Why Practice Is Necessary for Every Life

Phra Ajarn Suraphong opens by stressing that practicing the Dharma is of the utmost importance and necessity for every life — so necessary that it underlies everything: success, happiness, the fulfillment of wishes, freedom from suffering. Practice is essential because it is the one thing that can connect us continuously to the wholesome system. Without that connection, other natures will take over, steering our thoughts, words, and deeds toward things that bring no benefit. He cites the Buddha's teaching that as long as the Noble Path exists, the fruit of the path and Nibbana remain within reach — that an ordinary person can become a noble one, a wonder greater than any other wonder.

Right Mindfulness Is Everything: The Foundation of Giving, Precepts, and Meditation

The central point he emphasizes is that even small acts of merit — giving, studying the Dharma — all depend on the foundation of cultivating right mindfulness. Even keeping the precepts pure requires right mindfulness; without it, the precepts cannot be kept pure at all. Right mindfulness is therefore everything, because it is the single foundation that sustains every kind of merit. If we, as ordinary people, rely on right mindfulness, we will find a wondrous life, because the wholesome system is overseen by the Triple Gem, with Nibbana standing behind it, guiding us to think, speak, and act rightly and well, so that our work and duties succeed without error.

The Principle from the Tipitaka: Determining Awareness to Eliminate Delight and Distress

He cites the Buddha's words recorded in the Tipitaka: "Monks, you should determine clear awareness of body, feeling, mind, and dharma, in order to eliminate covetousness and grief toward the world." He stresses that this single sentence contains the principle, the method, and the result together — determine your own awareness, because if we don't determine it ourselves, some other nature will step in to determine it for us, to no benefit at all.

What Does It Mean to Determine? The Roles of Mindfulness and Clear Comprehension

Once we must determine, the question is: determine what? The answer is "to determine is to know" — knowing is mindfulness, knowing clearly is clear comprehension. Mindfulness arises first; when it arises, recollection and self-awareness follow. He asks us to compare being self-aware with not being self-aware, to see the difference clearly. One who is self-aware holds a neutral, balanced, steady heart, perceiving things continuously and able to govern themselves. The opposite is true of one who lacks self-awareness — the heart scatters, swaying with the environment, now delighted, now distressed, unable to be its own master, easily led by the unwholesome or the neutral nature.

The Voice That Urges Us to Rest First: Recognizing a Voice That Isn't Our Own

He warns that while the wholesome system watches over our heart, the unwholesome finds it hard to take hold — but the neutral nature will still try to intrude, coaxing us: "Rest first, rest first, no need to push so hard, go relax, go for a walk, take it easy" — urging us to rest again and again. He stresses that we must recognize this and not fall for it, because the voice that urges us to quit halfway, or to rest first, is not our own voice — it is the voice of the unwholesome or the neutral nature intruding to guide us astray.

The Sphere of Knowing Draws In Pure Energy to Purify Defilement

When we determine our awareness, the sphere of knowing — mindfulness — arises at the center of the heart as a clear, bright, round orb, arising only at the heart. When the wholesome arises, the unwholesome, a dark black orb, falls away. Once established, the sphere of knowing continuously draws pure energy — merit — to flow through the center of its brightness. This pure energy purifies the defilement that causes the many forms of hindrance and difficulty. As defilement lightens, obstacles lighten too, and ease gradually arises. He reminds us that unpleasant experiences during practice come from the defilement that remains, not from anything wrong — so we must patiently keep determining our awareness until pure energy lightens that defilement.

Reciting "Samma Arahang" with the Focus of Threading a Needle

He leads the recitation "Samma Arahang, Samma Arahang" with focused, attentive contemplation — like someone threading a needle, aware of nothing but the eye of the needle. The whole world — trees, grass, people — vanishes while absorbed in threading. The same is true of recitation: when absorbed in the syllables, everything else disappears, leaving only "Samma Arahang, Samma Arahang." Recite on a foundation of relaxed, open, easy heart, syllable by syllable, without rushing — only continuous awareness, without lapsing.

The Buddha Image Appears at the Center of the Heart: A Name Born of His Qualities

"Samma Arahang" is a descriptive name (nemittika-nama), called according to its qualities — one who practices rightly and well, far from every defilement. When we utter his name, he appears at the center of our body and heart; form and quality appear together, since form is like a package that carries the quality within. Once he appears, he does not appear in vain — he continues to expand, layering as one with us, so that our entire body becomes bright and clear, the Dhamma body layered within.

Merging Body and Mind as One with the Buddha Image

He leads us section by section: the head becomes bright, pure crystal of the Dhamma body, crowned with a radiant lotus-bud crest; the face becomes a serenely smiling countenance; the eyes become his eyes, closed gently; neck, shoulders, arms, belly, back, hips, knees, shins, calves, soles all become the radiant, pure crystal Dhamma body. He advises using the actor's technique of putting on a role — even if things remain dim and hazy, that's no obstacle. Phra Dej Phra Khun Luang Phor taught that reaching the Dhamma body ranges from 1% to 100%, because the heart is an accomplishing element — however we determine it, so it becomes. Whatever we can perceive, we take as our starting point, and gradually build from there.

Gathering the Mind to Stop and Be Still at the Body's Seventh Base

Next, gather the mind to stop, gather it to be still, at the center of the Buddha image, the center of our body, at the seventh base along the middle of the belly. The heart already knows this position, since we pass through it every time we're born, die, sleep, and wake — simply determine that it is at the center of the belly, and the mind settles there at the seventh base automatically. This position is the imperial center, where every body converges — from the coarse and subtle human bodies, to the celestial body, the Brahma and formless-Brahma bodies, to the Gotrabhu, Sotapanna, Sakadagami, Anagami, and Arahat Dhamma bodies. As we gather the mind to stop and be still in this balanced point, the pure merit element shines, layered across every body.

Dedicating Merit to Ancestors and Karmic Counterparts

As the stream of merit flows continuously through the center of our body and heart, let us dedicate this merit to our ancestors — recalling our parents, siblings, grandparents, and all our teachers and benefactors, along with the devas who help and support us, our caretakers and guardians, and all beings we may have wronged, our karmic counterparts (khu kam khu wen) — asking that we forgive one another and share equally in this merit.

Radiating Loving-Kindness Across the World and the Cosmos

Once merit is dedicated, we generate goodwill for the world and all beings, drawing on the heart of a mother's love for her own child, forming it into a sphere of loving-kindness: may those with much suffering have less, those with little suffering have none, those with little happiness have more, and those with much happiness have ever more. We expand this heart to cover our home, then village, subdistrict, district, province, Thailand, neighboring countries, until it becomes a radiant, clean, pure crystal sphere covering the whole world — then further, to earthbound devas, tree devas, sky devas, the heavenly beings of every level, Brahma and formless Brahma realms, even beings in hell, as hungry ghosts, and as animals — and further still, across the countless stars and galaxies of the boundless cosmos. Whoever benefits the world and the cosmos may in turn make use of its treasures, as the Bodhisatta of old did, practicing loving-kindness until the end of his life, becoming a Great Brahma, then a universal monarch ruling the four continents, whose people in that age lived by virtue, never harming one another.

Closing Aspiration

In closing, Phra Ajarn leads an aspiration for success now and in all lives to come. May the merit of our teachers and our own accumulated goodness combine into sacred, potent merit; may we be freed from misfortune, karmic results, demonic obstruction, and every obstacle; may greed, hatred, delusion, lust, ignorance, wrong view, craving, and clinging come to an end; may we gain the eye that sees the Dhamma and penetrate the knowledge of the Dhamma body; may we be strong in health and steadfast in spirit as we build perfections toward Nibbana. He closes by asking that old wrongdoing be forgiven, and that new merit bear fruit successfully for us all.