คำสอน · พระอาจารย์สุรพงค์Teaching · Pra Ajarn Suraphong
ทำงานที่ต้องใช้ความคิดตลอดเวลา จะดึงใจกลับมาที่ฐานที่ตั้งให้เป็นอัตโนมัติได้อย่างไร?When Work Demands Constant Thinking, How Can We Automatically Bring the Mind Back to Its Base?
พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าต้องฝึกและตอกย้ำเป้าหมายของชีวิต เพราะขาดเป้าหมายและฐานที่ตั้งของใจ มนุษย์ก็ปล่อยใจไปตามยถากรรม แม้ทำดีละชั่วทำจิตผ่องใสก็ไปได้สูงสุดแค่อรูปพรหม การจะไปไกลกว่านั้นต้องดำรงอยู่กับกุศลจนเป็นอัตโนมัติ และตั้งมาตรฐานว่าการไม่มีกรรมฐานเป็นเรื่องที่ยอมรับไม่ได้Pra Ajarn explains that one must train and keep reaffirming life's goal, because without a goal and a resting place for the mind, one drifts at the mercy of whoever possesses it. Even doing good, avoiding evil, and brightening the mind only reaches the formless-brahma realm at most; going further requires abiding with the wholesome until it's automatic, and setting the standard that having no meditation object is unacceptable.
Someone asked: if work demands constant thinking, so that at times the mind drifts off to outside matters, how can we automatically bring it back to its resting place?
One Must Train and Keep Reaffirming Life's Goal
One must train and keep reaffirming life's goal. Without a goal of abiding in system, and without knowing that the wholesome can only abide when the mind has a clear resting place — lacking these two pieces of , one drifts at the mercy of whoever can possess the mind.
Even Doing Good and Brightening the Mind Reaches Only the Formless-Brahma Realm
Before the Buddha arose, all beings didn't know the wholesome system, didn't know there are three natural forces and that one must abide with the wholesome. So even doing good, avoiding evil, and brightening the mind, they couldn't reach the path and fruit of nibbana, because they didn't know the wholesome nature that helps them. Doing good, avoiding evil, and brightening the mind reaches only the formless-brahma realm at most. Ancient people who loved quiet went to the forest as yogis; on the Chinese side they became immortals — all absorbed in brightening the mind, reaching only the formless-brahma realm. To go higher, one must recognize the wholesome nature and learn to abide with it, using the basic training of and to attain liberation of heart and liberation by wisdom.
It Must Be Developed Until Automatic
One must train until connecting with the inner knowing, empowered ones automatically. Otherwise one sits only an hour or two a day, not enough to build automaticity, because the rest of the time we're with the neutral and . As their proportion grows, life gets harder — the human world especially is the neutral's world, leading us into wasteful idling, with the unwholesome joining in, so we can't control our future. We must increase the wholesome proportion as much as possible by giving it time — like people of old training with sword and weapon until it was automatic. When we're automatic with the wholesome, we draw merit in day and night; even talking with others, the inner automatic wholesome process keeps drawing merit in.
Build a Continuous System With Recitation and Counting, or the Breath
To bring the mind back to its base, we set up our own system. If it isn't yet automatic, make it continuous: for instance, tell yourself you'll recite the name of the Triple Gem, '.' As you recite it, its form appears as a Buddha image welling up, and you stay with it while counting — Samma Arahang one, two, three, four — on and on; when you lose track, start counting again. Or use the breath: if reciting and counting keep the mind too coarse, use the breath instead, relying on its subtle gentleness — breathing in, know; breathing out, know — softly, on and on.
Set the Standard: Having No Meditation Object Is Unacceptable
We must have our own meditation object and resolve to cultivate it at all times. If we accept that having no meditation object is normal, yet still hope for results, that's impossible — we'll just be with the neutral and the unwholesome. But if we recognize that having no resting place for the mind, no meditation object, is abnormal and unacceptable, then with this standard set, we learn to always keep a resting place for the mind, and within just a few months life changes and automaticity arises. It all depends on the standard we set for our life.