Three Natures Compete for Our Energy

Phra Ajarn Suraphong opens by explaining that Dhamma practice is essential for every life, because our lives are governed by three natures, each striving to become the ruler of our heart. Once one gains that seat, it forces the body to act according to its own agenda. The unwholesome side craves the energy called sin, a defiling force, to drive its own machinery — creating suffering and harm. The neutral side, while not directly harmful, squanders our precious time and resources pointlessly, yielding no benefit now or in the future. We therefore need to practice so that the wholesome system can take its seat as ruler of the heart, guiding us to build merit and perfections.

The Body's Built-In Tools: The Spheres of Dharma, Precept, Concentration, Wisdom, and Release

He teaches that our bodies already contain useful tools: the sphere of dharma, of precepts, of concentration, of wisdom, of release, and of the knowledge-and-vision of release, all residing at the body's center. Even though we cannot see them, we can still use them — like a blind person who cannot see a house, a bed, money, or gold, yet can still use money, gold, and food. Aligning ourselves with the wholesome system is likewise simple — it only requires cultivating right mindfulness.

The Buddha's Teaching: Know Body, Feeling, Mind, and Dharma to End Craving and Grief

He cites the Buddha's recorded teaching to the monks: that they should clearly know body, feeling, mind, and dharma, in order to end the world's covetousness and grief (abhijjhā and domanassa). We must all be aware and take note — there is no way around it — because if we do not direct our own awareness, some other force will direct it for us, for its own benefit rather than ours. What we should be aware of is sati: recollection, remembering, being present in body. Let the sphere of knowing stay anchored to our meditation object so that it can arise, while the sphere of not-knowing — ignorance — falls away.

When Defilement Is Heavy, We Need Patience and Fortitude

He explains that abhijjhā and domanassa are elation and dejection — a practitioner should have neither. When meditation brings a good experience, we should not be elated; when it brings a poor one, we should not be dejected. Good experiences arise because defilement happens to be light at that moment, allowing the wholesome side to correct things well. But when defilement is heavy, the wholesome energy may not be enough to purify it — "a little water cannot put out a fire" — so we must simply endure. If irritation or dissatisfaction creeps in, the unwholesome side seizes the opening to stir us up, whispering that sitting achieves nothing, that we should switch methods or give up. We need patience (khanti); with patience comes fortitude (tapa), which protects us from being overwhelmed. Some days defilement is heavy and we must endure more; other days it is light and easier. The more we practice, the easier it becomes.

Present Results Are Only 10 Percent: Khun Yai's Teaching

He teaches that beyond the lightening of life's hardships, refined treasures also arise, bringing satisfying returns in business. But turning life completely around — from bad to good — requires great merit; the small merit made in the present alone cannot flip a life around. It takes both old and new merit. As Khun Yai once said, the results of what we do now account for only around 10 percent; the rest is stored up as merit that will bear fruit in the future. Old merit is the true foundation of our life, and for now we simply need to dwell in contentment with what we have and who we are.

Contentment: Being Satisfied with What We Have While Life Gradually Improves

Everyone wants to be wealthy, but almost everyone starts from small wants first — just as schooling moves step by step from kindergarten through each grade. As long as we are satisfied with what we have and what we are, that is enough for now. Eating three meals is enough even if we could afford more; sleeping once a night is enough. Having a car and phone is good; not having a car, we can take a taxi. Being content lets life become sufficient, and in time our old merit — set on our life's timeline — will ripen on its own, unfolding step by step, automatically. Our task is simply to keep doing good to build a better future.

DNA and the Sphere of Dharma: The Blueprint Set on Our Life's Timeline from Day One

He teaches that our present was programmed from the very first day we transitioned from the subtle human form into this life; the program was completely set at that moment. It appears both in the genes of our DNA on the coarse level, and as the sphere of dharma on the subtle level — both fixed on the timeline of our life. We must accept what we currently have and are, and steadily do good for a better future, both in this life and the next. We rely on pure energy to purify every hardship and difficulty in our lives, making things easier to a degree we can bear. Practicing to draw in pure energy to purify defilement is the easiest and most direct method there is.

Counting "Samma Arahang" as a Gauge of Concentration Strength

Meditation practice is not difficult — simply stay with a familiar meditation object, or if not yet skilled, recite "Samma Arahang" repeatedly: Samma Arahang 1, Samma Arahang 2, Samma Arahang 3, and so on. If we lose count, we simply start again from 1 — no need to keep score. We only need the sphere of knowing to stay anchored. This counting reveals how much concentration we truly have. Some who have practiced for years still lose count after only 15 or 16 repetitions. Knowing this, we can apply ourselves more. Without counting, we might remain stuck at the same point for ten years without realizing it. Having a measure allows for improvement; without one, we simply keep doing the same thing indefinitely.

Our Role: To Stay Aware and Keep the Sphere of Knowing Steady

Every time we maintain awareness, the sphere of knowing arises, and the sphere of not-knowing — ignorance — falls away. This sphere draws in the pure energy called merit, flowing into the center of its own brightness. It is this pure energy itself that purifies defilement, not us directly. Our only role is to maintain awareness and keep the sphere of knowing steady and unbroken. The sphere of knowing's role is to draw in pure energy, and that pure energy's role is to purify defilement. Each part has its own function; we need only fulfill our own part well, and everything else follows.

The Sphere of Merit Contains Refined Treasures: The Story of the Engineer Who Asked Khun Yai

Every time we maintain awareness, the sphere of knowing arises and draws in pure energy — like dipping a coffee straw into water and blowing, producing a continuous stream of bubbles. Within each sphere of merit lies pure, sacred dharma-elements of great power, able to dispel hardship, karmic results, demonic obstruction, sacred sin, and every kind of calamity and hindrance. Within the sphere of merit also lies physical wealth, material wealth, virtuous qualities, retinue, honor, praise, happiness, the path and fruit of nibbāna, and the knowledge of the Dhamma body — all complete within it. When merit flows through us, these refined treasures flow through us too, and it is these refined treasures that draw coarse, worldly wealth to us. He recounts that an engineer once asked Khun Yai how to earn a great deal of money; she advised him to accumulate abundant refined treasures, which would draw coarse wealth in on their own — treasures obtainable through virtuous deeds, including Dhamma practice.

The Triple Gem Appears Within: The Stream of Merit Flows On

All dharma — wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral — can only arise in one place: the heart. When bright, pure, wholesome dharma arises there, the heart itself becomes bright and pure; when unwholesome dharma arises, the heart turns dark and defiled. When the sphere of mindfulness — the sphere of knowing — arises, this means the Dharma Jewel appears bright within us. Sustaining mindfulness continuously brings forth the Sangha Jewel within the Dharma Jewel, while the Buddha Jewel already oversees the whole wholesome system. At this moment, the Triple Gem shines within us, and we shine within it. The Triple Gem is like a local relay station present in every being; the central station is nibbāna itself. As the local station lights up, we appear bright within nibbāna, and the stream of merit continuously bubbles up through our center at all times. Nibbāna then multiplies the merit we have drawn in, helping refine our elements of seeing, remembering, thinking, knowing, earth, water, wind, fire, and the space and consciousness elements, making them ever brighter. Beyond that, the merit flowing through is stored within the sphere of dharma of each body, to be used as provisions in whatever realm we are next born into.

Recitation Paired with Visualization: The Crystal Buddha Image Merges as One With Us

Luang Phu once said that verbal recitation and mental visualization are a pair. When we recite "Samma Arahang" — the name of the subtle Arahant Dhamma body — the very act of naming causes that state to appear within us. Even if we cannot see it with the physical eye, we rely on a mental image at first: recalling a Buddha image we are familiar with, and it settles and dwells with us. With every recitation, the Buddha image arises and merges, layer upon layer, becoming one with us. Our head becomes the crystalline sphere of the Dhamma body; our forehead, eyes, lips, neck, shoulders, arms, chest, abdomen, back, hips, thighs, knees, shins, and feet all become the crystal-clear, pure Dhamma body. We are the Buddha image; the Buddha image is us.

Dedicating Merit to Ancestors and Karmic Counterparties

As the stream of merit continues bubbling through us without pause, we dedicate this merit to our ancestors — recalling our relatives, our parents, grandparents, and departed kin, along with our teachers and benefactors, the devas who help and support us, our caretakers and guardians, and all beings we may have wronged, our karmic counterparties — asking that we forgive one another and share equally in this merit.

Radiating Loving-Kindness Across the World and the Cosmos

We then generate goodwill for the world and all beings. Luang Phu taught us to draw on the heart of a mother's love for her child, letting that heart arise, then extending it to the world and all beings: may those with much suffering have less, those with little have none, those with little happiness have more, and those with much have ever more. We expand this loving-kindness-filled heart to cover our home, our village, district, province, Thailand, neighboring countries, and the whole world, until it becomes a radiant crystal sphere — reaching the heavenly beings, the Brahma realms, and even beings in hell, as hungry ghosts, and as animals — and further still, across the countless stars and galaxies of the boundless cosmos. Whoever benefits the world and the cosmos may in turn make use of the treasures of the world and cosmos, as the Bodhisatta of old did, practicing loving-kindness continuously until the end of his life, becoming a Great Brahma, then later a universal monarch ruling the four continents.

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 knowledge of the Dhamma body; 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.