There are really only two things we must accomplish in life: liberation of heart (cetovimutti) and liberation of wisdom (paññāvimutti). Life is a matter of liberation — moving from a coarser dimension to ever more refined ones. This is the necessary and most essential task of life.

Cetovimutti and Paññāvimutti: Two Paths to Liberation

Liberation of heart is liberation through the power of mind: by knowing and establishing a sphere of the wholesome, drawing in pure energy to purify defilements, purity of mind then arises automatically through the wholesome system. Liberation of wisdom is liberation through knowledge and understanding — once we know and understand, we are liberated. It was the same in the Buddha's time: people who heard the Buddha's teaching were liberated, some without needing liberation of heart at all, relying only on liberation of wisdom. Before the Buddha arose, people tried to gain liberation through liberation of heart alone and could reach only as far as the formless Brahma realms — no further — until the Buddha attained supreme enlightenment and showed that there remained a subtler knower they hadn't reached. Liberation of heart alone reaches, at most, the power of the formless Brahma level; it cannot enter the dhamma-body, cannot connect to the knower and empowered one of the dhamma-body.

What Is Merit? Pure Energy from the Wholesome System

Merit is the pure energy that arises when the wholesome system is established. Once established, it draws a continuous stream of merit flowing through. Merit comes from the sea of merit in the deep, refined heart of nibbana. Our great and venerable Luang Pu once said that to reach that sacred sea of merit, one must enter 'nibbana within nibbana' — beginning from the eighteen bodies, refining oneself until matching the fineness of nibbana, falling through into the nibbana-sphere, and refining further and further still until reaching the sacred sea above. He said that whoever arrives there does not simply delight in it alone, but wishes to bring that sacred merit to benefit the world. So one bows and requests it of nibbana, and all the nibbana-beings throughout the dhamma-realm must convene, being informed of this person, by name, on the human world, who has refined themselves to reach the sacred sea of merit and now requests permission to bring that sacred merit to benefit the world. Each one then examines closely whether granting it would cause any harm. Seeing that no harm would follow, none objects, and in that silent assent, the sacred merit can be brought down to the human world.

A Heart Full of Faith Is What Receives Sacred Merit

Receiving sacred merit requires faith — only a heart brimming with faith can receive it. In Luang Pu's era, he had people join in the merit of building a school for monastic Pali studies, giving a commemorative Buddha image to those who contributed, so their hearts could receive that sacred merit. In a later era, our great and venerable Luang Phor once said: Luang Phor has brought us all to the shore of the sea of merit, everyone standing shoulder to shoulder in a single line — no one ahead, no one behind — all able to take this merit back and use it, but only with a heart prepared with faith can one receive this stream of merit. Merit, too, comes in varying qualities, like the varying grades of fuel here on earth — it depends on how much defilement or how much faith is in our heart. Less defilement means greater access to sacred merit; the purer and cleaner the heart, the greater the access; the greater the faith, the more merit one can receive.

The Sphere of Merit and the Refined Treasures Within It

Merit takes the form of a bright, clear sphere. Within it is pure, sacred energy, brimming with purity and happiness. The purity purifies all manner of defilement — the source of problems and obstacles, including various karmic results — turning what is heavy into light, and what is light, vanishing altogether. The happiness makes sitting a joy, walking a joy, conversation a joy, eating and drinking a joy, sleeping a joy — we feel at ease, with only pleasant things to talk about and take in, like the heavenly beings who dwell in ease; higher still, the form-Brahmas feed on rapture, while people of the world find delight in sensual pleasures. At the center of the sphere of merit lies the refined treasures — treasures of form, of wealth, of virtue, of retinue, of gain, honor, praise, happiness, and even the path and fruit of nibbana — all complete and abundant within the sphere. When merit flows through us, these refined treasures flow through us too, and it is these refined treasures that draw coarse, worldly wealth toward us. It isn't a matter of grabbing as much as one wishes — it depends entirely on which kind of refined treasure one has, which then draws in that corresponding thing. Some draw gain, honor, and praise; some draw several things; some draw everything; some draw only certain things.

The Fruits of Giving: Long Life, Radiance, Happiness, Strength, and Wit

Merit arising from giving food — whether to people or animals — yields the fruits of long life, radiance, happiness, strength, and quick wit: these five appear within the refined treasures. They give us a long lifespan, a bright and pleasing complexion, physical and mental happiness, strong body and mind for doing good, and quick wit in solving problems. Every time we give, this appears — but how many lifetimes' worth of power it yields depends on the worthiness of the recipient. Great worthiness brings great fruit; lesser worthiness brings lesser fruit. Giving to an animal yields results across roughly a hundred lifetimes; giving to a human without moral precepts yields a hundred times more than that — because even a human lacking precepts sometimes still has the wholesome briefly gain the upper hand in disposition, retaining some worth to the world, such as love for what is right within their family or community. These virtues remain a basic foundation that lets humans live together.

Refined Treasures Draw Coarse Wealth, Like a Magnet Drawing Iron

We seek wealth — but without merit, can wealth ever arise? Never. Someone once asked Khun Yai how to become truly wealthy. She said: to be wealthy, you must have abundant refined treasures, because refined treasures draw coarse wealth into your life. Without refined treasures, or with few, you draw in little. It's like a magnet: the stronger the magnet, the more iron it can pull in; the weaker it is, the less it draws. So it is exactly the same with us.

Taxes and the Right to Use the Nation's Resources

In business, there's one thing people don't want to lose — they want only to gain. Paying taxes is something business people often try to avoid. But avoiding taxes cuts down our right to use the nation's resources, because we haven't paid what is legally due. So pay your taxes — they build roads, schools, hospitals for the nation's prosperity, which comes back around to us in turn. But when we distort or evade it, our rights are cut. It is the unwholesome that guides us not to want to give up even a little, because giving less means sharing less in the nation's resources; those who pay fully receive full rights. In times of national crisis — floods, fires — the more one helps, the more special standing one gains, wherever one is born, having the right to use that nation's resources. The same holds for supporting the Buddhist religion: we can then use the religion's resources fully. The Buddha himself had to build the great perfection of giving over a vast span of time, precisely so his religion could endure, so monks, novices, and lay devotees could live without hardship or want — all by relying on the perfection of giving he had accumulated over that long span.

The Source of Merit: Where the Channel of Merit Arises

If you tell children to make merit but they don't know what merit is, they won't know why to do it. Tell them to go to the temple, and they ask why — it's uncomfortable, it's hot, it's noisy with announcements and people talking, and you said the temple was supposed to be peaceful, but it isn't at all. We must teach them that we go to seek merit, and the source of merit lies in nibbana. When merit is sent into that source, the channel of merit appears. Those who have reached the Triple Gem within can, through the dhamma-eye of the dhamma-body, see that channel of merit appearing. But this channel doesn't appear easily — it must be a place where faith has been cultivated. Like our own temple: if another temple hasn't cultivated faith, has no activities, the channel of merit won't appear there even though it's a temple. It appears only where there are activities designed to establish the wholesome — a properly arranged program, like our ordination programs. Without such a program in place, nothing could be arranged; no one would come to ordain. Everything must be set up with the full, appropriate components. Once we enter that place, take part in its activities, or bring faith to receive the stream of merit, both the stream of merit and the stream of treasure flow continuously, day and night — whether we are asleep, awake, standing, walking, sitting, or lying down, the stream keeps flowing. We need only abide in the wholesome.

A Story: A Lay Follower Who Left Ordination Mid-Program, Then Returned to Complete It

Take someone who ordains wishing to be cured of illness or danger — the teacher sets a program to correct this, and the program runs its course until, in time, that wish is fulfilled. In a past ordination cohort, a lay follower came to ordain. Pra Ajarn told him to stay with the program until it was complete, but he said he needed to leave the robes early. Because of that, his karmic burden could not be resolved at that time. When he tried to ordain again, it proved much harder, full of obstacles of every kind — but he pushed through, with his family cheering him on, coming to practice alongside him, until he completed the full program. The karmic burden that had once weighed him down with suffering simply vanished. Strangely, that oppressive, suffering state just disappeared — how? Everything is the work of the wholesome system, coming to help and correct it for us. We need only bring ourselves, our hearts, and our faith, and let the system correct it for us. Each of us has a different sphere of merit, and so draws in wealth differently. We tend to compare ourselves — why is that person rich and I'm not, when our relatives are all rich and only I am poor, wishing to be rich too. But wealth comes on its own, depending on the sovereign power at the center of our own sphere of merit, managing our resources for us — however much, that's however much we get. What can bring us happiness in the meantime is contentment: being satisfied with what we already have and are.

The Ten Bases of Merit: Right View Is the Heart of It All

Among the ten bases of merit, the tenth — forming a view that accords with the truth — is the most important of all. Every other item, giving, morality, meditation, each one, exists to develop this tenth item. As our view of what is true grows more accurate, right view grows with it — and this is the crucial factor that makes each person's life different from another's. If we practice giving, morality, and meditation but never correct our view to align with the truth, no matter how much we give, problems will still arise: why have I given so much and still am not rich, still suffer such hardship? This is because we haven't corrected our view to match reality. Correcting our view requires, beyond giving, morality, and meditation, also humility, a generous heart to help and share, dedicating merit, rejoicing in others' merit, listening to and teaching dhamma. All of these support the arising of a view aligned with the truth — like steps of a staircase leading to that point. Otherwise it's like hearing an advertisement claiming that giving makes you rich — then you give and give, and you're not rich at all; the more you give, the more you seem to lose.

The Taste of Giving: Giving That Hopes for Reward, and Giving from a Pure Heart

Giving means offering — offering material things, offering forgiveness, offering the dhamma. When we give, we come to understand the poignancy of both the recipient's hardship and their joy, as well as our own joy as the giver — understanding both ourselves and them together, and so the taste of giving arises. But if we give hoping for reward alone, we won't feel that poignancy. In truth, we naturally hope for something when we give — we want to go to heaven, so we give; we want to be rich, so we give. But as we give more and more with a good heart, grounded in the wholesome system, the knower of the wholesome system comes to explain things to us, guiding, leading, teaching us, while the empowered one comes to correct and clear away our defiling stains. We begin to understand more and more, coming to taste the flavor of giving — the merit that flows every time we abide within the wholesome system. Among the ten bases of merit, what's often missing is humility and a generous, helpful heart toward others. When we come to the temple, we usually complete giving, morality, and meditation already; humility toward the Triple Gem and helping the temple and others remain somewhat present too — and arranging for the full ten bases of merit to be met is the role and duty of the monks who organize these activities.

The Wheel of the Ten Perfections: Turning Right with the Wholesome, Left with the Unwholesome

Why must we go to the temple on important days? Because the channel of merit arises precisely at that place, and we need to be there. Even heavenly beings, whose comfort far exceeds our air-conditioned rooms, still leave their heavenly mansions to come get merit — so getting merit is never easy. It requires the perfections, starting from sacrifice: renunciation means leaving the sensual, leaving home — the source of sensual pleasures — to come to the temple. We need wisdom to understand why we must go to the temple: because the temple is the source of the sea of merit. We need diligence, effort; we need patience to endure the heat and discomfort, and patience-perfection grows; effort-perfection and wisdom-perfection are established. Truthfulness means real sincerity, genuinely determined to get that merit no matter what. Resolution means the firm intention to see it through. We need loving-kindness toward ourselves and others, and equanimity — keeping the mind even, undisturbed by the unwholesome or the neutral that tempts us to go home instead, to the mall, where it's cool and comfortable. All of this relies on the power of the perfections turning rightward, pushing us forward. The ten bases of merit are what we must build up as instruments to draw in merit; the ten perfections are what turn and drive us to accomplish it successfully. But if the fire of demerit takes over and turns the wheel leftward — not wanting to give, not sacrificing time, wisdom insufficient, renunciation replaced by wanting to stay home, effort replaced by laziness and unwillingness to endure, no sincerity in joining the wholesome system — then truthfulness-perfection cannot arise, nor firm resolve, nor loving-kindness toward oneself, nor equanimity. All of this comes from the unwholesome turning the wheel leftward, leaving us unable to accomplish any good at all.

Q&A: The Two Sources of Merit

Someone asked whether merit has two sources — the sea of merit and the being of nibbana itself — and whether nibbana sends merit to us directly. Pra Ajarn explained that there is an automatic mechanism that calculates merit generally, a mechanism of elements and dhamma that computes merit for people in general. But for us, whose teachers can reach the sacred sea of merit, it works differently: we receive merit from the source our teacher has accessed and requested, brought to organize the temple's great merit-making events. As for merit arising from the ten bases of merit, such as keeping the precepts, it depends on whether we're present at the temple's great merit event at that time — if so, we use the virtues of these bases of merit as the vessel to receive the sacred merit. If it isn't a major event, it's ordinary merit processed by the elements-and-dhamma mechanism on the wholesome side. And if we make merit but don't attend in person, we still receive the corresponding fruit — but effort-perfection and patience-perfection won't be fully activated, since we haven't gone through the hardship of the journey; we gain only a little giving and a little wisdom. If we're simply too lazy to go when we could have, the wheel of perfections turns fully leftward — truthfulness, resolution, loving-kindness, and equanimity turn leftward with it, leaving us at a net loss.

Q&A: Dhammakaya Knowledge in Healing

Someone asked about the Dhammakaya knowledge used to resolve various problems. Pra Ajarn shared his own experience: once, around age thirty, while running a business, suffering ate into him so deeply that sitting was suffering, lying down was suffering, everything he did was suffering. He felt that if it continued, he wouldn't survive. So he went to Wat Paknam to see the reverend teacher there for meditation guidance, and told him that suffering had eaten right into his heart. The teacher took up the matter and told him to report back in three days, promising to correct it. Sure enough, after three days, that suffering left him — he could feel, reaching out, that it had been pushed outside himself, no longer surrounding him from within, and he found true ease of body and mind. This is the power of Dhammakaya knowledge in resolving such things — had he not sought that counsel, he might not have survived, since the suffering had truly eaten into his heart. Knowledge of this kind exists in abundance, depending on how deep a level of knower each generation's teachers can reach. Once one reaches the source of a given branch of knowledge, it can be passed to students, who apply it and see results — such as resolving problems remotely by phone, which works through sending a stream of mind, with the teacher-adept doing the actual correcting while our coarse body simply follows what the teacher instructs.

Q&A: Suffering That Gradually Fades During the Ordination Program

Someone shared that before ordaining, they had felt a high level of suffering, but once in the program, they felt at ease — not suffering as before. Pra Ajarn explained this may be a shift in the surrounding stream. While a program is underway, no program is easy to establish — Māra doesn't allow it easily — so organizers must prepare their hearts to endure a state that is hard to endure, absorbing the pressure from the side of demerit that doesn't yield easily. As the stream of merit flows in, the correction becomes a process the wholesome must carry out for each person, one at a time — because ordaining isn't the end of it, with no further power involved. One must wake at four or five in the morning to sit in meditation, understand both liberation of wisdom and liberation of heart, and remain within the wholesome system morning, noon, and night. Every time we recall the Triple Gem while bowing, brightness arises within them, and they become bright within us; both we and they become bright within the center of nibbana, and the stream of merit flows in to drive the wholesome system, refining the elements and dhamma within us toward purity and liberation — whether we're aware of it or not. The greater our proportion of the wholesome grows, the more good things we receive, and the more vibrant our life becomes. Why repeat this again and again? So that we come to know it is truly so — if said only once, we'd forget; repetition drives home the wonder of what is happening to us. We must endure, knowing the side of demerit still lingers in people's hearts, muttering to just get the bowing over with quickly. But our duty is to help them reach liberation, to let them know, realize, and access what the teacher has corrected for them. Once they leave the program, they come to know what they've received, and the following year they wish to ordain again — bringing more people to ordain as well. Those possessed by the side of demerit are gradually cleared out, cohort by cohort, leaving fewer each time, easier to manage — meaning the wholesome dhamma grows in quality, while the proportion of the unwholesome and the neutral diminishes.

Closing Homage, and Training the Heart to Find Its Base

Pra Ajarn closes by leading everyone in paying homage to the Triple Gem together, recalling the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha as our refuge, along with a request for the immeasurable power of nibbana throughout the elements and dhamma, and the perfection of Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and our teachers, to compassionately protect and care for all of us — free from suffering, sorrow, worldliness, and danger; to gain the dhamma-eye that sees the dhamma, to reach and penetrate thoroughly into Dhammakaya knowledge, and to carry these wondrous, immeasurable treasures with us through every life and existence, bowing all the way to the ultimate end of the dhamma.