พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์นำนั่งสมาธิในช่วงบ่ายซึ่งเป็นชั่วโมงยาวต่อเนื่องถึง 2 ชั่วโมง ท่านชี้ให้เห็นว่ากายมนุษย์เท่านั้นที่สามารถเลือกเหนี่ยวนำบุญหรือบาปเข้ามาได้ จึงเป็นความหวังของสายธาตุสายธรรมทั้งหมด ก่อนนำแผ่เมตตาและอุทิศส่วนบุญตามลำดับIn this long afternoon sit, Phra Ajarn Suraphong teaches that only the human body has the freedom to draw in merit or demerit, making it the hope of the entire lineage of subtler bodies that cannot act on their own behalf. He then guides settling the mind, the crystal Buddha visualization, loving-kindness radiation, and merit dedication.
Today we have a rare chance to sit continuously for two full hours — the last such long session of this stretch. After this, no one knows when there will be another chance like it. In the state of ordained life, the pure stream of merit is clear, clean, and radiant. All we need to do is receive that stream of merit and treasure, simply by knowing steadily, without lapsing. And if the mind does lapse, that's fine — just settle it again.
Sit at ease. Don't think of this as hard work — think of it as coming to rest, resting the body and calming the mind. It's like going to see a doctor: we bring our body and mind and let the doctor treat both. Here, we simply bring body and mind to the Triple Gem and Nibbāna to be corrected and refined; all we do is maintain awareness.
Choose the Anchor Point That Feels Most at Ease
We may keep awareness on the recitation "Samma-Arahang" together with the crystal Buddha image, or simply rest in quiet stillness — whichever feels comfortable enough to sustain. Do that, with a relaxed and light heart, receiving the stream of merit and treasure pleasantly, at ease. Or we may recite while counting: Samma-Arahang 1, Samma-Arahang 2, Samma-Arahang 3, and so on. Don't fixate on the count — all that's needed is for the sphere of knowing to arise. Whether it's vivid or faint, whether much or little, isn't the point.
The Sphere of Knowing, Mindfulness, and Not-Knowing
When the sphere of knowing arises, it draws pure energy — merit — flowing in. But when that sphere of knowing, which is , falls away, (avijjā) rises in its place; not-knowing appears, and the mind darkens, until wholesome states manage to seize the moment back. So it's best to notice early and know that we are working in partnership with wholesome — we are never working alone. We work together with wholesome dhamma, with the Triple Gem overseeing the system, and with Nibbāna behind the scenes watching over the whole picture along our entire lineage of elements and dhamma.
The Human Body: Hope of the Whole Lineage
Along this entire lineage, only the human body can draw the stream of merit through — all the way through every body in the chain. This shows how important the human body truly is. The human body can draw in demerit, or it can draw in merit, or it can draw in neither merit nor demerit — it all depends on this human body: how much wisdom, effort, and it has. We are the hope of our whole lineage of elements and dhamma.
Sustaining the Recitation
Recite while counting: Samma-Arahang 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 — or count along with each crystal Buddha image if you like. Whichever way brings ease and can be sustained, do that, and enjoy it. We need to develop from "manual" into "automatic," continuing until the recitation begins on its own inside. Once the inner voice arises by itself, we no longer need to recite — we simply listen and follow that sound, and the crystal Buddha image will arise on its own; we follow it as it merges with us. At first, though, we must do it manually, until it becomes automatic.
Stay continuously aware without lapsing, knowing what we are aware of, with a relaxed, open, spacious, light heart — full of ease, and more ease. We may rest in plain stillness, or in a soft, gentle, light and relaxed stillness — whichever we're at ease in, stay with it pleasantly.
The Clear Crystal Buddha Image
At , , hold both the mental quality — the recitation "Samma-Arahang" — and the visual image: a crystal-clear, pure Buddha image, radiant like a lotus bud, seated on a plane of within the sphere of dhamma that fills his lap. As we recite his name, the image merges, layer upon layer, into one with us — Buddha image after Buddha image, arising and merging as one with our body.
Radiating Loving-Kindness to All Beings
Having done good for ourselves, we now do good for others, for all beings, by sincerely and purely wishing them well — like a mother's love for her own young child. May the people of the world be free from suffering and find everywhere. We expand this heart of out to cover this place of practice, then our family, village, subdistrict, district, province, country, neighboring countries, and the whole world — until the world becomes a crystal world, radiant, clear, cool, clean, and pure.
May those who suffer greatly suffer less; may those who suffer little be entirely free of suffering and find happiness; may those with little happiness find more; and may those already happy find still greater happiness. We extend this further — to earthbound devas, sky devas, heavenly beings of every realm, brahma and formless-brahma beings, and also to hell-beings, hungry ghosts, and animals — may all beings be free from suffering and find happiness. We expand it further still, to the vastness of the cosmos, covering countless stars and myriad world-systems throughout the boundless universe.
Dedicating Merit and Asking Forgiveness
As loving-kindness spreads everywhere, the stream of merit continues pouring through in the midst of its radiance. We dedicate this merit to the people and beings of the world, and to our parents, siblings, grandparents, elders, and teachers who have shown us kindness, to the devas who help and support us, to those who tend and protect all beings, and to our karmic counterparties whom we may have wronged — may we forgive one another, and may all receive a share of this merit.
Resting Still in the Triple Gem and the Great Teachers
We bring our hearts to rest, still, in the center of the Triple Gem — the Buddha, the , the Sangha — and rest still in the center of our great teachers, in the most refined dhamma body of our revered Grand Master, our Master, and our Teacher, merging ourselves with them as one. As we recall them, we appear radiant within them, and they appear radiant within us; both we and they appear radiant within Nibbāna, within the boundless power of the One Who Knows.
Setting the Wish and Aspiration
Using this auspicious time, we pay respect and ask for Nibbāna's blessing to set a lasting, successful pattern deep within our sphere of merit — that from now on, our path of accumulating perfections may be filled with , happiness, and , and that all our righteous wishes be fulfilled. We ask that the merit and power of Nibbāna and of our teachers combine with the merit we have accumulated since our first life until now, refining our body, speech, mind, and every element within us to be radiant, clear, cool, clean, and pure — freeing us from misfortune, sin, bad kamma, and every obstacle in life; may greed, hatred, delusion, lust, ignorance, wrong view, craving, and clinging be uprooted without a trace; may we gain and penetrate the knowledge of the , achieving the three knowledges, the eight higher knowledges, the six superknowledges, the four analytical s, the eight liberations, and the fifteen conducts, in full.
Closing Chants
The sit closes with the traditional chant (Sabbe Buddhā...) and paying homage to the Buddha — Arahaṃ Sammā-Sambuddho Bhagavā — recollecting the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha as our refuge, then asking for the boundless power of Nibbāna and the merit of our teachers to protect and care for us all, free us from suffering and danger, grant us the Dhamma Eye, and bring wondrous fortune following us through every life until the very end of the path.