ผู้ไม่ประมาทคือผู้ที่ไม่ปล่อยเวลาให้ผ่านไปโดยเปล่าประโยชน์ แต่ใช้ทุกลมหายใจสั่งสมบุญบารมี ชีวิตของทุกคนขับเคลื่อนด้วยบารมี 10 ประการซึ่งเป็นพลังงาน หากบกพร่องข้อใดก็ต้องเรียนรู้และฝึกฝนแก้ไข พระอาจารย์สอนว่าความรู้ต้องคู่กับความสุขและความบริสุทธิ์เสมอ จึงจะนำไปสู่ความเจริญที่แท้จริงA heedful person never lets time pass without purpose, but uses every breath to build merit and perfections. Every life runs on the energy of the ten perfections, and wherever one of them is lacking, that area of life falls short — so it must be learned and trained deliberately. The teacher explains that knowledge must always go hand in hand with happiness and purity for it to lead to real growth.
A student asked the teacher to explain the teaching that "heedfulness is the path to the deathless" — that the heedful are, in a sense, never truly dead, while the heedless are as good as dead already.
The teacher began by pointing out a common human trait: when we see something happen to someone else, we assume it could never happen to us. Think of someone who achieves sudden success and then coasts through life enjoying it without care, only to decline within a few short years. That is heedlessness. Life works like a farmer sowing rice — if we don't plant the causes this life, what will there be to harvest next life?
The Ten Perfections Are the Energy That Drives Life
What makes a life fall short is not knowing, or knowing wrongly. The teacher went through each of the ten perfections (bāramī), explaining that they are the energy driving our life — wherever we're weak in building one, that part of our life runs short on power:
- **Generosity (dāna)** — giving to release , not giving in hope of getting more back.
- **Virtue ()** — resisting wrongdoing, for our own safety and others'.
- **Renunciation (nekkhamma)** — stepping back from sense pleasures, knowing moderation with sights, tastes, smells, and sounds.
- **Wisdom (paññā)** — understanding the truth of life, which gives rise to vision and the inspiration to change.
- **Effort (viriya)** — the diligence that pushes us toward our goals.
- **Patience ()** — endurance when facing hardship and suffering.
- **Truthfulness (sacca)** — sincerity and seriousness in doing good.
- **Resolution (adhiṭṭhāna)** — setting short-, medium-, and long-term goals and following through.
- **Loving-kindness ()** — extending goodwill, which keeps the heart broad rather than narrow.
- **Equanimity (upekkhā)** — keeping the mind balanced, neither swinging to extreme joy nor extreme sorrow.
Each of us carries these ten in different measure, so we need to understand them and keep building them in daily life.
Knowledge Must Go Hand in Hand With Happiness and Purity
The teacher closed by saying that worth learning is knowledge that leads to and . The starting point is knowledge paired with happiness and purity; the destination is the s of wisdom, purity, and great compassion. Most people in the world don't recognize true purity — they know only the kind of happiness that leaves the mind scattered and excited. Real happiness is peaceful and still. To be heedful is simply this: never let time pass without purpose, train the mind to settle at , and use every breath to keep building merit and the perfections.