Why Practice Is Necessary for Every Life

Meditation practice is essential for every life, because if we don't learn to align our minds with the wholesome (kusala) system, the unwholesome and the neutral (abyakata) will guide us instead, into their own territory. In daily life we have so often been steered by the unwholesome, or by the neutral, and this has led to countless mistakes and lapses — causing suffering, hardship, and wasted time and resources. If we don't want to keep repeating the same mistakes, we need to learn how to stay aligned with the wholesome system, so that the wise and powerful beings of that system can guide, teach, and correct us toward what is right and good.

This alignment is aimed at a deep level, so that purity and liberation can arise continuously. If we wish for happiness and prosperity, we must align ourselves deeply with the wholesome system.

Why the Buddha Originally Taught This Only to Monks

This deep alignment practice was, in the Buddha's time, taught only to monks — not to laypeople in general. Monks were people who had renounced the world specifically to pursue liberation, whereas laypeople of that era — much like people today — tended to live coarsely, seeking pleasure in eating, playing, and entertainment. So the Buddha taught his monks specifically: "Monks, you should clearly discern the body, feelings, mind, and mental objects (dhammas), in order to remove craving and aversion toward the world."

This principle matters enormously even today. It is what allows a human being to change from an ordinary person into a virtuous one, and from a virtuous person into a noble one — transforming a life into something pure, liberated, and truly wondrous. This is the essential teaching we need to return to and reflect on.

"Knowing," Not "Thinking" — The Heart of the Teaching

The Buddha taught "discerning" — knowing — not "directed thinking." This is because the knowing mind, sati, connects exclusively to the wholesome system; wholesome dhamma connects with the wise, powerful beings within. The thinking mind, by contrast, is open to all three — wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral can intervene there at any time.

The Knowing Mind (Sati) versus the Thinking Mind (Sankhara)

The knowing mind can be interfered with only occasionally, because it arises only together with the wholesome system. The thinking mind — the mind of mental formations (sankhara) — is different: wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral can all make use of it freely. The knowing mind belongs to the wholesome system alone. This is why we need to train ourselves to keep discerning, staying continuously aware without lapsing.

Sati, Sampajanna, and Anchoring the Mind

Knowing is sati; clarity of detail is sampajanna. Sati is the faculty of recollection, of being aware — but aware of what, exactly? We must specify and fix a clear anchor point: the breath, the center of the body, bodily sensation, or whatever it may be — the mind needs a clear base to rest on. The first step is always to specify a location, whether in the body or the mind, so that sati has somewhere to settle and know. If we anchor at the mind, meaning recollecting the meditation object, but then stop after a few repetitions and give up, that won't work either.

Body, Feeling, Mind, and Dhamma: The Four Foundations

If we anchor at feeling, we must be specific about which state it is — pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. Pleasant means comfortable; unpleasant means a state that is hard to bear. If that signal is clearly present, we simply keep discerning it. But if we try to anchor on a pleasant feeling that simply isn't arising — because the unwholesome or neutral dominates at that moment — there is no point forcing it; an unpleasant state is what is actually present, and we should discern that instead.

As for the four foundations: the body we already understand. Feeling has only three possible states — pleasant, unpleasant, neutral. Mind is the act of recollecting — recollecting a meditation object, recollecting merit we've made; there are some forty traditional meditation subjects, and we simply choose whichever one feels familiar. Dhamma is whatever mental state arises on its own, moment to moment — it might be sati itself, or metta arising in the heart. This dimension is present at all times, and it can be wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral — so we must keep discerning continuously, without lapsing.

The Purpose: Removing Craving and Aversion, Resting in Equanimity

Discerning body, feeling, mind, and dhamma has a clear purpose: to remove delight and distress — the liking and disliking bound up with sense pleasures (form, sound, smell, taste, touch) that belong to "the world." To stop reacting with delight or aversion requires a supporting quality of mind: equanimity, specifically the mental factor called tatramajjhattata, which anchors the mind in balance. Unwholesome and neutral states, by contrast, use delight and distress to bind us. A wholesome mind rests easily and steadily in this balance.

Whatever form of meditation we practice, the goal is the same: let go of liking and disliking. Good experiences — stay equanimous. Bad experiences — stay equanimous. It's like riding in a car to Chiang Mai: the trees, the buildings, the houses along the road are just scenery — some pleasant, some not — that pass by and are gone. In practice, we don't need to fuss over whatever experiences arise. If the mind still carries impurities, unpleasant experiences will keep appearing; as those impurities thin out, good experiences will gradually surface on their own, growing ever clearer as the mind becomes purer. We simply keep doing the work.

Entering the Sit: The "Samma Arahang" Recitation

To settle the mind at the center of the body, we use a mantra and a mental image as our anchor. Repeating "Samma Arahang" reminds the mind to stay continuously aware, without lapsing. You may count along if it helps — Samma Arahang 1, Samma Arahang 2, Samma Arahang 3. Luang Pu once taught that the recitation and the mental image go together as a pair: when we speak the Master's name — Samma Arahang — he appears.

"Samma Arahang" is an epithet, a name given for a quality: the one who practices well, practices rightly, practices in a way that leads far from defilements. When he appears, he takes hold of our elements — seeing, remembering, thinking, knowing — and purifies them, clearing away impurities, linking us to a stream of merit and fortune, and correcting the path ahead so our lives can move toward happiness and success.

The Vision of the Crystal Buddha Image

As he appears, he expands and merges as one with us. We adjust part by part: our head becomes the crystal head of the Dhammakaya, luminous and radiant; our face becomes his face, eyes gently closed, lips softly smiling. We work through the body section by section, gradually letting each part become the crystal Buddha image, until we and he are merged into a single unity. Throughout, we stay continuously aware of what we are aware of — resting with the Buddha image, resting with the Triple Gem.

When the Knowing Mind Arises, Merit and Refined Treasures Flow In

When we do this wholesome work — discerning until the knowing mind arises, resting with the Buddha image and the Triple Gem, merging with him as one — purity and liberation begin to unfold. As the knowing mind arises, it draws in the pure energy called merit, flowing into the brightness at its center, driving the wholesome system forward: clearing impurities, refining our elements toward purity, and carrying us continuously from one dimension into a subtler one. In each dimension we pass into, quality resources await us — purer, more sacred merit; more abundant refined treasures; more exquisite blueprints for success; and wiser, more powerful guiding beings ready to instruct and help us succeed in whatever we set out to do.

Radiating Metta to All Beings, Throughout the World and Universe

From there, we turn to doing good for the sake of the world and all beings, using metta (loving-kindness) as our tool. We set an intention of love and goodwill toward all people and creatures. If this feels unfamiliar, recall a mother's love for her own small child — sincere, pure, wholehearted. Bring that same feeling into your own heart, then make the wish:

"May all beings be free from suffering and find happiness, all around. May those with great suffering have less; may those with little suffering be freed from it entirely and find happiness. May those with little happiness have more; and may those who already have much happiness have ever more."

Then expand this metta outward — filling your home, then your neighborhood, district, province, country, neighboring countries, and the entire world, until the world becomes a radiant crystal globe, pure and cool and bright. Extend it to heavenly beings of every realm, to Brahma beings, and even to beings in hell, as hungry ghosts, or as animals — may all beings be free from suffering and find happiness. Then extend it further still, out into the cosmos, across countless stars, across ten thousand world-systems and endless universes.

This metta doesn't only benefit the hearts and minds of people and creatures — it also purifies the environment itself: earth, water, air, mountains, oceans, plants, buildings, and everyday objects, making everything more fit for living well.

Dedicating Merit and Uniting with the Triple Gem

As we radiate metta, a stream of merit continues pouring through the brightness of that lovingkindness. We then dedicate this merit to all people and beings: "May all beings share in the merit we have sincerely made, and be free from suffering, finding happiness everywhere." We then rest the mind, still and unified, at the center of the Triple Gem — the Buddha jewel, the Dhamma jewel, and the Sangha jewel — merging with them as one. From there we rest at the refined dhamma-body of our great teachers — Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and Khun Yai Achan. As we bring them to mind, we appear luminous within them, and they appear luminous within us; together we appear bright at the center of nibbana. They take our elements — seeing, remembering, thinking, knowing — and refine them to purity, clearing away impurities and karmic obstacles, linking us to a stream of merit and fortune, and correcting our path ahead.

While they are purifying our elements, we take the opportunity to pay respect, make a wish, and set our blueprint for success — that our whole path of accumulating perfections may be complete with wisdom, happiness, and purity, and that we may succeed in everything right and good.

Closing Dedication

We close by paying respect and requesting the blessings, merit, and boundless power of nibbana, together with the spiritual merit of Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and Khun Yai Achan — asking that all this merit combine with whatever good we ourselves have sincerely accumulated across countless past lives up to the present, becoming sacred and powerful enough to purify our body, speech, mind, and elements; to free us from misfortune, bad karma, and life's obstacles; to grant us the Dhamma Eye and full penetration into Vijja Dhammakaya; to bring us good health and a long life in which to keep building merit; to keep our resolve strong and directed toward nibbana; and, when we eventually pass from this world, to be reborn in a good and favorable state that continues to support our path. We ask that any past wrongdoing be resolved without further consequence, and that all this goodness bear fruit until the very end of the path. The sit closes with a chant invoking the protective power of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, wishing faith and well-being upon all.