Someone asked: Luang Phor said the main reason merit doesn't get a chance to produce results is "a lot of merit but little sitting." "Little merit but a lot of sitting" still has a chance, but "little merit and little sitting" has no chance at all — the best is "a lot of merit and a lot of sitting." What does "little merit but a lot of sitting still has a chance" actually mean?

What's the difference between a lot of merit with little sitting, and little merit with a lot of sitting?

The teacher explained that in every instant, the three underlying natures compete to become the mind's resident. If you don't stay within the wholesome system, some other system takes over instead, and that produces no good result. Ordinary good deeds — giving, precepts, dedicating merit, discussing Dhamma — only connect briefly. Meditation is different: it is sustained, direct focus connected to the wholesome system, which draws in energy and refinement capable of producing liberation at a deep level. If you have a lot of merit but sit little, the channel that lets new merit draw in old merit to help never gets used fully, and life simply runs on as it does for ordinary people, alternating happiness and suffering by chance. But if you sit a lot, even with little merit, you still have a chance, because the sitting itself continuously draws new merit in to join the old. If both merit and sitting are little, there is no chance at all, because the unwholesome side becomes the mind's resident completely.

Why is even a small good deed like giving harder than it sounds?

The teacher added that the 24 hours of each day are already divided among the wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral natures. For anyone to make real progress is therefore never simple — it requires knowledge, good spiritual friends, and opportunity, and depends on teacher and student relying on each other: the teacher needs the student, the student needs the teacher, for real leaps in development to happen. Without both teacher and student, progress is very slow.

Watching a movie can relieve boredom, but why isn't that the same as meditating?

Someone asked why watching movies or listening to music can relieve boredom, when sitting to meditate doesn't work the same way. The teacher explained that this is simply switching from the unwholesome system to the neutral one — not harmful, but also not beneficial. It's only leaving the unwholesome system for the neutral one, not truly entering the wholesome system. Entering the wholesome system genuinely requires precepts, concentration, and wisdom together; concentration alone without wisdom can't unlock anything, because everything is locked. It takes real knowledge and understanding for wisdom to arise, and only then does it draw in pure energy to help resolve problems.

How to handle a voice that insults you while you chant

Someone relayed a question on a member's behalf: every time they chant, a voice in their mind keeps saying the word "petty," irritating them every single time. Where does this voice come from, and how can it be dealt with?

The teacher explained that whatever tactic works, the unwholesome side keeps reusing it. Chanting continuously draws in pure energy, so the unwholesome side looks for a way to interfere — a single word is enough to sap some of that merit and slip a moment of irritation into the flow. The remedy is to fight back: the next time that voice appears, chant even longer than usual, or sit in meditation for several more hours afterward. Let it learn that the more it interferes, the less it accomplishes — eventually it will stop trying.

Does expanding the mind during worship really affect the strength of merit received?

Someone asked whether, when Luang Phor teaches us to let the mind expand outward as far as we can imagine during worship, the extent of that expansion actually affects how much merit-power we receive. The teacher confirmed that it does, because expanding is a way of refining the mind — the more the mind expands, the more refined it becomes, and the more refined it becomes, the deeper the liberation occurring in that very moment. Even without a clear visual image, if you can still hold the felt sense of expansion, that means real liberation is genuinely occurring in that moment — you simply can't see it.

Why is meditating as a group better than meditating alone?

Someone asked: meditating alone clears one's own impurities gradually, but when meditating as a group — such as at a worship ceremony — does everyone's merit combine so the teacher can purify it for everyone at once? The teacher confirmed this is correct: there is normally already a collective backdrop that gathers each person's merit together, refines it, and multiplies it further; the teacher then performs the sacred practice to help clear impurities and karmic obstacles for everyone present in the ceremony. Those with fewer prior impurities progress faster, while those with more impurities are still helped forward too, just to a different degree depending on each person's proportion of wholesome qualities.