พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าสัญชาตญาณคือความรู้ดั้งเดิมที่ถูกกำหนดไว้ในธรรมชาติของสรรพสัตว์ ส่วนไวรัส แบคทีเรีย และปรสิตที่เข้าควบคุมสิ่งมีชีวิตนั้น เป็นเพียงเครื่องมือของอกุศล ซึ่งจะเข้ามาได้ก็ต่อเมื่อเรามีวิบากกรรมรองรับเท่านั้น ต้นตอที่แท้จริงจึงอยู่ที่อกุศล ไม่ใช่ตัวเครื่องมือเหล่านั้นThe teacher explains that instinct is the primordial knowledge built into every being's nature, while viruses, bacteria, and parasites that hijack a host are merely tools of unwholesome forces — tools that can only take effect when a matching kammic debt already exists. The true root cause is unwholesomeness itself, not the tools it uses.
Someone asked the teacher about a past teaching on , describing a video of a grasshopper whose brain was hijacked by a parasitic worm, driving it to submerge itself in water so the worm could reproduce, and another case of a caterpillar taken over by fungal spores until it died and became cordyceps fungus — as well as the human body, which doctors often say is governed by microorganisms both beneficial and harmful. They asked how these relate to instinct.
What Is Instinct
The teacher explained that the word for "instinct" in Thai combines a root meaning "original to one's birth" with a root meaning "inner " — together meaning primordial knowledge that has existed for millions of years. A turtle hatchling instinctively heads for the sea without being taught, behaving the same way no matter which continent it's born on. Humans are no different: someone dominated by lust, aversion, or delusion behaves the same way regardless of where they're born, because it's a program set by all three natures — wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral. Wholesomeness governs beings toward living correctly and well; unwholesomeness is the program that pressures beings into wrong action.
How Viruses, Bacteria, and Parasites Become Tools of Unwholesomeness
He explained that the lives of all beings are likewise governed by these three natures. The unwholesome side, bent on destruction, uses small life forms — viruses, bacteria, parasites — as tools to infiltrate the body; bacteria themselves include both wholesome and unwholesome kinds. But these tools can only take effect when a matching kammic debt already exists within us. Without that debt, they can do us no harm; with it, we must experience the result, because unwholesomeness has stored the cause as a completed pattern within the sphere of demerit, and directs these agents to cause trouble according to their appointed time.
Are We Bound to Bacteria as Adversaries? The Real Root Is Unwholesomeness
Asked whether we are bound to bacteria as kammic adversaries, the teacher explained that bacteria and parasites are merely tools of unwholesomeness, not its source — just like the human adversaries we encounter in daily life, who are likewise only tools that unwholesomeness employs. These tools have no awareness of their role; they simply live out their own nature. As long as we fail to understand the true root cause, the problem cannot be resolved. He stressed that we cannot blame the tools themselves, since they are only performing their natural function. If blame belongs anywhere, it belongs with us, for failing to learn the truth and allowing unwholesomeness to lead us into causing harm to ourselves and others, generating the very kammic debt we then must bear. The real solution is to dwell within a wholesome system: diligently seeking merit and building perfections, connecting with the Triple Gem within, and keeping precepts, which offer protection from these dangers.