พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์สอนว่าทุกคำบริกรรมภาวนา "สัมมาอะระหัง" คือปัจจุบันใหม่ที่สดอยู่เสมอ ไม่ยึดติดแม้กับคำที่เพิ่งภาวนาผ่านไป เพราะการใส่ใจอดีตแม้เพียงอดีตอันใกล้ก็ทำให้เราถูกจองจำ อยู่ในมิติของอกุศล การดำรงอยู่กับทุกๆ ปัจจุบันใหม่คือหนทางแห่งความหลุดพ้น พร้อมนำเข้าสู่การนั่งสมาธิเต็มรูปแบบPhra Ajarn Suraphong teaches that every recitation of "Sammā Arahaṃ" is a brand-new present moment — never clinging even to the syllable that has just passed. Attending to the past, even the very recent past, imprisons us in the dimension of the unwholesome; resting in each new present is the path to freedom, before he leads a full guided sit.
Half-Closing the Eyes Before Fully Closing Them: Clearing the Stains First
Phra Ajarn Suraphong opens with a recommendation from Luang Phor: before entering the inner dimension, first half-close the eyes (prue-ta) to clear away the stains. Otherwise, the moment we shut our eyes fully, side will already have the dimension of grogginess, confusion, and drowsiness waiting to ambush us inside. In that in-between state — not yet inward, not fully outward — we half-close the eyes and keep determining awareness, unlapsing, on the recitation and visualization: "Sammā Arahaṃ, Sammā Arahaṃ," reciting syllable by syllable, continuously.
Resting on the Last Syllable: Do Not Attend to What Has Just Passed
This is the heart of this teaching. He teaches us to focus syllable by syllable, resting on the very last syllable — the present one — "Sammā Arahaṃ, Sammā Arahaṃ" — without attending to the syllable that has just passed, even if it was only one syllable ago. If we attend to what has passed, we become imprisoned in the dimension of the past. It is precisely this refusal to attend to what has passed that frees us from imprisonment in the past, keeping us always with the freshest information.
Every Recitation Is a New Present, Carrying Us Toward Ever Subtler Dimensions
He continues: when we attend to every present moment, without minding what has just gone by, we abide in a state of continual freedom, always dwelling in the very latest dimension, entering ever subtler dimensions one after another. Meditation practice is learning to abide with the state that is truly present. This teaching frees us, again and again; the unwholesome and cannot imprison us, as long as we keep resting on one new present after another.
The Difference Between a Practitioner and an Ordinary Person
He points out that even when ordinary people claim to be "living in the present," their present has, in truth, already become the past — a recent past that still holds them bound to activities that are, all of them, already past. They are never able to truly abide in a new present. This is the crucial difference between a practitioner and an ordinary person: meditation practice means abiding in every present moment as ever fresh, not merely "being present" in the ordinary sense of the term.
Three Things We Can Perceive in Every Present Moment: The Recitation, the Visualized Image, and the Arising State
He teaches that besides abiding in every new present, there are only three states of we can perceive moment to moment: the sound of the recitation, the image arising from visualization, and whatever state of mind appears. If we're not yet used to holding all three, we can start with just one — the visualization, or the recitation "Sammā Arahaṃ" — and stay fixed to that recitation in every present moment, continuously.
The Sphere of Knowing Arises, Ignorance Falls Away, and the Stream of Merit Flows In Continuously
As we keep determining awareness in every present moment, the sphere of knowing arises, and the sphere of not-knowing — — falls away. This arisen sphere of knowing draws in the pure energy called merit, letting it flow continuously into the center of its own brightness — like dipping a straw into water and blowing, producing a steady stream of bubbles, becoming a continuous stream of merit within that brightness. Within the sphere of merit itself, streams of fortune arise and flow through us continuously. It is this subtle wealth that draws the coarser fortune of the ordinary world toward us.
Merit Ever New, Ever Purer: Each Present Moment Opens a Subtler Source of Energy
He teaches that in every new present moment, we receive energy that is newer than before, each time — purer than in every micro-moment that has passed. We reach a new source of energy, new subtle wealth, and an ever subtler blueprint for success. As we train ourselves this way, the empowered ones descend to refine and adjust the elements of Dhamma within us, making them cleaner and purer, guiding and instructing us as each occasion calls for it. Our only task is to keep determining awareness, training ourselves to stay unlapsing, resting on every present moment.
Dedicating Merit to Ancestors and Karmic Counterparties
He has us dedicate this merit to our ancestors whom we recall, along with our parents, relatives, and the teachers who have shown us kindness, together with the guardian spirits who protect 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.
Radiating Loving-Kindness: Recalling the Heart of a Mother Toward Her Child
He continues: for the cultivation of , Luang Pu taught us to draw upon the heart of a mother who wishes well for her young child, setting up that heart within us, because it is a mind of loving-kindness of the very finest quality. From there, he has us extend it to all beings: may those with much suffering have less, those with little suffering have none, those with little have more, and those with much happiness have ever more.
Expanding Loving-Kindness Across the World and the Cosmos
Once that aspiration is complete, he has us expand this loving-kindness-filled heart to cover our own home, spreading across village, district, province, Thailand, neighboring countries, 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 there it expands further still, across the countless stars and galaxies of the boundless cosmos. He offers the example of the Buddha-to-be in a past life, who cultivated loving-kindness continuously until he was born a great Brahmā enjoying bliss in the Brahmā world, and later was born a universal monarch ruling the earth — the fruit of benefiting the world and the cosmos through loving-kindness.
Closing Aspiration
In closing, Phra Ajarn leads an aspiration for success to be established in us, 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 of ; 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, life after life.