พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าโลกภายนอกคือโลกของธาตุและผล ส่วนโลกภายในคือโลกของธรรมและเหตุ ต้นเหตุที่แท้จริงคือธรรมชาติ 3 ฝ่าย (กุศล อกุศล อัพยากตะ) ที่ผลัดกันเข้าสิงใจ ยกระดับหรือฉุดกายเวทนาจิตธรรมของเราให้สูงขึ้นหรือต่ำลง การแก้ปัญหาที่แท้จริงจึงต้องแก้ที่ต้นเหตุคือใจ ไม่ใช่ที่ปลายเหตุภายนอกPra Ajarn explains that the outer world is the world of elements and results, while the inner world is the world of Dhamma and causes. The true root cause is the three natural forces (wholesome, unwholesome, neutral) that take turns possessing the mind, elevating or dragging down our body-feeling-mind-Dhamma. Real change must happen at the root cause — the mind — not at the external tail end.
Someone asked: how are these two things — the elements and the — related to each other?
The Outer World Is the World of Elements; the Inner World Is the World of Dhamma
There are two worlds: the outer world and the inner world. The outer world is the world of the elements; the inner world is the world of the Dhamma. The outer world is the world of results; the inner world is the world of causes. When we want to fix something at its root, we must enter the inner world, which is the world of causes — the outer world being the world of results.
Fixing at the End of the Cause Only Helps So Much
Most of us tend to fix things at the tail end of the cause — out in the outer world — which helps only to a certain degree. It's not that it doesn't help at all, but it helps only within limits. We must fix things at the root cause, which lies within, and that root cause itself has further causes within causes — we must trace it back to the true root of all causes.
The True Root Cause: The Three Natural Forces That Govern All Beings
The root cause governing all beings is the three natural forces: (kusalā dhammā), (akusalā dhammā), and the neutral (abyākatā dhammā) — the lords of the three characteristics (tilakkhaṇa). "Ti" means three, and lakkhaṇa means characteristic — three entirely distinct characteristics, namely the wholesome, the unwholesome, and the neutral. As for impermanence, suffering, and non-self, which we usually hear about, these are merely sub-points within the unwholesome side of the Dhamma.
For any of these three natural forces to possess a human being, there must first be a contest among them — so possession succeeds sometimes and fails other times, never constant. This is what impermanence means. When the wholesome arises, it brings and ease; when the unwholesome arises, it brings suffering; when the neutral arises, it is neither happiness nor suffering. As for non-self — because whichever nature manages to possess a person, that person changes according to that nature, one cannot hold that any particular person is entirely good or entirely bad.
When the Wholesome Possesses Us, Our Body-Feeling-Mind-Dhamma Are Elevated
When any nature possesses us, it plays out its own role. If the wholesome possesses us, it plays the role of goodness, overlaying body, feeling, mind, and mental quality of a higher grade than the human body — such as a refined body, a divine body, a Brahma body — to elevate the quality of our body, feeling, mind, and mental states, making them nobler and finer. When morality enters, a body within the body overlays; a feeling within feeling, a mind within mind, a Dhamma within Dhamma overlays likewise to elevate — giving us refined, gentle, courteous conduct. The higher-quality feeling brings happiness and ease; the thoughts that overlay are good thoughts; and the Dhamma — the mental quality of feeling — is able to elevate our mind and heart, making it nobler, finer, and gentler.
When the Unwholesome Possesses Us, We Are Dragged Down
Conversely, when the unwholesome possesses us, since it wants to drag us down, it overlays body, feeling, mind, and Dhamma of a lower grade than the human body — such as the body of a wandering spirit, an animal, a demon, or a hell-being — because the s of these are all greed, hatred, delusion, lust, and . To draw in demerit, the unwholesome needs the energy of demerit to drive its system, in order to be able to press the elements down. When this nature's body overlays us, our behavior turns coarse and harsh; our feeling becomes suffering, hard to bear; our thoughts become greed, hatred, and delusion — which, once they arise, draw in demerit and press our human elements down further.
Body, Feeling, Mind, Dhamma That Overlay Us Are Not Our True Self — This Is Non-Self
For this reason, the body, feeling, mind, and Dhamma that overlay us are never truly our own thoughts — hence they are called non-self, not our true self. We must never hold any feeling or thought to be our true self.
For example: when an inner voice grows so loud it cannot be controlled, causing tremendous suffering, a person may go to see a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist will say not to accept these voices — but by then it may already be too late. Even knowing the voice isn't truly one's own, and trying constantly to reject it, the voice won't go away; it only grows louder, until the person can no longer sleep or do anything at all. This is non-self — not our true self — and we should not cling to it.
Freed From Clinging to Self, We See Through to the Root Instigator
Once we no longer cling to the notion of self — ours or others' — we see through to the root: the instigator who directs and controls all beings, overlaying its own thinking onto our thinking, then pushing and directing us to create unwholesome causes, breaking precepts in body, speech, and mind, drawing in demerit, and bringing us great trouble.
Conclusion: We Must Fix the Root Cause — the World of Dhamma Within the Mind
Given all this, can we fix things at the tail end of the cause? No. Fixing at the tail end is only the world of the elements. We must fix the root cause, which is the world of the Dhamma. All Dhamma arises at the mind — it can arise nowhere else. The mind is thus the inner world — the world of the Dhamma.