พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์เปรียบญาณเป็นยานพาหนะที่พาใจเคลื่อนเข้าสู่ภายในอย่างนิ่งแม้ด้วยความเร็วสูง แล้วอธิบายหลักสัมมาสติ ความต่างระหว่างสติกับสัมปชัญญะ ก่อนนำภาวนาสัมมาอะระหัง แผ่เมตตา และอธิษฐานจิตอุทิศส่วนกุศลปิดท้ายPhra Ajarn Suraphong compares insight-knowledge to a vehicle that carries the mind smoothly inward even at high speed, then unpacks the Buddha's teaching on Right Mindfulness and the difference between mindfulness and clear comprehension, before guiding the Samma-Arahang recitation, loving-kindness radiation, and closing merit dedication.
We rely on ñāṇa, - — think of it as a vehicle carrying us inward, because it moves. Once it's time to enter the inner world, we close our eyes and it feels still. But once that stillness is purified, itself becomes the cause of motion — you can move and still know that you're moving, the way you know a car is moving while you ride in it. Moving fast, you know it's fast; moving slow, you know it's slow. If the motion speeds up and things aren't balanced, there's friction — an inner "noise" that tells you: settle the mind, still the mind. As the mind settles, the shaking eases, the way a high-speed train can move at great speed and still feel perfectly smooth. That smoothness at high speed is itself something wondrous, found within.
The Foundation of Right Mindfulness: Knowing Body, Feeling, Mind, and Dhamma Clearly
Once we understand this, we turn to what the Buddha taught about meditation. In the Noble Eightfold Path, under Right Mindfulness, he said: "Monks, you should clearly know body, feeling, mind, and mental objects, in order to remove covetousness and grief regarding the world." That can sound deep and leave you a little dazed — so what does it actually mean?
Monks, you must direct your attention — you must set it. If you don't set it, some other force will direct it for you, and that won't benefit you at all; instead it may bring harm, if that other force happens to be unwholesome. So you must set your attention — set it on what? On knowing clearly, because knowing is (), and knowing is ().
How Mindfulness and Clear Comprehension Differ
Mindfulness has the quality of recalling, of knowing. When mindfulness is present, we're aware of our own body — present to ourselves. Whatever we direct it to, we know: we can know the breath, know the feet touching the floor, know the hands resting on the knees, know that we're speaking, know that we're listening. All of this "knowing what we're directing attention to" rests on the presence of mindfulness.
Clear comprehension is different — it's knowing the details. After we know we're attending to the breath, what are the details of that breath? What details appear? Going in and clearly seeing all those details is the work of sampajañña — full, saturated knowing, present to every detail all at once. At the start, we simply need to know what we're paying attention to — that's mindfulness. Then, going into all the details that appear — that's clear comprehension.
Choose the Object You're Most Comfortable With, and Set Your Attention Firmly
In the beginning, within the inner world, we decide what we will know first — the mantra (parikamma-bhāvanā) or the visualized image (parikamma-nimitta). If we decide to attend to the mantra "Samma-Arahang," clear comprehension then attends to the details of reciting it. Whichever approach you're more comfortable with, start there — go with what suits you.
When Unwholesome Thoughts Intrude, Just Notice — Don't Engage
While we practice, side will try to slip in and needle at us. Just notice it — that's enough, no need to pay it any real attention. It's like a bad friend chattering nonsense, giving bad direction; we simply stay neutral. All the while, the good side is quietly correcting things and helping us. Our only job is to keep noticing, without forgetting.
Close your eyes gently, comfortably — at first just enough that the eyelashes touch and a little light can pass through. You're resting right at the midpoint between the outer world and the inner world. If you go fully into the inner world too fast, you'll feel dizzy and dazed, so we deliberately stay "at the doorway" between the two — the unwholesome side is waiting there, so we sidestep it by reciting Samma-Arahang.
Reciting Samma-Arahang, Receiving the Stream of Merit
At the start, set your mindfulness on knowing what you're attending to right now; then decide to attend to the mantra. Once you're attending to the mantra, clear comprehension knows its details — fully present to the state of reciting as it happens. Count: Samma-Arahang, one; Samma-Arahang, two; Samma-Arahang, three — and so on, with a relaxed mind, open, spacious, light and at ease. Enjoy it, unhurried. Your only task is to stay aware, without drifting off.
As the sphere of knowing — the sphere of mindfulness — is established, it draws pure energy called merit to flow continuously into the brightness at its center. This pure energy, as it flows in, drives the system of wholesome states, purifying the elements of seeing-remembering-thinking-knowing, the earth-water-fire-wind elements, the space element, the consciousness element — cleansing them of every defilement. The stream of merit pours in continuously, sphere after sphere, bright and clear at and mind. As long as the sphere of knowing — mindfulness — stands, the sphere of not-knowing — — falls away.
So we need to keep knowing, without lapsing. Keep counting; the moment you drift off you lose the count, and that itself tells you it's time to start again — which is fine, far better than not even realizing you'd drifted. The counting shows you how long your concentration held steady. Losing count near a point you've struggled with before is a sign to be careful, since that's usually where attention slips; staying heedful lets you get past it.
Radiating Loving-Kindness to All Beings and the Whole Universe
Let the mind settle, still, and let arise. The mind is a wish-fulfilling element — however you set it, so it becomes. Direct your mind toward loving-kindness: a bright, wholesome sphere of loving-kindness appears at the center of your heart. Once it appears, it shows its quality of goodwill — first toward yourself, your own heart — and then we extend that goodwill to every fellow practitioner, everyone gathered here in this place of practice. Loving-kindness shines out, spreading to fill the whole area.
The special quality of loving-kindness is that it can dissolve resentment and irritation in the hearts of people and beings, and it draws system to arise in each of them too — this is the benefit of cultivating loving-kindness. Then extend that goodwill further — across the district, the province, and neighboring provinces, until it covers the whole country; onward to neighboring countries and every nation, until it covers the entire world. May all beings of the world be free from suffering and share together — those with much suffering, may it lessen; those with little, may it end entirely; those with little happiness, may it grow; those with much happiness already, may it grow even more.
Then extend that loving-kindness-filled mind out into the vastness of the universe, covering countless stars and galaxies, across boundless world-systems — let this loving-kindness shine and nourish every being, every thing, every element, until all are bright, cool, clean, and pure. May all beings throughout countless universes be free from suffering and share happiness; may none harm one another, may none hold enmity toward one another; may all be freed from bodily and mental suffering.
Resting in the Center of Nibbāna — the Dedication of Merit
Let the mind come to rest, still, in the stream of merit pouring through the center of the body and mind. May this pure merit benefit the people of the world and all beings; may all suffering beings and things become bright, cool, and clean. Rest the mind, still, in the stream of merit, in the center of the Triple Gem, in the center of the great teachers, in the center of Nibbāna.
Nibbāna naturally holds all beings within it. Nibbāna is the Lord Buddha, the Silent Buddhas, and all the Arahants who long ago passed into final Nibbāna. Though they have gone, they have never truly left — they still extend compassion and care to the world and all beings, holding them at the center, protecting, watching over, and helping continuously, day and night. Whatever beings, whatever people, stand in universal goodness and dwell within the wholesome system, the stream of merit flows through the center of their being and mind, and they shine with the pure element of merit on the path of Nibbāna. So it is with us now — we too appear bright at the center of Nibbāna.
So let us use this auspicious moment to pay homage and ask for blessings — for the radiance, power, and unlimited authority of Nibbāna throughout every element and every , and for the blessings of our Grand Masters and teachers. May all this merit combine with the merit we ourselves have diligently accumulated since beginningless lifetimes up to the present, converging into sacred merit of boundless power — purifying our body, speech, and mind; our elements of seeing, remembering, thinking, and knowing; the earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness elements — until they shine bright, cool, clean, and pure. May we be freed from every misfortune, every karmic obstruction, every hindering force in this life; may greed, hatred, delusion, lust, ignorance, wrong view, craving, and clinging be extinguished without remainder. May we gain the eye that sees the , penetrating fully into the Dhammakaya teaching, complete with the Three Knowledges, the Eight Knowledges, the Six Higher Powers, the Four Analytical Insights, the Eight Liberations, and the Fifteen Conducts — every quality complete. May we enjoy strong health and long life, able to build merit and perfections throughout our lives, with tireless resolve, moving steadily toward the path to Nibbāna, the end of the Dhamma.
Wherever we travel, may we meet only good fortune and safety; may we be loved by humans and devas alike; may our wisdom shine bright, penetrating the teaching of the Lord Buddha and the Dhammakaya knowledge fully. In whatever work or duty we take up, may it flourish and prosper beyond expectation; may we gain great wealth — wealth fit for a universal monarch — inexhaustible, to be used in building great generosity and perfections without limit. And when the time comes to close our eyes and leave this world, may we be born in the Dusita heaven, in the special merit realm reserved for future Buddhas-to-be. And when we return to build perfections in the human world again, may we be born into a family of right view, a "crystal family," a Dhammakaya family — complete with the finest of form, wealth, , honor, and reputation, complete with the path, the fruit, Nibbāna, and the Dhammakaya knowledge; possessed of sacred merit able to recall past lives from birth, studying the Dhammakaya teaching correctly and faithfully alongside our Grand Masters from childhood until the end of this life.
Whatever unwholesome deeds we have committed by mistake or carelessness across countless past lives — may those unwholesome deeds never catch up with us; may they never have the chance to bear fruit, and may they be forgiven forever. May we never again commit unwholesome deeds of body, speech, or mind going forward. May all the merit we have diligently accumulated combine and bear sacred, powerful, and wondrous fruit continuously from this moment until the end of the Dhamma. May every one of these good wishes be fulfilled — fulfilled, and fulfilled again — for all of us, from this moment onward, in every life, until we reach the end of the Dhamma, by the boundless power of the Lord Buddha, in every one of his lifetimes. May every wish be granted. Sādhu.