พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าสมบัติเป็นของกลางโลกที่ผู้มีบุญเท่านั้นจึงดึงดูดมาครอบครองได้ ผ่านกระบวนการของดวงบุญและจักรพรรดิภายใน พร้อมชี้ให้เห็นความจำเป็นในการสั่งสมบุญตั้งแต่ชาตินี้ เพื่อความพร้อมสมบูรณ์ในภพชาติเบื้องหน้าPra Ajarn explains that wealth belongs to the world at large, and only merit can draw it in and hold it, through the workings of one's own sphere of merit and the inner 'emperor' that manages it — and points to the need to build merit starting in this life, to be fully ready for the age to come.
Someone asked: wealth belongs to the world; whoever has merit gets to hold it, and if merit fades, wealth scatters, and if merit runs out, wealth disappears entirely. So how does one come to have merit — it can't simply fall into your lap out of nowhere.
Merit Must Be Built — It Doesn't Simply Fall From the Sky
Wealth belongs to the world at large; whoever holds merit gets to possess it. If merit fades, wealth scatters; if merit runs out entirely, that wealth vanishes. Merit is therefore never something that just falls on you out of nowhere — it has to be made, built up within ourselves. When we have merit, that merit draws in a stream of assets, and that stream draws wealth to us. But if our merit fades, if our generosity and store of good karma weaken, wealth scatters and disappears again — or when we run into a karmic adversary who talks their way into deceiving us, that too can draw our wealth away.
Everyone's Wealth Differs, Because Merit and Sin Shape It
We're born with wealth of both kinds — the elemental and the -based, both tangible and intangible. "Wealth" (sombat) means having value, benefit, and worth; "assets" (sap) means something that brings delight. What is truly ours is our own body and mind — our physical endowment. Each person's physical endowment differs, and is pleasing to different degrees, because what shapes it is merit and sin — the three natures. Whoever carries a greater share of shapes a more beautiful, more good-hearted result — inborn intelligence, good IQ and EQ alike. Whoever carries a greater share of finds it working to distort and disfigure, shaping a harsh, unlovely temperament. Physical form, wealth, and good qualities are partly inborn talent, and partly built afterward — through education, through work — and each person's results differ. All of it is shaped by merit and sin alike.
The 'Emperor' Within the Sphere of Merit — the Manager Who Draws Wealth to Us
Merit is what draws everything into place according to our , sending out a current that moves the hearts of people around us to feel favorably toward us, to step in and help, guide, and look after us — through the working of an "emperor" figure at the center of our sphere of merit, our personal manager, who guides us toward the people who have what it takes to help us. Even without our knowing it, this emperor within our sphere of merit knows, and steers us to say the right thing at the right time. Sin, meanwhile, works to block us from meeting the people who could help, or steers us to say things that make others resent us instead. All of this depends on which side — wholesome or unwholesome — holds more power. When sin holds greater power, life becomes difficult to advance, because sin sends out a current that draws in karmic adversaries to create trouble and suffering.
Merit and Sin Work Constantly — Building New Blueprints and Settling Old Debts
Merit and sin work at all times in two ways: one part competes to create new activity, drawing in pure energy along with refined assets and blueprints of success; the other part settles the results of karma already set in motion — like a time bomb going off on its own schedule. When the time comes for merit to bear fruit, it sends out a current drawing in the needed elements, step by step, until the intended goal is reached. Wealth belongs to the world; how much of it we can draw to ourselves depends on the amount of refined assets stored within our own sphere of merit.
Merit Arises From Faith, and Can Be Built in Many Ways
Merit can only arise on a foundation of faith — without faith, it cannot be built, just as investing in a business requires believing it will yield a return before you dare commit. There are many paths to merit: giving, precepts, meditation, helping and supporting others, dedicating merit to others, listening to and discussing the Dhamma, and cultivating right view in line with reality. All of these open the door for the wholesome side to take hold — whether through practiced with eyes open, or concentration practiced with eyes closed.
The Sphere of Merit, Refined Assets, and the Stream of Wealth
When the wholesome side takes hold, it draws in the pure energy called merit, together with refined assets. Each sphere of merit carries a pure, sacred nature with the power both to resolve problems caused by defilement and to bring life to flourish. Merit is therefore also called . The refined assets, held within the brightness at the center of the sphere of merit, include physical form, wealth, good qualities, followers, and honor, fame, and praise — all complete within it. It's like dipping a straw in water and blowing air through it — bubbles rise continuously. When merit pours through the center of our being continuously, in countless uncountable spheres, it forms a stream of merit, which becomes a "stream of wealth." All of this is stored at the center of the Dhamma sphere of each body, ready to be used in whatever realm we're reborn into.
When Merit Fades, Wealth Is Easily Lost
When merit fades — when generosity and accumulated goodness weaken — it means the unwholesome or the neutral-unwholesome force holds greater power, and won't allow us the chance to build merit through giving or other wholesome acts. There isn't enough strength of merit left to protect our wealth; both earning wealth and keeping what we have depend on the strength of merit. When sin holds greater power, it leads us to use our wealth in ways that bring suffering upon ourselves; if it's the neutral-unwholesome force instead, it leads us to squander our wealth carelessly with no benefit at all. When we run into a karmic adversary who swindles us out of our money, that's karma being released on its own schedule — sin sends out a current drawing that adversary to meet us, working both from the outside, through persuasive words, and from within, through a mind stirred into confusion. If we abide in wholesome , the loss is lessened; if we abide within the unwholesome system, the loss grows worse.
Why We Must Build Merit Early, to Be Ready for the Age to Come
Pra Ajarn added, drawing on a teaching from Luang Phor, that right now we are designing our life for the age to come — an era in which human beings will live as long as 80,000 years. Whatever is incomplete in us, whatever obstructs our building of merit — flaws of character or anything else — should be corrected now, in this life. Left unaddressed, this karma will follow us into that next life, which stretches on for tens of thousands of years, and our suffering will stretch on just as long.
Human life is governed at all times by the three natures. From the moment we open our eyes each morning, we're caught up in sights, tastes, smells, sounds, and touch, as the three natures take turns controlling our mind and body. Once they control the mind, they control the body — the unwholesome side leads us to use our wealth in ways that bring ourselves and others suffering, while the neutral-unwholesome side leads us to spend our time and wealth carelessly on entertainment with no benefit at all — even as we believe we wanted those things ourselves, when in truth something else is steering us the whole time.
In the life to come, in the era of the future Buddha Metteyya, everyone born in that age will be a person of merit — especially those who have accumulated merit over a very long time until it is complete and overflowing. When that merit has fully ripened, the wholesome side gains full power to inspire faith. Those who have built up abundant merit will be born with complete physical form, wealth, and good qualities, born into high families, gifted with sharp intelligence — and when they hear news that the Buddha has attained enlightenment, they will feel overwhelming joy and faith, and set out at once to seek him.
By contrast, those who built little merit will be born into that age lacking in every respect — physical form, wealth, good qualities — forced to live in hardship for tens of thousands of years. The suffering and resentment built up over so long will lead to repeated wrong thought, wrong speech, and wrong action, hardening into wrong view. Even meeting the Buddha in person might not spark faith or reverence — becoming a harm rather than a blessing. For this reason, we must build merit abundantly starting in this very life — through giving, precepts, meditation, listening to and discussing the Dhamma, and cultivating right view — both with eyes open, through mindfulness, and eyes closed, through concentration — so that the pure energy of merit, together with refined assets, flows in continuously. Otherwise, when the time comes for our community to be reborn to receive merit alongside the Buddha, we will arrive with insufficient strength of merit, and face hardship for tens of thousands of years.