การแก้กรรมที่แท้จริงต้องแก้ที่ต้นเหตุ คือฝึกฝนดำรงอยู่กับกุศลธรรมผ่านศีล สมาธิ ปัญญา ซึ่งจะทำให้วิบากกรรมจากหนักเป็นเบา ส่วนคำว่า "ธรรมะ" นั้นแปลได้หลายความหมาย ทั้งเครื่องมือของฝ่ายกุศล ธรรมชาติ ความจริง และความรู้สึกในปัจจุบันขณะ ล้วนถูกต้องตามแต่ละมุมมองTruly resolving karma means addressing its root—training oneself to dwell in wholesomeness through virtue, concentration, and wisdom, which turns a heavy karmic burden light. As for the word "Dhamma," it carries several valid meanings—the tool of wholesomeness, nature itself, truth, and present-moment experience—each correct from its own angle.
Continuing from an earlier session, someone asked: if harm was done unintentionally to another person and can't be directly repaired, is it enough to accumulate merit as a substitute and simply avoid repeating the harm?
Ajarn explained that whether intentional or not, there's always a kind of magnetism that brings people back together to face the consequence. If it was intentional, the first step is to resolve the enmity by asking forgiveness—though sometimes the other party won't accept it, because the resentment still lingers. The real solution goes back to the root: training ourselves to dwell continuously in wholesome nature, through the threefold training of **, concentration, and wisdom**—the very three things the Buddha said anyone entering his teaching should train in. As these three develop, liberation and the vision of liberation naturally follow, and whatever karmic burden remains gradually turns from heavy to light, and eventually fades away.
Ajarn recounted a case someone had once written in about to a teacher: a person who had gone through a very difficult period in life, but later devoted himself to temple practice and the steady accumulation of merit. Later, he was caught in a violent incident with no personal enmity involved. The teacher explained this traced back to an earlier period when he had supported serious conflict between others. But because he had accumulated so much merit since, it cut short the severity of the karmic result, sparing his life. This shows that accumulated merit can genuinely soften the impact of karma, even if it can't erase it entirely.
Another case involved an old, tangled karmic bond spanning many lifetimes. The advice given was to steadily send to dissolve hold, together with consistent heartfelt wishes for resolution—continuing until an opening for merit appears.
Ajarn closed by reminding listeners that simply keeping mindful awareness anchored—on the breath, or at the body's center—is itself an act of merit; it doesn't require a trip to the temple. When we dwell steadily within system, everything else tends to resolve itself in time.
What does "Dhamma" actually mean?
Someone asked whether the word "" means nature, truth, or —and, in the context of the four foundations of where it's translated as "feeling," what the real meaning is.
Ajarn answered that all these meanings are correct—they're simply different angles on the same thing. **Dhamma** is the tool wholesomeness uses to support people and all beings, while its opposite is the tool unwholesomeness uses to control and pressure them; both sides carry an equally vast body of teaching. Seen as **nature**, Dhamma refers to whatever arises through natural law—wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral. Seen as **truth**, it's the state that's actually present in each moment—something we can only see by being fully present to it as it arises. Seen as **knowledge**, it's the accumulated experience of the past, passed down and taught to others. And in the four foundations of mindfulness, where it's translated as **feeling**, that's also correct, since it points to what's directly known through mindfulness in the present moment. All of these point to the same reality—just viewed from different angles.