Why the Turtle: A Stand-In for All Living Beings

Phra Ajarn begins by explaining why he chose the baby turtle to represent all sentient beings. When a turtle hatches, its mind holds no information whatsoever - completely blank. And turtles, unlike baby birds, chicks, puppies, kittens, or human infants, have no parents to raise them.

Behavior No One Could Have Taught

When a baby turtle emerges from its egg, rather than wandering off in some random direction, it walks straight toward the sea entirely on its own - even when sand dunes block the view. No one taught it where the sea is. And once it reaches the water, it shows no fear of drowning at all. Phra Ajarn recounts asking people of many different backgrounds why turtles behave this way, and everyone gave the same answer: "That's just the turtle's instinct."

Unpacking the Word "Instinct": Innate Origin Plus Inner Knowing

Phra Ajarn invites us to look more closely at the Thai word for instinct, sanchāt-ta-yān, which is actually two words joined together: sanchāt, meaning one's innate origin from birth - as in, we are Thai by our original birth - and yāna, meaning inner knowledge. Combined, they describe a knowledge that has existed within a being from its very origin. Whether a turtle hatches in Africa, Europe, or Asia, it is the same everywhere: once out of the egg, it heads for the sea. This has been true for millions upon millions of years.

A Question No One Could Answer: Why Do Turtles Die at Different Ages?

Phra Ajarn then poses a harder question: if instinct is truly fixed like this, why does it lead some turtles to die in old age and others to die as hatchlings? At this point, listeners could no longer answer. He uses this gap to introduce the Buddha's teaching on the three natures that genuinely govern all beings.

The Three Natures: Wholesome, Unwholesome, and Neutral

The Buddha taught that reality is governed by three distinct natures, each with an entirely different purpose. The wholesome (kusala) nature supports happiness, growth, rightness, goodness, and understanding. The unwholesome (akusala) nature, by contrast, is entirely oriented toward suffering and hardship - creating problems and obstacles, aiming at destruction even unto death, and then dragging its victim further down into confinement as a hell-being, an asura, or an animal. The neutral (abyākata) nature gives neither benefit nor harm. All three natures exist within every being and are what direct the course of all sentient life.

The Story of the Furious Husband: Conflicting Inner Voices

To make this vivid, Phra Ajarn tells of a man who was called home urgently from work because something had happened. Arriving home, he found that his family had been wronged by a karmic counterparty. Enraged, one voice inside him said, "You must kill him." Another voice objected: doing so would mean prison, and who would then support his wife and children? The angry voice proposed gathering a group of allies to deal with the matter instead; the calmer voice objected again, pointing out this would only destroy the family's peace further. Phra Ajarn asked his listeners whether they, too, have heard such conflicting inner voices since childhood. Everyone nodded in recognition.

Inner Voices Are the Three Natures at Work

Phra Ajarn explains that these inner voices - some good, some harmful - correspond exactly to the Buddha's teaching on the three natures: wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral. All three constantly dominate and direct human beings and all creatures through these inner voices. The countless mistakes that occur in life stem from unwholesome voices misdirecting us, and because we cannot tell them apart, we accept and act on them, repeating the same errors over and over.

How to Tell the Voices Apart: Ask, "What Benefit Does This Bring?"

Phra Ajarn teaches a simple test. Whenever an inner voice urges us toward something, ask it back: "What benefit does this bring?" A wholesome voice will explain its benefit and reasoning clearly, because "kusala" itself means "skillful" or "wise" - it can always give cause and effect. An unwholesome voice, when asked the same question, cannot answer, because "akusala" means "unskillful." Unable to answer, it grows irritated and simply barks, "Just do it, why so many questions?"

A Voice That Shouts Without Cause

Phra Ajarn adds that just the evening before, a fellow monk had asked him about a voice that suddenly erupts in anger during meditation, even though the practitioner himself feels no such anger. Phra Ajarn explains that these natures exist within all of us, capable of producing anger, resentment, frustration, or boredom by using unwholesome mental factors as tools - dark orbs of feeling, such as an orb of boredom or an orb of discomfort, superimposed onto the mind. It is like a drop of dye spreading through water, changing its color entirely.

The Mechanism: Mind as Voice, Mental Factors as Feeling

Phra Ajarn describes the mechanism: the mind (citta) is the part that produces the voice that directs us, while the mental factors (cetasika) stir up the feeling that makes us want to act on that direction. When bored, the voice suggests seeking excitement; when we refuse one suggestion, another follows. It directs through voice and stirs feeling to make us want to act, over and over.

The Effect on Family and Society

All three natures - wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral - direct and pressure people within families, creating love, resentment, or friction, all guided by these inner voices. When children behave inappropriately, parents who don't understand this mechanism often fail to grasp why - not realizing their child is also grappling with unwholesome forces directing them, unaware even to themselves. Contemplating body, feeling, mind, and mental objects helps us understand the forces operating behind the scenes.

The Principle of Focused Awareness on Body, Feeling, Mind, and Mental Objects

The Buddha taught us to clearly discern body, feeling, mind, and mental objects in order to understand exactly how these natures govern us through these four locations. To focus is to specify precisely; wherever the mind is placed, we go and know it there. The orb of knowing - the orb of mindfulness - then arises, drawing pure merit energy in with it.

The River of Merit Flowing from Nibbāna

Phra Ajarn explains that this river of merit flows from Nibbāna, the abode of the Buddhas, the Paccekabuddhas, and the Arahants - all beings liberated from the cycle of rebirth who nonetheless continue to support the world and all beings. Whether or not a person follows Buddhism, if they abide in universal goodness, the Triple Gem still shines within their heart. But if the orb of knowing disappears, that signals ignorance has taken hold instead - a dark, unwholesome orb that destroys knowledge and produces not-knowing.

Recitation and Merging with the Crystal Buddha Image

Phra Ajarn then leads into the recitation "Samma Araham," the name given according to the virtue of one who practices well and rightly. Uttering this name causes its form to appear, on a mission to purify our elements of seeing, memory, thought, and knowing, along with earth, water, fire, and wind, making them clean and pure. He guides practitioners to feel themselves as the radiant, cool, clean, pure crystal Dhamma-body throughout the entire body, then to merge the mind - still within stillness - following the Dhamma-body's own nirodha-samāpatti.

Radiating Loving-Kindness and Dedicating Merit

Phra Ajarn then guides the radiating of loving-kindness (mettā), asking practitioners to draw on a mother's love for her own small child, extending love and goodwill outward across every place, country, and the entire cosmos - wishing all beings freedom from suffering and abundant happiness. He then dedicates this merit to ancestors, teachers, and all karmic counterparts, asking mutual forgiveness for past wrongs, closing with a heartfelt aspiration to the Triple Gem and the great teachers for continued growth on the path of merit.