พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าบุญกฐินเป็นบุญประจำปีพิเศษที่พระสัมมาสัมพุทธเจ้าทรงอนุญาตไว้ อาศัยเรื่องมหาทุคตะและทะเลบุญศักดิ์สิทธิ์ที่ผู้เข้าถึงวิชชาธรรมกายนำมาช่วยรื้อผังจน พร้อมยกตัวอย่างชีวิตจริงที่เปลี่ยนแปลงได้ด้วยศรัทธาและบุญกฐินPra Ajarn explains that the annual kathina-robe offering is a special merit permitted by the Buddha, tracing back to the story of Mahathukata, and describes how those who have attained Dhammakaya draw on a 'sacred sea of merit' to help lay people break patterns of poverty — illustrated with real accounts of lives transformed through faith and the kathina merit.
Someone asked: why did Luang Phor say that the kathina-robe offering is a special merit that can "break the pattern of poverty"?
Kathina: An Annual Merit Different from Ordinary Sanghadana
In Buddhism, besides offering sanghadana — such as offering cloth (pa pa), which is itself a kind of sanghadana that can be made at any time — there is another merit-making occasion that comes only once a year: the kathina-robe offering. This is a merit the Buddha himself designated to be offered to the Sangha only once a year, after the monks complete the three-month rains retreat (vassa). It has existed since the earliest days of Buddhism and is recorded in the Tipitaka.
The Story of Mahathukata: A Blueprint for Breaking Poverty
The Tipitaka tells the story of Mahathukata, who wished to break the pattern of his poverty. Owning only a single piece of cloth to wear, he took it off, washed it clean, and traded it for a needle to offer as part of the kathina requisites. Onlookers laughed at him, so he declared, "You can only laugh at me in this one lifetime. From now on, I will never be poor again." This became a blueprint for success set down since the earliest era of Buddhism — once a year, a great merit capable of resolving whatever needs resolving, whether the path and fruit of nibbana or the breaking of poverty's pattern.
The Sacred Sea of Merit That Those Who Attain Dhammakaya Bring to the World
Those who attain the kaya — such as our grandmaster (Luang Pu), Luang Phor, and the teaching masters who practice it — pass through via the spheres of morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and knowledge-and-vision of liberation, through each subtler body — the celestial bodies, the brahma and formless-brahma bodies, , and the bodies of stream-entry, once-return, non-return, up to arahantship — refining further and further until reaching nibbana itself, where they attain the sacred sea of merit. Anyone who reaches it naturally wishes to bring that merit to benefit the world, so they petition every Buddha for permission. Once it is determined that doing so brings no harm to the Buddhist religion or to the world, no one objects. Returning to the human realm, they then invite lay followers to join in making kathina merit — sometimes to build a school for monks studying the scriptures.
Pra Ajarn compared it to leading lay followers to stand in a row before this sea of merit, each given a can to scoop with — how much each person draws out depends on their own faith. Greater faith brings greater merit; lesser faith, less. Faith is therefore something we must keep reinforcing — by staying focused on the Triple Gem every day: chanting and paying respects each morning, and keeping the mind with the Triple Gem, nibbana, and our teachers in whatever we do.
An Example: The Nun Who Saw the Fruit of Kathina Merit in a Heavenly Mansion
Pra Ajarn recalled that when he was ordained at Wat Paknam, he knew an elderly nun. She told him that she had gone to heaven and seen an extraordinarily beautiful mansion there. When she asked the owner of the mansion what merit had earned it, she was told that the owner had once helped fund a kathina offering and the building of a sermon hall. When she returned, she shared this story with others, wishing that she too might one day have such a beautiful mansion.
An Example: A Life Transformed by Kathina Merit and Faith
Pra Ajarn told the story of a student of his who had graduated and been working for a couple of years, earning a salary of around 20,000-odd baht. She asked Pra Ajarn what his own salary had been at his last job before ordaining, and he told her it was over 100,000 baht (some thirty years ago). She said she wanted a salary like that too, so Pra Ajarn suggested she try, as an experiment, giving everything she had to a kathina offering — emptying her account completely. Ordinary merit-making rarely changes one's fortune so dramatically, he explained, but while it's hard for a wealthy person to give away everything, it's easier for someone who doesn't yet have much.
She tried it. Not long after the kathina offering — about two months later — she received notice that she had lost her job. Before long, though, she found a new one, this time earning 50,000 baht. Later, she emptied her account again for another offering, and her next job paid 70,000 baht. She kept working until the heavy workload wore her down, so she looked for something lighter at the same pay, emptying her account once more for merit. This time she was approached about a different kind of work, which she did for several years until her health improved. She then thought of returning to her original line of work, emptied her account again, applied, and was offered 90,000 baht. Most recently, she changed jobs once more and now earns 120,000 baht.
Pra Ajarn said this shows the power of the temple's great merit — though what each person receives depends on their own faith. This student still volunteers at the temple every Sunday, continually nurturing her faith, because faith matters enormously. Whatever good we set out to do must rest on a foundation of faith; otherwise, though the same merit is available to all, what each person actually receives will differ, because their faith differs.