พฤติกรรมที่ไม่ดีที่คนแสดงออกมาล้วนเกิดจากความทุกข์ในใจที่บีบคั้นอยู่ภายใน เมื่อเข้าใจพื้นฐานนี้แล้ว เราจะโกรธเขาไม่ลง และจะหาทางช่วยเหลือแทนการซ้ำเติม พระอาจารย์สอนว่าต้องยอมรับความจริงตามกฎแห่งกรรมก่อน แล้วจึงอธิษฐานและดำรงอยู่ในระบบกุศลธรรมเพื่อเปลี่ยนแปลงชีวิตทีละน้อยAll the difficult behavior people display comes from an inner suffering pressing down on them. Once we understand this, we find we can't stay angry at them, and instead look for ways to help rather than pile on more hurt. The teacher explains that we must first accept reality according to the law of kamma, then use resolution and living within the system of wholesome causes to gradually change our life.
A student asked the teacher to explain a teaching that improving oneself well and quickly requires first understanding a basic truth about life: every life must encounter suffering, and whatever difficult behavior a person displays comes from an inner suffering pressing down on them. Once we understand this, we find we can't stay angry, and instead we chastise ourselves for having gotten angry at someone else — the heart naturally softens.
The teacher explained that each life's suffering arises from (impermanence, suffering, non-self) together with . Whatever environment appears to us is the exact fruit of what we ourselves created in the past — no more, no less. Being heavy or thin, tall or short, having whatever intelligence or means we have — all of it is the fruit of causes we ourselves once set in motion. We must first accept this reality as it is. If we can't accept it, we end up complaining and blaming, which only clouds the mind further and draws in more demerit, compounding our own suffering.
Once We Accept the Truth, We Can Resolve to Fix It
What we can do is accept the situation as it is, then resolve never to create such causes again, and to keep creating good ones instead. Take past mistakes as lessons and resolve to close them off. Everything external we encounter reflects our own past behavior. Whatever we dislike, do the opposite: meet someone who speaks unkindly, and we speak kindly; meet a liar, and we speak the truth; meet someone lacking in kindness, and we become kind ourselves. Use whatever environment arises as a reminder to keep creating good causes continuously. Everything will gradually improve — but gradually is the key word. Expecting sudden improvement simply isn't realistic.
When Someone's Inner Torment Leads to Self-Harm
A student mentioned a news story he had read, about a student who did something wrong, was caught, and — overwhelmed with shame — took their own life shortly after.
The teacher explained this as an extreme example of inner suffering pressing down on someone. An inner unwholesome voice pushed them to do wrong in the first place, and once caught, that same inner voice kept blaming and condemning them further. Sometimes what starts as something small gets magnified by unwholesome forces into something enormous. If we understand this mechanism, we can help each other prevent things from spiraling out of control; if we don't understand it, we may end up piling on and making things far worse.
Such extreme behavior may also connect to a kammic result already set in motion. But living within the system of wholesome causes can turn something severe into something mild, and something mild into nothing at all — which is why we need to practice living within that system every single day. If we slip, we simply begin again, training little by little, the way a student progresses one step at a time.
The teacher also observed that today's world has far more stimulation than in the past — academic pressure, competition, and social media — leaving many young people without any grounding in or equanimity, making genuine hard to find. Meditation practice and honest livelihood both require building causes gradually, just the same; there is no shortcut to rushing the results.