มีผู้ถามว่าเพื่อนที่ไปปฏิบัติธรรมแล้วออกมากลับคุมอารมณ์ไม่อยู่ พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าผลของสมาธิขึ้นอยู่กับว่าขณะนั้นดำรงอยู่ในระบบกุศล อกุศล หรืออัพยากตะ ไม่ใช่ตัวสมาธิเองที่ผิดSomeone asked why a friend who meditated for eight days came out unable to control their emotions. Pra Ajarn explains that the result of meditation depends on which system — wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral — one abides in during the sitting; it isn't meditation itself that's at fault.
Someone asked: I've heard that people who become attached to meditation grow irritable, because they live in their own private world undisturbed, and when they come back out and meet the world, anger flares up easily — like someone in a sterile room who dies from the slightest germ exposure because they have no immunity. A friend of mine ordained and practiced for eight days, and came out completely unable to control their emotions.
Pra Ajarn explained that whatever result meditation produces depends on which system we abide in at the time — wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral. Some people feel worse after meditating than before, which means the concentration achieved wasn't but wrong concentration, or neutral concentration. Just as there is wholesome morality, unwholesome morality, and neutral morality, there are likewise three kinds of concentration. Even someone who experiences inner light during meditation — if guided by , what they see becomes distorted from reality. The distraction that appears alongside the light looks vivid and coherent, but still can't be trusted, because it remains mere distraction. If abiding in system, the wholesome tells us plainly that what we're seeing is only distraction; but under the unwholesome system, the unwholesome convinces us it's utterly real, and with deeper concentration this can become an -corruption (vipassanupakkilesa).
Anyone who meditates and gets poor results is entirely the product of abiding in the wrong system, guided by the unwholesome — because the neutral nature doesn't cause suffering by itself, but the unwholesome misguides us into it. If we recognize we're in the wrong system, we can retune into the wholesome one. But the case that resembles a sterile room causing irritability is simply a misunderstanding, because the person doesn't realize the three natures are directing things behind the scenes. Abiding in the wrong system, not the wholesome one, produces exactly that result — what accumulates during that time isn't but defilement, which is what triggers easy anger upon contact with the environment. Everything follows cause and effect, always consistent with how the mechanism works.
Another case someone raised was people who come out of practice too still, unwilling to do anything at all. Pra Ajarn explained there are two kinds of stillness: the neutral kind, where one fails to do what should be done, and the wholesome kind, where one does what's necessary without overstepping into the work of the Universal Monarch who manages our resources. Our role is simply to abide correctly so that merit is drawn in, giving merit to the Seven Treasures of the Monarch so his work proceeds smoothly. As for the case of someone who feels bored and restless outside, yet also can't settle well when sitting inside — this happens because of defilement within that makes progress difficult. It's simply the nature of someone who isn't diligent about their work: not diligent in practice either, so when they meet the chaos outside, there's no accumulated purity to sustain and encourage them, because they were never truly abiding with the wholesome even during the practice itself. Had they abided with the wholesome, it would have guided and taught them so that neither boredom nor restlessness like this would arise.