พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์สอนวิธีกำหนดรู้ที่ท้องด้วยคำภาวนา "ยุบหนอ พองหนอ" เป็นอีกหนึ่งสัญญาณทางเลือกนอกเหนือจากลมหายใจหรือชีพจร พร้อมอธิบายว่าสติเมื่อชัดเจนขึ้นจะพัฒนาเป็นสัมปชัญญะที่เปิดเข้าสู่มิติภายใน และย้ำอีกครั้งว่าความคมชัดของภาพความคิดในใจนั้นแปรผันตามระดับการปฏิบัติของแต่ละคน ก่อนปิดท้ายด้วยบทเจริญเมตตาธรรมและอุทิศส่วนบุญPhra Ajarn Suraphong teaches noting the rise and fall of the abdomen with the recitation "yub-nor, pong-nor" as another alternative signal besides the breath or the pulse. He explains how mindfulness, once clear, develops into full awareness (sampajañña) that opens into inner dimensions, and restates that the vividness of the mind's inner imagery scales with each practitioner's level of skill, before closing with radiating loving-kindness and dedicating merit.
Phra Ajarn Suraphong opens by reminding us that life depends on pure energy — merit — to sustain its human form, to benefit our and prosperity, and to let us live in ordinary peace. But merit can only arise when we abide within the correct system — system alone. No other system can draw pure energy in; some, being unwholesome, bring a great deal of suffering and harm instead. We must therefore learn, understand, and continuously train ourselves in the wholesome system.
The Principle of Noting Body, Feeling, Mind, and Mental Objects
The Buddha taught: "Monks, you should clearly determine and know the body, feeling, mind, and mental objects, in order to remove craving and aversion toward the world." To determine means to specify a point; wherever we specify, the mind is placed there. Once the mind goes to know it, arises at that position. Once mindfulness arises, it draws pure energy — merit — to flow continuously into the brightness at its center, driving the wholesome system and refining our elements until pure. Im, the source of problems and obstacles, grows lighter; once it does, whatever binds us to coarser dimensions falls away, and we become liberated from one dimension into another continuously — even at times without our conscious awareness.
An Example of Noting the Body: At the Feet
He gives the example of noting at the feet. When we place our attention there, the mind settles at the feet; the mind, as an aspect of consciousness, relies on the sense of touch to perceive the coolness, warmth, softness, or firmness of the skin touching the cushion. What we want is the state of recollective awareness — mindfulness — arising there. Mindfulness, a wholesome , once established, draws pure energy in continuously to the brightness at its center.
From Mindfulness to Full Awareness: Opening Into Inner Dimensions
Pure energy refines that position until clean and pure, dispelling the that relies on obscuring elements to keep it hidden. As those obscuring elements are dispersed and lightened, the dimension opens, and we can enter it — something impossible before, while the obscuring elements of ignorance still concealed it. At that position, mindfulness automatically transforms into full clear awareness (), perceiving the inner state completely and thoroughly. Merit is then drawn in through this awareness, spreading through every particle of the dimension at the position we've noted. Once the obscuring elements are gone, brightness arises on its own, its source unseen.
Craving and Aversion Through Outer and Inner Sense Doors
When brightness arises, if we remain excited or pleased about it, that is exactly the abhijjha and domanassa the Buddha taught us to remove. Abhijjha is delight, a hook for greed; domanassa is sorrow, leading to irritation and displeasure. Both pass through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body — form, taste, smell, sound, and touch of the external world. The internal world is the mind itself. The Buddha therefore taught us to stay continuously aware without forgetting, knowing exactly what we are aware of.
Yub-Nor, Pong-Nor: An Alternative Signal at the Belly
This is today's central teaching. Besides noting at the feet or elsewhere, we can also note the wall of the abdomen. As we breathe in, the belly rises; as we breathe out, it falls. Noting continuously, we come to perceive the rising and falling of the belly without interruption, with the orb of mindfulness as the one perceiving it. Recite along with it: "yub-nor" (falling), "pong-nor" (rising) — another alternative signal besides the breath or the pulse.
Anapanasati: The Alternative at the Breath
Alternatively, one may note the breath itself — called anapana: knowing the in-breath, knowing the out-breath, staying continuously aware without forgetting, perceiving the signal that appears without interruption.
The Importance of Staying Continuously Aware Without Forgetting
Our revered teacher taught us to remain continuously aware without forgetting, because the moment we forget what we are noting, mindfulness disappears. Once mindfulness is gone, there is no longer anything drawing merit in — merit stops flowing, and the wholesome system stops being driven. Some other system then takes over, whether unwholesome or neutral. We must therefore keep noting continuously without forgetting, noting pleasantly, with a relaxed and easy mind.
Feeling, Mind, and Mental Objects: Details Worth Recognizing
Beyond noting the body, we can also note the mind through feeling, its first layer. If the wholesome takes residence, we perceive comfort, a quality of the wholesome; if uncomfortable — a state hard to bear and endure — has taken residence; if neutral, neither pleasant nor painful, it is abyakata. Mind arrives together with mental factors: a wholesome mind brings wholesome mental factors, an unwholesome mind brings unwholesome ones. Mind appears as both sound and image — if our mind is refined, we perceive it as a moving video; if less refined, only a still image; if not refined at all, we perceive only the directing inner voice. Mental objects are the mental factors themselves: unwholesome feeling appears as hindrances — greed, aversion, delusion; wholesome feeling appears as mindfulness, faith, moral shame and fear of wrongdoing, non-greed, non-aversion, and the equanimity-producing mental factor (tatramajjhattata) that balances the mind. Because delight and aversion are ordinary to human experience, this equanimity factor is difficult to establish when they arise; without it, lightness of body and mind and a mind fit for work cannot arise, and the first jhana cannot occur. We must therefore hold the mind neutral, neither delighting nor recoiling.
Our Role Is Simply to Note
Whatever we note, the orb of mindfulness establishes itself there, and merit is drawn into the brightness at its center; that area is then refined and purified on its own — not through any effort of ours. Our only role is to note pleasantly, continuously, with a relaxed and easy mind. We may choose to note the body, feeling, mind, or mental objects — whatever we note, we simply know it; wherever we place attention, we simply stay with it. Once the orb of mindfulness is established, it draws pure energy in continuously to drive the wholesome system, refining our elements until clear and pure, freeing us from one dimension into another, continuously.
Radiating Loving-Kindness Through a Mother's Heart
Having done good for ourselves, we go on to cultivate () to benefit the people of the world and all beings. Mettā is a tool the wholesome uses for those with abundant merit to help those with less. Because mettā comes in many qualities, our revered teacher recommends drawing on the heart of a mother brimming with love and goodwill toward her young child. Once we note this loving-kindness, it establishes itself, drawing pure energy to flow into the brightness of its orb, shining onto every particle of people, beings, and things, then expanding to cover our home, dissolving resentment and irritation as impurities, then further to neighbors, village, district, province, country, other nations, and finally the whole world, covering countless stars across the universe.
The Aspiration to Radiate Loving-Kindness to Beings of Every Realm
May the people of the world and all beings — celestial beings of every realm, brahmas, formless brahmas, and beings in hell, asuras, and animals — be free from suffering and find happiness everywhere. May those with much suffering have less, and those with little suffering be free of it entirely; may those with little happiness have more, and those with much happiness have even more.
Dedicating Merit and Making an Aspiration
After cultivating loving-kindness, dedicate this merit to our parents, siblings, grandparents, benefactor teachers, helpful devas, and to those we may have wronged — our karmic counterparts (khu-kam khu-wen) — asking for mutual forgiveness. Then bring the mind to rest still within the Triple Gem — the Buddha Jewel, the Jewel, and the Sangha Jewel — and within the most refined Dhamma body of our revered teachers, merging with them into one. Rest the mind still within the continuously flowing stream of merit, the pure element of merit flowing through without pause. Then make an aspiration, asking for blessings from Nibbana throughout all elements and all Dhamma, setting the pattern of success within this bright orb of merit, to last throughout our path of building perfections from this moment on. May our life be transformed by wisdom, happiness, and purity; may we be freed from calamity, sin, defilements, craving, ignorance, and clinging; may we gain the eye of Dhamma and penetrate the of ; may we enjoy good health and strength and unending resolve to build perfections; and when we leave this world, may we be reborn in the Dusita heaven or in a family of right view — closing with the traditional chant invoking the power of all the Buddhas.