Two Paths of Liberation: Through Mind and Through Wisdom

Phra Ajahn opens by inviting the group to sit and receive the stream of merit and treasure, letting Nibbana refine our lives. There are really only two things worth doing: liberation-through-mind (jhāna practice) and liberation-through-wisdom. Liberation-through-wisdom relies on correct information to adjust wrong view toward what is right and good — just as in the Buddha's time, listening to the Buddha's teaching clarified doubt and freed people step by step. Liberation-through-mind, on the other hand, requires us to personally put in the cause and observe the result; when the cause is right, the result — realization — follows: purification, liberation, and a progressive lightening and ease.

The Core Teaching: "Clearly Determine Body, Feeling, Mind, and Dhamma"

All of this traces back to the Buddha's key teaching: "Monks, you should clearly determine and know body, feeling, mind, and dhamma, in order to eliminate covetousness and grief regarding the world." This single sentence can turn an ordinary person into a noble one. To "determine" means to mark, to point to, to specify — wherever the mind is placed, and then goes in to know, the orb of mindfulness arises there. Every dhamma — wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral — arises only at the mind.

Nine Wholesome Mental Factors

Mindfulness is one of the 52 mental factors, and it belongs to the wholesome group. Once it arises, besides recollecting, it also draws pure energy — merit — through continuously to cleanse defilement. But beyond the orb of knowing (mindfulness), several other wholesome mental factors help draw merit in faster and more effectively: faith, mindfulness, conscience and shame (hiri-ottappa), and non-greed/non-aversion (born of virtue) — nine factors in total that arise together with the wholesome.

Tatramajjhattatā: The Heart of Equanimity

What we especially rely on is the mental factor called tatramajjhattatā, which dissolves the triggers that unbalance the mind, letting it settle into equanimity, no longer swaying toward liking or disliking. When the mind stays balanced and unmoved by triggers, this factor draws pure energy in even more effectively to cleanse.

From Calm Body and Mind to the First Jhāna

As the wholesome mental factors work together to draw merit in for cleansing, tranquility of body and mind (kāya-passaddhi, citta-passaddhi) arises — restlessness settles, and body and mind grow light and refined, until we sense a "body fit for work, a mind fit for work." The formation of the first jhāna gradually appears, turning sluggishness into agility, aligning body and mind with the path of dhamma. From the first jhāna, development continues to the second, moving through applied thought, sustained thought, rapture, happiness, and one-pointedness.

Meditation Objects Are Just Signals for Mindfulness to Hold

Phra Ajahn emphasizes that all we really need is for the orb of mindfulness to arise. Meditation objects are merely signposts for mindfulness to grip and rest on, letting mindfulness savor an object it enjoys. Our teachers advise placing attention at base seven, then bringing it down to the center of the abdomen. Once determined, the mind settles into that position, and we continue chanting "Samma-Arahang."

The Chant "Samma-Arahang" and Connecting With the Knower Within

If drowsiness or fogginess arises, open the eyes, regather alertness, and resume chanting. "Samma-Arahang" is a name given for a quality — meaning "the One who has practiced well, practiced rightly, practiced so as to be far from defilements." When we chant from a deep, subtle level of consciousness, we connect with the subtle, powerful knower within. Phra Ajahn compares these chants to software, to a program — an analogy people of the Buddha's era couldn't have made, but which speaks clearly to us today.

Merging the Body Into the Crystal Dhamma-Body

When we utter his name, his form appears, since form and name are paired. He appears as a crystal Buddha-image, clear and pure, alive, able to smile, speak, and blink, seated on a jhana disc within an orb of dhamma filling the lap. He arrives with a task — to take our elements and refine them clear and pure, clearing away the stains of past kamma — then expands to envelop and protect the human body. We put on the feeling that we are the Image and the Image is us, from head to foot, all becoming clear crystal of the dhamma-body. Attainment of the dhamma-body ranges from 1% to 100%; we start from whatever point we can already sense.

Resting the Mind, Stopped and Still, Within the Image

Having merged the body, we merge the mind as well. The dhamma-body cultivates cessation-attainment, gathering the mind to stop and be still, and we follow suit: stopped within stopped, still within still, soft, light, at ease, into the center of the center, the center of knowing, stopping, and stillness, continuously. We direct our heart and mind straight toward the path of Nibbana along the inner middle way — not left, not right, not forward, not back — and the mind grows ever more refined.

Perceiving the States Within Each Dimension

Every time the orb of mindfulness arises, it continuously draws pure energy — merit — through into the brightness of that knowing orb. Within each orb of merit is purity and happiness, cleansing away every stain. Beyond that, the orb of merit is also filled with subtle treasures: form, wealth, virtue, honor, praise, happiness, the fruit of the path, Nibbana, and Dhammakaya knowledge — which draws in the coarser treasures of the world as well. The inner world holds many things to learn, both the states that appear and the signals of the meditation object that mindfulness can hold onto.

The Wheel-Turning King and His Seven Jewel-Treasures

Phra Ajahn explains that the powerful one at the center of the merit orb is the Wheel-Turning King (จักรพรรดิ), who refines and resolves our problems. He holds seven jewel-treasures: the elephant-gem, the horse-gem, the general-gem, the treasurer-gem, the wheel-gem, the consort-gem, and the orb-gem. These treasures dissolve worry and every kind of obstacle. The human body's task is simply to sit and gather merit for the King to use; he manages our resources — taking merit to dissolve problems, taking purity to clear obstacles, and using subtle treasure to draw in coarse treasure. Done rightly, it is all remarkably simple.

The Practice Schedule at the Chonburi Center

Phra Ajahn mentions that on free days, one can go practice at the Chonburi meditation center, which runs sessions daily: morning chanting followed by breakfast, then sitting until around 11 a.m.; an afternoon session from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.; and an evening session of chanting followed by sitting until around 9 p.m. He likens the mind to a power bank — we need to store up merit inside so we can draw on it later for our right livelihood.

The Closing Chant

The sit closes with paying homage to the inner Triple Gem. The stream of merit from the deepest, subtlest source of Nibbana wells up continuously within us, driving the wholesome system to refine and repair our elements to purity — even while we remain in some measure of darkness, whether we notice it or not. It is the wholesome's task to bring about purity and liberation for us, increasing the proportion of the wholesome in our life, so that life changes for the better in value and benefit, bringing happiness and prosperity to us all.