พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าคนประเภทแรกเกิดมาใช้ชีวิตตามกระแสโลก ประเภทที่สองเกิดมาสร้างบารมี ความแตกต่างอยู่ที่สัดส่วนธรรมชาติสามฝ่ายในใจแต่ละคน และอธิบายขั้นการพัฒนาจากปุถุชนสู่สาธุชนและอารยชนผ่านสัจจญาณและกิจจญาณThe teacher explains that the first type is born to follow the ways of the world, while the second type is born to build perfections. The difference lies in the proportion of the three natures within each person's mind. He also explains the stages of growth from an ordinary person to a virtuous one and a noble one, through the knowledge of truth and the knowledge of duty.
Someone asked about a teaching from the late master mentioning two types of people, wanting to know what the second type is.
What Are the Two Types of People
The first type is born to fulfill worldly duties, living day to day for enjoyment, following the current of the world. The second type is born to build perfections — overcoming their own mind and the minds of others, going against the current of the world. The first type's sweat sinks inward and later turns into tears; the second type sweats heavily, but in the end finds .
This division exists because human beings carry differing proportions of the three natures — wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral — except for an arahant, who is 100% wholesome. Someone with a large neutral proportion tends to be drawn toward entertainment — eating out, watching movies, listening to music — which, while not harmful, wastes time and resources without benefit. Someone with a large wholesome proportion, however, is guided to live a life of value: chanting, offering alms, and advising others rightly.
What Must One Understand to Grow from an Ordinary Person Toward a Noble One
At the level of a virtuous layperson, not much learning may be needed — a little giving, precept-keeping, and meditation suffices to get by, though suffering, joy, and sorrow will still alternate. To grow toward nobility, one must understand the natures governing life and mind, understand that there are two worlds — the inner world of cause and the outer world of effect — and learn to guide the mind rightly by practicing , seeing the benefits and dangers of wholesome and unwholesome states, and using the to draw in pure energy.
What matters most is understanding the of truth — the truth that arises from inner knowledge. The inner voices that guide us, whether wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral, are all "mind within mind," "phenomena within phenomena" possessing us — not truly ourselves. Understanding this is called the knowledge of truth, and being able to sustain oneself continuously within system is called the knowledge of duty. Whoever understands to this degree is truly called a builder of perfections — a rare kind of person indeed.
Is a Builder of Perfections Like a World-Class Athlete
An ordinary person is like an average villager with no goal at all. A virtuous layperson has some goal in doing good. But one truly devoted to building perfections is like a national athlete with a clear goal — the path, fruit, and Nirvana — training continuously every day, held to that goal by the wholesome system itself. Anyone who becomes a world champion in any field relies on a knower with power guiding and reinforcing their ability from within, which requires a certain level of merit to support it. But if that merit is spent in ways that yield no benefit for future lives, it remains only a success within this present life.
If Karmic Residue Still Lingers, Why Doesn't the Feeling Go Away Even After Forgiving?
When a past matter still leaves a stain in the mind, unwholesome forces can exploit that opening to stir up disturbance again, even after forgiveness has been given, because the karmic residue does not vanish immediately. The remedy is to shift what one recalls to something else clear and pure — like clear ice or a crystal sphere — instead of dwelling on the old memory, while also forgiving both sides, since encountering such an event ourselves means we too once created a similar cause in the past.
If We Dedicate Merit to Others, Does Our Own Merit Run Out?
Merit never runs out — the more it is given, the more one receives. Whoever performs the merit always gains more than anyone who shares in it. Even saying "may we receive equal merit" can never truly be equal, because recalling merit creates new merit within us each time we recall it — it doesn't divide up and deplete what we already have. Merit we have made in the past appears again whenever we recall it — much like the story of a certain military officer who, upon passing away, found only a bowl of rice and a single fish waiting for him, because he had only ever offered alms once in his life. But when he wished for more, the food replenished itself exactly as he wished — showing that the more we recall merit, the more merit flows in.