เมื่อเราไม่ให้โอกาสมารได้ช่องผ่านความคิดไม่ดี คำพูดไม่ดี หรือความวิตกกังวล มารก็ไม่ได้ช่อง เมื่อมารไม่ได้ช่อง บุญก็จะได้ช่องส่งผลแทน แม้ไม่ได้นึกถึงบุญ เพียงทำใจนิ่งอยู่ในระบบกุศลธรรม บุญก็ยังไหลผ่านเข้ามาช่วยเหลือได้When we give Māra no opening through unwholesome thought, speech, or worry, Māra finds no way in — and once Māra is shut out, merit finds its opening instead. Even without deliberately recalling merit, simply keeping the mind still while abiding within the wholesome system allows merit to flow in and help.
Someone asked what the teaching "when Māra finds no opening, merit finds its opening" means.
Whatever the weather, the environment, or the surrounding conditions may be, we can get through a crisis and swim against the current — if we give Māra no opening to act through us via careless unwholesome thought, speech, or action, or through worry and anxiety. These are exactly the channels Māra uses. But if we pay no attention to those surroundings, keep the mind still within the merit we have accumulated, and abide steadily in the practice we've kept up, Māra finds no opening. Once Māra is shut out, merit finds its own opening to bear fruit and manifest its completed pattern. This is an essential principle.
Does merit still respond if we simply keep the mind still, without deliberately recalling it?
A follow-up question asked: if we don't deliberately recall merit but just keep the mind still, will merit still respond? Yes, he answered. When we abide within system, the Triple Gem oversees that system, with nibbāna behind it. Abiding within the wholesome system causes wholesome mind and s to arise, automatically drawing a continuous stream of merit inward. But side never rests either — it keeps trying to seize control. When it succeeds, our thoughts and feelings shift to match it; a moment ago we were thinking wholesomely, and in the next instant it may have shifted to something unwholesome. The wholesome side then fights to reclaim control, and the two trade places back and forth. We are merely the observer, watching what appears — sometimes good, sometimes not.
What we need to learn is how to step out of the unwholesome system and abide within the wholesome one. When we carelessly think, speak, or act wrongly, or feel anxious and worried, that is unwholesomeness planting the thought first and then steering us. But if we pay it no mind — recognizing it as unwholesomeness at work and simply not engaging — then even amid a bad economy or crisis that is our own karmic result, we can stay unmoved: it's fine. Because paying attention with worry plays right into its hands again, letting it possess us and draw in more demerit, bringing suffering and harm upon us.
We need to abide within the wholesome system, because only that system can lighten a heavy burden and dissolve a light one entirely. So there is no need for anxiety or worry of any kind — just keep the mind still within the merit already accumulated. Recall the merit built across countless lifetimes; recall the wholesome practice you've cultivated skillfully. If not yet skillful, train yourself in doing good until it becomes so, because the moment you recall it, wholesome qualities arise and draw the pure energy of merit flowing in through the brightness of the wholesome orb. When wholesomeness gets its opening, Māra is shut out, and wholesomeness leads us far from Māra's snare and every defilement. But if Māra gets the opening instead, it holds us captive within its own dimension, molding and misguiding us to act as it wishes, drawing demerit in to push our inner nature further down. This is why we must learn not to abide within the unwholesome system — only then can we get through a crisis and swim against the world's current.