พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่ามานะคือเจตสิกฝ่ายอกุศลที่ชี้นำให้เปรียบเทียบตนกับผู้อื่นไม่ว่าจะถือว่าเหนือกว่า ต่ำกว่า หรือเท่ากัน ล้วนก่อปัญหาทั้งสิ้น ทางแก้คือให้ยึดธรรมเป็นหลัก และพึ่งพาผู้รู้ผู้มีอานุภาพทั้งภายในภายนอกเมื่อเจอปัญหาอุปสรรคThe teacher explains that conceit is an unwholesome mental factor that drives comparison with others — whether feeling superior, inferior, or equal — and each brings its own trouble. The remedy is to measure oneself against the Dhamma alone, and to rely on the Knower and the Powerful One, within and without, whenever problems or obstacles arise.
Someone brought up a teaching from an elder teacher who once asked, "Why hold on to conceit?" — noting it might be useful, since some people quarrel with their community or develop conceit once their circumstances improve. They asked the teacher to elaborate.
What Is Conceit, and Why Is It Unwholesome
The teacher explained that holding onto self-regard takes at least three forms: believing oneself superior to others, believing oneself inferior, or believing oneself equal. Every form creates trouble. Feeling superior invites friction; feeling inferior breeds discouragement and holds back one's own growth; even believing oneself merely equal — when in truth one might be better or worse — still causes trouble. The right approach is not to compare oneself to anyone at all, but to hold to the as one's standard. If a comparison must be made, it should be made only against the Fully Enlightened Buddha — whatever quality of his is admirable, we should strive to embody, within the framework of his teaching and discipline.
He explained that conceit is an unwholesome (), a tool that unwholesomeness uses to guide our feelings through an inner voice, in order to create problems and obstacles that block growth. Whether belittling oneself or elevating oneself over others, both draw in a current of demerit, forming a dark sphere saturated with suffering that continually drives one's inner elements toward decline.
How to Resolve Problems and Obstacles
The teacher explained that what blocks human progress can be reduced to two things: problems, meaning what we don't yet know — resolved through the wisdom of a Knower — and obstacles, meaning what we know but cannot yet get past — overcome through the ability of a Powerful One. Both the Knower and the Powerful One already exist, both within and without. When facing a problem, there's no need to worry: for worldly matters, one can seek an external Knower or specialist for guidance. If none can be found, one turns to the Knower and the Powerful One within, by establishing the sphere of and maintaining constant awareness. The inner Knower then refines away im and conveys understanding; the Powerful One layers in to clear impurity so obstacles can be overcome. He emphasized that everyone can learn and train in this — it has nothing to do with being naturally clever or not.
The Difference Between Sending Loving-Kindness and Sending Merit to a Gravely Ill Person
Someone asked further about an elderly relative gravely ill with cancer and kidney failure, close to passing, and wanted to sit in meditation to send merit — asking how this differs from sending . The teacher explained that loving-kindness is a wave of goodwill that helps dissolve resentment in the recipient's heart, making it easier for their own wholesome mind to become established. Sending merit, on the other hand, is directly offering pure energy — it requires creating the cause of merit, such as through meditation practice, then dedicating that merit to the recipient. If the recipient is someone dear who has shared mutual care in the past, they receive it easily and can rejoice in it, which brings merit to both parties. He noted that whoever performs the act receives its merit first, and that such goodwill offered between people becomes a bond of mutual support carrying forward, both in this life and into future states of being.