Beginning the Sitting: Guarding Against Drifting into Sleep

Close your eyes gently, settle the mind — just enough that the eyelashes touch and a little light still gets through. Don't drop straight into a trance-like blank, because the unwholesome side will use that fuzzy, foggy state as a dark dimension to snag you in; once caught there, you'll drift off and fall asleep. Instead, stay awake and recite "sammā arahaṃ" at the threshold, enjoying it, going along steadily. Whatever we note, we go in and know that — because the sphere of knowing, sati, arises: knowing something places the heart right there. We go in and know within the heart — that is sati arising, refining our elements to purity and liberation.

What matters is the state of Dhamma (สภาวธรรม) arising in each present moment. At the body, for instance, we come to notice the felt sense of awareness, or the in-and-out breath — a signal arising from the nerve cells registering contact; that's the basic signal. As we go in and register the feeling arising from that state, a quality of fine, soft gentleness appears. Noticing that, we see it all arises from เจตสิก — lightness of body and mind. As we keep noting the arising of that lightness, calm of body and calm of mind appear — we can recognize this as calm free of the hindrances (นิวรณ์).

If heaviness still lingers, it means the mental factors born of bodily and mental lightness haven't yet fully activated. We simply note a heart held neutrally, a body that is calm, registering that calm of body and mind. But if the mind is still unsettled because of the hindrances, we must first cleanse that coarse defilement — noting until the sphere of knowing, sati, arises, drawing pure energy in to clear the hindrances until the turmoil settles and the heart rests in neutrality.

Checking the First Seven Wholesome Mental Factors

If restlessness still hasn't cleared, we check หิริ and โอตัปปะ — moral shame and moral dread. Is there some unfinished business preventing this factor from drawing energy fully? Some lapse connected to virtue, or to non-greed and non-aversion? We check whether anything is left unresolved here, then go through each mental factor, one sphere at a time. If nothing is blocking us, these spheres can easily draw in pure energy to clear the hindrances — without wasting much time.

The tool we already have is the first seven wholesome mental factors (เจตสิกกุศลธรรม). Consider whether sati has the strength to stay focused — if hindrances and defilement are present, sati will lack strength, so we clear the hindrances first, relying on faith (ศรัทธา), the shame-and-dread pair connected to virtue, non-greed, non-aversion, and finally resting the heart in neutrality — ตัตรมัชฌัตตตา. Once these seven factors gain strength, the stream of merit (กระแสธารแห่งบุญ) is drawn in continuously, clearing the defilement that constitutes the hindrances.

The Remaining Twelve Factors: Calm and Lightness of Body and Mind

Once the hindrances are cleared, the next stage is dispelling the dark, obscuring element of ignorance that keeps twelve further mental factors from showing their effect: calm of body and calm of mind, lightness of body and mind, refinement of body and mind, workability of body and mind, and agility of body and mind. Having considered the first seven, we let these remaining twelve gradually take hold of the defilement — the obscuring element — and lighten it bit by bit.

We come to recognize calm of body and mind, the gentle refinement of both; gradually all twelve factors show their effect as merit is drawn in — each paired quality manifesting in turn, and we gradually perceive it. All of this is simply a matter of giving it time. Stay continuously aware, without forgetting, and you'll come to know the mood of the arising state — or know it through reflection, which is the foundation of vipassanā. Knowing the mood of a state is samatha, leading toward calm; knowing through the vipassanā side means understanding how the underlying mechanism actually works.

The Four Bases of Success in Noting and Reflecting

To know clearly, without ambiguity, whether it's เจโตวิมุตติ or ปัญญาวิมุตติ that's arising, we rely on the four อิทธิบาท: ฉันทะ (aspiration), วิริยะ (effort), จิตตะ (application), andวิมังสา (reflection) — delight and love cultivated in simply carrying out the practice. Simply carrying it out, จิตตะ stays focused; วิมังสา is the reflective knowing — noting and reflecting is itself the sphere of knowing, sati, arising, drawing merit in to clear the obscuring element or the defilement born of the hindrances. Clear the hindrances first; then clear the obscuring element.

Once the obscuring element clears, the inner dimension opens and we enter it, layer by layer — it may be dim and unclear at first, which is fine; we simply recognize that we can move through the inner dimension one layer at a time, registering the state present in whatever dimension we currently occupy. Stay continuously aware — knowing what we're knowing. Wherever we note, our heart is placed there; the sphere of knowing, sati, arises in the heart right at that spot; merit flows in right there; that spot receives correction, the obscuring element is cleared, and light can enter the inner dimension at exactly that position.

Position Matters: From Sati to Sampajañña

Position matters greatly — a clear, definite position is essential. Once we can settle into a dimension, it's like entering a room; sati then turns into sampajañña (clear comprehension), registering the state of Dhamma within that dimension. Merit is then drawn into the sphere of sampajañña, for samādhi distributed across every atom of the state within that "room."

The Thumb-and-Index-Finger Technique for Gauging Samādhi

พระอาจารย์ taught a simple technique: keep the index finger and thumb lightly touching, as an indicator of samādhi. If the heart is firmly settled in samādhi, the two fingers stay touching. If they drift apart, that shows samādhi is loosening. This lets us notice, in a very concrete way, when we need to raise the strength of our mindfulness.

Cultivating Mettā: A Bright, Clear Sphere in the Heart

Having carried out something good for ourselves, we now carry out something good for others and all beings, by cultivating mettā. We note the wholesome quality we are to set — mettā itself — and it arises as a round, clear, bright sphere, filled with genuine goodwill, love, and aspiration, set with sincerity and purity of heart, like a mother's love and goodwill toward her infant child. This bright mettā, once set, draws pure energy — merit — flowing in continuously.

We then expand the heart, filled with mettā, radiating it outward — covering our home, covering the practice hall, so that the atmosphere of the meditation room, all people, beings, and things within it, shine with its light, dissolving ปฏิฆะ (irritation) — a form of defilement — completely. We continue expanding to cover the entire study center at Khao Kaeo Sadet, then the surrounding village, sub-district, district, province, the whole country, and onward into neighboring countries and all nations, until it covers the whole world, making this world a crystal world, radiant with light.

Radiating Mettā Across the Universe, and the Aspiration

May the people of the world and all beings be free from suffering and enjoy happiness together — earthbound devas, sky devas, heavenly beings of every realm, Brahma and form-Brahma beings, as well as beings in hell, hungry ghosts, and animals — may all beings be free from suffering and happy together. May those with much suffering have less; may those with little suffering be free of it entirely; may those with little happiness have more; and may those already happy grow happier still.

Having made this wish, we continue expanding the heart filled with mettā outward to cover the vastness of the cosmos — tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of stars — and onward to ten thousand world-systems, a hundred thousand koṭi of endless universes. Our mettā shines, benefiting all people and beings without limit; our heart expands, joyful, light, clear, and pure. The stream of merit (กระแสธารแห่งบุญ) continues pouring through, in the midst of the brightness of mettā, without interruption.

Dedicating Merit and Forgiving Karmic Counterparties

We now dedicate this merit to all beings and the people of the world. And for the merit we have sincerely accumulated well, we ask that it also reach our ancestors — parents, siblings, grandparents, teachers, and all who have supported us — as well as the devas who help and support us, and those who tend and protect all beings, including any คู่กรรมคู่เวร (karmic counterparties) we may have wronged; may we forgive one another and all receive a share of this merit equally.

We then gather the heart, stopping and stilling it in the midst of the stream of merit still pouring through the brightness of our heart continuously — stilling in the midst of happiness, purity, and the radiant brightness of the merit-element. We rest still at the center of the Triple Gem — the center of the Buddha-jewel, the Dhamma-jewel, the Sangha-jewel, the center of our great teachers, the refined Dhamma-body of the revered หลวงปู่, the revered หลวงพ่อ, and คุณยายอาจารย์.

Closing Aspiration

The heart is a servant that fulfills whatever it's told — however we note it, so it becomes, even if at first we don't see clearly; we simply keep noting. When we note the teachers, they appear bright and clear within us, and we appear bright and clear within them; together we appear radiant in the midst of Nibbāna, the boundless power of countless Awakened Ones. We use this auspicious moment to pay respects and ask blessings from Nibbāna, setting an aspiration of success to take root deep within our heart, so that our entire path of building perfections may be filled with knowledge, happiness, and purity, and every rightful, wholesome wish come true.

We, the disciples, prostrate and ask for the blessing, the radiance, the boundless power and authority of Nibbāna throughout all realms of existence, together with the blessing of หลวงปู่, หลวงพ่อ, and คุณยายอาจารย์ — may all this merit combine with whatever merit we have sincerely accumulated across countless past lives up to the present, granting us the Dhamma-eye, full penetration into the knowledge of Dhammakāya, the three vidyās, the eight vidyās, the six higher knowledges, the four analytical insights, the eight liberations, and the fifteen conducts, complete in every respect — along with strong health, long life, and the ability to keep building merit throughout this life, steadily on the path toward Nibbāna, the final end of Dhamma.

The sitting closed with the recitation: "Sabbe buddhā balappattā, paccekānañca yaṃ balaṃ, arahantānañca tejena, rakkhaṃ bandhāmi sabbaso. Sabba-buddhānubhāvena, sabba-dhammānubhāvena, sabba-saṅghānubhāvena, saddhā-sotthī bhavantu te" — followed by the offering to the Buddha image, recollecting the inner Triple Gem, and a closing prayer asking for the boundless power of every Buddha, Paccekabuddha, and Arahant, together with the blessing of the lineage of teachers, to protect everyone present, free from suffering, sorrow, worldly bondage, and danger, to gain the Dhamma-eye and full penetration into Dhammakāya, carrying wondrous merit through every life to come, all the way to the final end of Dhamma.