พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าธาตุวิบัติเกิดจากธาตุอันตรายภายนอกที่ผสานกับวิบากกรรมในอดีตของแต่ละคน กลายเป็นผังสำเร็จที่เก็บไว้ในดวงธรรมและถูกกำหนดมาตั้งแต่การก่อร่างของกาย ทางแก้เดียวคือการเจริญสัมมาสติสัมมาสมาธิเพื่อดำรงอยู่ในระบบกุศลธรรมPra Ajarn explains that elemental breakdown arises when dangerous outer elements combine with a person's own past unwholesome karma, forming a "blueprint of accomplishment" stored within the sphere of Dhamma and set from the moment the body first forms. The only remedy is cultivating right mindfulness and right concentration to abide within the system of wholesome dhamma.
Someone asked Pra Ajarn to expand on a teaching about the cause of elemental breakdown in the body, referencing a teacher's talk from 2011.
How Elemental Breakdown Arises
The unwholesome forces layer harmful influence from the outside inward, assembling elements dangerous to the physical body, then drawing in whatever blueprint a person has already set to form the earth, water, wind, and fire elements that will harm the coarse body. When someone has created karma matching the elements side has assembled, that person's karmic result draws these harmful elements into their own body to begin working there. Once the body receives these harmful elements, internal organs begin to malfunction, drift out of balance, and eventually produce serious illness. If a person carries residual karma from taking life — killing animals, killing people — or from sexual misconduct, that residue acts like a receiving station for harmful elements sent in from outside, producing illness or death according to the specific pattern of elements and karma each person carries.
The Blueprint of Accomplishment Forms From the Mind and Mental Factors at the Moment of Action
The three forces of nature compete for control every moment, without pause, except during sleep. Whichever force accumulates enough energy first gets to set that day's program. Every time an action is completed successfully, a "blueprint of accomplishment" belonging to that force is sealed into , together with its accompanying energy, waiting to be woven into the timeline of life — in the near future, meaning this very life, or the distant future, meaning a future existence. This underlying structure is set from the moment the body first forms as an embryo, encoded into the very DNA, and so it is unavoidable from birth — the only question is when that stored energy will be triggered.
The Only Remedy: Cultivating Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration
Though the blueprint itself cannot be avoided, it can be remedied by abiding within the system of wholesome , overseen by the Triple Gem with nibbāna standing behind it, ready to help and correct. The only way to be freed from past karmic results is to cultivate and in daily life, from the moment we wake until we sleep. By abiding continuously in this system of wholesome dhamma, karmic results shift from heavy to light, and light results eventually disappear altogether — bringing strong health, long life, and genuine well-being, with the wider economy and society improving along with it.