Putting the Dhamma to Use for Real Benefit

Practice means taking the Dhamma and putting it to use so that it brings us real benefit. Let us understand it so we can apply it simply — if it's easy, that's the right way; if it's hard, it isn't. The principle of wholesomeness teaches simple methods that are light, not burdensome; unwholesomeness, by contrast, teaches difficulty and hardship. Applying the teaching simply means we determine it and hold it in mind — that's all. The Dhamma itself then acts on its own and reveals its qualities in the mind. We are merely the one who holds the Dhamma: choosing it carefully and holding it in place.

Form and Name Go Together

In developing a meditation object, we must establish both form and name — they are a pair. When we want to focus on a particular Dhamma, we first recall its name — for instance, the name "Sammā-Arahaṃ," the name of the One who has practiced well, practiced rightly, in a way that leads far from defilement. When we speak his name, the form appears in the mind: a crystal Buddha image, clear and pure, with a bright shining halo, full of life, able to smile and speak.

The Buddha's Appearance and Great Compassion

He appears at the center of the mind, seated on a plane of jhāna within a Dhamma-sphere filling his entire lap. Through his great compassion, he refines our elements of seeing, remembering, thinking, and knowing — earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness — until they are clear and pure, clearing away stains of defilement and every karmic obstruction. As he refines these elements for us, he also expands to overlay and protect this human body, because he is our true self. His wish is that we and he become one, so that he can help us with full effectiveness.

Merging Body and Mind Into One With Him

As he expands to merge with us, we expand to merge with him into one unity: "I am the Buddha image, the Buddha image is me." Let our entire body become the crystal Dhammakāya, radiant and clear — from the crown of the head, the face, the arms, the torso, down to the feet — all delicate, soft, and gentle. Once our body has merged with his into one, we merge our mind with his mind as well. Whatever he does, we do the same: he gathers his mind to stop, gathers it to be still; we gather our mind to stop, gather it to be still, at the center of the Buddha image — stop within stop, still within still, soft and at ease.

Steps One and Two: Reciting to Fluency, Then Visualizing

There are five steps to entering the inner middle way. Step one: speak his name, reciting "Sammā-Arahaṃ" repeatedly until it becomes familiar and fluent, until we can recall the Buddha image arising within. Step two: once we can recall the image arising, we merge with him, image after image as they arise and overlay one another. At first we simply visualize; once we can visualize, we can see — and brightness gradually appears on its own as our familiarity with seeing grows.

The Prohibition: Never Strain the Eyes

Once we set our intention to see, merit flows in to clear the stains — the elements that cover and obscure, the darkness veiling us — so brightness gradually appears. This seeing requires the eye of the subtle body, not the human eye. As we visualize, the subtle body's eye overlays into place, and merit flows in to sharpen the seeing by clearing away what obscures it. We are not straining to look — there's no need to strain; simply visualizing is enough. If we strain, our eyes will ache, because we are not using the human eye — the human eye can never see the subtle dimension no matter what. So never force it; forcing will never produce sight — it is simply the limitation of the human eye, which can see only the external, never the internal. Just keep visualizing, and clarity will gradually sharpen on its own.

Steps Three and Four: Merging Body and Mind

As we recite each syllable, the Buddha image continues to arise, one after another, and we merge with him into one unity — this is step three: merging our body with his body into one. Step four is merging our mind with his mind, gathering the mind to stop, gathering it to be still at the center of the Buddha image — stop within stop, still within still, soft and at ease, clear, cool, and pure. Each image that overlays makes our Buddha image clearer, brighter, and more radiant.

Step Five: Aiming Directly Toward Nibbāna

Step five is entering the inner middle way, aimed directly toward nibbāna. Stop within stop, still within still, at the center of the center of the center — not left, not right, not forward, not back, not up, not down — but into that very center, knowing the center, stopping the center, stilling the center. We appear radiant at the center of nibbāna, the center of the Knower of boundless, incalculable power. We must determine and then go in to know; the sphere of awareness then arises continuously, drawing merit in to clear away stains, and the Buddha image grows ever clearer and brighter.

Watching Progress and Relying on Diligence

As we continue to cultivate goodness through right mindfulness, we come to understand more of how the wholesome system works, and what we visualize becomes clearer on its own. Once we have done good for ourselves, we go on to do good for the world and all beings, because life in saṃsāra depends on mutual support.

The Simile of a Mother's Heart

Mettā is a tool of wholesomeness for those with abundant merit to help those with less. We simply set our wish sincerely and purely: may all beings be free from suffering and share in happiness. Our Great Master once explained that this mettā is like a mother's heart, brimming with love and goodwill for her own small child — take up that very heart and establish it within us. The sphere of mettā appears as a round, bright light at the center of our mind, together with a stream of merit pouring continuously from the deep, subtle levels within.

Radiating Mettā Across the Cosmos

The special quality of mettā is its power to dissolve resentment and irritation in the hearts of people and beings, both in the atmosphere and throughout all things. We then expand this loving mind across the place of practice, the village, district, province, other nations, until it covers the whole world, turning it into a crystal world, radiant, cool, and pure. May all beings be free from suffering and share happiness, free from enmity and harm toward one another. We continue expanding out into the atmosphere of the cosmos, covering countless stars, out to the boundless realms and universes, so our mind opens into joyful spaciousness, light, clear, cool, pure, and refreshed.

Dedicating Merit and Setting Our Resolve

The stream of merit continues pouring into the pure element of merit without ceasing, and we dedicate it to all people and beings, including our ancestors, parents, siblings, grandparents, relatives, our benefactor teachers, the devas who help us, and our karmic counterparts (คู่กรรมคู่เวร), asking mutual forgiveness. We then settle the mind in stillness at the center of this element of merit, the center of the Triple Gem, and the center of the subtle Dhamma-body of our Great Master, our Teacher, and our Grandmother-teacher — our highest refuge. We fix our resolve at the center of this radiant sphere of merit, that our path of building perfections be transformed by knowledge, happiness, and purity, with the Dhamma-eye penetrating the Vijjā Dhammakāya — the Three Knowledges, Eight Knowledges, Six Higher Powers, Four Analytical Insights, Eight Liberations, and Fifteen Conducts — together with strong health and long life, and, when we pass from this world, rebirth in the Tusita heaven and, in future lives, birth into families of right view.