พระอาจารย์อธิบายผ่านคำสอนของคุณยายอาจารย์ว่า ชีวิตเราต้องพึ่งพาฉากหลังอย่างใดอย่างหนึ่งเสมอ การอธิษฐานผูกใจไว้กับพระนิพพานทุกครั้งจะทำให้ใจสูงขึ้นเรื่อยๆ และมองเห็นทางหลุดพ้น พร้อมอธิบายว่าเหตุใดบางครั้งอธิษฐานแล้วยังไม่เห็นผลในทันที และเราควรยอมรับความจริงในแต่ละปัจจุบันขณะเพื่อพึ่งพาระบบกุศลธรรมได้อย่างเต็มที่Drawing on a teaching from his own mentor, the teacher explains that our life always depends on some kind of "backdrop," and resolving to bind our heart to Nibbana every time raises the mind higher and higher, revealing the path to liberation — while also explaining why results sometimes aren't immediate, and why accepting reality in each present moment lets us rely fully on the system of wholesome dhamma.
A lay follower asked the teacher to elaborate on a teaching from his senior mentor about making resolutions: "When you go up to sit in the meditation hall, make the resolution the teacher leads, and add your own resolution as well. Whatever you resolve, always tie it to Nibbana, because keeping the heart bound to Nibbana means Nibbana will teach us to do only good, and never let us sink any lower. When we bind ourselves to Nibbana every day, our heart rises higher every day — and as it rises, we come to see the path to liberation."
Why We Should Always Resolve to Bind Our Heart to Nibbana
The teacher explained that our life is always governed by the three natures, so we must always depend on some kind of "backdrop." When unwholesomeness overlays us, it brings the body, feeling, mind, and mental objects of the lower states to lie over our own, making its thoughts appear as a voice within our own mind, guiding us through greed, aversion, delusion, lust, and the mental hindrances. If we accept this, we become trapped within that dimension. Wholesomeness, by contrast, has its own backdrop — from the refined human body up through the celestial body, the brahma bodies, the formless-brahma bodies, and every level of the body, all the way to Nibbana. This is why the teacher's mentor taught that whatever we resolve, we should always tie it to Nibbana, with the words "nibbana paccayo hotu" — "may this be a condition for my reaching Nibbana." When we recall the Triple Gem, we appear radiant within them, and they appear radiant within us. This isn't something reserved for after we finally reach Nibbana — it can happen in every present moment. The Triple Gem is endowed with boundless wisdom, , and great compassion, and will never refuse to help us.
Why Results Don't Always Appear Immediately
The teacher explained that some people resolve every time yet see no result, because side also has countless layers of its own backdrop and considerable power of its own. How much help we receive depends on how much impurity we've accumulated and how densely packed it is. Help arrives gradually — from heavy to light, and from light to gone — not as an instant transformation. As we bind ourselves to Nibbana each day, a stream of merit from the deepest reaches of Nibbana flows in to drive the system of wholesome dhamma, purifying us dimension by dimension. Our heart grows higher, more refined, and purer each day.
The Law of Karma and the Law of the Three Characteristics Work Together
The teacher explained that in every moment, we are subject to the law of karma, which draws together elements to bear fruit according to past results, and , which continually compels us to create new causes. Even in identical circumstances, one person's good karma may bear fruit while another's bad karma does. When good karma bears fruit as something pleasant, unwholesomeness urges us to want more than what we actually received — even though the result is always limited by the strength of our accumulated merit — turning our goal into a trap. When bad karma bears fruit as something unpleasant, unwholesomeness uses this as an opportunity to blame others rather than accept it as the result of our own past actions, breeding resentment and drawing in further demerit to compound the harm.
Accept Reality and Rely on the System of Wholesome Dhamma
The teacher advised that we must accept the reality that unfolds according to the law of karma in each present moment. If we refuse to accept it, wallowing only in sorrow and losing all our strength, we cannot adapt to the situation. But if we accept it and remain rooted in the system of wholesome dhamma, nature will find a way to help us — unlike the neutral nature, which neither helps nor harms, and unwholesomeness, which aims purely at destruction. Developing helps us stay grounded in the truth of each present moment, connecting us to the wholesome nature, which the Triple Gem oversees, with Nibbana behind it all, helping us without limit — so that our life gradually develops from the ordinary into something ever more wondrous.