The Three Natures That Govern the Mind

In this morning talk after the dawn chanting, the teacher stressed to the newly ordained monks a core truth of Buddhism: we all live under the control of three natures — the wholesome (กุศล), the unwholesome (อกุศล), and the neutral (อัพยากตะ). When wholesomeness is in control, we become wise, because it teaches us. When unwholesomeness takes over, it works through ignorance and wrong views to make us unwise — guiding and orchestrating mistakes so as to draw in demerit and pull our inner quality downward, increasing the proportion of unwholesomeness over time.

The neutral nature neither makes us foolish nor wise. Whatever wholesomeness teaches or unwholesomeness wrongly directs, it simply doesn't care — it neither helps nor corrects. When it takes hold, it tends to lead us toward eating, playing, entertainment, movies, and music, letting the days of our life slip away in idle amusement.

How Wholesome and Unwholesome Guide Us Through the Senses

Unwholesomeness focuses through the eyes, ears, nose, and tongue — fixing our attention on the retina toward things that spark greed, anger, and delusion, creating likes and dislikes that then feed more greed and anger. Wholesomeness works through the same senses, but focuses attention on good things instead — guiding, directing, and teaching us in a way that feels almost like our own thinking.

Dhamma and Adhamma: Nature's Software

The tools nature uses are Dhamma and its opposite, adhamma — like software that draws merit or demerit into our lives. When it is Dhamma, it draws in merit; when adhamma, it draws in demerit.

The Unseen Instruments Within Us

We already carry instruments within us: the spheres of morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge-and-vision of liberation. Even unseen, they can be used — like a blind person living in this world who cannot see the refrigerator yet still uses it, cannot see the fan yet still uses it, cannot see the bed yet still uses it — needing only to learn and understand things a bit more carefully. Morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge-and-vision of liberation work the same way: present within us though unseen, and the Knower-Seer brings them to our attention and teaches us.

The Law of Kamma: Merit and Demerit Taking Turns

We live under the law of kamma at every moment. Whenever the sphere of merit is larger than the sphere of demerit, it is merit's turn to give its result — merit draws in good conditions, releasing a current that attracts favorable circumstances, so life brings happiness, prosperity, and joy after joy. But whenever the sphere of demerit outweighs merit, it releases its own current, drawing in conditions of suffering and danger that press and constrict, giving rise to hardship and sorrow. Whether joy or sorrow, both are results of merit and demerit arising according to the law of the three characteristics governed by the three natures — which then lead us to create new causes, becoming new kammic results, endlessly, around and around in the cycle of samsara.

The Duty to Teach the Next Generation

Because samsara works this way, we must guide and teach our children and grandchildren — we cannot simply leave them to figure it out on their own. We have to teach them, and even once they know, understanding the truth doesn't come easily; the wholesome nature needs this information taught again and again. What we teach them is so that the wholesomeness within them can, in turn, teach them once more. Wholesomeness accompanies a person from the moment they wake until they fall asleep, and whenever it seizes the right moment, it teaches — letting them verify the inner voice for themselves, teaching them about the nature that governs themselves and all beings.

Leading Chanting, Giving Guidance, and Building the Habit of Self-Discipline

The teacher comes to teach by example — leading chanting and giving guidance. Going back home, look for opportunities to teach whichever children can be taught, inviting them to join the morning temple chanting and Dhamma practice. When we lead them, we must first discipline ourselves; and the more we discipline ourselves, the more it becomes second nature. Wholesomeness then uses this opportunity to have us create the causes of goodness, and we in turn lead whichever children in our household we are able to. What we have learned will not fade, because unwholesomeness constantly tries to cover and obscure our good memories — if we don't use them, they get forgotten. But if we keep using them, they become a channel that draws in more merit, and merit born of teaching and discussing Dhamma will arise.

A Small Thing That Is Truly Great: Becoming the Root of a Good Lineage

When we practice goodness ourselves, merit arises and we become a good example for our children and grandchildren. When we are reborn, we will meet guardians, parents, and grandparents who are established in Dhamma and who guide children toward goodness. Children then learn from adults with sound, wholesome judgment leading the family, so the family stays rooted in wholesome, honest conduct. It may look like a small matter, but these small things are exactly what becomes truly great. We become the ancestor who leads our descendants to dwell with the Triple Gem, guiding them toward the bright beauty at the center of Nibbana. Countless generations that follow will pass the teaching on, reaching millions of people who are able to remain established in goodness — because we, just one person, became the root of a family line that brought goodness into being. When we pass from this world, we go to the heavenly realm, and when our descendants later pass on and meet us, they will thank us as the ancestor who gave them the chance to know, to understand the truth, and to stand in the goodness that became their own refuge.