พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์สอนเรื่องเครื่องมือภายในตัวเรา คือดวงศีล สมาธิ ปัญญา วิมุตติ และวิมุตติญาณทัศนะ อธิบายบารมี 10 ทัศที่ขับเคลื่อนชีวิตในวัฏสงสาร โครงสร้างพุทธจักรและอาณาจักรที่บริหารทรัพยากรชีวิตเรา ก่อนปิดท้ายด้วยเรื่องพุทธเจ้าจักรพรรดิผู้พิทักษ์นักสร้างบารมีที่หาได้ยากในโลกPhra Ajarn Suraphong teaches about the tools within us — the spheres of virtue, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and liberation-insight — explains the Ten Perfections that drive our journey through the cycle of rebirth, the structure of the Buddha-realm and the kingdom that manages our life's resources, and closes with the rare story of the Buddha-Emperor who guards those who dare to build truly great perfections.
We've learned that the nature governing all beings directs us through an inner voice and feelings, guiding us toward actions both beneficial and harmful. Once we understand this, we can choose what to do and what not to do, recognizing that the directing voice is not our own. Before, we didn't know or understand this — we thought it was our own voice, our own thinking, our own feeling. But once we understand the truth and verify it, we realize that none of these voices are truly us — they are voices of the nature that governs all beings according to its own agenda. Once we can choose to follow only , having nothing to do with that brings only suffering and danger, we stop acting on or speaking any directing voice that would burn us and burn others, having nothing to do with those thoughts, and instead turn our attention to learning and understanding the wholesome nature, which offers as many as 84,000 tools for us to learn, train in, and use for genuine benefit.
The Tools Within Us — the Spheres of Virtue, Concentration, Wisdom, Liberation, and Liberation-Insight
We start with the tools within our own being, stored within : the sphere of (), the sphere of concentration (), the sphere of wisdom (paññā), and further, the sphere of liberation (vimutti) and the sphere of liberation- (vimuttiñāṇadassana). The essential core to study at first is only these three — virtue, concentration, and wisdom — necessary tools we must put to genuine benefit in our lives. Once we learn these three spheres, the sphere of liberation and liberation-insight begin to function. Virtue restrains us from speaking and acting in ways that burn ourselves and others. Concentration helps quiet incorrect thoughts and feelings. Wisdom gives us a correct and good attitude, a sound conscience that recognizes what is wholesome and unwholesome, understands the dangers of the unwholesome, and sees the benefit of the wholesome.
We need only train with these three spheres until we see the danger in the unwholesome that would otherwise direct us into becoming lazy, irritable, fearful, forgetful, and chattering — impurities of the mind. Once we no longer wish to be such a person, the sphere of liberation frees us, and the sphere of wisdom teaches us to see the benefit of wholesome states. Once we see that benefit, a vision arises — seeing clearly what the future should rightly and beneficially look like. Great inspiration to change our life arises, and at that point the sphere of liberation-insight transforms our life, leading us toward a better, more excellent, more wondrous life.
The Path From Eighteen Bodies to Ever Subtler States
The result of these spheres — virtue, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and liberation-insight — within the human body leads us toward increasingly refined levels. From the refined human body we progress to the celestial body, from there to the refined celestial body, and by relying on these same qualities, we rise further to the form-Brahma body, the refined form-Brahma body, the formless-Brahma body, all the way to the -body itself. This is our future path.
Daily Merit Practice — the Ten Bases of Meritorious Action
Beyond virtue, concentration, and wisdom, there are meritorious activities we must actively seek out. Waking in the morning, we go to our shrine, chant, pay homage to the Buddha, undertake , cultivate meditation, and soften our hearts in reverence toward those worthy of honor, radiating and setting our intentions. We then offer alms food to the monastic sangha, the field of merit, to sustain the life of the religion. Whoever is in trouble and we have the strength to help, we offer encouragement and support, including dedicating merit to others and all beings. When someone does something good, we rejoice; when someone receives the fruit of their good deeds, we rejoice too — all of it the result of what they properly cultivated in the past. And we listen to and discuss the Dhamma — whenever we discuss the Dhamma with someone, merit flows through both parties, mutually supporting each other.
Right View That Improves Each Day
All of this serves to correct our view to align with reality — what is called sammā-diṭṭhi. Our distorted views are gradually corrected each and every day, and our lives slowly transform for the better, becoming brighter and purer. The Triple Gem within us becomes more radiant and able to help us more — how much depends entirely on how much good we cultivate and how much time we give to the wholesome.
The Ten Perfections — the Engine That Drives Us Through Saṃsāra
Beyond the , there are also the Ten Perfections (pāramī), essential virtues for our journey through the cycle of rebirth. Beyond pure merit-energy, we also need these accompanying virtues: the perfection of giving, of virtue, of renunciation, of wisdom, of effort, of , of truthfulness, and of resolute determination. All ten together are like a reactor driving our lives through the long, seemingly endless cycle of birth and death, until we finally reach Nibbana.
If we picture ourselves as a monarch ruling a country — our body and mind — the ten perfections are like the ministries that administer that country toward prosperity. We must govern them well, or the unwholesome will possess these ministries and turn benefit into harm, driving the machine in the wrong direction, doing what shouldn't be done instead of what should.
The Perfection of Giving and the Perfection of Virtue
The mechanism of giving, instead of making us generous benefactors to ourselves and others, becomes bound up with if we let it, narrowing the heart. When the heart narrows, the channel of merit flowing through us narrows too. We must therefore let go of stinginess to widen the heart, so the channel of merit can grow. As we cultivate giving, generosity, and taste the flavor of being one who brings good fortune to others, our perfections turn toward and prosperity. Beyond giving, there is the perfection of virtue, which offers safety to ourselves and others — a tool that frees us from im and leads us into purity, into the celibate life within ever-subtler inner dimensions. Entering that pure celibate state lets us access an ever more refined inner knower, one of great wisdom, who transmits and understanding, increasing our perfection of wisdom. Great inspiration arises, aspiring toward the path and fruit of Nibbana, and the perfection of effort drives us toward continuous, sustained diligence.
The Perfection of Patience and Truthfulness — Breaking Through the Stone Wall of Demerit
The unwholesome side gathers all its accumulated demerit into a stone wall filled with suffering. When we collide with it, suffering arises, and the comes to our aid, along with austere resolve, helping us break through that stone wall of suffering — building a new, stronger fortitude for whatever wall lies ahead. Once we break through that wall of suffering, we access the perfection of truthfulness, understanding the truth of life — that whatever suffering arises for us is the fruit of what we ourselves cultivated in the past, a karmic result we must accept. The wholesome knower teaches us to understand our past mistakes so we don't repeat them in the future. Nibbana programs this perfection of truthfulness through the system of wholesome states, with the Triple Gem overseeing it, letting us come to know the truth and merging us into unity with them.
The Perfection of Resolute Determination and Loving-Kindness
Once we reach the perfection of truthfulness, becoming one with the being of boundless power, our minds become an element of accomplishment — whatever we set our mind on comes to be. This perfection of truthfulness carries us to the perfection of resolute determination, giving us lofty, worthy goals — resolute, decisive, cutting away obstacles, leaving only the goal itself. As we rely on the being of power watching over and supporting us, our minds become ever more an element of accomplishment, ever more powerful, and our loving-kindness gradually grows. The perfection of loving-kindness supports us in benefiting ourselves, others, and all beings ever more, until we become like the sun, giving light and warmth to all, like a mother to all beings. Our minds become as steady and unshakable as the earth, undisturbed by worldly conditions or the provocations of the unwholesome. All ten perfections become complete and full. Once our perfections are complete, we attain the path and fruit of Nibbana — or we may choose to cultivate even higher perfections, the intermediate and ultimate perfections, further still.
The Buddha-Realm and the Kingdom — the Seven Treasures of the Emperor Managing Our Resources
Within us are two parts. Our true self consists of eighteen bodies — the coarse and refined human bodies, the coarse and refined celestial bodies, the coarse and refined form-Brahma bodies, the coarse and refined formless-Brahma bodies, the coarse and refined Dhamma-bodies of the lineage, and the bodies of the path and fruit of stream-entry, once-returning, non-returning, and arahantship — eighteen bodies in total, the self that will carry us toward the path of Nibbana. Behind it stands a nurturer and guardian who manages our resources — our subtle assets — so that we need not be troubled or anxious as we go about our existence. This is the emperor at the center of the sphere of merit, together with the retinue of the Seven Treasures: the treasure elephant, the treasure horse, the treasure general, the treasure minister of the treasury, the treasure consort, and the treasure wheel. They handle the various problems and obstacles of our lives, making life easier and more comfortable, letting us continue performing meritorious deeds and building our perfections.
The part with the nurturer and guardian at the center of the sphere of merit is called the kingdom. The part comprising the eighteen bodies, our true self, is called the Buddha-realm, overseen by the Triple Gem, who manages the Buddha-realm's system of wholesome states. The Buddha-jewel is the knower of boundless power. The Dhamma-jewel is the wisdom that fully understands all Dhamma, the 84,000 sections of teaching that protect those who practice it. The Sangha-jewel upholds the Dhamma-jewel through and , by clearly recognizing body, feeling, mind, and mental objects, in order to eliminate all worldly attachment and aversion.
When the Unwholesome Interferes With Our Proper Role
The role of the Buddha-realm side is to move straight toward the path of Nibbana, its duty being simply to recognize clearly in order to draw merit in. The emperor then takes the merit that arises and multiplies it, managing our resources for us. Our own duty is thus quite small — we're merely a front for the emperor's guidance. But sometimes the unwholesome directs us to interfere with the kingdom's role instead, leaving undone what should be done and doing what shouldn't be done, thinking we have enough knowledge to manage matters ourselves, when in truth our understanding is minimal. The emperor, who could otherwise manage everything smoothly and completely, gets interfered with by our own meddling, directed by the unwholesome. What should go left goes right, what should go right goes left, and our life collapses through our own doing — no one else to blame. The unwholesome's ultimate goal is destruction; when it cannot destroy outright, it wears things down instead, possessing the mind to keep us from doing what should be done — rejecting this project, favoring that one, favoring the wrong people, dragging in those who shouldn't be involved, creating chaos. Sometimes this isn't even because merit is insufficient — while the law of karma is delivering a good result, we ourselves choose, in that very moment, to associate with the unwholesome, and instead of receiving the full 100% of the result, we're left with only 70-80%, because the unwholesome interfered and misdirected us.
How to Know Whether We're Speaking With the Wholesome or With Our Own Mind
Someone asked how to tell whether we're conversing with the wholesome or simply with our own mind. The answer: the mind has no vocal cords. Whenever a signal appears — whether from the Buddha-realm side or the kingdom side — it appears as thought, feeling, or image; the mind can only produce these three things. When we're uncertain, we can simply ask about whatever we don't know, and it will answer us in a way we can understand and accept.
The Wondrous Things Allotted to Us
Whenever something comes our way, it means the wholesome has arranged it, matching exactly what we need, to draw in that particular kind of merit needed to keep whatever part of our system is still lacking moving forward. But people often fail to understand this — doing what pleases them and refusing what doesn't. Sometimes the unwholesome directs us to decline, claiming we're too busy, causing us to miss an opportunity that was precisely and deliberately arranged for us.
The Buddha-Emperor — Guardian of the Rare Builder of Great Perfections
To come within the gaze of the being of boundless power, one must possess an extraordinarily generous heart, fearing no hardship whatsoever. If one still fears difficulty, hunger, or hardship, the perfections of effort and patience remain incomplete — a sign that the proportion of the unwholesome and neutral within is still large. But the wholesome fears nothing at all. Consider the Bodhisatta, who left the palace to walk barefoot without any fear of hardship, because his proportion of the wholesome was fully complete. Every hardship becomes its own benefit — lacking money becomes the perfection of patience; resolute striving becomes the perfection of effort — and all of this rests on the perfection of wisdom as its foundation, managing everything.
Once our proportion of the wholesome becomes complete enough to practice in the manner of a Bodhisatta — resolute, fearless of hardship, wholly devoted and sacrificing everything for Buddhism — staking our very life to overcome every obstacle until we succeed, our own subtlest refined body, dwelling within Nibbana, will present this achievement before the great assembly spanning all elements and all Dhamma, requesting that the Buddha-Emperor, the guardian who nurtured the Buddha himself, come down to support and help this individual. This is an enormous matter — for someone among five billion humans to be presented in this way is exceedingly rare. For the coarse and subtle strands of our being to connect, the impurities in each layer, each dimension, must first be cleared. Once this achievement is presented, the assembly of Nibbana across all elements and all Dhamma convenes to consider whether protecting this person would bring benefit or harm. Once they determine it would bring great benefit, they invite the Buddha-Emperor to descend and offer protection — not for just one lifetime, but continuously, until that person finally reaches Nibbana. We must therefore resolve to become one of those so protected. If we cannot achieve it in this lifetime, we should at least plant the disposition now, so that it carries forward into future lives.
Homage to the Triple Gem
The Triple Gem and Nibbana are nearly one and the same with us — we need only remain within the wholesome nature. The stream of merit from them pours into the center of our body and heart, driving the system of wholesome states, refining the elements of our being to become clean and pure, bringing us liberation. This is what we must always keep in mind.