ศีลเป็นเหตุให้เกิดสมาธิ สมาธิเป็นเหตุให้เกิดปัญญา และปัญญาเป็นเหตุอบรมจิตให้หลุดพ้น เพราะศีลคือความเป็นปกติของธรรมชาติแต่ละฝ่าย ที่ตรึงให้กุศลมีกำลังสืบเนื่อง จนสมาธิตั้งมั่นและปัญญาเกิดขึ้นได้Morality (sīla) is the cause with concentration (samādhi) as its fruit; concentration is the cause with wisdom (paññā) as its fruit; and wisdom trains the mind toward liberation. Sīla is simply the "normal state" of whichever force — wholesome or unwholesome — governs a person, and when wholesome sīla is strong enough, it anchors concentration long enough for wisdom to arise.
Drawing on a sermon from a past preceptor, the teacher explained the central principle of Buddhism: morality is the cause with concentration as its fruit; concentration is the cause with wisdom as its fruit; and wisdom is the cause that trains the mind toward liberation from all defilements.
What is ? It is simply the "normal state" of a given force. If it's the normal state of , it's called wholesome sīla. If it's the normal state of , it's unwholesome sīla. And if it's the normal state of the neutral force, it's neutral sīla — all of this is recorded in the scriptures. People fall along a spectrum depending on the proportion of wholesome force within them. Someone whose wholesome proportion outweighs the unwholesome and neutral will naturally be guided to keep the five precepts. Someone with an even greater proportion of wholesome force will be steered toward the eight precepts — even without ever having studied Buddhism. The teacher gave the example of a Western missionary who, though not Buddhist, lived a life close to the eight precepts purely because of a high proportion of wholesome sīla: not killing, not stealing, celibate, not drinking, not lying, eating one meal a day, sleeping simply, avoiding entertainment.
Sīla is the tool each force uses to keep beings within its own nature. When the wholesome proportion is sufficient, it draws in pure energy to cleanse defilements — especially the five hindrances — making them lighter. The higher the level of precepts one keeps, the more are cleared, allowing the called tatramajjhattatā (equanimity, arising together with wholesome mind) to shine brighter and grow steadier. This is why sīla is called the cause with concentration as its fruit: as wholesome mind states continue in unbroken succession — sustained by of sīla — steady, settled concentration arises.
Once concentration is firmly established, it draws in yet more pure energy to further cleanse the hindrances, allowing one to pass from one, coarser dimension into a subtler one, encountering an inner guide of greater capacity. This inner guide arises from wisdom, and will direct one toward right and good conduct, unraveling puzzles of understanding without anyone needing to teach it. This is why concentration is called the cause with wisdom as its fruit.
Once wisdom — endowed with true — is reached, this inner guide reveals the dangers and drawbacks of things, giving rise to disenchantment and dispassion, and a wish to be free. At that point, the faculty of liberation (vimutti) does its work, freeing one from the defilements underlying the human state — laziness, fear, addictions, and the like. And once freed, the wish to reach an even better state of life arises, and the faculty of liberating (vimuttiñāṇadassana) carries one onward to that finer life.
The teacher concluded that sīla, , paññā, vimutti, and vimuttiñāṇadassana are all tools already present within every human being — and within subtle and divine bodies as well. This is why sīla, samādhi, and paññā form the central pillar of Buddhism: a practitioner should clearly understand sīla, clearly understand samādhi, and clearly understand paññā, since this knowledge exists nowhere else but within the Buddha's teaching.