For all of you who have come with genuine intent to practice, real change will occur in two dimensions: cetovimutti (freedom of heart) and paññāvimutti (freedom through wisdom). We can test this by our own sincerity — if our intent is not genuine, the chance of experiencing that change diminishes.

Three kinds of tools in the world: unwholesome, wholesome, and neutral

All the tools in the world fall into three kinds: first, tools that favor unwholesome states, letting sin be induced into our heart; second, tools that favor wholesome states, inducing the energy of merit to flow into the center of our heart, refining our inner elements to be clean and pure, bringing about liberation. If unwholesomeness takes hold, it induces sin, degrading our inner elements; the neutral kind induces energy that is neither merit nor sin — it doesn't allow good things to happen, but doesn't cause harm either. These three kinds of energy each carry out the purpose of their own natural system. If we lack sufficient willpower to change ourselves, the inner voice of unwholesomeness will guide us into all sorts of excuses and conditions for listening to it and using its tools to disturb the system of wholesome states. Coming to practice meditation is simply bringing our body and heart so the Triple Gem can overlay and refine our inner elements to be clean.

The inner Triple Gem, and the wonder of Nibbāna

When we dwell within the system of wholesome states, the inner Triple Gem shines brilliantly at the center of our heart; we appear shining within it, and at the same time both we and it appear shining within Nibbāna — the power of countless enlightened knowers whose number is beyond reckoning: not one, not a hundred, not a thousand, not ten thousand, not a hundred thousand, not a million, but truly countless — more than the grains of sand in the four great oceans. This wonder truly exists, and we must prove it for ourselves through genuine intent, so that it can refine and purify the inner elements within us. This purity has two parts.

Cetovimutti: strong willpower overcomes defilement, simply by staying aware without lapsing

Cetovimutti relies on a mind with strong willpower, able to overcome the defilements of mental afflictions, inner voices, and the emotions of the lower mind. This first kind requires strong willpower to overcome the defilement of the hindrances, both suffering and the hindrances themselves. Simply by dwelling in continuous, unbroken awareness, the stream of merit is induced at that very moment, letting the system of wholesome states refine our inner elements to be clean and pure. Our role is nothing more than staying continuously aware without lapsing — everything else belongs to the automatic inner workings of the wholesome system.

Paññāvimutti: freedom from ignorance and wrong understanding

The second kind of liberation is freedom from ignorance and all forms of not truly knowing. Ignorance gives rise to not-knowing, while wrong understanding arises from unwholesomeness distorting the truth — distorting our thoughts and emotions. The negative thoughts that arise within us mislead our life, along with improper emotions such as boredom, worry, gloom, stress, irritation, weariness, discouragement, hopelessness, despondency, restlessness, and resentment, along with agitation and confusion. Once these emotions are established, they induce the energy of defilement — sin — giving rise to a stream of demerit flowing into us.

Samatha clears defilement, vipassanā uproots wrong view

Our life turns on two key mechanisms. The first is defilement arising from ignorance's wrong understanding — not truly knowing anything, misleading us to think, speak, and act incorrectly, while we lack the knowledge to argue back. The inner voice that directs us, feeling like our own thinking, causes mistakes from childhood into adulthood, giving rise to negative thoughts that, even when we try to reject them, do not go away, pressuring us again into incorrect thought, speech, and action, producing the karmic fruit of suffering. These defilements, once they arise from wrong thought, speech, and action, press and constrict us, and require samatha — setting the intent to know, drawing merit in to clear away the defilement causing confusion and distress, lightening the burden that is hard to bear. We rely on the system of wholesome states to cleanse these defilements, by keeping awareness fixed on the tool of meditation practice to induce merit to cleanse the defilement. But samatha only clears the defilement — it cannot clear the root cause, the wrong view of abhijjhā (covetousness). For that, we need another tool: vipassanā.

Two levels of vipassanā: the microscope analogy

Vipassanā has two levels. The preliminary level requires a knowledgeable guide to explain the root cause and the mechanism by which unwholesome states operate, and the results of that operation, which bring suffering and harm. We use wisdom to reflect and contemplate until we know and understand clearly, and a vision arises. If our vision is strong enough, the inspiration to change our life and reach a nobler, more wondrous life will arise, leading toward vipassanā-ñāṇa (insight knowledge), relying on the Dhamma-eye, radiant light, insight, and true knowledge (vijjā) — all of which give rise to wisdom. This is like coming to know and see bacteria invisible to the naked eye: we need a microscope, but even with a microscope, without light it's impossible — we need both light and the microscope together. Even seeing tiny bacteria wriggling about, we still wouldn't know what they are without vijjā, true knowledge, to explain what we see. But to connect with vijjā requires pure insight-vision. All these elements together allow us to study vipassanā, developing from preliminary vipassanā toward vipassanā-ñāṇa, and clarity arises within us.

Applied thought and examination: the principle behind samatha and vipassanā

Acting the cause requires applied thought (vitakka) — setting the intent to know and consider — and examination (vicāra) — reflecting deeply. When we reflect, we see the results that appear. So whether it is samatha or vipassanā, both require applied thought and examination — raising the mind into the meditation object and reflecting upon it, and the sphere of knowing, the sphere of mindfulness, becomes established. Once established, it induces pure energy — merit — to flow through continuously, driving the wholesome system to refine and correct our inner elements, purifying them from defilement and impurity, including the defilement of ignorance and the obscuring elements that create problems and hardship in our lives. As defilement lightens, problems and obstacles lighten with it.

Liberation moment by moment: the analogy of a gradually growing child

When the defilement bound to a given dimension is exhausted, we are freed from that dimension into a subtler one, because the defilement that once anchored our heart to the coarser dimension has been completely cleared away — even though we may still feel we are in the dark. This purity and liberation can arise in every single moment, whether we are aware of it or not; the system of wholesome states carries out the correction and brings about liberation continuously. It is like a child who eats and gradually grows in every moment, every hour, every minute, every day, continuously — we must let some time pass before we notice the difference. Our heart is the same: it is being purified and changed continuously, every moment, as long as we dwell within the system of wholesome states. This is why the Tripiṭaka teaches us to diligently cultivate wholesome states to completeness, to be one replete with wholesome qualities, because the wholesome system induces merit to cleanse defilement and bring about purity within us. The teacher firmly believes that these two or three days of practice, if approached with genuine intent, are enough to be the starting point of this wondrous life-change — such opportunities in life do not come often.

Three essential elements: knowledge, happiness, and purity

The essential elements are knowledge, happiness, and purity. These three form the foundation leading toward the qualities of supreme wisdom, supreme purity, and supreme compassion. Worldly education has only two elements: knowledge leading to happiness. We send our children to school, and teachers teach knowledge that leads to happiness. If you ask a child what purity the teacher taught today, the child will have no idea, because they received only two elements. But knowledge within Buddhism requires all three elements for life to be complete — knowledge leading to both happiness and purity. Happiness itself comes in two kinds: the happiness that leaves the heart scattered and thrilled with excitement is the happiness of unwholesomeness and neutrality, which brings no real benefit and, worse, brings suffering if handed to us by unwholesomeness. Only the happiness of wholesomeness leads toward peaceful happiness, solitude, dispassion, liberation, purity, and the path to Nibbāna.

Abhijjhā and domanassa: why we must clearly know body, feeling, mind, and dhamma

In every moment, what we must observe is the purity arising in that moment — has it arisen or not — or the defilement of gladness and sorrow, delight and aversion. We already sense that sorrow brings displeasure, but why should gladness be a problem too? Because unwholesomeness takes hold of gladness as an opportunity to give rise to greed, called abhijjhā (not avijjā) — gladness that leads to greed for that emotion. This is precisely where defilement is induced into us without our even realizing it. The Buddha therefore taught: "Monks, you should clearly know body, feeling, mind, and dhamma in order to eliminate abhijjhā and domanassa (grief) toward the world." As long as abhijjhā and domanassa remain, unwholesomeness will use both of them to destroy us.

Contentment and equanimity: the highest of the pāramīs

But should we abandon gladness and sorrow entirely? How, then, would we live our lives, since life needs some gladness and sorrow to have color and texture? The Buddha instead teaches us to dwell in contentment (santosa) and equanimity (upekkhā-dhamma). Contentment means being glad and satisfied with what one already has and is, giving life some color, without letting unwholesomeness use it as an opening to induce greed. Equanimity is necessary too, because it keeps the heart poised at a balanced point, unmoved by pleasant or unpleasant stimuli that bring gladness or sorrow. These two qualities are the essential substance of life along the path of Dhamma, so we must be mindful of both contentment and equanimity. Equanimity is the highest of all the pāramīs, whether ten, twenty, or thirty perfections — the highest is equanimity. Even in the development of the four jhāna factors — applied thought, examination, rapture, happiness, and one-pointedness — equanimity is the highest. Even among the seven factors of enlightenment (bojjhaṅga) — mindfulness, investigation of states, energy, rapture, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity — equanimity is the highest of them all. To travel toward this supreme equanimity, this essential core, the entire path requires contentment — being glad and satisfied with what one has and is, however much or little that may be, for now.

Act the cause, observe the result: the teaching of Luang Pu Wat Paknam

To see satisfying change, we must observe the results that appear. The revered Luang Pu of Wat Paknam Phasicharoen repeated again and again: "Act the cause, observe the result — pay attention, and it is excellent indeed." He repeated it three times over in a single teaching, because if we don't observe the result, we won't perceive the change, and we won't see the value of acting on the cause at all — just like a child who eats and grows bit by bit. If we learn the correct principle and act on the correct method, and observe the result, faith will arise. The sphere of faith is a mental factor (cetasika) that depends on the results of change we observe — we come to trust when we trust the principle and the method we've practiced. As faith grows, the sphere of faith becomes ever more clear and bright, inducing the pure energy of merit to flow into the center of that sphere, leading us toward clarity of vision, of knowledge and understanding, of wisdom, which continually gives rise to vision and inspiration.

The inner world is like being blind: only intent is needed for it to appear

Over these two or three days, the teacher hopes everyone will pay close attention, and ask whenever something is unclear — ask about cause and effect, about how the mechanism works, because the inner world is still new and dark to us. We must therefore learn how it works and what tools we already possess, and learn to use those tools to bring benefit to our life, and change will follow. Right now we are like a blind person for whom the inner world is pitch dark. If we teach a blind person, "here is the refrigerator, open it and there's something cold inside, cold water; here is the fan; here is the air conditioner; here is the bathroom," even without seeing them, that person can still use these tools, as long as we tell and teach them. Just as the outer world has countless tools, the inner world has even more. We must therefore come to learn and understand the inner world, whose tools appear the moment we simply set our intent on them — unlike the outer world, where we must go out and search for and acquire things. The inner world is truly wondrous: simply by setting the intent, that thing appears. And it can only appear in one place — the heart — nowhere else. We simply set the intent at the heart, and the thing appears there. Once it appears, that Dhamma quality reveals its own nature, and induces its own results and benefits. But not all Dhamma is wholesome — there is also unwholesome Dhamma. Wholesomeness gives benefit, but unwholesomeness gives suffering and harm. We must therefore be careful in what we set our intent on — if we set our intent on unwholesomeness, unwholesomeness will be established, and much suffering and harm will come to us. So let us pay close attention to learning and understanding the tools that exist within the inner world of our own heart.