พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าการเห็นบุญไม่เท่ากันเกิดจากธรรมชาติที่เข้าสิงใจคนละประเภท ทั้งความตระหนี่จากอกุศลและการไม่เห็นคุณเพราะขาดอินทรีย์ 5 พร้อมชี้ว่าเมื่อธรรมชาติเข้าสิงย่อมกลืนกินตัวตนเดิม แม้แต่พระเทวทัตผู้มีบุญมากก็ยังลืมความดีที่เคยประกอบPra Ajarn explains that people 'see' merit differently because different natures possess their minds — stinginess from the unwholesome side, or a failure to see its value from lacking the five faculties. He notes that when a nature takes over, it swallows one's former self — even Devadatta, for all his merit, forgot the goodness he had built.
Someone asked: why do some people join in making merit right away, while others aren't interested at all — is it , or a failure to see the value?
Seeing Merit Differently, Because Different Natures Possess the Mind
This difference arises because a different nature possesses each person's mind. It may be stinginess, or a failure to see the value, or both. Stinginess comes from side taking hold — it overlays a clinging tightness on the mind, making it hard to part with wealth for merit, because it locks the mind. When the mind is locked, the channel of giving cannot widen: a narrow mind, a narrow channel; a broad mind, a broad channel.
Faith Arises Only Once One Sees the Value
As for not seeing the value — someone who never comes to the temple doesn't know what benefit there is in coming. A big merit event is hot and tiring, taking all day. Without seeing the value, faith doesn't arise. Faith can only arise once one recognizes the value, and this must be cultivated — knowing what benefit comes from going. When is joined with wisdom, faith arises; with faith comes effort; and concentration — the steadiness of mind — arises, focused on letting the stream of merit flow through.
The Five Faculties: Mastery Within Oneself
These five components together are called (indriya) — five forms of mastery within oneself: mindfulness, wisdom, faith, concentration, and effort. Together they can build mastery within. People cannot attain such mastery because they lack these five; and when the five are absent, the unwholesome or neutral nature can possess the mind. But when a life is furnished with all five, mastery within — that is, side ruling — arises.
When a Nature Possesses the Mind, It Swallows the Former Self
When any nature takes hold, it swallows us up, making us into itself for that moment, and we forget our former self. If our former self was wholesome and loved to meditate, once the unwholesome side possesses and swallows us, we forget that self, and the wish to meditate is gone. If the neutral force possesses us, it leads us off to amusement and indulgence. If the unwholesome side possesses us, it steers us into stinginess; when greed or aversion possesses us, the same happens — we know it's unwholesome but cannot resist, because we've already been wholly swallowed.
Even Devadatta, With All His Merit, Was Swallowed Until He Forgot His Goodness
Consider Devadatta, who had accumulated merit enough to become a Paccekabuddha, yet when the moment came for the unwholesome side to possess him, he acted wrongly against the Buddha, until the Avīci hell drew him down. He was a being of great merit, not one lacking it. Or Māra Savatti in the highest heaven, with merit enough that in three more Buddha-eras he would become a Buddha — already prophesied — yet who still came to obstruct our Buddha in this era, because the unwholesome side used past karma to compel and swallow him until he forgot his wholesome former self.
Knowing Good and Bad, Yet Unable to Resist, Compelled by Impurity
So it isn't that people fail to see the value — some do see it, but the unwholesome side possesses and swallows them entirely, and with mood in charge, they forget everything. All beings are thus like puppets of the three natural forces: they know good and bad, yet cannot resist, because im compels them. The unwholesome side stores up the causes from our wrong acts of body and speech, then uses that karma to compel us. This is why we must rely on aspiration for help, in three ways: keeping company with s, living in a suitable environment, and making aspirations to correct our faults — asking that we not do what is wrong, and staying with surroundings and people conducive to the wholesome.