พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์สอนว่าการกำหนดรู้ต้องฝึกซ้ำๆเรื่องเดิมจนกลายเป็นอัตโนมัติ เปรียบเหมือนตื่นนอนมาแล้วต้องล้างหน้าแปรงฟันโดยไม่ต้องคิด พร้อมอธิบายการกำหนดรู้ที่ศูนย์กลางกาย การภาวนาสัมมาอะระหังด้วยจิตสำนึกลึกๆ และการหลอมรวมเป็นองค์พระธรรมกายแก้ว ก่อนแผ่เมตตาและอุทิศส่วนบุญPhra Ajarn Suraphong teaches that noting the mind must be practiced again and again on the same point until it becomes automatic — just as waking up leads us, without thinking, to wash our face and brush our teeth. He walks through anchoring at the center of the body, reciting "Samma Arahang" with deep sincerity, merging into the crystal Dhamma body, and closing with loving-kindness and merit dedication.
Phra Ajarn opens with the principle he must always repeat: every life is under the control of three natural systems, and only one can bring us benefit, , and prosperity. In the past, not knowing these forces, we simply let ourselves drift, letting whichever force seized control run our lives. But now that we know three natural forces are steering us, it comes down to which one we choose to help and cooperate with. We must learn to align our mind and conduct with the Buddha's teaching, given over 2,000 years ago: monks should clearly note the body, feelings, mind, and mental objects, so as to remove covetousness and grief regarding the world.
Learning the Same Thing Again and Again Until It Becomes Automatic — Like Washing Your Face
Phra Ajarn teaches that we must come to understand the practice of noting, learning the same lesson over and over until we can do it automatically — just as, once we wake up, we automatically wash our face and brush our teeth, without having to think about it. That's the kind of automaticity we're aiming for. Wherever we note, the mind goes there; noting is what lets us come to know. We can note the breath at the nostrils, note full body awareness, note , note feeling — pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral — or note the mind as it engages with our work and the affairs of life. The mind of a human body registers the affairs proper to its own realm.
When Unwholesomeness Is Host, Its Voice Sounds Like Our Own Thinking
When unwholesomeness firmly takes hold as host, it draws in an unwholesome mind that supplies opinions and thoughts, because in that moment unwholesomeness has become the manager running the show — its feelings and views come to dominate the affairs of the human body, sounding in our mind like our own thoughts. But if we dwell in the wholesome system by noting, the sphere of knowing — — arises in the mind and draws in the pure energy called merit, which lightens whatever defilement is present. We must therefore note continuously, without lapse — otherwise our strength cannot match that of side.
From Brightness to a Clear Sphere: A Process, Never a Fluke
As we note continuously, pure energy keeps flowing in continuously; the wholesome system keeps refining until defilement lightens and finally disappears, along with . As we continue noting after that, a mass of gradually gathers into brightness; that brightness thickens into a bright sphere; that bright sphere thickens further into a clear, radiant sphere. This development unfolds in stages — everything follows its own process, continuously, never as a fluke. Our only role is to keep noting, continuously, without lapse.
The Center of the Body: Where the Celestial, Brahma, and Formless-Brahma Bodies Connect to the Dhamma Body
Our teachers advise us to note the center of the body, because they recognize this point as crucial — the center where the subtler qualities of the celestial body, the Brahma body, and the formless-Brahma body, up through , connect all the way to Nirvana. Settling the mind at this point places us on the inner middle path — the starting point of that journey.
Reciting "Samma Arahang" with Deep, Sincere Awareness
Having settled the mind at the center of the body, recite the mantra "" with a voice that comes from deep, refined awareness. This depth of awareness is necessary to connect us with our own subtler mind; left coarse, the mind stays coarse. "Samma Arahang" is the name given to the perfected body, our true self. When we utter this name, that Being appears, for form and name always come together. "Samma Arahang" means "the One who has practiced well, practiced rightly, practiced so as to be far from all defiling things." When he appears, he never appears empty-handed — he brings together the elements of our being: seeing, memory, thought, knowing, earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness, refining them into purity, clearing away defilement.
Adopting the Feeling of Being the Buddha Image, Like an Actor Taking a Role
The revered Luang Phor once said that reaching the Buddha image within can be easy or hard — easy because the mind is a substance of accomplishment: however you set it, so it becomes. Phra Ajarn suggests that even if we don't see anything, we should adopt the feeling — the way an actor playing a role fully adopts the feeling of that character. Adopt the feeling that we are the Buddha image, and the Buddha image is us; let our whole body become a crystal Dhamma body, radiant, clear, cool, clean, and pure from head to toe, exquisitely soft and gentle. This perception can begin anywhere from 1% to 100% — whatever you can sense, take that as your starting capital, then gradually build on it, section by section.
Merging Mind with His Mind: The Very First Goal of Being Born
Once body and his body have merged into one unity, merge mind with his mind too, by knowing what he is doing: entering ceson-attainment, gathering the mind to stop, to be still. Note "stopped within stopped, still within still, soft, light, at ease." With every recitation of "Samma Arahang," the Buddha image wells up continuously within us, one image after another, merging us with him into a single unity. Phra Ajarn says this is the very first goal of coming into this life: to become one with the Dhamma body, our true self. Even if not yet 100% complete, we have already succeeded at the first stage — what remains is simply developing it further toward completeness.
Cultivating Good for Ourselves First, Then Benefiting Others
Once the sphere of knowing — mindfulness — arises, wholesomeness arises with it, drawing in the pure energy called merit along with refined qualities and templates of accomplishment, driving the wholesome system to refine our elements, releasing us continuously into subtler dimensions. Each new dimension we reach holds more valuable resources — purer merit-substance, greater happiness, more valuable refined qualities — and the knowing being who presides over that dimension knows more too, ready to guide and help us. Our status changes, because inner status is the cause and outer status is the effect.
Loving-Kindness: Setting the Wish with a Mother's Sincerity
Having cultivated good for our own life, we turn to benefit the world and all beings through — the wholesome system's tool for sustaining the world. Simply set the wish that people and beings be free from suffering and find happiness, doing so with the same sincerity as a mother's love and goodwill for her infant child — pure-hearted and genuine — which gives the loving-kindness its quality. Loving-kindness takes the form of a bright, clear sphere, as do all wholesome qualities; they differ only in the inner state they carry and the name we give it — loving-kindness, compassion, equanimity, mindfulness, or .
Radiating Loving-Kindness Across the World and Universe
Once loving-kindness arises bright within, expand that heart to cover our home, the village, the district, the province, the whole country, neighboring countries, and the entire world, until the world becomes a radiant, cool, clean crystal orb. May the world and all beings be free from suffering and find happiness everywhere — earthbound spirits, wandering spirits, sky spirits, celestial beings of every heaven, Brahma gods, formless-Brahma gods, and beings in hell or as animals alike. Extend it further, covering countless stars, out to the boundless universe of ten thousand world-systems. Loving-kindness also refines the environment — earth, water, air, mountains, streams, rivers, oceans, trees and grasses — making them radiant, clean, and pure, fit for beings and people to dwell in.
Settling Within the Stream of Merit and the Triple Gem
Gather the mind to stop and be still within the radiant brightness of loving-kindness; the stream of merit still pours through that brightness continuously. Dedicate this merit to the world and all beings. Settle the mind within the pure merit-substance, within its happiness, its purity, its radiance. Beyond recalling images of the good we've done, we also recall the Triple Gem — the jewel of the Buddha, the jewel of the Dhamma, the jewel of the Sangha — whose toward us is beyond measure, caring for and helping us at all times, whether we stand, walk, sit, lie down, sleep, or wake.
Settling in the Teachers' Refined Dhamma Body and Nirvana
Then settle the mind in the utterly refined Dhamma body of Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and the great preceptor — the teachers who guide us to practice correctly in line with the wholesome system. As we recall them, both we and they appear radiant within Nirvana, the abode of every Buddha, every Silent Buddha, and every Arahant. Though these beings have already been liberated from the cycle of rebirth, they remain within the sphere of Nirvana, continuing to benefit people and beings. Whoever cultivates universal goodness likewise appears radiant within Nirvana through the merit-substance flowing from them — whatever religion they follow, or none at all — for everyone carries the Triple Gem within.
Closing Dedication and Chant
Phra Ajarn leads a dedication prayer, asking that the blessings and power of Nirvana, together with the virtue of Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and the great preceptor, combine with whatever merit we have sincerely accumulated since our very first life until now — to refine our body, speech, mind, and the elements of our being until they are radiant, clear, clean, and pure; free from calamity, sin, karmic debt, and every obstacle in life; free from greed, hatred, delusion, lust, , wrong view, craving, and clinging — granting us the Dhamma-eye and full attainment of the three s, the eight higher knowledges, the six supernormal powers, the four kinds of analytical , the eight liberations, and the fifteen conducts, together with strong health, a long life, and inexhaustible resolve to build perfections toward Nirvana. When this life ends, may we be born in the Dusita heaven, and when we return to build perfections in the human world, may we be born into a family of right view. The session closes with the Pali chant "Sabbe Buddha..." invoking the protective power of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.