พระอาจารย์ขยายความโอวาทของหลวงปู่ว่าด้วยอานุภาพของพระรัตนตรัย พุทธานุภาพที่แผ่นดินแยกสูบพระเทวทัต ธรรมานุภาพที่เป็นดวงกลมใสหล่อเลี้ยงชีวิตให้เป็นสุข และสังฆานุภาพที่เชื่อมกายธรรมภายในมาถึงกายมนุษย์ให้ได้ศึกษาและปฏิบัติธรรมPra Ajarn expands on the grandmaster's teaching about the power of the Triple Gem: the Buddha's power, by which the earth split and swallowed Devadatta; the Dhamma's power, a bright sphere sustaining life in happiness; and the Sangha's power, which connects the inner Dhamma bodies through to the human body so one can study and practice.
Someone brought the grandmaster's teaching on the power of the Triple Gem to ask about, and Pra Ajarn expanded on all three powers.
The Power of the Buddha: The Earth Splits and Swallows Devadatta
The Buddha's power is boundless, without measure. The grandmaster gave the example of Devadatta, who over the long round of rebirths had his mind possessed by and bore a grudge against the Buddha. In his final life he harassed the Buddha to the point of causing a schism in the Sangha. When Devadatta fell ill and came to see the Buddha, the Buddha declared, 'He will not see me, the Tathāgata.' Just as he was about to see him, by the very power of the Buddha's declaration, the earth split and swallowed Devadatta down into the Avīci hell, without his ever seeing the Buddha. This is the Buddha's power.
Devadatta's Merit-Power and Demerit-Power
Devadatta was a being of merit, not one lacking it — his perfections were great enough that he would attain enlightenment as a Paccekabuddha in the future. But because his merit-power was great, his demerit-power was great too. The keeper of causes — the unwholesome grudge stored within — sought its chance to show itself when the sphere of demerit had strength. At the final moment of his life, side within him sought to beg the Buddha's forgiveness, but the demerit was so great he couldn't reach him. With his chin still resting on the ground, he proclaimed his plea for forgiveness before being swallowed into the Avīci hell, to repay his karma over a vast span — until, having repaid it in full, he would return to attain enlightenment as a Paccekabuddha.
The Power of the Dhamma: A Bright Sphere Sustaining Life in Happiness
As for the 's power, the grandmaster said that our being men and women living in today is itself the Dhamma's power. It has the form of a bright, clear sphere, arising when wholesome consciousness and wholesome s arise. Once arisen in the mind, it draws the pure energy of merit to flow in continuously. Within each sphere of merit is the pure Dhamma-element that clears im, happiness of body and mind, and refined treasures — of form, wealth, , and retinue. When merit flows through us, purity, happiness, and treasure flow in too, letting life abide in happiness according to its .
The Power of Non-Dhamma: The Fruit of the Unwholesome Leading to Woeful States
What is suffering — existence in woeful states as a hell-being, asura, or animal — is all the fruit of the power of non-Dhamma. When the unwholesome side seizes rulership, it overlays onto our mind the body, feeling, mind, and mental objects of a low, unwholesome consciousness, and its thoughts arise in us. The mental factors shift to greed, aversion, delusion, and lust, lacking moral shame and dread, together with . Within the sphere of demerit, all shifts to suffering and impurity, along with the ruin that destroys treasures. On leaving this world, one must experience the fruit in the state of a hell-being, hungry ghost, asura, or animal.
The Inner Bodies Determine the Realm of Rebirth
Conversely, whichever wholesome body once guided the human body to create good causes draws merit in; and when life ends, the body storing that merit leads one to be reborn in that body's realm. If our brahma body compels us to cultivate meditation and reach the first, second, third, and fourth , then on leaving this world we go to experience existence in that brahma realm. We can thus know in advance which realm we'll be reborn in, because the body that is our self at that level comes to take rulership, holding the human body to create causes and drawing that type of merit in to store. We can look back from childhood to adulthood and predict from the work of our inner bodies.
The Power of the Sangha: Connecting the Inner Dhamma Bodies to the Human Body
The Sangha's power is the power by which Buddhism has flourished and endured, so that we now hear it and are ordained as monks and novices. The grandmaster said no one could preserve the teaching but the Sangha's power, which is called mind — and it endures through the alms of the lay supporters who sustain it. The Sangha's power arises from the mind of the wholesome Dhamma body overlaying downward, compelling the subtler bodies — celestial, form-brahma — to overlay into , then guiding one to want to study the Dhamma: as a child wanting to study it, wanting to read any Dhamma book found, and growing up wanting to ordain.
Why Some Are Drawn to the Dhamma and Others Aren't
This connection passes down in stages, from the inner Dhamma body through to the coarse human body. But if the unwholesome side rules, it seeks to cut the connection — with demerit or with the neutral force — so it can't reach the human body. This is why some come to study the Dhamma and others don't, some are interested and others aren't. We are people of merit enough that our Sangha-power can connect each body across all eighteen bodies through to the coarse human body, guiding us to study and practice. Whoever connects more can study, understand, and practice more, depending on the refining along the whole chain of bodies.
The Merit of Those Who Care for the Sangha
For lay supporters who benefit the Sangha, there is merit in return: when the chance comes, they will practice with ease and reach the Dhamma that the venerable ones attained; and if their state of life allows ordination, they will have merit enough to ordain. This is the merit of those who care for the person of the Sangha.