พระอาจารย์อธิบายผ่านโอวาทของหลวงปู่ว่า ผู้ตั้งอยู่ในพรหมวิหารธรรมย่อมปราศจากอภิชฌา พยาบาท และมิจฉาทิฏฐิ ซึ่งเป็นทางของพระพุทธเจ้าที่จะทำให้ร่ำรวยได้ ต่างจากผู้ยังมีธรรมเหล่านี้ซึ่งเดินตามทางของมารและไม่อาจร่ำรวยได้อย่างแท้จริงDrawing on a teaching from his own preceptor, the teacher explains that someone established in the four divine abidings (loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity) is free of covetousness, ill-will, and wrong view — this is the path of the Buddha that leads to true prosperity, unlike the path of those still caught in these three, which is the path of Mara and cannot lead to real wealth.
A lay follower asked: based on the teacher's mentor's teaching about the four divine abidings (brahma-vihara), why must someone who wants to become truly wealthy cultivate them?
A Teaching From the Teacher's Preceptor
The teacher recited his mentor's words: "When established in the divine abidings, one is said to be free of covetousness, ill-will, and wrong view — one is said to walk in the footsteps of the Buddha and the arahants. Whoever still harbors covetousness, ill-will, and wrong view walks in the footsteps of Mara — that is not the path of the Buddha and the arahants. A person like that cannot truly become rich or prosperous. To truly become rich and prosperous, one must be endowed with , compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity — that is the true path of the Buddha and the arahants, the genuine path of a true monk."
Why the Divine Abidings Lead to Prosperity
The teacher explained that someone established in the divine abidings, when maintaining awareness of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity within body, feeling, mind, and mental objects, is performing a wholesome act that continuously draws in the flow of merit together with the refined treasure and the completed blueprint. Loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity are all radiant wholesome spheres. When we maintain awareness abiding in these states, that light shines out and affects the people and beings around us, giving them a favorable disposition toward us, arousing their fondness and mutual support. Anyone who is to genuinely benefit and support another must first have that other person's heart open and accepting.
Conversely, if we still harbor covetousness, ill-will, and wrong view, these unwholesome states block loving-kindness and compassion, and people fail to open their hearts to us or feel inclined to help us. The resources and treasure we possess then cannot flow outward to help others, nor can they flow back in to us either. This is why anyone who wants to become genuinely wealthy and prosperous needs the four divine abidings as a foundation — they are what produces a favorable disposition between people and makes mutual support possible, and this is exactly the same path walked by the Buddha and all the arahants.
Being Easily Hurt Also Obstructs the Divine Abidings
The questioner went on to ask why some people are easily hurt or offended, with little , making it hard to work with others. The teacher explained that this usually stems from unwholesomeness guiding them from within, particularly the force of conceit (mana), which makes a person feel devalued or unimportant. When the mind is repeatedly pressed into this narrowness, it becomes unable to sustain the divine abidings, because they require a broad, unconstricted heart. If loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity are genuinely cultivated, the mind grows more at ease. But in some cases, where old karmic results have not yet worked themselves out, it may simply take time for that karmic weight to lighten gradually, alongside steady, patient practice of the divine abidings.