พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์สอนว่าการกำหนดรู้เป็นวิธีเหนี่ยวนำบุญที่ง่ายที่สุด ไม่ต้องเสียเงินเสียเวลาหรือมีพิธีรีตอง พร้อมสาธิตเทคนิคกำหนดรู้ที่ปลายนิ้วที่สัมผัสกัน จนสามารถรับรู้ถึงจังหวะชีพจรของตนเองได้ชัดเจนต่อเนื่อง ใช้เป็นนิมิตที่มั่นคงในการภาวนา ก่อนอธิบายกลไกของเวทนา จิต และกระบวนการก่อเกิดบาป แล้วปิดท้ายด้วยเมตตาภาวนาPhra Ajarn Suraphong teaches that determining (noting) is the easiest way there is to draw in merit — no cost, no travel, no ritual required — and demonstrates a technique of noting at the point where two fingers touch until one can clearly and continuously feel one's own pulse, using it as a steady sign for meditation. He then unpacks how feeling and mind work, how demerit crystallizes, and closes with loving-kindness meditation.
Phra Ajarn opens by explaining that our lives can only find and progress when driven by wholesome energy. When we abide with wholesome nature, wholesome s arise in the mind, and the stream of merit is drawn in to power system, refining us and leading us toward ever better states. Only the wholesome system can truly benefit us; every other nature not only fails to help but, if unwholesome, brings suffering and harm.
The Buddha's Words: Clearly Determine Body, Feeling, Mind, and Dhamma
The Buddha taught: "Monks, you should clearly determine the body, feeling, mind, and mental objects, in order to remove covetousness and grief regarding the world." Wholesome states can only arise through determining. Wherever we determine, the mind is placed there — this is called "putting the mind in." Once we go and know at that point, arises, and pure energy flows into its brightness, powering the wholesome system to clear away impurities. As impurities lighten, life's problems and difficulties lighten along with them.
Determining Is the Simplest Way to Draw In Merit
Phra Ajarn points out that besides making offerings at a temple or keeping precepts, determining is the simplest way there is to draw in merit — no money, no difficult travel, no ceremony required. Simply determine. For instance, if told to note at the foot, we suddenly feel the warmth, coolness, softness, or firmness of the ground beneath it — something we never noticed before. This is exactly what we need: just for the orb of knowing to arise. Once the orb of mindfulness is established, we are already abiding with the wholesome system, which the Triple Gem oversees and Nibbana stands behind — so what is there left to fear?
The Fingertip Technique: Hearing Your Own Pulse
Phra Ajarn demonstrates an even subtler technique: noting at the point where the index finger and thumb touch during sitting meditation. At first we only sense that the fingers are touching, but as that senon fades, a slight wiggle brings it back for noting again. As we keep noting at the fingertip, the awareness grows finer and finer — from simply feeling contact, we begin to sense the blood flowing there, the pulse of the heartbeat appearing at the fingertip. At first touch we cannot perceive it at all, but with sustained, ever-finer noting, we come to feel the pulse beating continuously. This signal is clear and unbroken, making it an excellent sign for mindfulness to rest on and note with ease — or one can note the breath or the heartbeat itself just as well, since all we ever need is an orb of knowing with a clear, continuous signal.
Feeling: Pleasure, Pain, and the Blankness That Differs From Equanimity
When one of the natures seizes the helm in the mind, its signal appears there for us to know. If wholesome, its quality is happiness and ease. If unwholesome, its quality is — a state that must be endured and is hard to bear, coming with pressure or a jittery, unsettled feeling. The neutral nature shows a strange kind of blankness — neither quite good nor quite bad. This differs from equanimity (upekkhā), a wholesome feeling that can register both pleasure and pain accurately, yet tempers the mind so it does not sway toward delight or aversion at either, keeping it balanced and steadily established.
Mind: The Knower of Realms of Being
Besides feeling, we can also note the mind. Mind is the knower of realms of being (); whatever realm we are in at that moment, the mind reflects it. If unwholesomeness has taken hold, the supporting realm is that of hell beings, hungry ghosts, or animals. But if wholesomeness has taken hold, finer minds superimpose themselves — the mind of a refined human body, a celestial body, a finer celestial body, a Brahma body, all the way up to the arahant kaya. These finer-quality minds, when they descend and overlay ours, are wiser and more beautiful than the human mind, and so can elevate our own mind. The feeling-thought that keeps the mind fixed continuously is called emotion, which is necessary for us to act on anything at all.
Truth Appears Only in Each Present Moment
Phra Ajarn emphasizes that truth, or the true, appears only in each present moment — never in the past or future, not even the recent past or near future. The past is merely a memory stored in the sphere of thought, sometimes recalled, sometimes not. To understand truth, we must enter each present moment, which is always new, never old.
The Goal: Removing Covetousness and Grief
Noting body, feeling, mind, and aims to remove covetousness — delight — and grief — sorrow — both of which give an opening to steer us toward greed or anger. The Buddha taught us not to delight or resent, because once we accept such a feeling, craving stirs up until it can no longer be refused. In truth, we become imprisoned the moment we accept it — whether delight or sorrow, neither escapes craving for existence or craving for non-existence.
How Demerit Crystallizes From Thought Into Action
Once we accept delight or aversion, unwholesomeness draws in demerit to fuel its own nature through greed, hatred, delusion, and lust. A wrong thought leads to wrong speech, and wrong speech leads to wrong action, drawing in demerit continuously until the unwholesome deed is complete. Everything is then sealed into a completed sphere of demerit. At the center of that current of demerit sits a sphere of ruin, which the unwholesome side uses to destroy our physical, material, and personal assets — our retinue, reputation, and happiness. Once complete, it is stored in the dhamma sphere and placed on the timeline of our life — and from that moment, a countdown begins.
Why We Must Rely Solely on Wholesome Nature
If we can abide with wholesome nature, when the results of past karma appear, wholesomeness protects and cares for us, turning heavy into light and light into nothing. But if we are unfamiliar with abiding in wholesome nature, we cannot rely on anyone at all — even parents can only watch with worry, unable to truly help. Only wholesome nature can genuinely help us.
From Manual Practice to Automatic Habit
Determining is not difficult — it simply requires repeated practice. Lapse, then determine again. Cultivate the wish and satisfaction (chanda) for noting until it becomes a habit, moving gradually from a manual effort to an automatic one. This relies on the four bases of success — aspiration, effort, focused attention, and investigation — keeping the mind fixed continuously so pure energy is drawn in without interruption.
Conditions Preceding the First Jhāna
As the mind settles into balance, the neutral mental factor shines bright and clear, and the stream of merit flows in to purify impurities, producing states favorable to the first : lightness of body and mind to the point of feeling as if floating, refined gentleness and agility of body and mind, developing further into "the body and mind fit for work," which supports creative endeavor and every level of jhāna attainment.
Cultivating Loving-Kindness
Phra Ajarn then leads meditation to benefit the world and all beings, drawing on the heart of a mother who loves and wishes well for her young child, with sincerity as the foundation supporting loving-kindness. May the world and all beings be free from suffering and find happiness everywhere. The mind then expands to cover the home, village, district, province, the whole country, and the entire universe. Loving-kindness also refines the environment — earth, water, air, forests, and rivers — making it fit for all beings to dwell in happily. Whoever benefits the world and the universe may in turn draw upon its resources.
Dedication of Merit and the Closing Chant
We rest the mind still in the stream of merit, in the Triple Gem, and in the utterly refined dhamma bodies of Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and Khun Yai Ajarn, then resolve in prayer to Nibbana for blessing. May we attain the of the Dhammakaya, enjoy good health, and build merit and perfections throughout this life. May all karmic counterparts forgive one another, and the session closes with the traditional Pali chant of dedication.