พระอาจารย์อธิบายต่อเรื่องอริยมรรคมีองค์ 8 เชื่อมโยงกับบุญกิริยาวัตถุ 10 ความคิดแปลกปลอมที่ผุดขึ้นในใจ และการพัฒนาศีลสมาธิปัญญาไปทีละกายจนถึงกายธรรมอรหัตThe teacher continues explaining the Noble Eightfold Path, connecting it to the ten bases of meritorious action, unbidden thoughts that intrude on the mind, and the step-by-step development of virtue, concentration, and wisdom through every body up to the arahant's Dhamma body.
Continuing a discussion on the Noble Eightfold Path from a previous session, the teacher picked up where the converon had left off.
The Eightfold Path Is a Package of Factors That Develop Together
The teacher explained that the Noble Eightfold Path is the path of the noble ones, a package of eight overlaid factors covering the entire path and its fruit: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, , and — with right liberation and right -and-vision of liberation sometimes added in certain texts. However far right view develops, every other factor develops correspondingly — which is why right view matters most of all, and connects directly with the orious action, a set of ways to accumulate merit that develop different aspects of practice: giving, , meditation, humility, service to others, dedicating merit, rejoicing in others' merit, hearing the Dhamma, teaching the Dhamma, and finally straightening one's views — correcting one's understanding to match reality. The first nine exist to develop the tenth, which connects directly to right view, making it ever purer and more complete.
Why Right Intention Names Only Three Things
Countless wrong thoughts exist, yet right intention names only three: freedom from greed, freedom from ill-will, and freedom from harming. This is because every form of wrongness ultimately reduces to liking and disliking. The unwholesome uses pleasure in sensation as its foothold, directing us toward greed — wanting what isn't ours — and greed together with liking and disliking leads to anger and resentment, both of which lead to harm. War itself arises from greed harming others; the losing side grows angry and holds a grudge across lifetimes. The unwholesome's tools are wrong speech and wrong action — improper words and deeds. Whoever wishes to stay on the path directed straight toward nibbana must therefore be free of greed, ill-will, and harm, with right speech abstaining from four things — lying, divisive speech, harsh speech, and idle chatter — and right action abstaining from bodily harm: not killing, not stealing, not engaging in sexual misconduct, not consuming intoxicants, and not gambling.
Right Livelihood and Right Effort
Choosing an occupation matters greatly, since livelihood sustains body, speech, and mind. Choose wrongly, and takes charge, directing everything. An occupation that benefits both oneself and others — such as a doctor or nurse — is considered the occupation of a bodhisattva, though in truth every occupation in society supports every other; none can be dispensed with. Right effort, meanwhile, concerns wholesome diligence — but diligence comes in three kinds: diligence cooperating with , diligence cooperating with the unwholesome, and diligence cooperating with the neutral force — entirely different from one another. Cooperating with the unwholesome harms oneself and others; cooperating with the wholesome produces genuine benefit; cooperating with the neutral force, while causing no harm, produces no benefit either — simply spending time and resources wastefully.
The Voice of Unbidden Thought Is Not Truly Our Own
The teacher explained that not all our inner thoughts and feelings originate from us — many arise from wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral mind and s overlaying our own, their thoughts sounding within our own heart. The heart is simply the instrument of knowing — whatever it perceives, we perceive as our own. Sometimes a voice of thought arises even though we never thought it and actively reject it, yet it persists relentlessly. If the thought were truly ours, simply ceasing to think would end it; because it isn't ours, rejecting it doesn't easily work — some people even end up consulting a psychiatrist over it. The remedy is to develop right , holding clear awareness of body, feeling, mind, and mental objects, with the purpose of eliminating covetousness and displeasure — covetousness being the pleasure that gives rise to greed, displeasure being the aversion that gives rise to anger and resentment — directly connected to right intention. But the root cause can only truly be addressed through right mindfulness.
Developing Virtue, Concentration, and Wisdom Through Every Body, Up to the Arahant's Dhamma Body
Right mindfulness can be practiced with eyes open or closed. Once developed, it leads to right concentration, which divides into the jhana aspect — fixed absorption in an object — and the ñana aspect, leading to -knowledge, , and liberation through wisdom. Practicing right concentration then leads to right liberation, true and correct freedom. All of this requires entering within, resting the mind at at , to reach the spheres of virtue, concentration, and wisdom belonging to the human body, the divine body, the Brahma body, the formless-Brahma body, and at each stage — from the threshold of attainment through stream-entry, once-returning, non-returning, and arahantship. Virtue and concentration at the human-body level resolve the human body's problems, purifying and liberating it toward the refined human body; virtue and concentration at that level then develop toward the divine body, and so on in sequence up to the arahant's Dhamma body. Only the knowledge of Dhammakaya reveals the full, detailed structure of this step-by-step development along the Noble Eightfold Path.