พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์ชี้ว่าแม้อัพยากตะจะไม่ก่อทุกข์โทษภัยเหมือนอกุศล แต่ก็นำชีวิตเราไปกินเล่นเต้นเที่ยว ผลาญเวลา ทรัพย์สินเงินทอง ศีล ความสดชื่นและความแข็งแรงของกายใจไปโดยเปล่าประโยชน์ พร้อมสอนวิธีกำหนดรู้จิตเจ้าเรือน การหลอมรวมเป็นองค์พระ และปิดท้ายด้วยการเปรียบเทียบอานิสงส์เมตตาธรรมกับการให้ทานตลอด 7 วัน 7 คืนPhra Ajarn Suraphong points out that although abyakata, the neutral or indeterminate mind-state, doesn't bring suffering the way the unwholesome does, it still carries our life off into idle pursuits — squandering time, wealth, virtue, and the freshness and strength of body and mind for no real benefit. He teaches how to recognize which nature has taken the house, how to merge with the crystal Buddha-image, and closes by comparing the merit of loving-kindness to seven days and nights of continuous giving.
Meditation practice matters enormously for every life, because every life lives under the control of three natures. Apart from , no nature can truly benefit us — and one brings suffering, harm, and trouble. As for abyakata, the neutral or indeterminate nature, even though it doesn't cause suffering the way the unwholesome does, it still carries our life off into idle amusement — eating, playing, dancing, wandering about — spending our time for no real benefit. Worse, it takes our resources and squanders them: our valuable time, our wealth and money, and the freshness and strength of our body and mind, all spent without producing any good or benefit whatsoever. Living correctly, abiding within the wholesome system, is therefore a life of tremendous value in every single moment.
The Buddha's Teaching: Knowing Body, Feeling, Mind, and Mental Objects
The Buddha taught the monastic community, over 2,000 years ago, "Monks, you should clearly know body, feeling, mind, and mental objects, in order to remove covetousness and grief from the world." We need to hold this sentence firmly in mind, because it's the very sentence capable of transforming an ordinary person into a virtuous one, and a virtuous person into a noble one. He taught the monks to anchor their attention — anchoring means placing it deliberately, specifying it precisely, at the body or at the mind. At the body, this might mean at , or the nostrils to register the breath, or the sense of the whole body. What belongs to the mind is feeling — pleasant, painful, or neutral, whichever arises.
The House-Lord of the Mind: Recognizing Wholesome, Unwholesome, and Neutral Through Feeling
Whichever nature manages to seize its turn and take up residence as the house-lord of our mind reveals its own quality there. If it's wholesome, a feeling of ease and comfort arises. If it's unwholesome, it shows itself as a state that must be endured and is hard to endure. If abyakata takes up residence as house-lord, it reveals its quality as simply a blank neutral feeling. The reason we anchor our attention at the mind is precisely to recognize which nature has taken hold, because that nature's quality shows itself right there — all three natures operate through the mind. If we feel at ease, the wholesome is in charge, and that ease is easy to register. If the unwholesome has taken over, we register a state that must be endured and is hard to endure; the Buddha said that when suffering like this arises, simply anchoring on it is enough. Once the sphere of knowing — — is established, it draws in pure energy called merit to cleanse the im causing the suffering, wearing it down. All that's needed is to anchor and stay continuously aware, without ever losing that awareness — whether we're registering the body, feeling, or the mind that has come to take charge.
The Center of the Body: Where We Anchor Our Attention
Our teachers recommend anchoring at the center of the body, the seventh base, at the middle of the belly. Imagine two lines: one stretched taut from the navel to the spine, the other from the right side of the waist to the left; where they cross, place the index and middle fingers together, then raise them up two finger-widths — this spot is called the center of the body, the seventh base. We rest the mind there, then anchor and know — this is mindfulness, the faculty of recollection. We first come to know the sense of the whole body, and from there we recollect whatever else we intend to know; mindfulness goes on to know that too. All of this arises exclusively at the mind — nowhere else.
"Sammā Arahaṃ" and Merging with the Buddha-Image
Once we've anchored at the center of the body, we're taught to repeat "Sammā Arahaṃ," a name given for its qualities, belonging to the Arahant -body — our true self. As we utter his name, he appears within the center of our body and mind — the one who has practiced well and rightly, practiced in a way that leads far from every defilement. We can say the name in Pali or in Thai; either works. And when he appears, he doesn't appear empty-handed — he comes bringing our mind to be refined toward clarity and purity, clearing away impurity, connecting our stream of merit and wealth, and adjusting the path ahead so our life can reach and success with ease, because he is our true self.
Wearing the Feeling of the Buddha-Image: "I Am the Buddha-Image, the Buddha-Image Is Me"
Every time we anchor and utter his name within us, he appears at the center of our mind, beginning as a small, clear point that expands into the Buddha-image, merging as one with us. He wishes for us to be one with him, so that he can help and guide us more easily. Once we understand this, merging with him is simple: we adopt the feeling that we are the Buddha-image, the Buddha-image is us, letting our entire body become a radiant, clear, cool, clean, pure crystal Dhamma-body — the head as a clear, pure crystal crowned with a glowing lotus-bud crest, the face as his gently smiling countenance, moving through the forehead, nose, cheeks, mouth, chin, neck, shoulders, both arms down to the fingertips, chest, belly, back, hips, thighs, knees, shins, calves, down to the toes — all of it, the crystal Dhamma-body entirely. Reaching him this way can register anywhere from 1% to 100%, depending on how we anchor and how much we accept in the moment — because the mind is a wish-fulfilling element: whatever we anchor on comes to be. Whatever we can register, we take that much for now.
Stopped in Stillness, Calm in Calm: Reaching the Triple Gem Within
Once our body is merged as one with his, we merge our mind with his mind too, knowing that while he is with us, he is absorbed in the attainment of ceson, resting his mind stopped and still. Whatever he does, we do the same — stopped in stillness, calm in calm. As we anchor on calm, the sphere of stillness arises as a small, clear, radiant sphere at the center of the mind, showing its special quality of halting every system. As this sphere of stillness halts every system, we move continuously from one dimension to purity and liberation in the next — every word we anchor on carries its own effect, liberating us further and further. The sphere of calm follows in turn, showing the quality of calm itself: the absence of trembling, quieting whatever agitation is arising, wearing it down bit by bit.
Life's Purpose: Reaching Our True Self, Anywhere from 1% to 100%
Purification and liberation happen continuously, simply by abiding with our true self through a mind that is stopped and still. This alone fulfills the very purpose of being born onto this world: reaching the Triple Gem within, reaching our true self. Even though this reaching may be nothing more than a deliberate anchoring of attention, even while we still feel dim, hazy, and unclear, the mind remains a wish-fulfilling element — whatever we anchor on comes to be. If we abide within the wholesome system, whatever success and fulfillment arises will be right and good. But if we abide in or the unwholesome, we're steered toward anchoring on what is wrong instead, and that "success" becomes a demeritorious one. So as we abide within the wholesome system — which is our true self — we fulfill life's purpose, reaching oneness with the Triple Gem within. Whatever he does, we do the same: he rests his mind stopped and still, and we do too, training this oneness to arise in every moment, whether we're standing, walking, sitting, or lying down.
Radiating Loving-Kindness from Ourselves to the Universe
Once we've done good and created benefit for ourselves, we turn to benefiting people, all beings, and every element of the world, through (). We simply form a sincere good wish toward people and beings, drawing — as our senior teacher advised — on the image of a mother's heart, full of love and good will toward her small child. We come to know sincerity and purity of heart: "May all beings who share with us the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death be free from suffering and find happiness." May those with great suffering suffer less; those with little suffering be entirely free; those with little happiness find more; and those already happy find even greater happiness. We let this expand from our home outward to the neighborhood, district, province, the whole country, and the whole world, embracing earthbound and sky-dwelling spirits, heavenly beings at every level, Brahmas and formless Brahmas, hell-beings, hungry ghosts, and animals. We extend this further still to the cosmos, embracing countless stars, out to the boundless multitude of world-systems. This loving-kindness dissolves resentment and irritation in the hearts of beings, making it easier for wholesome nature to take up residence there, drawing in the energy of merit to refine their elements toward purity and liberation, extending its benefit even to the earth, water, air, sky, mountains, rivers, seas, oceans, plants, and our belongings.
The Merit of Loving-Kindness, Compared to Seven Days and Nights of Giving
He speaks of the extraordinary merit of loving-kindness: "cultivating loving-kindness for even the snap of a finger carries more merit than giving alms continuously for seven days and seven nights — laying out offerings end to end for a full league, sixteen kilometers, and giving alms along that entire stretch for seven days and nights straight; even that merit does not equal cultivating loving-kindness for just the snap of a finger." Cultivating loving-kindness, even that briefly, shines out in every direction, benefiting people, all beings, and every element — the earth, water, air, sky, plants, mountains, and our belongings — making all of it clear, clean, and pure together. This is why we need to make cultivating loving-kindness a regular habit. Whoever benefits the world and cosmos in this way earns the right to draw on the world and cosmos's own resources.
Merging with the Triple Gem and Our Teachers
We still and settle the mind within loving-kindness, as the stream of merit continues flowing, and we dedicate this merit to all people and beings. We then still and settle the mind within the pure merit-element, and within the Triple Gem. We need to merge with the Triple Gem into a single unity, never drifting apart from them — they benefit us continuously, day and night, whether we're asleep, awake, standing, walking, sitting, or lying down; we rest, but they never do, always seeking their turn to take up residence in our mind and steer us toward the right, wholesome system. We need, therefore, to feel deep gratitude for their boundless kindness, and we likewise still and settle the mind within the subtlest Dhamma-body of our senior teachers, who keep us close within them, refining and helping us without ever pausing.
Dedicating the Merit and the Closing Aspiration
While our teachers work to refine our elements, connect our stream of merit and wealth, and adjust the path ahead so our life can reap success according to our wishes, we 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 , happiness, and purity, together with success in everything right and good. 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 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.