พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าบุญบาปเล็ก ๆ ที่ไม่ถูกวางบนไทม์ไลน์ชีวิตจะกองรวมกันรอจังหวะ เมื่อธรรมชาติฝ่ายใดชิงช่วงชิงเป็นเจ้าเรือนได้ ก็จะดึงบุญเก่าหรือบาปเก่าที่กองไว้เข้ามาด้วย เป็นที่มาของคำว่าบุญใหม่เหนี่ยวนำบุญเก่า บาปใหม่เหนี่ยวนำบาปเก่าThe teacher explains that small merit and sin left off the timeline of life gather together in reserve; whenever a nature seizes the moment and takes hold as the dominant force, it draws that reserve of old merit or sin in along with it — the origin of the saying that new merit draws in old merit, and new sin draws in old sin.
One student asked: the teacher once said there is merit and sin that has already been placed on the timeline of our life, but there is also merit and sin that no one has placed there — too small to be placed. How does this unplaced portion actually work?
Small Merit and Sin Held Back From the Timeline Gather Together, Waiting Their Turn
The teacher explained that merit and sin too small to matter get held back from being placed on the timeline of life. Sin is not allowed to mix in with merit being placed, and merit is not allowed to mix in with sin — each side keeps the other separate. The portion that isn't placed on the timeline instead gathers together in reserve, and its release depends on : whichever side manages to seize the moment and become the dominant force, and creates an opening, will draw in this reserve of old merit or old sin along with it.
New Merit Draws In Old Merit, New Sin Draws In Old Sin
Whenever a given nature manages to seize the moment and take hold as the dominant force, drawing in energy, that is exactly when the reserve of old merit or sin gets pulled in as well. Our life must therefore be careful of both karmic result under the law of karma, and the law of the three characteristics. If we dwell in the wrong system, we tend to assume that small things — steered into doing this or that by whatever seized the moment — probably don't amount to much, at worst creating a new karmic result somewhere down the road. But in fact, the unplaced reserve of merit or sin gathered in one place gets drawn in too, at the very moment the law of the three characteristics is delivering its result — whether it's seizing the moment and drawing in sin, or seizing the moment and drawing in merit. This unplaced merit or sin gathers and then gets pulled in together. This is exactly what Luang Phor called "new merit drawing in old merit" or "new sin drawing in old sin."
New Sin That Matches Old Sin Pulls the Old Sin Along With It
Conversely, when the unwholesome seizes the moment and takes hold, it pressures and persuades us; if we give in, we become confined within that dimension, drawing sin in further. Once there's enough sin accumulated, it forces us to speak and act according to what it wants — and it has old sin already prepared and waiting. The moment we speak or act in a way that matches that old sin, which hadn't been placed on the timeline, that old sin gets drawn in along with the new. This is exactly how new sin ends up drawing old sin in together with it.