Preparing Body and Mind

Let your eyelids close gently. Make the body comfortable and the mind light and at ease. Practicing meditation means abiding within the wholesome system. Bring the mind to rest together with the body, relaxed and comfortable.

The Three Forces That Govern Life

All beings live under the control of three natural forces: the wholesome (kusala), the unwholesome (akusala), and the neutral (abyakata) — governed through the law of karma and the law of the three characteristics (impermanence, suffering, non-self). The law of karma brings the fruit of the past into the present; the law of the three characteristics then takes over, driving beings to create further karma that carries forward into the future, near and far. Humans and all beings are bound to circle endlessly, unable to free themselves. Only the wholesome system can help us step beyond this limitation, because only the wholesome nature truly benefits us.

The Starting Point Is the Mind

The starting point of practice is the mind itself. Notice where the mind is right now, how it feels, and how to settle it correctly. The Buddha taught in the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta that a practitioner should clearly know the body, feelings, mind, and mental objects, in order to remove covetousness and grief toward the world. The mind needs a clear place to rest, because wherever the mind is set, it will settle and take root there, and whatever we focus on will appear in the mind — since all dhamma can only arise in the mind, nowhere else.

If drowsiness or a hazy, sleepy feeling arises with the eyes closed — caused by the mental impurity called sloth and torpor (thīna-middha) — the remedy is to open the eyelids very slightly, just enough for the lashes to touch lightly and let a little light in.

Settling the Mind at the Seventh Base

Stay with whatever meditation object you're familiar with, keeping the mind comfortable, relaxed, open, light, clear, cool, and clean — as though simply sitting and resting happily, at ease in both body and mind. If your familiar anchor is the breath (ānāpānasati), let the mind rest there. If you don't yet have a familiar object, settle the mind at the center of the body, the seventh base. The mind is a wish-fulfilling element — wherever it is set, it will be bound there. When the mind rests at the seventh base, the wholesome process begins moving to purify that point, because this position is the very gate and path that leads directly toward nibbana.

The Three Elements of Practice

Pra Ajarn's own teacher once said that practice requires three essential elements: knowledge, together with happiness and purity. Knowledge is the state of awareness — the mindfulness that touches and knows whatever arises before it. Happiness appears as ease of body and mind; if it hasn't appeared yet, that's fine — know that it's present when it's present, and know that it isn't when it isn't, and simply continue settling the mind at ease. Purity is the brightness of the mind; even if it can't yet be sensed, that's fine too, because both qualities are already complete within the sphere of merit — only impurity is obscuring them. When mindfulness arises, it draws the fine energy of merit from deep within nibbana to flow in continuously. This pure merit-element drives the wholesome system to clear away the impurities that cause trouble, lightening and eventually dissolving them. As impurity clears, we're freed from coarser dimensions into ever subtler ones, until the proportion of wholesomeness becomes fully complete — the state of an arahant. Pra Ajarn's grandmaster repeated three times: 'Create the cause, observe the result, and stay attentive — you are doing something excellent.'

Seeing the Crystal Dhamma Body at the Center

Bring to mind the Triple Gem by reciting the name 'Samma Arahang' with deep, subtle awareness. As you recite it, the form of the Triple Gem will appear in the mind — a crystal Dhamma body, clear, clean, pure, and radiant, crowned with a lotus-bud finial, seated upon a disc of concentration within a sphere of Dhamma that fills the lap. As this form appears, it draws in our own elements — of seeing, memory, thought, and knowing, along with the elements of earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness — and refines them to clarity and purity, freeing us from the results of past unwholesome karma and misfortune, and guiding us to gather happiness and success with ease.

Merging into the Feeling of Being the Buddha Image

The Buddha image wishes for us to become one with it, so that it can support us to the fullest. Let yourself take on the feeling: I am the Buddha image, the Buddha image is me. Every part of the body — the head, face, eyes, forehead, cheeks, nose, mouth, chin, neck, both arms, chest, abdomen, back, hips, thighs, knees, shins, calves, down to the soles of the feet — is the crystal Dhamma body, radiant, clear, cool, clean, and pure.

Stillness Within Stillness, Aimed Toward Nibbana

Having merged your body with the Buddha image's 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 own elements to clarity and purity. Do this by resting the mind still within stillness — soft, light, at ease, clear, cool, clean, pure, and radiant — sending the mind directly toward the path of nibbana, 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. We appear radiant at the center of nibbana itself — the Buddha, the Solitary Buddhas, and all the Arahants — those freed from the round of rebirth who nonetheless remain within the realm of nibbana, watching over and helping all beings. Any being who abides in universal goodness, regardless of religion, will likewise appear radiant at the center of the Triple Gem.

Radiating Loving-Kindness to All Beings

Just as the Triple Gem acts for our benefit, we too should act for the benefit of others by cultivating loving-kindness (mettā) — a tool of the wholesome side, by which those with abundant merit support those with less. Set the mind on sincere, pure goodwill and love. A bright, round sphere of loving-kindness will arise in the mind, with the special quality of dissolving away irritation and resentment. Its light refines our body, speech, and mind to purity. Let this heart, filled with loving-kindness, expand outward — through the home, the community, the country, the whole world, and the entire universe. May all beings — devas, humans, brahmas, the formless brahmas, and beings in states of suffering — be free from suffering and share in happiness. May those with much suffering have less; may those with little happiness have more; may those already happy grow happier still.

Dedicating Merit to Family and All Beings

As the stream of merit continues flowing through the brightness of loving-kindness, dedicate this merit to all beings — including our parents, siblings, grandparents, and revered teachers, the devas who help and protect us, and all those with whom we share karmic debts — that they may all receive a share of this merit, and that we may forgive one another mutually.

Merging with the Triple Gem and the Great Revered Teachers

Then rest the mind, still, at the center of the Buddha Gem, the Dhamma Gem, and the Sangha Gem, and at the center of the subtle Dhamma bodies of the grandmaster, his teacher, and the great female teacher who are our revered lineage teachers. As you merge with them as one, they will appear radiant at the center of your body, and every body — the subtle bodies, the mental body, the brahma and formless-brahma bodies — will shine clear along the entire chain.

Closing Aspiration

In this auspicious moment, set an aspiration: may the merit and power of nibbana, together with the merit of our teachers, combine with whatever merit we have accumulated from past lives to this present one, becoming a powerful, sacred merit that purifies our body, speech, and mind to brightness, clarity, and purity — freeing us from the results of past unwholesome karma and every obstacle. May we gain the Dhamma Eye, attain the Dhammakaya knowledge, enjoy good health, and hold firm resolve to build our perfections all the way to nibbana. May all these good aspirations come to fruition for every one of us.

The session closes with a traditional Pali verse invoking the protective power of all Buddhas, Solitary Buddhas, and Arahants: 'Sabbe Buddhā parappattā, paccekānañca yaṃ balaṃ, arahantānañca tejena, rakkhaṃ bandhāmi sabbaso. Sabba-Buddhānubhāvena, sabba-Dhammānubhāvena, sabba-Saṅghānubhāvena, saddhā-sotthī bhavantu te.'