The true refuge in our lives is the knower within, the one of great power who can be our true refuge. Consider baby turtles — some live to be a hundred years old with no parent ever raising them, which shows they must have something guiding them to do the right thing and survive every danger. That something is an inner intuition, an inner knowing that comes in three kinds: wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral. We need only abide within the correct, wholesome system, and we connect with the knower of great power within, who is able to help us.

Three Groups of Mental Factors: The Mechanics of the Three Natures

To connect with the knower within, we first need to understand the mechanism — the mental factors, or cetasika. The first group arises with every mind, whether that mind is good or bad; this is the basic mechanism of life. The second group belongs to the unwholesome, the side of demerit. Once the unwholesome possesses us, these factors become its tools of compulsion. Our moods vary widely — greed, aversion, delusion — each different depending on the situation we find ourselves in, and the unwholesome overlays these moods onto our mind; once overlaid, we take on that very mood ourselves. The first in this second group is delusion — infatuation, aversion, and wrong view. Next is greed, wanting what belongs to others. Third is aversion. Fourth is sloth-and-torpor, drowsiness and lazy dullness. And doubt is uncertainty and hesitation, which stalls us because the information feels unclear.

Faith: A Belief That Must Be Provable, Not Superstition

The third group of mental factors belongs to the wholesome, and these are what we must learn to use as tools. First among them is faith — belief — the opposite of superstition, which is unreasonable. The unwholesome, too, has powers that make people believe things, but always by concealing the truth. It's like a magic trick: people search for the sleight of hand and can't find it, until someone reveals the technique behind it. Or consider the belief that "changing your name changes your life" — changing surname, phone number, house number, bank account — and for some people, life really does change afterward. Or the monk who has visitors draw a numbered lottery ticket after paying respects; those who win say he's uncannily accurate, those who lose stay quiet. True faith must come from proving the reality of the wholesome dhamma and its power for ourselves. When we test the workings of the wholesome again and again and see real results each time, belief and faith arise, and the bright, clear sphere of faith gradually grows brighter.

Mindfulness, Moral Shame and Fear of Wrongdoing, and Equanimity: The Wholesome Factors Underlying Morality

The sphere of mindfulness requires deliberate training; the more we practice repeatedly, the brighter it becomes, drawing in ever more pure energy — merit. The sphere of moral shame and fear of wrongdoing relates directly to morality, as do non-greed and non-aversion. These four spheres form the essential foundation for living. When the wholesome possesses the mind, moral shame, fear of wrongdoing, non-greed, and non-aversion arise automatically. Even something not illegal, if shameful, keeps the heart from hardening. The voice that reminds us to feel shame, to fear wrongdoing, to be free of greed and anger — though it feels like our own thinking — is in fact the wholesome within us, constantly reminding us. Equanimity (tatramajjhattatā) is the most important factor in this first row, the one that keeps the mind balanced, neither startled nor alarmed by stimulation from without or within. Once balanced, the mind can settle firmly, and this in turn affects the twelve factors that follow.

From Lightness of Body and Mind to the First Jhāna

Tranquility calms both body and mind. Lightness makes body and mind light, along with the subconscious voices constantly guiding us from within — we are never truly alone, always somewhat "two," since at any moment we might be with a wholesome mind, an unwholesome mind, or a neutral one, and whichever possesses us overlays itself to guide us — inviting us to play a game, watch a film, go for coffee — all voiced from within. Softness means gentleness of body and mind. Workability is the fitness of body and mind for the task, able to walk the inner middle path. These qualities arise on their own, without our engineering them, yet they must be conditioned by these very mental factors. Proficiency is agility of body and mind, free of sluggishness. And uprightness is the honesty of body and mind that allows unwavering progress along the inner middle path. All twelve of these spheres depend on the equanimity factor that balances the mind as their center; once balanced, the spheres brighten one by one, drawing in energy that supports entry into the first jhāna, and development continues onward to the second jhāna, or to reaching the sphere of dhamma — morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and knowledge-and-vision of liberation — along the inner middle path.

The Wisdom Factor: It Must Be Summoned by a Question

Wisdom is the one sphere that doesn't arise automatically. If we have a problem, we must fix our attention on it and ask how to solve it; only when we ask does the wisdom factor appear, and the knower brings us the information to solve the problem. If we want to learn something, we must first determine exactly what we want to understand — only then does the sphere of wisdom arise. Those who dislike learning, who dislike study, have little wisdom, and must train this factor deliberately by turning toward learning and understanding the content and principles of the teachings. This sphere then grows brighter and brighter, drawing merit in to cleanse and purify our wisdom, letting it connect with the knower within.

The Method of Practice: Observing at the Body's Center With "Samma Araham"

Understanding these principles, we arrive at practice itself. The human body's role is simply to observe — wherever we place our attention, the mind settles there. Observe the feet, for instance, and we instantly know whether the ground feels cool or warm, soft or hard — something we didn't notice before, not because the nerve cells were damaged, but because we hadn't directed our attention there; the mind simply wasn't present. Once we observe, the sphere of knowing — mindfulness — arises, drawing pure energy, merit, to flow in through the brightness at its center. Merit is pure energy that cleanses defilement, whose role is to create problems and obstacles that make life difficult — a tool of the unwholesome aiming to grind us down to ruin. We therefore need a clear base for the mind, a place to draw merit through. We could focus at the nostrils with mindfulness of breathing, or at the abdomen rising and falling, but the revered founding teacher proved the body's center to be the best position — because it is the seat of the coarse human body, the refined human body, the divine body, the brahma body, the form-brahma body, all eighteen bodies at once, and the gathering point of every sphere of merit; it is also the gateway that leads directly toward nibbana. Rest the mind at the center of the abdomen, two finger-widths above where the breath comes to rest at its deepest point, and recite "Samma Araham" — the name invoking the Lord who practiced rightly and well, far from all defilements. Uttering the name causes the form to appear, since form and name are paired; if not yet clear, use a familiar image of the Buddha once revered, or a clear crystal sphere, as a stand-in. Repeat this again and again until it becomes familiar.

Counting the Recitation: A Tool for Measuring the Length of Concentration

If the visualized image feels dim or unclear, there's no need to worry — simply sensing that it's there is enough. If this feels too demanding, choose the simpler method: counting the recitation — "Samma Araham" one, "Samma Araham" two, "Samma Araham" three, and onward. The benefit of counting is that it reveals how long our concentration really lasts. Most people can't even reach twenty before losing count. Once we realize we only made it to ten-something, we grow more careful and push past that point, then lose count again, and start over from one — each time growing more careful still. This process teaches us that meditation requires genuine, focused mindfulness; done half-heartedly, there's no progress. Development continues from the tens into the hundreds, though getting there takes many days of stumbling forward. A student from an earlier batch once counted past four hundred before the image of the Buddha appeared bright and clear, though that too took several days to achieve. If, upon checking, concentration turns out short, try switching technique — mindfulness of breathing, perhaps, or simply resting still and observing whatever inner state appears — investigating one method at a time, following the principle of dhamma-investigation, the second of the seven factors of enlightenment.

Find Your Own Meditation Technique and Train It to Automaticity

It's essential to have one's own meditation technique, rather than constantly relying on recorded dhamma talks from different teachers — doing so, we never train ourselves to be with the knower within. When Pra Ajarn once trained under his teacher, there were about fifty monks in the group, rising at four-thirty in the morning to sit through the entire day and night, nothing else at all — until it became second nature, developing to the point where meditation ran automatically even while chatting with a friend, resuming instantly and fully the moment the conversation paused. For those practicing mindfulness of breathing, as the breath grows finer and finer through practice, it eventually stops altogether; if any cell in the body still needs oxygen, a gasping sensation may arise, but the body's system adjusts until that gasping fades, and the mind stops together with the breath, entering the inner dimension without using the breath at all, relying instead on a subtle inner energy. Once a technique becomes familiar, we begin to like it — practicing feels good, feels comfortable, a sense of absorption arises, and a mass of purity and happiness begins forming, becoming a bright sphere that gradually turns into an ever-clearer, brighter orb.

Overcoming the Hindrances: Three Days of Walking Meditation and Eight Hours of Sitting

Mild hindrances are nothing to worry about, but if they're severe enough that sitting only puts you to sleep, that calls for a different approach. Pra Ajarn once faced this in his early twenties at Wat Paknam — every attempt at sitting meditation ended in sleep — so he switched to nothing but walking meditation for three straight days, back and forth from morning through night for all three days. After that, the problem vanished entirely, and sitting became comfortable from then on. Later, practicing at Wat Phra Dhammakaya, a fellow practitioner fell asleep during sitting due to severe hindrances and was advised to try walking meditation instead — but even walking, he kept falling asleep. Recognizing this as a karmic obstacle requiring patient endurance, he was advised instead to sit for a full eight hours in one day. Enduring the full eight hours, the karmic result weakening its grip. Generally, practitioners progress step by step — five minutes, thirty minutes, forty-five minutes, an hour, an hour and a half, two hours — and each person tends to settle at a different comfortable length. If no inner voice tells us we've done enough, that's a sign it isn't truly the wholesome speaking, because the wholesome always urges us onward — from two hours to three, from three to four. Don't retreat to coarseness; keep going deeper into refinement. The more refined we go, the more time the knower of great power has to refine and correct us.

Never Settle for "Enough": Refinement Has No Ceiling

Being able to go ever more refined means our subtle treasures and completed blueprints — both purity and happiness — grow ever more refined, more valuable, more pure, more sacred, letting us connect with a higher level of the knower of great power. It's like earning ten thousand and being satisfied, when we could want twenty thousand, then thirty thousand, and so on. What matters most is giving time — give time to practicing music and you grow skilled at music; give time to training in sport and you grow skilled in sport; give time to the wholesome and refinement deepens. But give time to the neutral and it draws you further into idle pursuits; give time to the unwholesome and it wears you down further. It all depends on whom we give our time to.

A Story: Life in Tusita Heaven Before Descending to Be Born

Pra Ajarn recounted the time spent in Tusita heaven before descending to be born on earth. Upon hearing that the revered founding teacher, presiding over the special merit circle, had already been born ahead of everyone and reached the Triple Gem within, the whole circle rejoiced, for the Dhammakāya knowledge had now appeared in the world. A meeting was held to prepare for everyone's own descent to be born in turn. Since one day and night in Tusita equals four hundred human years, the founding teacher's reaching the Dhamma within just a brief moment of heavenly time stood in sharp contrast to the slow, gradual process of clearing one dimension at a time through the more fragile divine body. Everyone resolved that this time, descending to be born, they would gain as much merit and perfection as possible, repeating to themselves again and again that they would no longer fear being led astray by the unwholesome and the neutral. No one descended asking for wealth or worldly happiness, since the human realm is nowhere near as comfortable as Tusita heaven — everyone came down purely to work, gain merit and perfection, and return.

Wholesome, Unwholesome, Neutral: The Roles of the Three Natures

The Triple Gem oversees the system of the wholesome, and this system existed even before the Buddha appeared; he simply discovered and revealed it to people. "Kusala" means intelligent — whoever abides within its system grows more intelligent. "Akusala" means unintelligent, because ignorance conceals and deceives, luring one into superstition. The neutral leads one toward idle entertainment, leaving life without real substance, squandering resources and time without benefit. Each nature has its own season for possessing a given person; once that season ends, the person may change entirely — a delinquent youth transforming into a good person. Understanding this truth, we stop blaming anyone, and instead see through to the system operating within them. Talking with someone currently possessed by the unwholesome or the neutral, we often find we simply can't communicate at all — even speaking the same language, we're operating in entirely different systems. Understanding this, we no longer take offense at anyone, knowing which nature currently holds sway over them.

A Story: The Man Who Promised His Family but Was Led Astray by the Unwholesome

Pra Ajarn told the story of a man who had promised his wife and child that he would spend the weekend at home with them. When the day came, while happily playing with his family, the sound of a friend's motorcycle signaled outside that a drinking session was already underway. A debate broke out within him, as if in a courtroom: one voice reminded him of his promise to his wife and child; another argued that his friend had gone to the trouble of inviting him, and turning him down would hurt his feelings. The unwholesome brought up fond memories of good times shared with that friend to stir his emotions, while the image of being with his family felt ordinary simply because they were together every day. As craving intensified past a certain point, he had to make a choice, and chose the unwholesome side. Clinging arose instantly — a speck of black dust, no bigger than a needle's tip, exploded outward and quickly surrounded him entirely, giving rise within him to the state of a hell-being. This new "manager" then commanded him to lie to his wife, claiming he had urgent business. Within this hell-being state, he lost all freedom whatsoever, forced to obey every command. Demerit flowed through him with every step, all the way to the drinking session with his friend. Once the revelry was fully spent, the death of that hell-being state appeared — its purpose fulfilled, the hell-being state dissolved. The reward for all this was a completed blueprint of demerit sealed into a sphere of demerit, made up of demeritorious energy laden with defilement and suffering, together with a sphere of ruin destined to destroy his assets and completed blueprints in the future — stored within the sphere of dhamma, waiting to be placed onto the timeline of his life, in this lifetime or the next. The completed spheres of demerit accumulated across each of our lives pile up like mountains, but as long as we remain within the wholesome system, the wholesome prevents them from being activated.

The Law of Kamma and the Law of the Three Characteristics: What Can and Cannot Be Predicted

What gets sealed into the sphere of demerit begins from the moment of conception in the mother's womb, with karmic results set into our very DNA, determining the location of ailments and physical features, waiting for their appointed time to activate according to the completed blueprint for that particular life. This is precisely why such things can be predicted. Even in science there has long been debate over whether everything is predictable or not, but the Buddha taught that some things can be predicted and some cannot. What can be predicted is the law of kamma, because it represents something already completed and fully programmed. What cannot be predicted is the law of the three characteristics, because the ongoing contest among the three natures makes it impossible to foresee which one will seize the moment at any given instant. The results of the law of kamma appear to us as delight or displeasure — when wholesome results bring something good, we're pleased; when unwholesome results bring something bad, we're upset. Right after that moment, the law of the three characteristics takes over to shape a new cause. Without learning and understanding this, the unwholesome seizes on our delight or displeasure as leverage, driving us to create new, harmful causes again and again — blaming this person or that for our disappointments. But once we learn and understand the Dhamma the Buddha taught, we no longer create harmful new kamma, and can at last break free from this endless cycle of creating new kamma to pay off the old.