Why We Practice: The Three Natural Forces That Govern Life

Practice is deeply necessary and important for every life, because we live under the control of three natural forces — the wholesome, the unwholesome, and the neutral. These three use the law of karma and the law of the three characteristics as tools to govern every life. The law of karma is the legacy of the past, controlling the results that appear in each present moment; the law of the three characteristics then takes over each present moment, driving beings to create fresh karma that carries forward into the future. Humans and all beings are thus bound to circle endlessly. The one way to step beyond this limitation is to rely on the wholesome system, because only the wholesome nature can offer us knowledge, understanding, happiness, and rightful success.

The Starting Point Is the Mind

The starting point of practice is this very mind of ours. Notice where the mind is now, how it feels, and how to settle it correctly. The Buddha taught in the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta to clearly know the body, feelings, mind, and mental objects, so as to remove covetousness and grief toward the world. To abide in the wholesome system, the mind needs a clear resting place, because wherever it is set, it settles and takes root there, and whatever we focus on appears in the mind — since all dhammas can arise only in the mind, nowhere else.

Easing Drowsiness by Opening the Eyelids Slightly

First, relax the body and sit in the most comfortable posture. With the eyes closed, if dullness, haziness, or drifting sleepiness arises — caused by the unwholesome impurity called sloth-and-torpor (thīna-middha) intruding into the dark inner space and making us nod off easily — the remedy is to open the eyelids slightly, closing them only enough for the lids or lashes to touch lightly, letting a little light in, to keep a balance between the inner and outer worlds.

Putting Everything Down, Sitting as if at Rest

Through life we've each carried a great deal. The time has come to put it down — for the more we carry, the heavier and more painful it becomes. Try setting everything down, then relax the body and calm the mind: open, empty, light, at ease, clear, cool, clean, pure, soft and gentle — as though simply sitting and resting happily, at ease in both body and mind. Don't yet think of it as sitting in meditation; think of it as resting comfortably. But resting the right way requires the mind to have a clear resting place.

Settling the Mind at the Seventh Base So the Sphere of Mindfulness Arises

If you have a familiar meditation object, let the mind rest there. If not, draw the mind to rest with the body, settling it lightly at the center of the body — the seventh base, in the middle of the abdomen — noting a sense of stillness there. The mind is set there, and the sphere of mindfulness arises at the center. Keep a gentle, easeful awareness. If it doesn't feel comfortable yet, that's fine, because ease appears only once merit sustains it sufficiently. If the neutral force rules, you'll feel flat; if the unwholesome rules, you'll sense suffering. Even without ease, keep noting it again and again. The mind is a wish-fulfilling element — however it is set, so it becomes.

The Three Components: Knowledge, Happiness, and Purity

Luang Phor once cautioned that practice must have three components: knowledge together with happiness and purity. Knowledge is the state of awareness that touches and knows whatever presents itself. Happiness we can sense as ease of body and mind. Purity is the brightness of the mind. When mindfulness — a bright, clear sphere — arises at the center, it draws the pure energy of merit to flow in continuously.

The Stream of Merit and the Line of Treasure

Within each sphere of merit is the pure Dhamma-element that clears away the impurities that cause obstacles, along with happiness that lets us live at ease in body and mind — while standing, walking, sitting, lying down, and going about our work. Within the sphere of merit are also refined treasures — of form, wealth, virtue, and retinue. When merit flows through us, these refined treasures flow in too, and draw the coarse treasures of the world to our life. Merit flowing through the mind is like dipping a straw into water and blowing: bubbles rise through one after another, forming a stream of merit and a line of treasure that gather in the sphere of Dhamma, watched over by the seven-jeweled wheel-turning treasure. Our only role is to keep knowing, staying aware without lapse — for if mindfulness lapses, ignorance arises in its place and merit stops flowing.

Reciting the Name of the Triple Gem, Seeing the Crystal Dhamma Body

Once at ease, bring the eased mind to the highest thing, the Triple Gem, by reciting its name — 'Samma Arahang' — a name given for the virtue of the one who is well-practiced, whose practice leads far from all defilement. Recite it with deep, subtle awareness, and the form of the Triple Gem appears at the center of the mind: a crystal Dhamma body, clear and radiant, crowned with a lotus-bud finial, seated on a disc of absorption within a sphere of Dhamma filling the lap. The Dhamma body is alive. As it appears, it brings boundless great compassion, drawing our elements of seeing, memory, thought, and knowing, and of earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness, to refine them to clarity and purity, clearing away past karma and misfortune.

Taking On the Feeling of Being the Buddha Image, Merging as One

Its wish is for us to become one with it, so it can support us to the fullest. Take on the feeling: I am the Buddha image, the Buddha image is me. Every part of the body is the crystal Dhamma body, clear and radiant — noting it part by part, from the head, face, eyes, forehead, nose, cheeks, mouth, chin, neck, both arms, chest, abdomen, back, hips, thighs, knees, shins, down to the soles of the feet — all the crystal Dhamma body, soft and gentle, clear, cool, clean, and pure. Having merged your body with its body as one, merge your mind with its mind as well. The Dhamma body abides in deep absorption at the center of the body, refining our elements to clarity and purity.

Stillness Within Stillness, Aimed Toward Nibbana

Rest the mind still within stillness — soft, light, at ease, clear, cool, clean, pure — sending the mind directly toward the path of nibbana along the middle way, at the center of the Buddha image, the center of the body, the center of the mind. The mind is a wish-fulfilling element — however it is set, so it becomes. Nibbana is the Buddhas, the Solitary Buddhas, and all the Arahants — those freed from the round of rebirth who nonetheless keep all beings within them, watching over and protecting them. Any being who abides in universal goodness — of any religion or none — will likewise appear radiant at the center of the Triple Gem and of nibbana.

Radiating Loving-Kindness to All Beings

As the Triple Gem acts for our benefit, we too should benefit others by cultivating loving-kindness — a tool of the wholesome side by which those with abundant merit support those with less. Life in the round of rebirth is interdependent; a good society is built on love. The love of the wholesome side benefits both giver and receiver, like a mother's love for her child. Set the mind on sincere, pure goodwill, and a bright, round sphere of loving-kindness arises in the mind, with the special quality of dissolving irritation and resentment. Then expand this heart filled with loving-kindness — over the home, the community, the district, the province, the country, the whole world, and the entire universe. May all beings — devas, humans, brahmas, formless brahmas, and beings in states of woe — be free from suffering and share in happiness; may those with much suffering have less, and those with little happiness have more.

Dedicating Merit and the Closing Aspiration

Then dedicate this merit to all beings — including our parents, siblings, grandparents, revered teachers, the devas who help us, and all karmic counterparties — that they may all receive a share and forgive one another. Then merge with the Triple Gem and the great revered teachers, resting still at the center of the subtle Dhamma bodies of the grandmaster, his teacher, and the great female teacher. In this auspicious moment, make an aspiration and set the blueprint of success: that the merit and power of nibbana, together with the teachers' merit, combine with the merit we've accumulated, to purify body, speech, and mind to radiance and purity; to free us from the fruits of past unwholesome karma and every obstacle; to grant the Dhamma Eye, the Dhammakaya knowledge, good health, and firm resolve to build the perfections toward nibbana. The session closes with a traditional verse invoking the protective power of all Buddhas, Solitary Buddhas, and Arahants.