice built on shallow understanding rarely holds. This is why faith in Khun Yai matters so much, to keep us practicing even before results appear. And when results are slow to show, the unwholesome side will whisper doubts, nagging at us constantly through every daily task, trying to shake our confidence in the teaching.
Practicing Right Mindfulness Until It Becomes Automatic
We therefore need to abide in right mindfulness, staying with our meditation object continuously, without lapse, so the unwholesome side has no opening to slip in. We keep at it until it becomes automatic — until the wholesome system within can run on its own, continuously. At that point, the turmoil in our lives gradually fades, and all that remains is to keep watch, making sure that automatic system keeps running for the rest of our life.