การยิ้มเป็นพฤติกรรมที่แสดงคุณสมบัติของกุศลจิตซึ่งมาเป็น "เซต" ของกายเวทนาจิตธรรม เมื่อกุศลตั้งขึ้นก็จะเหนี่ยวนำบุญธาตุพร้อมสมบัติละเอียดไหลผ่านเข้ามา สมบัติละเอียดนี้เองที่ดึงดูดสมบัติหยาบคือทรัพย์สินเงินทองเข้ามาสู่ชีวิต นี่คือเหตุผลที่หลวงพ่อกล่าวว่า "ยิ้มแล้วรวย"Smiling is a behavior that expresses the wholesome mind, which always arrives as a complete "set" of body, feeling, mind, and mental object together. When wholesome states take hold, they draw in the stream of merit along with its subtle treasures — and it's these subtle treasures that attract material wealth into our life. This is the mechanism behind the teaching "smile and grow rich."
The program opened with a reference to psychological research showing that even a forced smile causes the brain to release endorphins and dopamine, reducing stress. A student then asked the teacher what the teaching "smile and grow rich" actually means, and whether it connects to this research.
The teacher explained that life is made up of the material and mental elements, within which the three natures — wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral — are all mixed together. Whichever nature takes hold of the mind arrives as a complete "set": body, feeling, mind, and mental object all together, never one piece at a time. Unwholesome behavior expresses itself as suffering — a furrowed brow, a grimace — and you will never see a being in a lower realm smiling or laughing, because smiling requires both spirit and the energy of merit to move those particular muscles.
Smiling Is a Sign That Wholesome States Have Taken Hold
Once wholesome states take hold of the mind, they draw in the stream of merit along with its subtle treasures — form, wealth, , retinue, honor, praise, all held complete within the sphere of merit. As merit flows through us, these subtle treasures flow through us too, and it is precisely these subtle treasures that attract coarser, material wealth into our life. This is the mechanism behind the teaching "smile and grow rich": smiling is the outward behavior that signals wholesome states have taken hold of the mind, automatically drawing in merit and its subtle treasures along with it.
The teacher added that this is exactly why the Buddha taught us to be mindful of body, feeling, mind, and mental objects — because these four always arrive together as a set belonging to whichever nature is active. Whichever one we notice first, we can draw in the full energy of that nature through it.
Stay Balanced — Don't Simply Chase Happy Feelings
The teacher cautioned against chasing emotional pleasure alone, since itself is just an emotional state that grips the mind. Unwholesome forces can use the excitement of pleasant feeling as a tool to provoke greed, making us crave that same feeling again. What we need instead is equanimity — knowing happiness as happiness and suffering as suffering, without letting the mind become carried away by either.