Someone asked the teacher to expand on Khun Yay's teaching, "consider with dhamma" — when something happens, which category of dhamma should we bring to mind to reflect on it?

What "Consider With Dhamma" Means The teacher explained that whenever something happens to us, we must always bring up dhamma to reflect on it. Do not get carried away, absorbed in defilements, or we simply become their prey. We must keep contemplating dhamma at all times; whenever something arises, the wisdom born of meditative sitting will help us know what is most correct.

"Consider with dhamma" means that whenever something happens, we need to abide within the wholesome-dhamma system. The moment mindfulness arises, wholesome dhamma arises with it — mindfulness is a mental factor that arises together with the wholesome-dhamma system. We may abide with faith, the belief that the wholesome-dhamma system can help us; or with equanimity, another mental factor that arises together with it; or with wisdom, the tool for solving problems. But what must come first is mindfulness — the felt sense that we need to find a way forward when something happens. Mindfulness arises, drawing up wisdom, establishing wholesome dhamma; or we become self-aware; or we recall our meditation chant or visualization object, recall our true nature — any one of these will do. This is what Khun Yay meant by "consider with dhamma": whatever happens, consider it through dhamma, and let wholesome dhamma be established first.

The Inner Knower Appears to Guide Us Once wholesome dhamma is established, we abide within the wholesome-dhamma system, and "the one who knows" appears automatically, together with guidance and instruction. This inner knower appears in order to bring us benefit — offering guidance for whatever problem or obstacle has arisen, regardless of which category of dhamma we bring to mind. Even with only bare mindfulness and self-awareness, the knower will guide us — first to settle the mind quietly, to feel at ease, to be reassured that there is nothing to fear, to steady our mindfulness well — and then to guide us toward resolving those problems, so that we may be freed from the crisis at hand. After that, the knower guides us to reflect and consider carefully what has occurred, or points out the tools of the unwholesome side that would bring suffering and harm, cautioning and warning us of the dangers involved.

In that moment we need to stop, settle, and listen — because the unwholesome side is also trying to possess the mind so that we do not pay attention; it is a race for that instant. If we let ourselves not pay attention, our future capacity to connect with wholesome dhamma diminishes further and further, because we have already yielded to the unwholesome side. So we must reflect carefully every time the wholesome-dhamma system offers guidance — we must be like a good child listening to instruction, not stubborn, because if the heart grows too hard and unyielding, the inner knower can no longer teach us, and we come to need an outer teacher to caution and restrain us instead. If even an outer teacher's caution goes unheeded, that is dangerous, and can bring suffering and harm upon ourselves. This is why Khun Yay taught us to consider with dhamma, to abide within the wholesome-dhamma system, dwelling in what is right, good, and wholesome.

Cultivating Right Mindfulness in Every Activity To stay connected with wholesome dhamma, we must keep contemplating dhamma constantly — this is none other than cultivating right mindfulness (sammā-sati). Whenever something happens, the wisdom born of meditative sitting will help us know what is most correct, because as we sit in meditation, the mind grows increasingly refined, reaching subtler and subtler dimensions. Each dimension has its own inner knower endowed with wisdom. The more refined we become within, the more we reach knowers who know even further, one beyond the other, and these knowers help us know what is most correct.

Cultivating right mindfulness is necessary and vital in every activity we undertake. Khun Yay said we must try to keep contemplating dhamma constantly, in every activity, using whatever object of meditation feels most familiar and comfortable — whether a meditation chant, a visualization object, the recollection that we are the Buddha image and the Buddha image is us, or simply resting with the mind gathered still at the center. All that matters is to remain aware, never lapsing. What we need is only for the sphere of knowing to be established — establishing it is the duty every human being must fulfill. If we do not determine this awareness ourselves, other natures will step in and force our attention onto things that bring no benefit, and even cause harm. So we must determine our own awareness on what is beneficial to us first, choosing whatever object of meditation we are drawn to, and training ourselves to remain constantly aware, never forgetting.

Purifying Impurities Makes Life Easy and Comfortable Once the sphere of knowing is established, the sphere of ignorance falls away. This sphere of knowing draws pure energy flowing in amid its own brightness, purifying the impurities and defilements that give rise to problems and obstacles, the very things that bring hardship and suffering, until they are gone. Life no longer needs to be difficult or filled with suffering — it becomes easy and comfortable instead. Ease and comfort arise as impurities grow lighter: when impurities are heavy, problems and obstacles are heavy, and life is hard; as impurities lighten, problems and hardship lighten with them, and ease and comfort gradually take their place — all made possible by the merit drawn in together with that awareness. This is exactly what Khun Yay taught: keep contemplating dhamma constantly, and whenever something happens, the wisdom born of meditative sitting will help us know what is most correct.