คำสอน · พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์Teaching · Pra Ajarn Suraphong
แผนที่ความเพลิน: จากอดทนฝึกฝน สู่ดวงสว่าง ควบคุมแสง อยู่กับดวงธรรม จนถึง 18 กายThe Map of Delight: From Patient Effort to Bright Light, Controlling the Light, Dwelling in the Dhamma Sphere, and the 18 Bodies
พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์วางแผนที่ขั้นตอนของ 'ความเพลิน' ในการปฏิบัติธรรม ตั้งแต่ช่วงต้นที่เพลินกับความเพียรความอดทน ไปสู่เพลินกับดวงสว่างที่ปรากฏ เพลินกับการควบคุมดวงสว่างได้ เพลินกับการอยู่ในดวงธรรม จนถึงเพลินกับการเข้าถึง 18 กาย พร้อมอธิบายกลไกการกำหนดรู้และการฝึกนั่งให้ได้นานขึ้นเรื่อยๆ ปิดท้ายด้วยเมตตาภาวนาและอุทิศส่วนบุญเต็มรูปแบบPhra Ajarn Suraphong maps out the successive stages of "absorbed delight" (phloen) in practice — beginning with delight in sheer effort and patience, moving to delight in the bright light that appears, delight in being able to control that light, delight in dwelling within the sphere of Dhamma, and finally delight in reaching the 18 bodies — alongside the mechanics of determining attention and gradually training to sit for longer and longer. The sit closes with a full radiation of loving-kindness and dedication of merit.
Meditation practice matters greatly to every life, because we live under the control of three kinds of nature. Only wholesome nature gives us any real benefit — , understanding, what is right and good, and and success in fulfilling our wishes. Other natures give no benefit at all, and if that nature is unwholesome, it brings suffering and harm. We therefore need to learn, understand, and train ourselves to abide with this wholesome nature.
The Buddha taught, on abiding with wholesome nature: "Monks, you should clearly determine the body, feelings, mind, and mental objects, so as to remove covetousness and grief from the world." He teaches us to develop by determining. To determine means to mark, to specify, to point at — wherever we determine, the mind is placed there; once placed there, we go on to know. The sphere of knowing — , a wholesome — then arises.
Wholesome, Unwholesome, and Neutral Arise Only in the Mind
In truth, whether wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral, all arise in only one place — the mind — nowhere else. If wholesome, it has the character of a clear, round, luminous sphere; all 84,000 sections of wholesome are luminous spheres. What differs is the quality carried within — like different packages with the same clear, round, luminous outer form, but different contents. If unwholesome, it's a dark sphere; if neutral, a gray sphere, neither white nor black.
When we determine, mindfulness — a wholesome sphere — arises. Once established, it draws in the pure energy of merit to flow continuously into the middle of the brightness of this sphere of knowing, of mindfulness. This pure energy drives system, refining and correcting the elements within us, purifying them, clearing away the defilements that cause problems and obstacles, until they are gone.
Defilement Is Limited; Our Determining Is Not
Defilement, the energy of , comes in a fixed, limited amount. But our capacity to determine has no limit — we can keep it up continuously for however long we like. **It's like waves in the sea, crashing endlessly against the shore.** If we determine endlessly, the wave of energy — the ever-flowing river of merit — will likewise flow in endlessly. But defilement is limited. So if we have diligence and , we're bound to win eventually — there's no way to lose, unless we lack diligence and patience, in which case the unwholesome will make us lazy and weary, causing us to stop practicing. We therefore need diligence, purifying continuously until defilement is entirely gone.
Hearing It Repeated Every Day, So the Mechanism Sinks In
He taught us to determine at body, feelings, mind, and mental objects — these four grounds. The teacher repeats this every single day, the same words, so that we come to understand the mechanism. Today we may hear it as though we hadn't; we may understand it as though we hadn't — we keep listening every day, because defilement blurs our memory. We can determine at any part of the body — what matters is whether the signal is clear and continuous. For instance, breathing in, we know it; breathing out, we know it; breathing short, we know it; breathing long, we know it — all of these serve as signals for the sphere of knowing, mindfulness, to cling to and rely on.
Calm and Insight Must Be Practiced Together
Knowing in order to calm the mind is called ; knowing in order to understand is called . Both must be practiced together — calming the mind while also coming to understand — the two support each other. Calm comes about through the sphere of knowing, mindfulness, being established and drawing in energy; where there's defilement, there's no calm; as defilement lightens or disappears, calm gradually sets in. Understanding requires determining toward understanding, and understanding gradually follows; determining toward seeing, and seeing gradually follows — everything unfolds gradually according to what we determine. We simply determine and stay continuously aware, without lapsing, so the sphere of knowing draws in merit to purify. If we want calm, merit clears the defilement disturbing the mind; if we want understanding, pure energy clears the defilement of , the veiling element.
Observing the Behavior of Whatever Is Possessing Body, Feeling, Mind, and Mental Objects
When any given nature comes to possess us, it arrives together with body, feelings, mind, and mental objects, overlaying itself onto the body as well. If wholesomeness possesses us, we're polite and proper; if unwholesomeness, we're coarse and rough — its behavior shows up in the body. We may notice the body becoming restless and agitated, making meditation difficult, because the body is being tormented — unwholesomeness torments us, making it impossible to simply sit still. Suffering is a state that must be endured, and endured with difficulty, so we need diligence to control and hold ourselves to wholesome activity. Feeling works the same way — how does the mind feel, comfortable or uncomfortable? Does it have to endure something? If it does, we know unwholesomeness is possessing the mind — the body becomes restless and agitated, thoughts become chaotic and confused, and the inner voice directs us through . Mental objects are the emotional tone of the mind — greed, hatred, delusion, and the hindrances, for example. We need to observe carefully to know the truth of what's happening.
The Purpose of Determining: Removing Covetousness and Grief
The purpose of determining is to remove covetousness and grief — gladness and sadness. Covetousness is sfaction; pure mental satisfaction alone is called somanassa. Covetousness is the satisfaction that unwholesomeness directs toward greed. Grief is the displeasure that unwholesomeness uses as an opening for anger and dissatisfaction. Since we're not meant to indulge in satisfaction or dissatisfaction, gladness or sadness, he teaches us to hold the mind in equanimity — don't get excited by any stimulus, and the mind settles into balance.
When the mind is balanced, the majjhatta , which arises together with wholesomeness, becomes established. It's already there once wholesomeness arises, but if we don't pay attention and determine it, it only works faintly. Once we determine to remain balanced, without indulging liking or disliking, and sustain that state, wholesomeness can remain established for much longer.
Two Kinds of Signal: Natural, and Self-Determined
Signals come in two kinds. The first is a signal already present by nature — such as the breath, the in-breath touching the wall of the nostril, the out-breath touching it, present at all times; or the pulse; or internal vibrations that don't arise from thought. The second kind is a signal we determine ourselves — such as a chanted phrase, which we can make short or fast, or slow; or a visualized image, which we can make large — a large crystal Buddha image — or small. Choose whichever signal suits us. Stay continuously aware, without lapsing, enjoying the awareness, staying with a clear and continuous signal. Simply let the sphere of knowing arise, and the drawing-in of the pure energy of merit will happen continuously, sphere after sphere welling up within the ever-flowing river of merit.
The Mind Needs a Base — Without It, the Mind Scatters into the Atmosphere
The mind needs a base for drawing in energy. If we don't determine, the mind has no base; without a base, the mind scatters and dissolves into the surrounding atmosphere. Once we have a base for the mind, the mind stays there; wherever we determine, the mind stays there, and the drawing-in of pure energy occurs. Stay continuously aware, enjoying it; train the mind to have a base, and hold it in equanimity — a balanced base, a balanced mind, and then knowing and understanding, staying with the knower. Having a base, then staying with the knower — that's all there is to it.
Training to Sit for Longer and Longer, One Stage at a Time
Train yourself to be able to sit. At first, practice for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 1 hour, 3 hours; gradually work up to 4 hours, then 5 hours, gradually training up to 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 hours, and then gradually training to sustain 1 continuous day, then 2 days, 3 days, up to 4, 5, 6, 7 days — this requires enthusiasm (chanda) and sustained training.
The Map of Delight: Each Stage Feels Different
**As we keep training, we gradually settle into delight — delight upon delight. But each stage of delight is different from the one before.**
**In the early stage**, we cultivate through diligence, and the delight is delight in the sheer effort and patience of practicing.
**Next**, delight in brightness — delight in the luminous sphere, the clear bright sphere. Once training reaches a certain point, an inner light begins to appear as a bright, clear sphere; the delight at this stage is in seeing and dwelling with that brightness.
**Next**, delight in being able to control that bright sphere. Once we become more familiar with the sphere of light, we gain the ability to control it as we wish; the delight at this stage is delight in that very capacity to control it.
**Next**, delight in dwelling within , reaching the sphere of Dhamma — the next step is entering and abiding within an even more refined sphere of Dhamma.
**Finally**, delight in reaching the 18 bodies — the highest stage mentioned in this talk is delight in attaining all eighteen bodies. Once this stage is reached, one can sustain the practice across days and nights, which requires enthusiasm and continuous training.
With Every Moment of Practice, Purification and Liberation Arise
As the proportion of wholesomeness grows fuller with every moment of practice, purification and liberation arise; the proportion of wholesomeness keeps increasing, and it gradually becomes effortless. He compared it to the 24 hours of a day, in which each side — wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral — competes to claim time, to hold onto time, in order to drive their own system with their own energy. Nature possesses us, possesses our minds, and has us carry out the activities through which it can draw in its own energy. Morning, midday, afternoon, evening, night — whichever nature governs us in each period draws in the energy of that side, whether wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral.
Each Day: Purify the Body, Then Purify the Mind
Each day, after finishing our duties and washing the body, we come to purify the mind, making it clean and pure, by developing right mindfulness through determining, letting the sphere of knowing — mindfulness — arise. Once established, it draws in the pure energy of merit to flow through, driving the wholesome system, refining and correcting the elements, purifying them. We become freed from one dimension into another continuously, the proportion of wholesomeness increasing while unwholesome and neutral nature diminish, making our lives easier, more vibrant, more open, more relaxed, more comfortable, with body and mind growing ever more refined.
Loving-Kindness: A Tool for Those with Merit to Benefit Those with Less
Once we've created benefit for ourselves, we go on to create merit and benefit for people and all beings through the practice of . Loving-kindness is a tool that wholesome nature provides for those with abundant merit to benefit those with less, achieved by determining love and goodwill. Mindfulness, determined on anything, comes to know that thing; goodwill is a tool of wholesomeness — we determine in order to know the state of goodwill, and then hold that state, becoming what is called a bearer of the Dhamma. The Dhamma itself performs its own function; we simply hold the state of loving-kindness by feeling the mind change through love and goodwill.
The revered Great Teacher advised us to recollect the love and goodwill of a mother, brimming with love and goodwill toward her young child, recollecting that very state of mind, determining the mother's heart toward her young child, and establishing that sphere of loving-kindness. At first we may not feel it deeply, but with continued practice, the feeling deepens on its own. This sphere of loving-kindness is a high-quality one; once established, it draws in pure energy to flow into the middle of the brightness of loving-kindness.
Radiating Loving-Kindness Across the World and the Cosmos
Determine the feeling of love and goodwill, hold that state, and expand the mind imbued with loving-kindness to cover our home. Loving-kindness illuminates and refines every particle of the atmosphere, of people and all beings. Expand this mind further to our neighbors, the whole village, continuing on to the sub-district, district, province, country, neighboring countries, and then to all nations, until it covers the whole world, making this world like a world of crystal, radiant, cool, clean, and pure.
May the people of the world and all beings be free from suffering and find happiness, everywhere; may those with much suffering have less; may those with little suffering be entirely free; may those with little happiness have more; may those already happy be happier still. Then expand the mind further into the atmosphere of the cosmos, covering hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of stars. The mind expands widely for the benefit of all people and beings; we ourselves blossom, becoming spacious, light, clear, and cool.
Loving-Kindness Refines Both the Heart and the Environment
Loving-kindness radiates into the center of the hearts of people and beings, dissolving the resentment and friction that are defilement. Wholesome nature gets the opportunity to take up residence as master of the house, drawing in energy to purify defilement, lightening it, refining the elements and purifying them, freeing beings from one dimension into another. Not only that — loving-kindness also refines the environment: earth, water, air, sky, mountains, oceans, buildings, belongings, crops and grains, making them clear, clean, and pure, so that the people of the world have surroundings suited to living happily. Many good things arise for the world and the cosmos every time we practice loving-kindness.
Whoever Benefits the World May Use the World's Treasures
Whoever brings benefit to the world and the cosmos can rightly make use of the treasures of the world and the cosmos. We therefore need to create benefit for the world, so that we too may make use of its treasures and those of the cosmos. Right now, we receive benefit from those who give it to us; we repay them, and they repay us — creating mutual benefit, repaying one another back and forth.
Dedicating Merit and Settling Still
Gather the mind and settle still within the radiant sphere of loving-kindness. The ever-flowing river of merit continues to well up within the brightness of loving-kindness. Dedicate this merit to arise for the people of the world and all beings, including our ancestors. May all beings share in the merit we have intentionally and rightly created, be free from suffering, and find happiness — as well as our ancestors, parents, siblings, grandparents, teachers, benefactors, devas who help and protect us, and all those we have ever wronged, our **karmic counterparts** (คู่กรรมคู่เวร) — may we forgive one another and may they too receive a share of this merit.
Gather the mind and settle still within the ever-flowing river of merit welling up continuously in the brightness of the mind, settling still in the center of that radiance. Gather the mind and settle still with the Triple Gem — Buddha Jewel, Dhamma Jewel, Sangha Jewel — and with the Great Teachers, settling within the most refined Dhamma body of the revered Great Teacher, the Great Master, and the Great Lay Teacher. The mind is a perfected element — whatever we determine, so it becomes, whether or not we see them clearly; even without seeing, we simply determine. We merge ourselves with them into a single unity.
Aspiration and Closing
When we recollect them, we appear radiant within them, and they appear radiant within us; both we and they appear radiant within nibbana, the center of the Knower of unlimited power, uncountable incalculable Buddhas. Taking this auspicious moment within their center, we set our aspiration, so that our goodwill becomes fixed within this radiant sphere of merit right now, so that our path of building perfections from here onward may be full of knowledge, happiness, and , and fulfilled in everything right and good.
We ask that all the merit and perfections accumulated since our very first lifetime, through countless lives up to the present, be gathered together into sacred, potent merit of boundless power, dispelling misfortune, sin, the fruits of bad kamma, and all obstacles — greed, hatred, delusion, lust, ignorance, wrong view, craving, and clinging — leaving not a trace, so that we may attain and penetrate the Vijja Dhammakaya, the Three Knowledges, the Eight Higher Knowledges, the Six Abhinna, the Four Analytical Insights, the Eight Liberations, and the Fifteen Conducts in full, together with strong health, long life, and the strength to build perfections throughout life.
The sit closes with the Pali chant: "Sabbe buddha balappatta paccekananca yam balam, arahantananca tejena rakkham bandhami sabbaso. Sabba-buddhanubhavena, sabba-dhammanubhavena, sabba-sanghanubhavena, saddha-sotthi ntu te" — and "Sadhu."