พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าการจับผิดเกิดจากอกุศลบังคับดวงตาให้โฟกัสข้อผิดพลาด ส่วนการจับดีต้องอาศัยการกำหนดรู้และเปิดใจรับความดีของผู้อื่น ซึ่งจะค่อย ๆ ยกระดับใจเราจากการนับถือไปสู่ความเลื่อมใสและศรัทธาในที่สุดThe teacher explains that fault-finding happens when unwholesomeness forces our eyes to focus on others' mistakes, while noticing good requires mindful noting and an open mind toward others' goodness — a process that gradually elevates our heart from regard, to admiration, and finally to faith.
One student asked: people tend to notice others' faults more readily than their good points — is there a way to train ourselves to notice the good in others instead?
Why We're Drawn to Finding Fault: Unwholesomeness Directs Our Eyes to Mistakes
The teacher explained that we first need to understand why people are drawn to finding fault in others; once we understand that, we'll know how to change it. Fault-finding happens because we're unaware that unwholesomeness is steering us from within. When unwholesomeness possesses the mind and takes hold as the dominant force, it focuses on the nervous system, forcing eye-consciousness to focus on the particular person it wants us to find fault with, at just the right moment — then it steers us with an inner voice, something like "look at that, how could they do such a thing." This is unwholesomeness possessing the mind and taking hold, producing a feeling of displeasure, together with an inner voice forcing our eyes to focus and turning that matter into an issue.
The Principle of Noticing Good: Mindful Noting, as the Buddha Taught
Training ourselves to notice good requires mindful noting, just as the Buddha taught: "Monks, you should clearly note body, feeling, mind, and , in order to eliminate covetousness and grief regarding the world." To notice good in others, must be established first, and then we deliberately focus on each person's good qualities — observing what admirable thing each person has done. Once we set a wholesome intention toward each person's goodness, wholesomeness takes hold and guides us to see what is admirable and worthy of faith, an inner wholesome voice pointing out, "they're good in this way, good in that way," lifting up each person's and goodness as the focus.
Open the Mind to Receive First, and Merit Flows In to Gradually Elevate Us
The first necessary step is that we must open our mind to receive. Without opening the mind, it's difficult to see the goodness in others. Once we open it, their goodness becomes apparent, and wholesomeness guides us to hold that goodness in mind — this is called regard. As we see it again and again, wholesomeness keeps pointing it out repeatedly, and we see more and more of their goodness. That regard elevates the merit flowing through us; merit flows in and refines our mind, purifying it through the small acts of goodness we rejoice in and appreciate. As merit keeps flowing in from repeatedly witnessing goodness, it develops and elevates our mind further into respect. As we keep noticing the good, merit flows in even more, elevating that respect into admiration, and from admiration it elevates further still into faith.
This Process Takes Months or Years — But This Is the True Benefit of Noticing Good
Notice that simply by opening our mind to accept through wholesomeness, this continues developing and elevating over time — a process that takes many months, even years, to move from acceptance, through regard, respect, and finally into a thread of faith. It takes years of drawing merit in and letting it flow, elevating step by step. This is the true benefit of noticing good in others — it works through exactly this kind of gradual, step-by-step process.