After Ordination, We Live Under the Buddha's Shelter — Merit Flows Continuously

Once we ordain, changing our status into a monk, we live under the cool, radiant shade of the Buddha. A current of merit flows through us continuously from the very first day we ordain. Now it depends on whether we abide in wholesomeness — if we do, the merit we receive is great. The elder teacher compared it this way: a monk who makes merit the size of a fist receives merit the size of a mountain, while a layperson who makes merit the size of a mountain receives merit the size of a thumb.

What We Must Gain from Ordaining: The Truth of the Three Natures

Once we ordain, what we must gain is the knowledge and understanding that three natures govern our lives — governing our children and grandchildren, governing those we love, governing all beings — through an inner voice that comes in three kinds: good, bad, and neutral, taking neither side. The teacher goes over this overview every morning so that when we leave here, we can pass it on to teach our own children and grandchildren.

The Inner Voice Rings in Our Mind, but It Isn't Truly Ours

What the Buddha had to accumulate perfections for twenty incalculable eons and a hundred thousand great eons to discover is this truth: three natures govern all beings through an inner voice and inner feeling. The voice and feeling that arise within us — we tend to think they're ours, because they ring in our own mind, the feeling appears in our own heart. How could we not think it's ours? But we forget: we didn't think it up, we didn't speak it — so where does that voice come from? How does it ring in our mind? We didn't intend to feel it, yet the feeling arises on its own — like a microphone that suddenly makes a sound on its own, without the teacher having spoken into it. It has to have a source. This is something we can teach our children and grandchildren to think about, to reflect on and prove for themselves until they agree: yes, that's exactly right.

The Eye of Dhamma: Seeing the Source of the Voice by Reaching the Inner Triple Gem

This very voice is what leads us into so many mistakes in life — though sometimes it also pushes us toward good deeds. The Buddha taught that this really exists within us, but comes in three kinds, three sides. We can't see it directly; to see it we need the eye of Dhamma, gained by practicing until we reach the inner Triple Gem. While we still can't see it, we hear its voice and feel what it feels. And crucially, it forces us to do bad things in order to draw demerit in, pressing down the law of our own elements and Dhamma, clouding our minds. When we close our eyes and leave this world, it drags us off to be confined in the state of hell beings, asuras, or animals, dwelling in realms of torment. This is something we must teach every day, whenever there's an opportunity — even in the middle of an argument, we can ask: do you know who's behind this, who's steering you to think this way? Is this good or not good? Not good — that's what's called the unwholesome, making us angry and hateful toward each other even though we're brothers and sisters, relatives.

Karmic Results, Joy and Sorrow, and the Three Characteristics

Without this understanding, children and grandchildren will quarrel from childhood until old age and death, and be reborn to clash with each other again — binding themselves in karmic results laced with resentment, hurt, and vengeance. Everything is the fruit of the law of kamma we performed in the past, ripening moment by moment in the present. Good results make us glad; the fruit of demeritorious kamma makes us sad. In the end, it comes down to just two things: gladness and sadness. This is exactly the three characteristics (ti-lakkhaṇa) — the three natures use our gladness and sadness as their opening; the unwholesome uses it as an opening to blame this person or that person, so we quarrel, drawing in more demerit, pressing us down further, producing a result of ruin laid onto the timeline of our life, generating new kamma without end. On the other side, when a good result from merit arrives and we're glad, the unwholesome prompts us further: do you want more? Because we only performed the cause to that extent, that's all we get. If we crave more, the unwholesome deceives us with greed, steering us wrongly, deluding us into thinking we'll reach our goal that way — when really it just becomes new kamma.

The Duty to Teach Whenever There's a Free Moment

We must teach our children and grandchildren to be careful, to understand. The teaching we give becomes something the wholesome side can use — the wholesome will remind our children while they eat, bathe, sit and relax, before sleep, while driving or riding in a car. In every free moment, the wholesome seizes the opening to bring our teaching to mind. Whenever something is about to happen, the wholesome will use what we've given them to teach them. If we don't teach, how would they know? And not knowing, how could they act rightly? So while we're here ordained, we must learn and understand thoroughly — ask whatever we don't know — so we can become founders of a lineage of goodness, planting virtue in our descendants for countless generations to come.

Founders of a Lineage of Goodness: The Triple Gem Shines Bright Within Our Descendants

When our children and grandchildren abide in wholesome qualities, the Triple Gem will shine brightly at their center; they will appear radiant at the center of Nibbāna, receiving the protection and care of countless incalculable beings of knowledge and power. When this is so, we can rest assured that our descendants, for countless generations to come, will know, understand, and stand firm in goodness — their lives will surely flourish and surely lead to a fortunate destination. Reaching the heavenly realms, human time compared to heavenly time is but an instant. When we close our eyes and leave this world and later meet them there, they will thank us — parents, siblings, grandparents — for teaching them that this ancestor was the one who planted these seeds of goodness.

A Story: A Student Who Taught Dhamma to Her Mother Every Day

The teacher tells of a student who left her studies to devote herself to studying Dhamma. Every day at 4:00 pm, she would go tell her mother about the Dhamma she'd learned. In the morning she'd sit in meditation, mid-morning she'd sit again, in the afternoon she'd study Dhamma, and in the evening she'd take her mother as her student and teach her Dhamma — day after day, again and again, until her mother was deeply moved. Her mother said she made a vow that in every life, in every existence to come, she would wish to learn this very truth of Buddhism. Wonderful. Every evening after that, the mother wanted to study Dhamma with her daughter; at night they would sit together in meditation over video call.

Tell It as a Story, Not a Lesson — Let the Wholesome Within Them Teach Them

This is why we need to pass the Dhamma on: merit arises for our children and grandchildren, and at the same time for us — merit passes from Nibbāna, through us as the one who conveys it, and on to our children and grandchildren. And our own knowledge won't fade, whereas otherwise we'd forget it in no time, because the unwholesome brings impurity to cover it over, and ignorance covers what we once remembered with its own veil. But if we tell it to our children, tell it to anyone, we don't need to announce that we're "teaching" — they may not accept that framing at first, it might be hard for them to accept. Just tell it as a story, the way we'd share any story — like the story of the old monk who told the tale of the baby turtles during an ordination, which was interesting, so we retell it; or the story the teacher told yesterday, of a man who lied to his wife and children in order to go out drinking — that too can become a story we tell.

The point lies in the moment he made that decision, the moment craving flared up. Craving forced him to make that choice; clinging arose; a black mist spread and filled the sphere of existence, giving rise to a new state of being, a new birth — a body arising within the body, appearing as whatever body fits — an asura, a hell being, depending on the deed. Once he committed the wrong act, the unwholesome overlays a body from the realm of misfortune onto him; demerit is drawn in continuously, steering and dictating his life, making him lie, behave coarsely and roughly, fear nothing — carrying him through to complete the deed of the demeritorious side, drawing in more ruin, until the deed is accomplished and he receives his "reward": a completed template of the demeritorious side, made up of impurity and filth that produce sorrow, suffering, and hardship, along with ruin that will destroy all his assets — his physical assets, his wealth, his virtues, his circle of dependents — all sealed into that completed sphere of demerit and laid onto the timeline of his life, waiting for the moment it detonates, bringing trouble when it does. We tell this to others so they can reflect on it themselves. In truth, we're telling it to the wholesome within them — the wholesome within them will use this story to teach them itself, because a human being alone can't really be relied upon; the unwholesome may take hold at any moment, or a neutral state may take hold — but we can rely on the wholesome within. So when we tell a story, we watch to see if the listener is ready to hear it; if they're ready, that shows the wholesome has already arisen in them — we're telling the story to that wholesome part, and it will store this information away to use in teaching the human body later.

The Tools Already Within Us: Usable Even Before We Can See Them

Within us we already carry the tool of the Dhamma-spheres: the spheres of precepts, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the vision-and-knowledge of liberation. Having this tool, we must learn to use it. Some say, "I still haven't seen the sphere of precepts, of concentration, of wisdom, of liberation, of the vision-and-knowledge of liberation — how can I use something I haven't seen?" The answer is: you can use it without seeing it. It's like a blind person who can't see a refrigerator but can still use it, can't see an air conditioner but can still use it, can't see a fan but can still use it — as long as someone tells them, teaches them, "this thing is here, use it like this," they learn to use it well. It's the same here: what already exists within us, built into the human body, must be usable. Look at our liver, kidneys, and intestines — we don't see them, but they perform their functions automatically; we eat, and they digest for us; we don't see them working, but they work for us all the same. The spheres of precepts, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the vision-and-knowledge of liberation are the same — even without seeing them, we can use them. This is why, in Buddhism, it is said that sons and daughters of good families who enter the teaching of the great Teacher should train in the precepts, the concentration, and the wisdom — three trainings, because there are three spheres within us that need to be put to use. If we don't train, we can't use this tool, and this tool, once used, is entirely to our benefit — like a refrigerator or a fan, household tools that all serve us. If we don't learn, don't understand, and don't teach others to learn and understand, they won't know how to use it — like someone coming in from the forest or the hills who's never encountered these things; if no one teaches them to use it, they won't know how, but once taught, they'll know how to use it. Especially someone who is blind needs to be taught in even greater detail. It's the same for us here — we can't see these spheres, like the blind, so we need to learn and understand: ah, so the sphere of precepts gives safety to life.

How Precepts, Concentration, and Wisdom Each Do Their Own Work

Once we undertake the precepts, we should keep them, which brings safety to ourselves and others: safety of life by not killing, safety of property by not stealing, safety of family by not committing sexual misconduct, safety of speech through trustworthy, honest words, and safety in mindfulness so the wholesome can dwell within us, not damaging our subtle human body. When we provide this safety, the sphere of precepts grows bright — bright because merit flows through, drawn in by it. The sphere of precepts refines and improves the elements of our Dhamma, purifying us, removing the impurities that obstruct our lives, carrying us toward subtler dimensions, freeing us layer by layer, storing us away in a dimension far from the defilements, beyond the unwholesome's reach.

Precepts correct only speech and action. Concentration helps correct the mental factors — the inner voice and moods that dictate our lives. Concentration refines and corrects us, keeping us far from the unwholesome's bad voices and moods, carrying us to be stored in a subtler place than precepts alone can reach — farther from defilement, more securely hidden. Wisdom, meanwhile, comes to give us true knowledge and understanding of how life's mechanism actually works — this is unwholesome, that is wholesome — teaching us what is good and what is not.

A Story: A Child Learns Cleanliness Through Wisdom

The teacher tells of a child whose parents taught him to clean his room — this is a story about wisdom. The parents reminded their child: when you wake up, take your blanket and pillow out to air in the sun, and tidy up any rubbish in the room so it doesn't become a mess. The child would do it sometimes and not other times — children are like that. So the parents consulted the teacher at school, who showed the children a video about bacteria, viruses, parasites, dust mites, worms, cockroaches, and the like — how these things lead to rashes, ringworm, and various skin conditions. The moment the child watched it, he understood and grew afraid. From then on, every morning and mid-morning, without the parents saying a word, the child would tidy the room himself, take the blanket and bedsheets out to air in the sun. All it took was understanding — once he understood, he did it himself. But because we hadn't helped him understand, hadn't taught him, he didn't know — and not knowing, how could he be expected to act? It wasn't laziness; he simply didn't know why he should bother. But once he knew, once he saw the suffering, harm, and danger that would follow, he did it on his own. This is exactly what wisdom gives us: knowledge of the truth — what is suffering, what is harmful, what is dangerous, and what is good. Wisdom, taught once, serves for a whole lifetime — unlike concentration, which must refine again and again, clearing out whatever new impurity we pick up.

Liberation and the Vision-and-Knowledge of Liberation: The Tools of Freedom

The spheres of liberation and the vision-and-knowledge of liberation are tools that come into play once we understand precepts, concentration, and wisdom — like the child who now understands. Liberation frees us from bad things that are impurities — laziness, timidity, irritability, boastfulness, addiction to alcohol, cigarettes, or anything else. Liberation frees us from these unwholesome, demeritorious impurities. The vision-and-knowledge of liberation, meanwhile, helps us reach good things — wanting a better life, wanting to stand firm in precepts and Dhamma, wanting to chant and pay respect to the Buddha, wanting a life that is good, excellent, and truly wonderful. The sphere of the vision-and-knowledge of liberation will carry out that liberation for us, but precepts and concentration must do their work first, so we truly know and understand that we want to reach that better life. Then the vision-and-knowledge of liberation will lead us there. All these spheres are tools already present within us — we need only learn to put them to use. With that understood, let us now pay homage to the Buddha — every time we do, recall the Triple Gem, and we will appear bright and radiant at its center, just as it appears bright and radiant at ours.