A student described two observations: ordinary people of modest means often give alms to monks generously and willingly each morning, while some wealthier people seem absorbed in business and rarely make time for giving. The student asked whether both patterns relate to wholesome influence and past aspiration.

Understanding the Dhamma Depends Heavily on How We Were Raised

The teacher explained that we are all born into ignorance, shaped entirely by our upbringing — like ducklings or chicks that imprint on whatever they see first. Being born in a country where Buddhism flourishes matters enormously, because it gives us an understanding of karma and of who monks are. This is why Thai people naturally grasp loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity more easily than foreigners do — shaped from childhood by family, school, and surrounding society. Even a Thai person raised in a family that never taught these things may end up as unfamiliar with Buddhism as any foreigner.

The Five Levels: Acceptance, Regard, Respect, Admiration, and Faith

The teacher explained there are five levels. First is "acceptance" — an open heart, made possible by wholesome qualities that dissolve the narrowness caused by ignorance. Next is "regard" — holding someone's goodness in mind, remembering the kindness they've shown us, which the wholesome side later uses to guide us toward forgiveness during conflict.

The next level is "respect," a virtue that becomes automatic both inwardly and outwardly, producing polite, proper conduct without conscious effort — someone who truly respects their parents, for instance, would never dare argue with them, unlike someone who merely regards them. This depends on whether the parents themselves embodied enough virtue to purify their child's heart.

A higher level still is "admiration" (leuamsai) — a virtue where simply seeing a particular person instantly refreshes and uplifts the heart, much like the moon depending on the sun's light; this depends on that person's own extraordinary virtue lifting us. The highest level is "faith" (saddhā) — a self-generating light, arising from self-respect, dwelling within an inner sanctuary of Dhamma, reaching inner states that continuously draw in pure energy. Faith thus differs from ordinary belief or blind superstition — faith is reasoned belief that leads toward light, toward an exit, toward safety and refuge.

Repeated, Deliberate Aspiration Shapes the Completed Programs of Our Future

The teacher explained that someone with no one to guide or instill the Dhamma in them must rely on the wholesome side using only generic, worldly information to guide them, and so develops more slowly. Being born in a Buddhist country, with faith, is therefore extremely important. We must make our aspirations detailed and thorough, because the completed program held within our sphere of merit will guide and draw our future life toward exactly what we aspired for. Even giving without any aspiration still yields the blessings of long life, complexion, happiness, strength, and wit — but repeated aspiration reinforces that program, setting it to deliver precisely what we intended for the future. We should reflect on why we understand more than others do, and use that understanding to build genuine goodness — rather than cycling endlessly between just two realms, human and heavenly — and instead focus on building merit and perfections to truly realize Nirvana.