พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์สอนว่าการเจริญภาวนาเป็นหนทางเดียวที่จะหลอมรวมเราเข้ากับระบบกุศลธรรมได้ในระดับลึก ซึ่งคุณความดีอื่นๆ ยังไม่อาจทำได้ ท่านอธิบายความแตกต่างของสติกับสัมปชัญญะ วิธีที่ธรรมชาติสามฝ่ายแย่งชิงเป็นเจ้าเรือนของใจ และเหตุใดฐานะภายในจึงเป็นต้นเหตุของฐานะภายนอก ก่อนนำเข้าสู่การแผ่เมตตาและอธิษฐานจิตปิดท้ายPhra Ajarn Suraphong teaches that meditation practice alone can merge us into the wholesome system at a depth other virtuous deeds cannot reach. He explains the difference between sati and sampajanna, how the three natures compete to seize the heart as their host, and why our inner status is always the root cause of our outer one, before leading into the radiation of loving-kindness and the closing aspiration.
Practicing Dhamma: The Only Way to Merge Fully With the Wholesome System at a Deep Level
Phra Ajarn Suraphong opened by explaining that practicing is necessary and essential for every life. This practice lets us learn to act in accordance with system until we can develop into one with it. Other virtuous deeds are still not able to merge us into oneness with the wholesome system at as deep a level as meditation practice can, because meditation aims specifically at reaching that deep level.
What makes the deep level so good? That deep level is the and liberation that brings us to a better status, to a subtler dimension, to genuine knowing beings of real authority who can protect, care for, and help us escape suffering, sorrow, and danger, and lets us reach a better life -- a life that is truly excellent, truly wondrous. In cultivating this meditation, the Fully Enlightened Buddha taught something we must commit to memory: "Monks, you should determine to know clearly the body, feelings, mind, and mental objects, in order to eliminate covetousness and grief regarding the world." This is the essential sentence that will change people's lives forever -- the very heart of what brings us to purity, liberation, and a life of true excellence and wonder.
Sati and Sampajanna: Remembering Comes First, Then Knowing the Details
Cultivating through determining to know is . Sati is remembering -- remembering comes first, and only then does knowing-in-detail of other wholesome states follow. We need to remember first: know our own body first. Once we know our body, we can then go on to know other things, other wholesome states. When we want to know a Dhamma in detail, we need sampajanna (). So remembering-and-knowing is sati, but knowing the fine details of all Dhamma states requires sampajanna -- this is the essence of cultivating meditation, because we need both: sati and sampajanna together, in order to know the subtleties of the heart. All it takes is determining to know, staying aware without lapsing, knowing what we know, staying with the meditation object we are familiar with that has a clear and continuous signal. Some meditation objects we are familiar with lack clarity and continuity, and this keeps us from progressing; but if the object is clear and continuous, progress will follow.
Sati Can Arise in Only One Place -- The Heart -- Where the Three Natures Compete to Take the Seat
Once sati arises, it can arise nowhere else -- only at the heart. All Dhamma states can arise in only one place: the heart. Whether that Dhamma is wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral, it cannot arise anywhere but the heart. Once a Dhamma state manifests at the heart, it necessarily influences the heart; that state spreads to fill the heart, and the heart perceives it. If it is wholesome, there are up to 84,000 sections of wholesome Dhamma, each one a clear, round, radiant sphere; once established at the heart, it makes the heart bright and clear. Once a wholesome state is established at the heart, it automatically and continuously draws in pure energy. Within each sphere of energy lies a pure, sacred element of Dhamma, possessing power, might, and the capacity to clear away every kind of defilement. This pure energy then drives the wholesome system -- the system itself cannot run without energy to drive it; energy is necessary.
So all three natures seek a way to take the seat of the heart as their host, then direct us to dwell within their own particular Dhamma, drawing in energy to power their own system. When nature takes the seat, it establishes unwholesome states and draws in the energy called sin, comparable to a state of suffering; this energy of sin then drives the unwholesome system, while the energy of merit drives the wholesome system in refining the elements of Dhamma. Once the unwholesome nature draws in sin, it presses the elements down through greed, hatred, delusion, and lust, pulling us down -- meaning being released from a coarse dimension into an even coarser one, over and over, spinning downward from bright spheres into dark ones, sinking lower and lower. This is why we need to learn and understand how to raise our inner status; our inner status is the cause of our outer status. If our status is to fall, it falls from within first; if our outer status is to rise, it must rest on a good, elevated inner status first.
Gathering the Heart to Stillness With a Meditation Object That Truly Works
Gather your heart to stillness with your own meditation object. Whatever object has worked for you continues to work; whatever has not worked, do not use it -- find another that does. What works means: does it have a clear signal? We simply perceive the signal; we can perceive it easily and clearly, staying anchored to that signal continuously, each person working in their own way. Stay aware without lapsing -- there's no need to rush, no need to hurry. Whoever is behind the urge to rush and hurry us, we need not heed; we simply dwell, staying aware without lapsing, and that alone is reaching the true purpose of life.
The Stream of Merit Pours In With Every Moment We Determine to Know
In each and every moment, the stream of merit pours in continuously into the center of the heart, into the center of the sphere of sati, bringing with it subtle treasures and a life-plan; the merit-element refines and purifies at the very same time. In each moment, the stream of merit, together with subtle treasures and the life-plan, flows in continuously and unceasingly -- we simply sit and receive this stream of merit and treasure. The wholesome system's work of refining the elements of Dhamma within us continues on its own; all we do is determine to know, staying aware without lapsing, continuously with our meditation object, each person in their own way, knowing what we know, staying with our object that has a clear and continuous signal, determining to know pleasantly, with a relaxed and easy heart. The breath we still, the breath we quiet -- soft, gentle, and at ease -- this too is a way of determining to know, drawing in the energy of merit to drive the wholesome system, refining the elements of Dhamma into purity, benefiting us both directly and indirectly.
Loving-Kindness: The Tool That Benefits People and Beings
From here we go on to benefit people and beings, using the tool of the wholesome system called (metta). All it takes is setting the wish for goodness toward people and beings, and extending that wish outward: may all beings be free from suffering and share everywhere; 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; and for those already abundant in happiness, may it grow further still. Once we have set this wish, we extend our heart, brimming with loving-kindness, to encompass our home and dwelling; loving-kindness shines forth, dissolving the defilement of irritation completely, shining across the earth, water, air, sky, people, buildings, brick and stone -- all made bright and clear by loving-kindness.
If we are not yet able to fully taste the flavor of loving-kindness, our late revered teacher advised us to draw upon the heart of a mother, full of love and sincere goodwill toward her own small child, and let it arise in us -- then we come to taste the flavor of that pure love and goodwill. We then extend this loving heart to encompass the whole village, extending on to the sub-district, the district, the province, the country, and every nation, until it encompasses the whole world -- making this world a crystal world, bright, cool, clean, and pure. May the people of the world and all beings be free from suffering and share happiness everywhere -- earthbound devas, sky-dwelling devas, celestial beings of every heavenly realm, formless Brahma gods, as well as beings in hell, hungry ghosts, and animals -- may all beings be free from suffering and share happiness everywhere.
Radiating to the Boundless Universe, and Liberation Into Ever Subtler Dimensions
Once we have set this wish for goodness, we extend our heart, brimming with loving-kindness, out to the atmosphere of the cosmos, encompassing tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of stars, extending onward to the ten thousand world-systems, the hundred thousand koti of universes -- letting our loving-kindness shine and benefit all beings, all things, and every element of Dhamma without limit. This loving-kindness shines into the very center of the hearts of people and beings; the defilement of irritation dissolves entirely. The wholesome nature then seizes this moment to take its seat, drawing in the pure energy called merit to flow into the brightness of the heart; the merit that flows in drives the wholesome Dhamma, giving rise to purity and liberation, reaching ever subtler dimensions.
Resting in the Triple Gem and Our Teachers, Setting Our Aspiration
We gather our hearts to stillness within loving-kindness; the stream of merit continues pouring in continuously into the brightness of loving-kindness, and we dedicate this share of merit to all people and beings, so that they too may share in this merit we have sincerely intended to build, and be free from suffering, sharing happiness everywhere. We gather our hearts to stillness within the Triple Gem -- within the Buddha Jewel, the Dhamma Jewel, the Sangha Jewel, within our great teachers -- resting within the utterly refined Dhamma body of our late revered teacher Luang Pu, within the utterly refined Dhamma body of Luang Phor, and within the utterly refined Dhamma body of Khun Yai. As we bring them to mind, we appear bright and clear within them, and they appear bright and clear within us; both we and they appear luminous within Nibbana, within the boundless, countless knowing beings of authority.
We take this auspicious occasion to pay respect and ask for their blessing, setting our aspiration into being, so that along our entire path of building perfections our life may be filled with wisdom, happiness, and purity, together with the fulfillment of every rightful and wholesome wish. We ask for the merit, radiance, power, might, 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, that all this merit combine with what we ourselves have sincerely accumulated since our very first existence, through countless lifetimes, up to this present moment, refining our body, speech, mind, and every element of Dhamma -- seeing, remembering, thinking, knowing, earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness -- making them bright, cool, clean, and pure. May we be freed from sacred misfortune, from karmic results, from Mara's obstruction, and from every obstacle in life; may greed, hatred, delusion, lust, , wrong view, craving, and clinging dissolve entirely, leaving no trace.
May we gain the eye that sees the Dhamma, reaching and penetrating the of the Dhammakaya, achieving the three knowledges, the eight knowledges, the six higher powers, the four kinds of analytical , the eight liberations, and the fifteen conducts, complete in every respect, together with strong and complete health, a long lifespan, and the ability to accumulate merit and perfections throughout our entire life, safely to the very end, heading straight along the path to Nibbana. Wherever we travel, may we meet only good fortune and safety, may we be loved by both humans and devas, may our wisdom shine bright and penetrate the Dhamma of the Fully Enlightened Buddha, and whatever work we undertake, may it flourish and yield results beyond what we could imagine, gaining treasures as vast as those of a Universal Monarch, given freely and without to build great generosity.
When the time comes to close our eyes and leave this world, may we be reborn in the Tusita heaven, in the special merit sphere reserved for great Bodhisattas, 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 family, complete with the utmost treasures of form, wealth, , gain, honor, praise and happiness, the paths and fruits of liberation, and the knowledge of the Dhammakaya. May we have a vast and sacred sphere of merit, able to recall our past lives from birth, born together with a clear and radiant inner Dhammakaya, able to study the knowledge of the Dhammakaya correctly and faithfully with Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and Khun Yai from childhood until the end of our life. Whatever unwholesome deed we may have committed by mistake in the past, through countless lifetimes, may that unwholesome karma be unable to catch up with us, 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, wondrous result, continuously from this moment onward, until the very end of Dhamma.
Closing Chant
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 ntu te.