พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์สอนว่าสัจจะ คือความจริงใจ เป็นพื้นฐานสำคัญที่ทำให้พลังของใจในการอธิษฐานให้สำเร็จ (ใจเป็นทาสสำเร็จ) กลายเป็นสิ่งศักดิ์สิทธิ์และทรงพลังอย่างแท้จริง หากปราศจากพื้นฐานสัจจะที่แท้จริง พลังนั้นก็จะไม่บังเกิดผลเต็มที่ แต่เมื่อดวงสัจจะตั้งขึ้นสว่าง สิ่งใดที่อธิษฐานปรารถนาก็จะสำเร็จอย่างน่าอัศจรรย์ ท่านยังสอนเรื่องการเลือกกรรมฐานที่เหมาะสม การภาวนาสัมมาอะระหัง และปิดท้ายด้วยการแผ่เมตตาธรรมPhra Ajarn Suraphong teaches that sacca -- sincerity and truthfulness -- is the essential foundation that makes the heart's power to manifest what it wishes for ("the heart as a genie of success") truly sacred and potent. Without a genuine foundation of sacca, that power does not fully activate; but when the sphere of sacca rises bright, whatever is resolved or aspired to succeeds in a wondrous way. He also teaches how to choose a fitting meditation object, leads the Samma Arahang recitation, and closes with the radiation of loving-kindness.
Practice is necessary because we live under three natures
Phra Ajarn Suraphong opened by explaining that practicing the matters enormously for every life, because we live under the control of three natures. Apart from , every other nature gives no benefit and no good, and if the system is unwholesome it produces suffering and danger, entering as master to steer and force us into wrong action, causing mistakes and loss, leaving the mind clouded. We therefore need to learn to abide within the wholesome system, because only the wholesome system gives us benefit and good, steering us toward right and good action, producing benefit, growth, , and success. That is the goal of the wholesome system.
To determine is to mark the body or mind, then go in to know
The Lord Buddha taught this more than two thousand years ago, teaching the world to develop : "Monks, you should determine clearly the body, feelings, mind, and mental phenomena, in order to remove covetousness and grief regarding the world." To determine is to mark, to specify, to pinpoint where -- at the body or at the mind. At the body, for instance at the breath striking the wall of the nostril, at at , or at the felt sense of the flesh. We mark it so we can go in and know that marked position. Knowing is ; clarity is . Sati knows the topic in outline; sampajañña goes in to know the details. Determining to know, staying constantly aware without lapsing, is the essential role of the human body.
Choosing a meditation object that fits us: mantra and mental image as a pair
Our teachers give us a meditation object to make practice easier, letting bind itself to that object. There are as many as forty meditation methods; we choose whichever one we prefer, whichever suits us -- meaning it gives a clear and continuous signal. Whatever meditation object gives a clear, continuous signal, easy for mindfulness to cling to and rely on, that object works. Our great revered teacher, Luang Pu, advised combining the mantra (barikam phawana) with the mental image (barikam nimit) -- he said the two form a pair. This means that as we determine to know while reciting "," we recall the Buddha image or a crystal sphere. "Samma Arahang" is the epithet of the Dhammakaya -- the Buddha image seated on a lotus throne within a clear, radiant sphere. We may recall the sphere surrounding the image, or the image itself -- whichever comes easiest.
Uttering Samma Arahang, the Buddha image appears
When we utter his name, he appears in our heart -- a crystal Buddha image, clear and pure, seated on a lotus throne, with a radiant lotus-bud crown, his sphere of Dhamma filling and covering the whole body. When he appears, he does not appear emptily; he takes the elements of our being and refines them to , dissolving the stains of defilement so our practice can advance. Reciting "Samma Arahang" again and again, counting as we go: Samma Arahang 1 -- the first Buddha image appears and expands to fill the body; Samma Arahang 2 -- a second image appears and expands in to fill the body; Samma Arahang 3 -- a third image appears, clear and radiant, and expands to fill the body, and so on continuously. Each image that emerges continues arriving in the center of our body without pause; we sit and gather these images one by one, letting ourselves relax and feel at ease. Every time we determine to know, staying constantly aware without lapsing, the stream of merit pours and flows continuously through the center of our body and heart.
The sphere of mindfulness: a clear, radiant sphere that arises only in the heart
Once the sphere of knowing -- the sphere of mindfulness -- is established, it takes the form of a clear, radiant sphere that can arise in only one place: the heart. It cannot arise anywhere else. Once established, we can recollect, staying aware of our meditation object, and the stream of merit pours and flows continuously into the brightness at the center of this established sphere of mindfulness. Our role is simply to determine to know and stay constantly aware without lapsing, watching over the sphere of knowing so it remains continuously established, letting mindfulness draw in pure energy to drive the wholesome system, refining the elements within us to purity, freeing us continuously from one dimension to the next.
Sacca: the foundation that makes the heart a sacred genie of success
Once we have done good that benefits ourselves, we move on to performing good deeds that benefit all beings -- both the world of beings and the world as environment, meaning both beings and their surroundings. Loving-kindness is the wholesome system's tool for helping all beings live at ease, simply by setting a wish of goodness with genuine love and sincerity.
Phra Ajarn explained that we first need to know the flavor of this love and goodwill -- itself. Our great revered teacher advised drawing on the heart of a mother, brimming with love and goodwill toward her small child, and setting that heart within us. We come to sense the flavor and depth of this pure, sincere loving-kindness, which differs from a loving-kindness we merely will into being without feeling.
Within our heart lies the foundation of sacca -- sincerity, truthfulness. Sacca is the foundation of genuine sincerity. When sacca, meaning genuine sincerity, forms the foundation, then whatever we determine, the heart becomes a sacred genie of success. Sincerity itself already acts as a genie of success -- but when it rests on a foundation of genuine sincerity, the sphere of sacca rises bright, and whatever we resolve or aspire to succeeds in a truly wondrous way. As we determine loving-kindness to arise, the sphere of sacca, the sphere of resolve, and the sphere of loving-kindness -- all radiant -- appear together at the center of our being.
Loving-kindness: one sphere among the 84,000 sections of wholesome Dhamma
Loving-kindness takes the form of a clear, radiant sphere because it is a sphere of wholesome Dhamma; all 84,000 sections of wholesome Dhamma are radiant spheres of this kind. Every one of them, once established in the heart, draws in pure energy called merit to flow through the brightness at its center. Loving-kindness carries the special quality of being able to dissolve ill-will and irritation -- forms of defilement -- entirely. As we determine loving-kindness to expand and cover the space of our home, the heart, being a genie of success, expands to cover every atom of that space exactly as we determine, and loving-kindness, whose birthplace is the heart, shines radiant.
Radiating loving-kindness from home to the boundless universe
The light of loving-kindness shines through every atom of the atmosphere -- people, beings, and things, brick, stone, and sand, all our belongings, all become clear and radiant; earth, water, air, and sky become clear and radiant. We then expand this heart, brimming with metta, further outward -- to the village, the district, the province, covering the whole country, expanding to neighboring nations until it covers the entire world, making it a crystal world, radiant, clean, and pure. May the people of the world and all beings be free from suffering and find happiness -- the earth-bound devas, tree devas, sky devas, heavenly beings of every celestial realm, the form and formless Brahma gods, and all beings in hell, as hungry ghosts, and as animals: may all beings be free from suffering and find happiness. May those who suffer greatly suffer less; may those who suffer little be entirely free of suffering and find happiness; may those with little happiness find more happiness; and may those with much happiness find even greater happiness still.
We then radiate this heart, brimming with metta, out into the atmosphere of the cosmos, covering the countless great and small stars, continuing outward across the ten-thousand world-elements, the hundred-thousand-koti universes, the boundless universe, letting our loving-kindness shine, benefiting all beings, things, and elements without limit. Our heart expands, opens, spacious and at ease, clear, cool, clean, pure, and radiant.
The great benefit of loving-kindness: the Bodhisattva who became a universal monarch
Loving-kindness shines into the hearts of people and beings, dissolving every stain of defilement and every trace of ill-will. The wholesome nature seizes this chance to settle in as master, drawing pure energy in to dissolve defilement, freeing beings continuously from one dimension into the next, with much goodness waiting in each dimension they enter. Our own standing gradually changes through this loving-kindness. And the world as environment -- earth, water, air, sky, buildings, homes, trees, grass, mountains, and seas -- becomes clear and fit to live in. This great benefit arises for the world, both for beings and for their environment. This is the special of loving-kindness: it can produce great benefit for the world itself.
Whoever brings benefit to the world and the cosmos can then make use of the treasures of the world and the cosmos. This was true of the Bodhisattva in ages past: when he was born into the world, he developed this same loving-kindness continuously until the end of his life, attaining the s (jhana). When he closed his eyes and left the world, he was reborn in the Brahma realm, attaining the status of the Great Brahma, enjoying happiness there for an extremely long span, until at the end of that lifespan he returned once more to be born in the human world. This time he attained the status of a universal monarch (chakkavatti), able to use the treasures of the world and cosmos to govern the world, ruling over all beings so they lived at ease and happily, with lives like those of heavenly beings -- people established in fine moral conduct, no wars, only generosity and mutual support, with no scrambling for advantage. We should therefore develop this loving-kindness continuously.
The stream of merit and stilling within the Triple Gem
We gather our hearts to stop, gather to still, within the radiance of loving-kindness shining out widely in every direction around us. The stream of merit continues pouring and flowing through the brightness of loving-kindness without pause, and we dedicate this merit to arise for all people and beings, wishing that they share in the merit we have sincerely intended and performed well, and be freed from suffering, finding happiness everywhere, with the genuine love and goodwill of our own hearts. We gather our hearts to stop, gather to still, within this stream of merit that continues pouring and flowing, steeping ourselves in the midst of happiness, in the midst of radiant purity.
We gather our hearts to stop, gather to still, within the Triple Gem -- within the Buddha Jewel, the Dhamma Jewel, and the Sangha Jewel. We fuse ourselves with them into a single unity. We are the Buddha image; the Buddha image is us. Every single day we need to fuse ourselves with the Triple Gem into a single unity, never letting our hearts drift away from them.
Stilling within the refined body of our teachers, and making the resolve
We still ourselves within the great revered teachers, within the most refined Dhammakaya body of Luang Pu, of Luang Phor, and of Khun Yai. As we recollect them, we appear radiant within them, and they appear radiant within us; both we and they appear radiant within Nibbana, within the Knower of boundless power. Nibbana takes the elements of our being and refines them to clarity and purity, dissolving every stain of defilement and karmic residue, connecting us to streams of merit and fortune, laying out the path ahead for us. While they are refining the elements within us, we prostrate and beg their blessing, resolving to fix a within this radiant sphere of merit, so that our entire path of building perfections is filled with wisdom paired with happiness and purity, and success in every right and good aspiration.
We, the disciples, prostrate and beg for the merit, glory, power, and absolute authority of Nibbana throughout every element and every Dhamma, together with the perfections of Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and Khun Yai. May all this merit combine with whatever merit we ourselves have sincerely accumulated well since our very first life, through countless existences up to the present, becoming a sacred merit of immense power that refines our body, speech, mind, and every element -- seeing, remembering, thinking, knowing, earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness -- to be radiant, cool, clean, and pure, freeing us from every calamity, every karmic result, every obstacle in life, dissolving greed, hatred, delusion, lust, , wrong view, craving, and clinging without residue.
May we gain the Dhamma-eye, penetrating fully into the of the Dhammakaya, accomplishing the three knowledges, the eight knowledges, the six higher powers, the four analytic s, the eight liberations, and the fifteen conducts in full; may we have strong health and long life to build merit and perfections throughout our lives to the very end, with unfailing high spirits, heading straight along the path to Nibbana, the ultimate end of the Dhamma. Wherever we travel, may we meet only good fortune and safety, be beloved of humans and devas, and possess radiant wisdom that penetrates the Dhamma of the Lord Buddha fully. Whatever business or work we undertake, may it flourish with results beyond imagining, gaining great wealth inexhaustible, used to build the perfection of giving with full strength.
When the time comes to close our eyes and leave this world, may we be born in the Tusita heaven, in the special merit realm of the 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 of the world, a warm family, complete with the finest form, wealth, virtue, praise, and the path, fruit, and Nibbana, together with knowledge of the Dhammakaya. May we have a sacred, vast sphere of merit able to recall past lives from birth, studying the Dhammakaya knowledge correctly and faithfully alongside Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and Khun Yai. May whatever unwholesome deeds we have committed carelessly in the past, through countless lives, never catch up with us or find opportunity to bear fruit -- may they be forgiven forever, and may we never commit new wrongdoing in body, speech, or mind. May all the merit we have sincerely accumulated well combine to produce sacred, powerful, wondrous results continuing without end from this moment until the ultimate end of the Dhamma, and may all these good wishes come to fruition for us all, by the boundless power of every Lord Buddha.
Closing chant
Phra Ajarn led the closing verse of homage to the Triple Gem to close the sitting: Sabbe Buddha... (the traditional Pali verse invoking the protective power of all Buddhas, Arahants, and the Triple Gem).