พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าความอยากเกิดขึ้นเมื่ออกุศลชิงช่วงเข้ามาสิงใจ นำกายเวทนาจิตธรรมที่หยาบกว่ามาซ้อน ทำให้ใจหยาบและอยากไม่หยุด แม้อยากในสิ่งดีอย่างธรรมะก็ยังจัดเป็นความอยาก ทางแก้อยู่ที่การให้เวลากับฝ่ายกุศลให้มากขึ้นในแต่ละวันHe explains that craving arises whenever the unwholesome nature seizes its turn to possess the mind, overlaying a coarser body-feeling-mind-mental-state onto us — and that even craving for good things, like wanting to see the Dhamma too much, still counts as craving. The remedy lies in how much time, each day, we give to the wholesome side.
Craving never lets the mind rest — even wanting the Dhamma too much still counts
He explained that craving keeps the mind from ever stopping, because wanting to get, wanting to have, wanting to be — even wanting to see the too much — all fall under the same craving that never lets the mind settle. This was a teaching the master gave back in 2005.
Life is governed by three natures taking turns for control
Our life is entirely governed by three natures — , , and the neutral — which constantly compete for their turn, whether we're asleep, awake, standing, walking, sitting, or lying down; all of it is under the control of these three natures taking turns, and whichever is subtler moves faster. Whichever nature becomes the "house-owner" overlays its own body-feeling-mind-mental-state onto the human body-feeling-mind-mental-state. When the unwholesome seizes its turn and possesses the mind, it overlays a lower-quality body-feeling-mind-mental-state — that of a wandering spirit, an animal, a demon, or a hell-being — all of them steeped in greed, aversion, delusion, and . Once they possess us, no good thought remains at all — only bad thoughts, negative feelings — with an inner voice directing and dictating, making us want this and that, driven by craving and lust, because that nature's s are already coarse. When it possesses our mind, our mind becomes coarse along with it. Craving becomes unstoppable, because it has moved in as the house-owner.
Even in moments when the wholesome nature manages to seize its own turn — say, on the topic of Dhamma — this can still turn into wanting to see the Dhamma, wanting to attain it, to an excessive degree that derails what needs doing, because the proportion of unwholesomeness still present in us is large.
Our life becomes whatever we give our time to
This all comes down to a matter of time. How much time do we give to the wholesome to manage our life, how much to the unwholesome, how much to the neutral? Our life becomes exactly that. There are 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, 30 days in a month, 365 days in a year — whoever we hand that time to becomes the manager of our life. Everything that happens to us seems as though we can manage it, but in truth it all unfolds automatically, running its course under the control of , which is constantly giving its results, drawing in the various conditions that become our environment.
The law of kamma, the law of the three characteristics, and the unconditioned Dhamma
At the same time, — three distinct natures: the wholesome, the unwholesome, and the neutral — governs all beings. What's commonly spoken of as impermanence, suffering, and non-self belongs to conditioned phenomena — things that must keep circling through birth and death, the product of the causes and conditions of these three natures taking turns, producing constant change. Now the wholesome possesses, now the unwholesome does — whenever the unwholesome possesses, suffering follows. Whatever body-feeling-mind-mental-state appears is never our true self; none of it can be clung to. The unconditioned, by contrast, is what's freed from the cycle of birth and death, not made up of causes and conditions at all — pure Dhamma-nature, wholesome through and through. That is permanence, true , true self: Nibbana — unchanging, truly constant.
So craving arises whenever the proportion of unwholesomeness seizes more turns. Craving, greed, aversion, and delusion are already that nature's own mental factors and moods; when it possesses us, that coarseness is simply its inherent quality — unstoppable, because it runs automatically, with an inner voice directing and dictating accordingly.