พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าคนที่ทำร้ายหรือบ่นใส่เรา แท้จริงถูกอกุศลธรรมเข้าสิงใจบีบคั้นให้ต้องระบายออกมา ปรปักษ์ตัวจริงคืออกุศลธรรม ไม่ใช่ตัวมนุษย์ผู้เป็นเพียงเครื่องมือ เมื่อจะช่วยเหลือผู้มีทุกข์ ก็ให้ตอบด้วยใจสบายเป็นธรรมชาติ ไม่ต้องกังวล และซื่อสัตย์หากไม่รู้คำตอบThe teacher explains that people who hurt or complain at us are actually possessed by unwholesome forces that press them to vent — the true adversary is that unwholesome nature, not the human being who is merely its instrument. When helping someone in distress, we should simply answer naturally and without anxiety, and be honest when we don't know the answer.
A student asked about the teaching that "no one is truly our enemy," and asked the teacher to elaborate.
People Become Cruel Because the Unwholesome Nature Possesses Their Mind — Not Because They Are Inherently Bad
The teacher explained that no one in this world is truly our enemy. Rather, each person suffers, pressed by their own defilements, searching for an outlet, and so they vent — believing it will bring relief, when in truth it only darkens the heart further, like a sick person who eats something that worsens their fever. As one who has received this understanding, we should help others release their suffering. As the teaching goes: water that has rotted — the rot is not the water itself. A cruel person — the cruelty is not the person. Water has never rotted in a million years on its own; it rots only when impurities fall into it. Human beings are the same. Someone who becomes cruel does so because an unwholesome nature has possessed their mind. If that unwholesome force never possessed a human mind, no human would ever be cruel. But once it takes hold, it guides that person as though its suggestions were their own thoughts — giving rise to bias, wrong view, craving, and clinging, drawing on the power of the impurities already present in the heart, pressing and squeezing until suffering arises. It then directs the person to think, speak, and act wrongly, all to draw in tainted energy that fuels system further, creating hardship and difficulty in every part of life — whether in meditation practice, in business, or in study.
When Someone Complains at Us, That Is the Voice of the Unwholesome Nature Possessing Them
The teacher continued: when a person suffers under the pressure of their own defilements, they seek release and so they complain. That complaint is the voice of the unwholesome nature that has overlaid itself onto their body, feeling, mind, and mental state. Its discontent appears in their heart, pressing them to release it as speech, without their even realizing it. The unwholesome force wants to spoil a good atmosphere; it wants us to become someone others find distasteful; it wants to sever us from those we love; it wants to sow division. When we respond by complaining back, that means we have accepted the unwholesome force's suggestion — and unwholesome karma is drawn in continuously, forming a "sphere of unwholesome karma" which contains within it a "sphere of ruin," whose function is to destroy our various forms of wealth — physical form, material assets, s, followers, fame, praise, , and even the path and fruit of Nirvana. This completed unwholesome program is stored within , to be woven into the timeline of our life; when its moment comes, its effects are released to damage whichever part of us corresponds to the darkened elements specified in that program.
The true adversary, then, is never the human being — humans are merely the instrument. The unwholesome force has instruments everywhere around us, in every element and every phenomenon.
Guidance for Helping Someone in Distress
The teacher explained that when we sincerely wish to help someone find relief from suffering, we should not worry about whether we can answer well or not — because the human body is merely a channel through which an inner voice passes. Just as the unwholesome side can use a human body to voice complaints and inappropriate behavior, side can just as easily send good information through someone with a kind heart. Hesitation and doubt are themselves an unwholesome hindrance that blocks us from our inner knower. So we should simply answer at ease, without anxiety, letting it unfold naturally — the inner knower will send good information through our heart to benefit others, and a stream of merit will flow through both parties at once. But if there is something we genuinely don't know, we should say so honestly and sincerely — the stream of merit will flow through that honesty just the same. Above all, never force an answer stubbornly. If we don't know or don't understand something, we should return and ask those with — both external and inner teachers.