พระอาจารย์ขยายความโอวาทที่ว่าการปฏิบัติธรรมให้บุญระดับลึกที่บุญประเภทอื่นให้ไม่ได้ ยิ่งขาดบุญจากการนั่งธรรมะ ก็ยิ่งไม่มีบุญเพียงพอมาขจัดอุปสรรคในชีวิตและเตรียมพร้อมสำหรับความตายThe teacher expands on a teaching that meditation practice generates a depth of merit no other kind of merit reaches — the less of this merit we accumulate, the less we have available to soften life's obstacles, and to prepare for the inevitability of death.
A lay follower asked the teacher to expand on a teaching from a late revered elder: "The more we lack the merit that comes from meditation practice, the less merit we have available to dissolve and soften our obstacles. Death gives no warning — we will all die, without knowing the day, the place, or the exact cause, but die we certainly will. Nothing, therefore, should be allowed to stand in the way of training the mind to become still. To claim business troubles as an excuse is unacceptable — since we have accumulated little merit, obstacles are naturally many."
Meditation's Merit Reaches a Depth No Other Merit Can
The teacher explained that merit comes in many kinds and levels, each with different benefits for resolving different problems. The easiest way to connect with the stream of merit is through meditation practice — simply maintaining continuous mindful awareness. Giving requires finding wealth and a worthy recipient; keeping precepts requires undertaking them with clear intention; but meditation requires only holding the mind — merit flows in immediately. No other kind of merit can reach the depth that meditation's merit reaches. The more we penetrate into increasingly refined dimensions, the more valuable the resources we access — greater , greater , a stronger ability to clear impurity, and more refined treasures accompanying it. All it takes is dedicating time to this awareness, whether eyes open or closed — though closing the eyes in a quiet place free of sensory distraction makes meditation easier still.
Not Practicing Means Lacking the Merit to Clear Away the Impurity That Causes Problems
Once awareness is held, the sphere of knowing draws in pure energy that clears away the impurity underlying our problems. Without practice, that impurity is never cleared, and it manifests as results today, tomorrow, or further down the line. Going about daily life, meeting people, liking and disliking arise, along with greed, anger, and delusion from whichever unwholesome force is master of the heart, drawing in demerit that creates small daily troubles. Larger troubles come from karmic results reaching their moment to ripen. With meditation practice, powerful inner guardians bring merit to soften that karmic ripening; without it, we cannot continuously abide within system, and fall instead into or neutral system, neither of which produces any benefit.
At every moment of life, the three natural forces compete within our hearts; whichever seizes control becomes master, directing us according to its own nature. If the unwholesome takes charge, it directs us through an inner voice that feels like our own thinking — boredom, worry, stress, irritation, discouragement, hopelessness, restlessness, or resentment — designed to drag us down and continuously draw in more demerit. Other kinds of merit can help, but only briefly, unable to reach any real depth or sustain themselves the way meditation practice can. The longer we practice continuously, the deeper the dimension we can reach — and it is precisely this depth that makes the pure merit-element and the refined treasures accompanying it grow more valuable and more exquisite.
An Example: A Novice Monk Preparing for the Pali Exam
The teacher offered the example of a novice monk determined to pass the Pali exam, waking early each day to chant and study. His existing capacity for and wisdom still needs developing further; meditation practice draws in pure energy to clear the impurity, purifying and liberating, connecting with the inner knower, who guides and teaches deeper understanding of cause and effect. The same applies to businesspeople or employees — meditation draws in merit to clear the impurity behind their obstacles, and connects them more deeply with the inner knower. The inner voice that guides us belongs to both merit and demerit; if we're connected with the wholesome, its guidance leads us toward what is correct and good. But without abiding in the wholesome system, our guidance instead comes from the neutral or unwholesome force, which offers no benefit or genuine progress whatsoever.
Preparing for Death With Sufficient Merit
The teacher added further, concerning death: once the moment of death arrives, it cannot be avoided — but the merit needed to carry us toward a good rebirth, if insufficiently accumulated, will not be enough to secure the fortunate realm we hope for. Each realm has its own allotted lifespan — heavenly beings in each tier have a fixed celestial lifespan — and if our store of merit isn't enough to sustain us for that full duration, we must descend to a lower tier instead. Sufficient merit functions like the "cost of living" required to remain in a given realm. Meditation practice develops the body, feeling, mind, and mental objects toward purity and liberation, enabling us to abide within higher tiers of the divine body. This is why the teacher taught that nothing should stand in the way of training the mind to stillness — claiming business troubles as an excuse is unacceptable, because no matter how skilled we are, without merit, success remains out of reach. Diligence, , and wisdom in resolving problems exist precisely to establish the wholesome and draw in the pure energy of merit — both in coarse and refined matters alike. It is this very merit-element that dissolves the obstacles we don't even realize we carry.