Someone asked, referencing the Jataka story of Suvanna Sama -- who used the power of truthful speech to have the poison of an arrow withdrawn -- whether they had correctly applied the same principle: making a vow grounded in the merit of keeping the eight precepts before ordaining, and the merit of ordination, to ask that a recurring pain in the back during meditation retreats go away.

An Aspiration Needs Sincerity or Faith as Its Foundation Any aspiration we set must be grounded in truth or sincerity -- sacca -- and the ultimate expression of sincerity is nibbana itself. When we set an aspiration grounded in that truth, in the wholesome system, or by invoking the Triple Gem, the aspiration can succeed. It's like an athlete aiming to break an Olympic record: it takes wisdom to understand the challenge and the rules, effort (viriya) to train repeatedly, and when effort reaches its limit, patience (khanti) is needed -- and when even patience reaches its limit, it takes deep sincerity to push past that final barrier.

The moment we set an aspiration with this kind of sincerity, the Triple Gem shines forth at our center, because the Triple Gem is universal -- present within every human being and living creature already. When that sincerity arises, we become a vessel resting within the presence of countless nibbana Buddhas, and so whatever we aspire to can succeed. There should be no room for doubt about the Triple Gem at all.

Sincerity Is a Universal Foundation, Not Confined to Any One Faith Even at temples, people commonly go to pay respects and make requests -- and this holds across faiths, whether Islam or Hinduism: people set their aspirations toward whatever they hold sacred, grounded in faith and sincerity, and that aspiration can succeed too. When the merit behind it is strong enough, success comes easily -- like planting bean sprouts that yield in three days, a mango tree that takes five years, or a teak tree that takes a hundred. It depends on how large the aspiration is. If the merit isn't yet enough, the "emperor" at the center of our sphere of merit gathers newly arising merit to build it up to sufficiency. So we should make our aspiration often, with faith in what we hold sacred -- and even though we can't see the Triple Gem with physical eyes, it remains, always, the embodiment of truth, faith, sincerity, and the wholesome system itself.

The Five Hindrances Can Arise at Any Time, in Any Order The five hindrances -- sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt -- can arise at any point during practice, not necessarily in sequence; it depends entirely on the situation. If we're unaccustomed to the practice, drowsiness comes easily -- like someone who's never done housework getting exhausted, and sleepy, after mopping a floor for the first time. If the issue at hand touches on something displeasing, ill will arises; if it touches on something pleasurable, sensual desire arises. Where neither applies, we simply alternate between drowsiness and restlessness. Doubt arises when we're unsure which method to use -- like trying to start a fire by friction and doubting, before the wood even warms up, whether it's too damp, or digging a well and doubting, before reaching water, whether there's any water there at all. All of these hindrances arise from defilement, which the unwholesome side uses as its tool of disruption -- without defilement, there would be no hindrance at all. We can dissolve them by maintaining continuous awareness, eyes open or closed, letting that sphere of awareness -- mindfulness -- draw in pure energy to cleanse the defilement. Where defilement is heavy, the hindrance causes real suffering; where it's moderate, only irritation; where it's light, barely a disturbance at all.

Overcoming Resentment by Recognizing Its True Root Someone then asked how to deal with resentment that keeps resurfacing toward a particular person -- sometimes loving-kindness practice helps, sometimes it doesn't.

Pra Ajarn explained that we need to trace it back to its true source: the unwholesome side possessing the mind and pointing to an issue, layering the image, voice, or feeling of someone we've resented before onto our mind, pressuring us into displeasure again and again. What the unwholesome side fears most is our recognizing that it's the one behind this -- so it works hard to stay hidden, forcing feelings onto us that we mistake for our own thoughts. Without tracing it back to the root, resolving it is difficult. But if we point directly at that inner core and recognize -- this is the unwholesome side guiding me, not my own thought -- and then practice loving-kindness afterward, the resentment dissolves and clears from the mind, because there's no longer an instigator stirring it up; the wholesome system then steps in to clear the remaining defilement. As long as the root goes unrecognized, that instigator keeps working at us constantly, whether we're alone or with others -- and if we keep accepting its prompts, irritation builds into resentment, and resentment can develop into a grudge carried across lifetimes.