Someone asked the teacher to expand on the great teacher's instruction: "The mind is the source. Don't let the mind suffer; keep it calm and still, because the mind is a wellspring of energy, of strength of heart, of wisdom, and of the merit we have accumulated across countless lives. Merit alone can untangle the problems that arise from the demerit we carelessly created in the past — no other method can fix it. Only the element of merit can cure the element of demerit."

The Mind Is the Office Where the Three Natures Operate The teacher explained that the mind is the office where the three underlying natures — wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral — do their work. Had the Fully Enlightened Buddha not arisen, we would have no way of knowing these three natures even existed. Whenever the unwholesome side seizes the mind as its own, it installs its own "software" and draws in the element of demerit — appearing as a dark sphere, saturated with the state of suffering (a condition that must be endured and is hard to endure), together with the impurity that gives rise to problems and obstacles. Demerit's goal is to push our underlying elements down, from one dimension into a coarser one, again and again, increasing the proportion of unwholesomeness within us, while happiness, success, and the fulfillment of our wishes diminish accordingly.

Don't Let the Mind Suffer — Purify Impurity Through Morality, Concentration, and Wisdom The great teacher taught that we must never let the mind suffer, because when it does, most people turn away from the truth of it, seeking distraction through friends, films, or music — and when the suffering grows worse, they turn to alcohol or drugs to forget it, if only temporarily. Instead, we should go to the temple and seek out those who understand, asking what to do about a suffering mind. They will teach us to purify impurity through morality, concentration, and wisdom — tools already present within every human being: the spheres of morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and liberating insight, all stored within our own sphere of dhamma. Even if we cannot yet perceive or access them, we can still use them, just as a blind person living in the world can still use a refrigerator, air conditioner, or fan without ever seeing them.

Morality refines into concentration; concentration leads to wisdom; and wisdom lets the inner knower explain to us the value of the wholesome and the danger of the unwholesome. Only once we truly see that danger can the sphere of liberation carry out our liberation. If we fail to see the danger — failing to recognize that gambling, alcohol, and drugs are vices that bring suffering and harm — the sphere of liberation can do nothing. Once freed from impurity, the sphere of liberating insight then works to refine and guide us toward a more excellent, more wondrous life still.

The Mind as a Wellspring of Energy: The Law of Karma and the Law of the Three Characteristics The teacher explained that the mind is like a power generator, and what it generates depends entirely on which "software" has been installed within it. Wholesome software produces pure energy; unwholesome software produces impure energy — the energy of demerit. The mind is therefore a wellspring of the merit we have accumulated across countless lives, and this proportion differs from person to person. This can already be observed in infancy: some children are so stubborn they destroy everything within reach, while others are gentle and easy to raise — simply because the proportion of wholesomeness and unwholesomeness each has accumulated differs.

All beings live under two laws: the law of karma and the law of the three characteristics. The law of karma bears fruit constantly from within the sphere of dhamma, releasing a current that draws in the conditions for a problem when demerit is bearing fruit, or pushes those problem-causing conditions away when merit is bearing fruit. The law of the three characteristics refers to the three natures at work within the mind, endlessly competing to take hold of it. While the law of karma is bearing its fruit, whether the law of the three characteristics helps or worsens the outcome depends on which system we are abiding within at that moment. If we abide within the wholesome system, it works to lighten or dissolve that karmic fruit; if we abide within the unwholesome system, even while merit is bearing fruit, the unwholesome side may lead us into wrongdoing that costs us the full benefit of that merit. The law of karma itself cannot be avoided — we must accept it and face it directly, which spares us from needless additional suffering.

Only Merit Can Cure Demerit The teacher emphasized this key principle: only merit can cure demerit. Both merit and demerit are pure, potent elements of dhamma, differing only in the fruit they bear — merit bears wholesome fruit, demerit bears harmful fruit. Being natural opposites, only the element of merit can cleanse and dissolve the element of demerit. We must therefore diligently accumulate merit and abide within the wholesome system. It requires only that we determine our awareness so that the sphere of knowing — the sphere of mindfulness — becomes established, and pure energy will already be drawn in.