ดีใจและเสียใจล้วนเป็นเหยื่อที่อกุศลใช้จองจำใจให้กระเจิดกระเจิงและหลงตัวเอง หากเราไม่เข้าใจธรรมชาติที่อยู่เบื้องหลัง จะเอางานเป็นใหญ่จนเบียดเบียนกัน แต่หากเห็นคนสำคัญกว่างาน จะรู้จักปล่อยวาง หันมามองและแก้ไขตนเองก่อนเสมอ ความสามัคคีในหมู่คณะจึงจะยั่งยืนBoth joy and sorrow are bait the unwholesome uses to send the mind spinning out of control and into self-delusion. Without understanding the nature behind this, people place work above one another and end up hurting each other. But seeing people as more important than the task means learning to let go, and to look inward and correct oneself first — which is what keeps a community truly united.
Someone asked the teacher to expand on the elder monk's teaching, "See people as more important than the task."
Joy and sorrow: bait of the unwholesome
Life in this world comes down to just three things: sfaction and dissatisfaction, joy and sorrow, or neither. Whether we feel joy or sorrow, both are tools uses as bait. When we feel joy, the mind scatters out of control, and the unwholesome seizes the chance to whisper, "Do you want more than this?" — breeding self-delusion, making us believe our success is entirely our own doing, and setting bigger and bigger goals until greed arises. Greed then requires harming others to get what we want; and when things do not go our way, others suffer, because we come to believe we hold the right and the authority to act as we please.
Who stands behind it: the wholesome or the unwholesome
When stands behind us, it supplies understanding that grows into vision and inspiration, driving the work forward as a genuine process backed by real conditions and pure energy. When the unwholesome stands behind us, everything looks fine on the surface but is steered wrongly, so problems keep arising unexpectedly. When problems appear, we tend to look for someone to blame, breeding resentment instead of turning to face and solve the problem together — because the unwholesome wants destruction: turning small matters into large ones, breeding grudges that follow us across lifetimes.
Letting go and looking within first
If we can see and understand the nature pressing on us from behind, we can let go naturally — stillness arises on its own, without forcing it. When we always turn to look at and correct ourselves first, we begin to see the mechanism by which the unwholesome pressures and misguides us, instead of hunting for a scapegoat the way the unwholesome always does. The wholesome, by contrast, works to bring everyone together as one, undivided, so the whole system keeps functioning with all its parts intact. True unity arises only when everyone stands in honesty and sincerity, and values one another.
Seeing people as more important than the task
When the task is placed above people, everyone ends up chasing only their own way — a sure sign the unwholesome stands behind it. In the worldly system, someone who underperforms is often simply discarded for a replacement, with no concern for the hardship this causes. But building perfections cannot work that way — people must be given the chance to join the field of merit, encouraged for whatever they can manage, allowing the wholesome to enter their heart little by little. If we ourselves add pressure that lets the unwholesome gain ground in someone else, that becomes a karmic debt that will later make it hard for us to remain within the field of merit as well. We must therefore cherish and nurture people's hearts so they can remain within the field of merit, by staying grounded in the wholesome system, which always guides us toward empathy and mutual support.