Why We Practice: Life Under Three Natures

Meditation practice is essential for every life, because we all live under the control of three natures: the wholesome (kusala), the unwholesome (akusala), and the neutral or indeterminate (abyakata). These three natures direct us constantly through an inner voice. Apart from the wholesome, none of the other natures benefit us at all — the unwholesome one, in fact, brings suffering and harm. So we need to learn how to live within the wholesome system, because only that system can truly benefit us.

The Buddha's Teaching on Knowing Body, Feeling, Mind, and Mental Objects

The Buddha taught, as recorded in the scriptures, "Monks, you should clearly know body, feeling, mind, and mental objects, in order to remove covetousness and grief from the world." Phra Ajarn explains that "knowing" here means placing our attention deliberately at a specific point — at the body, such as the breath, or the sense of the whole body, or the center of the body at the seventh base; or at the mind, meaning feeling (pleasant, painful, or neutral), or mind itself (recollecting one's meditation object), or mental factors — the states that arise moment to moment.

Why We Anchor at Body, Feeling, Mind, and Mental Objects: The 89 Types of Consciousness

He explains that the three natures layer as many as 89 types of consciousness onto the human mind. The unwholesome side carries consciousness rooted in aversion and delusion, found in the realms of hell-beings, hungry ghosts, animals, or in a subtle human mind that has grown dull and clouded. The wholesome side carries refined, luminous consciousness at the level of the subtle human body, the divine body, the Brahma body, and the form-Brahma bodies. The purpose of developing right mindfulness is to let go of liking and disliking — the joy and sorrow we feel toward the world of sights, tastes, smells, sounds, and touch — because the unwholesome uses exactly this joy and sorrow as its lever. When we're overjoyed, it steers us toward craving and greed; when we're upset, it steers us toward anger and even ill will, turning small matters into big ones. All of this serves one purpose: drawing in energy. The wholesome side needs merit to run its system; the unwholesome side needs demerit to run its own.

The Stream of Merit: The Bubble-Straw Simile

Wherever we place our attention, the mind settles there — in Thai we call this "putting the heart in." Mindfulness, the faculty of recollection, arises exactly there, appearing as a small, clear, radiant sphere that can only arise at the mind, nowhere else. Once mindfulness is established at the mind, it draws a pure energy called merit (bun) flowing continuously into the brightness at the center of that sphere. Within that sphere of merit rests refined wealth of every kind — form, riches, virtues, retinue, honor, praise, happiness, and the path and fruit of Nibbana. When merit flows through us, this refined wealth flows through us too, and it draws coarser worldly wealth toward us. He compares it to dipping a coffee straw into water and blowing through it — a continuous stream of bubbles rising up. This is why we call it the "stream of merit" flowing continuously through us. To keep that stream flowing, we need steady concentration, sustaining the wholesome state moment after moment — five minutes of sustained practice brings five minutes of that flowing stream, ten minutes brings ten, and sustaining it depends on cultivating a genuine willingness to remain in the wholesome system.

Comfortable Ease, and When the Unwholesome Takes the House

Our senior teacher advised us to rest in a feeling of ease — sit comfortably, don't tense up thinking "I must meditate," just feel as though you're resting pleasantly. Sit so the body is at ease and the mind is at ease, drifting along comfortably — though not so relaxed that you fall asleep. But if, sitting this way, ease simply won't come, that's a sign the unwholesome has become the house-lord of the mind. What we experience in that state is one that must be endured and is hard to endure — this is called dukkha, suffering. The Buddha taught that in such a case, simply knowing it clearly is enough; there's no need to struggle against it. Suffering is a coarse state with a clear, continuous signal, which actually makes it easy for mindfulness to grab hold of and rest upon. In the beginning we may need to bear with it a little, but exactly while we endure, patience (khanti) arises to help us, arriving together with austerity (tapa) — a kind of armor that protects us from being tormented. We come to know the difficult state without being crushed by it, and the sphere of knowing — mindfulness itself — draws merit in to run the wholesome system, gradually wearing down the impurity that causes the suffering.

The Three-Bladed Fan: Why Hindrances Still Arise Even While We're Practicing

He raises the question: while we're maintaining mindfulness and living within the wholesome system, why can unwholesome states still arise? It's because the three natures are constantly competing for the mind's attention, at extremely high speed. He compares it directly: "the speed at which they take their turns is like a three-bladed electric fan" — one blade wholesome, one blade unwholesome, one blade neutral — spinning at such a high speed that all three seem to appear simultaneously all the time. In truth, each arises in its own separate moment; they simply alternate so fast that we can't tell them apart. If we don't cultivate right mindfulness, the wholesome side gets no help from us in claiming its turn. But once we train ourselves in right mindfulness, the wholesome side can establish itself and claim its turn more easily and more often — so the proportion of turns it wins increases, which means the pure energy of merit being drawn in increases too, along with the refined wealth and the results riding along with it.

The Daily Rate of Wholesome Growth

As more of this pure energy is drawn in to run the wholesome system, purification and liberation happen more readily, letting us abide continuously in subtler and subtler dimensions. The proportion belonging to the wholesome keeps growing, drawing strength away from the unwholesome and the neutral. He invites us to ask ourselves each day: how many percentage points did the wholesome side gain today? Our life's trajectory depends on this daily rate of wholesome growth, because purification and liberation open access to ever more valuable resources — purer, more sacred merit-elements able to cleanse impurity more thoroughly; refined wealth of greater value; more exquisite outcomes; and wiser, more capable guides to help us. On the other hand, if we take pleasure in what is wrong, the rate of the unwholesome increases instead, dragging us downward — the calamity riding along inside a sphere of demerit grows too, bringing no benefit at all, only suffering and harm.

Beginning the Sit: The Center of the Body and "Sammā Arahaṃ"

Our teachers instructed us to settle the mind at the center of the body, because this position is critically important — it is the gateway onto the path to Nibbana, and it is the shared center of the subtle human body, the divine body, the Brahma body, the form-Brahma body, and every Dhamma body we have. Once settled there, we're taught to silently repeat "Sammā Arahaṃ" — a name given for its qualities, meaning "the one who has practiced well, practiced rightly, practiced in a way that leads far from the defilements that cloud the mind." As we utter this name, he appears exactly where our mind is resting — at the center of the body if that's where we've placed our attention, or wherever else we've settled it. And when he appears, he doesn't appear empty-handed: he comes with the task of refining our elements of seeing, remembering, thinking, and knowing — earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness — making them clear, clean, and pure, clearing away the impurities that cloud us.

Merging Body and Mind as One with the Crystal Buddha-Image

We're taught to merge with him into a single unity, adopting the feeling that "I am the Buddha-image, the Buddha-image is me," letting our entire body become a crystal-clear, radiant Dhamma-body — the head as the crowned head with its glowing lotus-bud crest, the face as his gently smiling countenance, and moving through the forehead, cheeks, nose, mouth, chin, neck, shoulders, both arms, hands, fingers, chest, belly, back, hips, thighs, knees, shins, calves, down to the soles and backs of the feet — all of it, radiant, clear, cool, clean, and pure. This sense of oneness can register anywhere from 1% to 100%; whatever we can register, we take that much for now and let it gradually deepen. From there we merge our mind with his mind too, recognizing that he is resting still and stopped, absorbed in attainment, refining our elements to purity — so we still our own mind and rest it likewise, until in sequence the spheres of stillness, calm, softness, lightness, and ease arise. Each of these spheres is a wholesome mental factor that draws merit in to wear away impurity bit by bit, letting the wholesome state sustain itself continuously.

Life Adrift in the Ocean of Samsara

He compares our life to floating, treading water, in the middle of a vast, shoreless ocean — the round of samsara. We therefore need something wholesome to cling to and rest upon. We need to choose a meditation object and train ourselves so that it becomes a genuine support for mindfulness, something mindfulness can hold onto so it stays established and doesn't sink and disappear. This lets the sphere of knowing — mindfulness — remain continuously present, so the stream of merit, together with its refined wealth and completed outcomes, keeps flowing through us. Life in samsara depends on this pure energy the way a body depends on its cost of living — something we must draw on constantly just to sustain our human condition, to be able to sit, lie down, stand, walk, and carry out our activities. When merit runs low and demerit runs high, we suffer through illness and misfortune.

Radiating Loving-Kindness from Ourselves to the Universe

Once we've benefited ourselves, we're taught to cultivate loving-kindness (mettā) to benefit others too, forming a sincere, good-hearted wish. We draw on the image of a mother's heart, full of love and good will toward her small child, and let that quality arise in us — this lets us taste the true flavor of loving-kindness, of sincerity and good faith. "May all beings be free from suffering and find happiness." We then let that wish expand outward from ourselves — to our home, our neighborhood, district, province, the whole country, and the whole world, embracing earthbound spirits, sky-dwelling spirits, heavenly beings of every celestial level, Brahmas, and formless Brahmas, as well as hell-beings, hungry ghosts, and animals. May those with great suffering suffer less; those with little suffering be free of it entirely; those with little happiness find more; and those already happy find even greater happiness. We then extend this outward to the cosmos, embracing countless stars, out to the boundless multitude of world-systems. Unlike moonlight or sunlight, this light of loving-kindness casts no shadow, because it can penetrate every particle of every Dhamma element. It helps dissolve resentment and irritation from the hearts of beings, opening the way for wholesome nature to take up residence there instead, drawing in merit to refine their elements toward purity and liberation alongside our own. This kindness extends even to the earth, water, air, sky, mountains, rivers, seas, oceans, plants, and even our belongings, making everything clear and pure, fit to be lived in and used. Whoever benefits the world and the cosmos in this way earns the right to make use of the world and cosmos's own resources — as the Bodhisatta of old did, benefiting the world through loving-kindness until he was reborn a great Brahma, and later a Universal Monarch who governed the world in peace, its people upright and generous toward one another, so that war simply had no place.

Dedicating the Merit and the Closing Aspiration

We're guided to still and settle the mind within the continuously flowing stream of merit, and within the Triple Gem, recognizing the boundless kindness of the Triple Gem that watches over and helps us every single moment without ever pausing — along with our senior teachers, who likewise work continuously to refine our elements. We then form our aspiration, setting a completed intention into the bright sphere of merit, that our life, now and in every future existence, be filled with knowledge, happiness, and purity. The talk closes with a dedication asking for the blessings of the Triple Gem and our teachers — that calamity, demerit, and the defilements of greed, hatred, delusion, and ignorance be extinguished without remainder; that we come to realize the Dhammakāya teachings fully; that we enjoy good health and the strength of heart to keep building perfections toward Nibbana; and that any past unwholesome deeds be forgiven and released, through the boundless power of every Buddha.