Relax and Let Go, Settling into the Present

Phra Ajarn opens by inviting everyone to relax the body and mind until it feels open, spacious, and light. He teaches that our life should hold nothing but ease — as if we had reached the very end of life and needed nothing more. What has driven us until now has been unwholesome states pulling us toward wanting this, wanting that, weighing us down with worry. He tells us to let go of everything we cannot control, and to rest only with what we can actually hold onto: the present moment. The past and future can never do us any real good — only the present moment lets us touch the true state of things.

Determine, Then Observe the Result

He teaches the basic method: whatever we set our attention on, we must also observe its result. If we set an intention but never observe what follows, we never learn what that intention actually produces. When the eyes close, countless inner dimensions appear, and many things intrude to pull the mind astray. So we must keep attention fixed on what we intended, not get drawn into whatever else appears. To reflect is to lift the mind into the meditation object and contemplate it steadily.

The Sphere of Knowing — Mindfulness and the Stream of Merit

When we keep determining and observing without forgetting, the sphere of knowing — mindfulness — arises, drawing in pure energy, merit, in a continuous stream. This energy drives the wholesome system, refining the elements within us until they become clear, clean, and pure, dissolving the defilements that create problems and obstacles. As defilements lighten, we are freed from coarser dimensions into subtler ones, the proportion of wholesomeness grows, unwholesomeness weakens, and the sphere of ignorance falls away.

Chanting "Sammā Arahaṃ" at the Center of the Body

Our teachers advise placing the mind at the seventh base, the center of the body. Once the mind is fixed there, we chant "Sammā Arahaṃ" — a name describing the qualities of the One who practices well, rightly, in a way that leads far from all defilement.

Seeing the Crystal-Clear Buddha Image Within

As we utter this name, a crystal-clear, radiant image of the Buddha appears — a lotus-bud crown gleaming with light, seated on a meditation disc within a round sphere of Dhamma at the lap. Vivid and alive, able to smile and speak. He appears not for nothing: with boundless compassion he takes the elements of seeing, remembering, thinking, and knowing — earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness within us — and purifies them, dissolving karmic residue and defilement, while enfolding and protecting the human body at all times.

Merging Body and Mind into the Crystal Dhammakaya

Phra Ajarn leads us to feel "I am the Buddha image, the Buddha image is me" — from the crown of the head, the face, cheeks, shoulders, arms, and torso, all becoming the crystal Dhammakaya, radiant, cool, clean, and pure. He guides this part by part: the head, face, forehead, nose, cheeks, mouth, chin, neck, shoulders, both arms to the fingertips, chest, abdomen, back, hips, thighs, knees, shins, calves, and soles of the feet — until the whole body has become the crystal Dhammakaya.

Expanding the Body — From a Building to a Mountain, the Sky, and Space

Once unified with the Buddha image, he leads the body to expand beyond its own boundary, growing outward in every direction — first to the size of a building, then continuing to overflow into a mountain, the sky, and the vast, boundless expanse of outer space. This specific sequence of expansion — building, mountain, sky, space — is the particular progression Phra Ajarn guides in this sit, letting the practitioner feel the self dissolve into a limitless scale.

Diving Back into the Tiny Bright Point at the Center, Again and Again

After the expansion, he brings the mind to still and sink back into the tiny bright point at the center of the vast Buddha image. That point expands into a sphere; the sphere grows larger with another Buddha image seated inside it; the mind stills again inside that new image, merging with it — its lap overlapping our lap, its body overlapping ours, head, face, cheeks, shoulders, arms, torso becoming one. From there he expands us outward once more into the sky and the vast universe, then draws us back down into the tiny bright point again — image after image, expansion after contraction, repeating continuously. He reminds us that all of this unfolds automatically; we determine what we can and let go of what we cannot. All that is truly needed is for the sphere of knowing — mindfulness — to arise.

Radiating Loving-Kindness Across the Universe

Having done good for ourselves, Phra Ajarn leads us to extend goodness to all beings through loving-kindness, since every life depends on every other. As we set our mind on sincere, pure loving-kindness, a bright round sphere of loving-kindness arises at the center of the heart, continuously drawing in the stream of merit. This loving-kindness has the special quality of dissolving resentment and friction. He leads the radiance to spread over the place of practice, the village, district, province, country, and other nations, until it covers the whole world like a crystal globe of light — wishing all beings, from earth spirits to sky spirits, heavenly beings of every realm, brahmas, formless brahmas, down to beings in hell, asuras, and animals, to be free from suffering and full of happiness. The radiance then continues outward to cover countless stars and boundless world-systems.

Dedicating the Merit to Karmic Counterparties

Phra Ajarn dedicates the merit generated to all beings, including our parents, siblings, grandparents, teachers of great kindness, the devas who help and support us, and the karmic counterparties we may have wronged — asking that we forgive one another and that they too receive a share of this merit.

Stilling the Mind Within the Triple Gem and the Teachers

He then leads the mind to still within the Triple Gem — the Buddha Jewel, the Dhamma Jewel, and the Sangha Jewel — and within the finest body of Dhamma of the revered Grand Master, the Great Teacher, and the Grand Teacher (Khun Yai), on the principle that "the mind is a servant that succeeds — however you determine it, so it becomes," merging us with them as one.

Making the Aspiration

Phra Ajarn leads the aspiration, asking that the merit, power, and radiance of Nirvana and the teachers combine with all the merit accumulated since our first life, refining body, speech, mind and the elements within until they shine clear, cool, clean, and pure — freeing us entirely from downfall, sin, karmic obstruction, and every hardship in life, down to the last trace; granting the eye that sees the Dhamma and full attainment of the threefold knowledge, the eightfold knowledge, the six higher powers, the four analytical insights, the eight liberations, and the fifteen conducts; granting good health and long life to build merit and perfection without end, heading straight toward the path of Nirvana; and upon passing from this world, to be reborn in the Tusita heaven's realm of merit reserved for Bodhisattvas, and in a family of right view when returning to the human world.

Closing Chant

The sit closes with a chant invoking the well-being that comes through the power of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, and a chant of taking refuge in the Triple Gem, before all present bow together to the Great Teacher and dedicate the merit in unison.