พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าความโกรธ น้อยใจ เสียใจ ล้วนเป็นเจตสิกของอกุศล จะหายไปได้ก็ต่อเมื่อดำรงอยู่กับกุศลอย่างต่อเนื่องไม่ขาดสาย และสอนวิธีตรวจสอบง่าย ๆ ว่าขณะนั่งสมาธิใครกำลังเป็นเจ้าเรือนอยู่ในใจเราPra Ajarn explains that anger, resentment, and hurt are all mental factors of the unwholesome, and they can only fade for good when one abides continuously with the wholesome. He also gives a simple way to check, while sitting, which side is currently in charge of the mind.
A student asked: if one keeps abiding in , can negative emotions like anger, sadness, or resentment disappear for good? The student has been trying to think positively, yet negative emotions keep intruding anyway, even without wanting to feel that way.
Pra Ajarn explained that for these emotions to truly disappear, one must be entirely freed from that state. The reason they haven't gone away is that something keeps interfering. Anger, resentment, and sadness are all s belonging to ; when the unwholesome possesses the mind, these emotions arise. But when the wholesome possesses the mind instead, these emotions have no place, since they don't belong to the wholesome's set of mental factors. So if one truly abides in the wholesome continuously, these emotions should gradually fade. But abiding in the wholesome continuously requires continuous meditation practice as well.
Some people meditate for a long time yet still carry anger and irritability — because even while sitting with eyes closed in meditation, the unwholesome remains in charge, guiding the mind. Wanting to reach the quickly, for instance, the unwholesome will keep urging a change of method, this way then that way, so the mind never settles.
A simple way to check who is in charge: while sitting, ask yourself whether you feel pressured or at ease. If you feel pressured — a state that must be endured and is hard to bear — the unwholesome is in charge. If you feel at ease, the wholesome is in charge. When the wholesome remains in charge continuously, it draws merit in to purify the mind, freeing it mitigation by mitigation, growing subtler and subtler, further and further from the defilements that cloud it. "Far" here means far in terms of the mind's dimension, not distance.