The Three Natures and the Induction of Defiling Energy

Phra Ajarn Suraphong opened the sitting by explaining that Dhamma practice is essential for every life, because we live under the control of three natures, which steer and govern us according to their own aims, in order to induct defiling energy -- energy that offers us no true benefit. This is why the Fully Enlightened Buddha taught the monastic community in the time of the Buddha: "Monks, you should determine to know clearly the body, feelings, mind, and mental objects, in order to eliminate covetousness and grief regarding the world." He explained that we must determine -- meaning to mark a location, in order to go and know it, to mark and then go be aware -- so as to induct pure energy together with subtle treasures and our life-plan. This pure energy then drives the wholesome system toward purity and liberation, freeing us from the defilements that otherwise control people and beings.

We Are Not the Ones Who Remove the Defilement -- We Only Determine to Know

He stressed emphatically: we are not the ones who remove the defilement. This must be understood clearly. We don't even know where the defilement is, what it looks like, or how it should be removed. If we say that we are the ones removing it, that is simply unreasonable. What we do know is that we know we are knowing; we know whether we've lapsed or not lapsed. This is the entire role a human being can play -- nothing more. The sphere of knowing -- sati -- will draw in the pure energy called merit to flow continuously into the brightness at its center. This pure energy is what drives the wholesome system to remove defilements and refine the elements of Dhamma within us until they become clear and pure. Once purified, whatever had bound us to the old dimension no longer exists; we become free, released from that dimension, and a subtler dimension draws us in, over and over.

Luang Phor Said: To Train Is to Resist

We therefore need to learn and train ourselves in determining to know continuously, without lapsing. He quoted a saying of Luang Phor: to train is to resist -- we must push against what is unfamiliar, what we have never done, or have done only rarely. As long as we are not yet fluent, we must keep training until we become fluent. We continue determining to know continuously, without lapsing, with a relaxed and easy heart, still and soft, at ease -- or staying with the recitation and its mental image. In truth, what we're asked to determine can be in the body or in the mind. In the body, it means marking a location and going to be aware of it -- marking the breath, for instance, then going to be aware of it. Marking means specifying, pinpointing a particular spot and going to know it there, without switching locations. Because wherever we determine to know, the heart goes there; sati settles at the center of the heart -- it never settles anywhere else. All 84,000 sections of the Dhamma teaching settle in only one place, the heart, and nowhere else. Whether wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral, all of it can only arise at the heart.

Image, Sound, and Feeling: The Three Tools That Protect the Heart

In determining our meditation object, we rely on the inner sound of the recitation and the mental image of the Buddha or the crystal orb -- these two belong together as a pair, recitation and mental image. If we don't hold our own image, some other image will intrude instead. If we don't hold the sound of our own recitation, some other sound will intrude -- sometimes from the unwholesome, sometimes from the neutral -- these are all inner voices seeking to interfere. Image, sound, and feeling, these three, are what protect and support us in staying grounded in the wholesome. If we're not familiar with the Buddha image or crystal orb, we can use the breath instead for now, or use bodily awareness if that's more familiar -- determining to know the body continuously, letting clear comprehension spread throughout the whole body, determining to know continuously without lapsing. For those familiar with determining to know whatever Dhamma phenomenon appears in each present moment, whatever arises, simply know it. Whatever suits us, we do that; whatever has worked before, we continue with that -- we simply need our own regular meditation object.

Counting the Recitation When the Mind Lapses Often

As we determine to know, the sphere of pure energy called merit flows in continuously, carrying subtle treasures at its center -- treasures of form, wealth, virtue, retinue, gain, honor, praise, happiness, the paths and fruits of liberation, all complete and abundant within the sphere of merit. We sit to receive this stream of merit and treasure with a heart determining to know pleasantly, at ease, staying aware continuously without lapsing. If we tend to lapse frequently, we should use the recitation and count it, one recitation at a time: Samma Arahang, one; Samma Arahang, two; Samma Arahang, three. If we are the type who lapses often, it becomes necessary to use the recitation together with counting, so we can gauge just how settled our mind is at that moment. If it isn't settled, counting at least helps us notice how easily our attention has been interrupted. During periods when defilement is strong, we must accept that we need various strategies to induct energy -- energy is especially needed during a crisis in life, or during a period when defilement is stirring things up, when work is busy, or when many other activities are intruding.

Choosing a Meditation Object With a Clear, Continuous Signal

He taught us to stay aware continuously without lapsing, remaining with a meditation object that has a clear and continuous signal, choosing one that suits us. If that object gives a clear, continuous signal, sati can anchor onto it and do its work well. But if the signal isn't clear, or is clear but not continuous, we should consider whether some other object might offer greater clarity. When we together perform this good deed of determining to know continuously without lapsing, it inducts the pure energy called merit to flow continuously into the brightness of the heart through the sphere of knowing, sati. This merit then drives the wholesome system to refine and correct the elements of Dhamma within us, clearing the defilement -- the hindrances -- and other defilements that bind us to our old dimension, so that once they thin out, we become liberated.

Purify the Aggregates First, Then Benefit the World of Beings and the World of Opportunity

When this great benefit arises from purifying our own aggregates -- the five khandhas: body, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness -- once our aggregates are purified, we move on to benefiting the world of sentient beings and the physical world around us. This is a daily task we must perform, a duty that comes with dwelling in the wholesome system, carried out with a pure intention. To benefit the world of beings and the world of opportunity, we rely on the tool of the wholesome system called loving-kindness (metta), a clear, round, radiant sphere -- simply a wish for goodness.

Radiating Loving-Kindness to Those We Love and to All Beings

We simply determine: may all beings and the whole world be free from suffering and share happiness everywhere -- may we ourselves be happy, may our parents, siblings, and grandparents be happy, along with all those we love and all who have shown us kindness, our children and grandchildren, our spouses, our companions and dependents, and our customers -- may they all be happy and free from every suffering. For those who suffer much, may their suffering lessen; for those who suffer little, may it end and happiness arise; for those with little happiness, may it grow greater; and for those already abundant in happiness, may it grow greater still. Once we have set this wish for goodness, we extend our heart, filled with loving-kindness, outward to cover our home and dwelling, the whole area around it, the earth, water, air, sky, trees, and grass, and all our belongings, all becoming clear, bright, and pure. We continue extending it outward across the whole village, sub-district, district, and province, until it covers the whole country and all neighboring nations, until it encompasses the entire world, making this world a crystal world, bright, cool, clean, and pure. From there we extend it further, out into the atmosphere of the cosmos, encompassing countless stars, all the way to the ten thousand world-systems and the boundless universe, letting our loving-kindness benefit all people, all beings, all things, and all elements of Dhamma without limit.

Dedicating Merit to a Young Student Facing a Crisis

That day, he invited everyone present to extend loving-kindness in particular to a young student of the temple who had once ordained temporarily in one of the temple's programs, and who was, at that time, recovering in the intensive care unit after a motorcycle accident. He taught us to draw on this loving-kindness to benefit the young student and their family. The family had already commissioned a Buddha image dedicated to the student, and he led everyone in inviting Nibbana throughout all elements and all Dhamma, together with the revered teachers, Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and Khun Yai, to extend their compassion and help the student's condition return to normal quickly, healing day by day, out of love, compassion, and sincere goodwill -- asking that the wholesome system restore, protect, and care for every cell and every element of the body.

He pointed out that past karmic results had led to this accident. What the family could do at this moment, besides entrusting the student to the doctors' care, was to commission the Buddha image and invite the Buddha to reside within it. Each of us likewise invites the Buddha to reside at the center of our own being, together with Nibbana throughout all elements and all Dhamma. Whether we can see this or not doesn't matter; what matters is that we have determined it so -- however we determine, so it becomes, because the heart is the realm where determination succeeds, and the human body is already the base of operations for Nibbana. The merit arising and flowing through the center of our being, Nibbana draws upon and multiplies without limit, making it clear, clean, and pure, then channels it through the Buddha image the family commissioned for the student, to refine and correct the elements of Dhamma within their body, making them clear, clean, and pure.

The Sphere of Compassion: When We Feel for Someone in Trouble

He taught that the sphere of compassion appears bright and clear at the center of the sphere of loving-kindness -- it is the sphere of pity. When we feel for someone who is suffering and wish to help them, this sphere arises. If we're able to help through speech or action, we should do so. But if circumstances make direct action impossible, we rely on a heart dwelling at the center of this sphere of compassion to induct pure energy -- merit. Once the sphere of compassion is established, it draws in this pure energy; the Nibbana we have invited, or the Buddha image the student's family commissioned, will take all this merit and multiply it without limit, making it clear and pure, channeling it to drive the wholesome system in refining the elements of Dhamma, clearing away the defilement that is pressing upon the student right now, easing it and letting it fade away.

Asking for Blessings and Setting the Life-Plan in Detail

We pay respect and ask for the blessing, merit, radiance, power, and unequivocal authority of Nibbana throughout all elements and all Dhamma, together with the blessing of our revered teachers, Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and Khun Yai. May all this merit and these perfections combine with the merit and perfections we ourselves have sincerely accumulated since our very first existence, through countless lifetimes, up to this present moment. May all this merit combine into sacred merit, possessing power, might, and boundless force, refining our body, speech, and mind, our elements of Dhamma, our seeing, remembering, thinking, and knowing, the elements of earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness, making them bright, cool, clean, and pure. May we be freed from sacred misfortune, from the results of past karma, from obstruction by Mara, and from every manner of obstacle in life; may greed, hatred, delusion, lust, ignorance, wrong view, craving, and clinging all dissolve entirely, leaving no trace.

May we gain the eye that sees the Dhamma, reaching and penetrating the knowledge of the Dhammakaya, achieving the three knowledges, the eight knowledges, the six higher powers, the four kinds of analytical insight, the eight liberations, and the fifteen conducts, complete in every respect. May we also enjoy strong and complete health, a long lifespan, and the ability to accumulate merit and perfections throughout our entire life, safely to the very end, with an unceasing, elevated spirit in building perfections, heading straight along the path to Nibbana, to the very end of Dhamma. Wherever we travel, may we meet only good fortune and safety, may we be loved by both humans and devas, may we possess a bright wisdom that clearly penetrates the Dhamma of the Fully Enlightened Buddha, and whatever business or work we undertake, may it flourish and progress, yielding results beyond what we could imagine or expect.

When the time comes to close our eyes and leave this world, may we be reborn in the Tusita heaven, in the special sphere of merit reserved for future Buddhas and great Bodhisattvas, and when we return to build perfections in the human world, may we be born into a family of right view, a crystal family, a Dhammakaya family, a model family for the world, a warm and loving family, complete and abundant with the utmost treasures of form, wealth, virtue, retinue, gain, honor, praise and happiness, the paths and fruits of liberation, and the knowledge of the Dhammakaya. Whatever unwholesome deed we may have committed by mistake or through carelessness in the past, throughout countless lifetimes, may that unwholesome karma be unable to catch up with us or bear its result, and may it become forgiven karma forever; may we commit no new unwholesome deed through body, speech, or mind. May all the merit we have sincerely accumulated combine together and yield its sacred result, powerful and wondrous, continuously from this moment onward, until the very end of Dhamma.

Aspiration and Closing Chant

Having performed this good deed for the benefit of beings and the world, we set our aspiration while resting within Nibbana, paying respect and asking for the blessing and merit of Nibbana throughout all elements and all Dhamma, along with the blessing of our revered teachers, Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and Khun Yai, asking for their compassion in helping this young student overcome this crisis in their life, to be free from suffering and from the results of past karma, to recover quickly, so that whatever suffering is great may lessen, whatever suffering is small may end entirely, and happiness and prosperity may follow. He then led an aspiration for all of us, that from this moment onward, our entire path of accumulating perfections may be filled with wisdom, happiness, and purity, and that every rightful, wholesome wish may come true.

Phra Ajarn Suraphong closed the sitting by leading the chant of homage to the Triple Gem: Sabbe Buddha balappatta, paccekana nca yam balam, arahantananca tejena, rakkham bandhami sabbaso. Sabba-Buddhanubhavena, sabba-Dhammanubhavena, sabba-Sanghanubhavena, sadda-sotthi bhavantu te.