พระอาจารย์อธิบายโอวาทที่สอนให้ยกความบริสุทธิ์แห่งศีล สมาธิ หรือปัญญาของตนขึ้นอธิษฐานแทนการบนบานสิ่งศักดิ์สิทธิ์ลอย ๆ พร้อมเล่าเรื่องพญานกคุ้มในชาดกที่อธิษฐานด้วยสัจจะจนดับไฟป่าได้The teacher explains a teaching that says to base one's wish on the purity of one's own precepts, concentration, or wisdom rather than vague appeals to spirits, illustrated with the jataka story of the quail king who put out a forest fire through a truthful aspiration.
A lay follower asked: he had read a teaching from a late revered elder on how to make a wish (adhitthana) correctly according to Buddhist principles, which aligned closely with a jataka story of the Bodhisatta making a similar wish. Could the teacher elaborate?
Don't Wish Vaguely — Base It on Your Own Purity
The teacher read out the teaching the questioner had cited: "Don't go about with confused, nonsensical practices, appealing to spirits and deities — that comes from never having heard the teaching of the Buddha and the arahants... If one truly understands Buddhist principles, one must raise up truthfulness in speech — that is the essential point. If of precepts exists, raise up that very purity to speak of; if purity of concentration exists, raise up that purity of concentration to speak of and to wish upon; and if the truth of wisdom exists, raise up that truth of wisdom to wish upon."
The teacher explained that for a wish to bear fruit, the mind must become an "element of accomplishment," which requires truth as its foundation — this is why it's called a truthful aspiration (sacca-adhitthana). In ancient times, anyone seeking success in anything would always establish such a truthful aspiration, because the perfection of resolute wish must be supported by the perfection of truthfulness — the truth underlying the entire wholesome system. The ultimate truth is nibbana itself, being 100 percent pure with no other nature mixed in at all. This is why people often invoke the Triple Gem when making a wish — but without the supporting purity of one's own precepts, concentration, or wisdom, the wish remains incomplete. The scriptures record that anyone who has taken should reflect on them: the first, not killing — we have not killed; the second, not stealing — we have not stolen; through to the fifth, not drinking intoxicants — we have not drunk. Once the five precepts are found fully pure, one may raise up that very purity as the basis for the wish — the same applies to the purity of concentration or the truth of wisdom one holds. In that moment, the Triple Gem shines bright within us, we shine bright within the Triple Gem, and both of us shine bright at the center of nibbana, among knowers of boundless power beyond counting, more numerous than grains of sand in the four great oceans.
The Story of the Quail King: A Truthful Wish That Extinguished a Forest Fire
The teacher recounted a story from the scriptures. The Buddha once told of a past life in which he was born as a tiny quail chick, freshly hatched, its feathers not yet grown. At that time, a forest fire was spreading closer and closer. An inner voice — guardian within — spoke up, guiding him to make a wish grounded in the plain truth of his situation: newly hatched, feathers too small to fly, parents nowhere nearby, and a forest fire now threatening him. He wished, on the strength of this truth alone and nothing else, that the fire be extinguished — and the flames, right before his eyes, died down as they drew near.
Among the ten perfections — giving, , renunciation, wisdom, effort, , truthfulness, resolute wish, , and equanimity — whether a wish succeeds or not depends critically on what supports it: the perfection of truthfulness. A wish must be grounded in reason and correctness.
Virtue, Concentration, and Wisdom: The Wondrous Tools Already Within Us
The teacher explained that someone who doesn't live grounded in reason and correctness, even with faith, holds only a superstitious kind of faith that brings no real benefit — and can even lead to greed or fear, such as making merit and then wishing for a winning lottery number or a rising stock. Whatever directs that is certainly not the wholesome — it is behind it. The same goes for appealing to spirits: a spirit still suffers under its own karmic burden, and a deity that cannot even save itself cannot possibly save us. Even when a deva does help someone, it depends on that person's own merit moving the deva to want to help — and it must be a deva with the power to do so. Everything operates according to a mechanism working behind the scenes.
This is why the elders taught raising up one's own truthfulness in a wish — because virtue, concentration, and wisdom are tools already present within every human, deva, Brahma, and formless Brahma: the spheres of virtue, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and -and-vision of liberation, all residing within — wondrous tools built into us, always ready to help. We need only learn to use them properly, through the training of virtue, concentration, and wisdom. Once understood and put into practice, pure energy — merit — flows in along with refined treasures and completed patterns, driving the wholesome system to refine and correct the elements of , leading toward purity and liberation.
Live With Contentment, and Resolve Crises Step by Step Through Truth
The teacher advised living with , sfied with what one has and is, without chasing wealth according to popular values, since prosperity has its own automatic mechanism. Pursue an honest livelihood as far as one can, enduring hardship patiently if it comes, without letting greed arise — the moment greed appears, the unwholesome stands behind it, working to destroy one's wealth. When a crisis arises, rely on whatever truth one holds and make a truthful wish that the crisis lighten from heavy to light, and light to nothing, step by step. Nothing can be resolved instantly in a single day — everything requires time and proper sequence to unfold, just like ordering something online, which must still pass through each stage of shipping in turn.