พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าความฉลาดที่แท้จริงเกิดจากการดำรงอยู่กับระบบกุศลธรรม ซึ่งมีผู้รู้ผู้มีอานุภาพภายในคอยชี้นำ วิธีเชื่อมกับผู้รู้เหล่านี้คือการหยุดคิดแล้วกำหนดรู้เฉยๆ เพราะความคิดเป็นอุปสรรคที่ทำให้เราติดอยู่ในกรอบข้อมูลเดิมHe explains that true cleverness comes from abiding in the wholesome system, where inner knowing, capable beings guide us — and the way to connect with them is to stop thinking and simply hold awareness, because thought itself is what keeps us trapped inside the boundaries of our existing knowledge.
A student brought up a teaching from the late elder: "A clever person, when learning any subject, must be able to use it. If you learn it and can't use it, why learn at all — a waste of time, a waste of rice. Whatever subject you study, you must be able to use it — just as we study this subject, we must study it for real, practice it for real, and rely on what we've learned until it becomes truly effective. However the teacher can use it, we must be able to use it the same way. That is what's called a person of wisdom, a clever person." This was part of a talk on the principles of -vipassanā practice. He was asked to expand on it.
Cleverness means being freed from the concealing elements of ignorance
He explained that "su" means clever, while "" (unwholesome) means "not clever." Whenever we are overcome by , it means the unwholesome is using and its concealing elements to obscure us, keeping us from being clever. A revered elder once said that if the the late master learned were written into textbooks, even the scripture-school building of Wat Paknam wouldn't be enough to hold it — because the knowledge needed to overcome Māra must be unlimited; limited knowledge cannot overcome Māra. Since Māra is extremely clever, he relies on ignorance and its concealing elements, a kind of darkness, to obscure our seeing, remembering, thinking, and knowing, keeping our hearts in the dark.
Cleverness comes from abiding within the wholesome system
To become clever requires abiding within system, letting wholesomeness become the house-owner. The wholesome system is a system of brightness, watched over by the Triple Gem, with Nibbana behind it offering constant support. When wholesomeness becomes the house-owner, it brings in good, fitting s to help our human body and mind develop, drawing in pure energy to refine our inner dimensions, layer by layer. The more refined those dimensions become, the more capable, knowing presences we come to have attuned to that dimension — helping us understand and act rightly and appropriately.
When learning any subject, everyone is confused the first time, from first grade all the way through university — every new subject is bewildering at first, hard to grasp right away. But because we rely on the knowing, capable presence within, each student's ability differs, so exam results differ too — some are less clever, some more, some in between. Cleverness comes from the guidance of that inner knowing presence, telling us what to remember, explaining principles so we understand. What we learn from that presence gets stored in the sphere of learned knowledge, ready to be recalled and used later. When we can recall it, we can reflect on it further — whether it's knowledge from learning or knowledge from reasoning — and while we're studying, memorizing, and understanding, the capable presence overlays to help us remember and apply it successfully. Because each person's inner knowing presence has different knowledge and ability, cleverness differs from person to person.
Stop thinking, then simply hold awareness — that is how we connect with the knowing presence within
If we want knowledge and understanding beyond what's in any textbook, beyond ordinary capacity, we need to refine ourselves into the inner dimension, drawing in pure energy to purify im, going deeper into refined dimensions to connect with the knowing, capable presence within. In practice, we set the sphere of knowing without thinking — just knowing is enough. If we think, the unwholesome and the neutral can slip in and guide us instead — thought itself is the main obstacle to real learning. Simply hold awareness on whatever we want to know; the sphere of knowing, the sphere of once established, will draw in pure energy to purify the impurity of ignorance and its concealing elements, lightening it until knowledge appears at the level of true knowing. That knowledge we seek already exists within our own heart, merely obscured by ignorance. Once we hold awareness, it appears and we understand automatically. The knowing presence answers every question we have — answers that don't exist anywhere in our memory at all.
To be truly clever, we must abide within the wholesome system, the very system of cleverness, where true knowledge and its capable, knowing guides already reside — that knowledge is already there in our heart, only covered by ignorance's concealing elements. Whatever knowledge we need, we simply hold awareness and refine ourselves, to connect with the source of that knowledge. The late master once said we can reach the source of any knowledge simply by stopping thought and continuing to refine ourselves in order to connect with it. Thought keeps us bound within the limits of our existing data — no one truly "thinks outside the box"; that's just a nice-sounding phrase. Everyone thinks within their own framework, because that framework is controlled by the neutral and the unwholesome. We can only step outside that framework by stopping thought altogether — not drawing on data from memory, but receiving knowledge from the presence within, or from an outer source by asking someone else, which is another way of stepping outside our own framework of thought.
Evidence that these capable, knowing presences are real
He gave an example: sometimes electronic devices or tools malfunction while in our hands, only to work perfectly once they reach a technician — this points to the real existence of these capable presences. Athletes rely on them too, which is why they train again and again, day and night; the more they train, the more that capable presence overlays them, and skill grows accordingly. Gymnasts performing astonishing, seemingly impossible feats do so because of both training and the capable presence overlaying them as they practice. We need to rely on these knowing, capable presences for knowledge, understanding, and ability to arise in us. The most important thing is abiding within the wholesome system, which we can recognize from our present state — staying continuously aware, aware of the body, the breath, whatever wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral state arises. When we can abide within the wholesome system, we come to know the goal, the principle, the method, the strategy, and the purpose — through knowledge gained from learning, from reasoning, and from meditation, all arising from connecting with the knowing presence within, almost as if it were our own thought. Even though we don't see them, they truly exist and are helping us all the time.