แม้ผู้ฟังไม่มีพื้นฐานพุทธศาสนาหรือไม่เคยนั่งสมาธิ ก็ยังสอนได้ เพราะทุกคนอยู่กับใจตัวเองมาตลอดชีวิต เพียงแค่เราให้ข้อมูลที่ถูกต้อง กุศลในตัวเขาเองจะเป็นผู้ชี้ชวนให้สังเกตต่อไปEven a listener with no background in Buddhism who has never meditated can still understand, because everyone has lived with their own heart their whole life. Once we supply the right information, the wholesomeness within that person will take over and guide them to keep observing.
A student asked about the role of a (kalyāṇamitta) — helping someone in mental distress learn how to resolve their suffering by understanding the mechanism of the mind and the three natures. In the case of a listener who has no background in Buddhism, has never meditated, and isn't at all accustomed to observing their own mind, how should one begin developing them so they gradually come to understand and can actually put it into practice, without it feeling like something remote and unreachable?
The teacher answered that he has taught this very topic of the three natures to foreigners with no background in Buddhism who had never meditated before, and they were still able to understand — because even though they weren't accustomed to observing their own minds, they had lived with their own hearts their entire lives regardless. Once we point the way, they're able to observe in the present moment and draw on information from their own past. The wholesomeness within them then takes over the guiding; we simply need to supply them with information first, and their own wholesomeness will use that information to point things out to them.
The reason they aren't accustomed to observing their mind is simply that no one has ever invited them to do so before — but ness within them is already ready and willing. Once we supply information, their own wholesomeness invites them to observe: "see, it's like this, it's like this" — on their own. So we and the wholesomeness within them must work together, continuously supplying information. We speak, and their wholesomeness takes it further; we point things out, and their wholesomeness points things out too — each side helping to point the way, and gradually they come to understand.
As for whether it actually translates into practice, that depends on whether we reinforce it repeatedly, which produces a correction of view (diṭṭhujukamma) — adjusting one's perspective to align with the truth. The one exception is when someone is so overwhelmed by unwholesomeness that they simply cannot take it in — for instance, someone in a state of severe depression; in that case, it must be set aside for the time being. But generally speaking, it isn't difficult, because so long as we speak the truth, wholesomeness works together with us to help that person's human body come to know and understand — because both we and the wholesomeness within them are helping them together. We supply information, and their own wholesomeness carries it forward. Knowledge and wisdom are therefore of the utmost importance.
Our role as a spiritual friend is simply to supply and understanding to the wholesomeness within the other person — this is exactly the important part. The human body has limited wisdom and must proceed gradually, but the wholesomeness within them will carry out its own role. We simply help by supplying good, fresh information for them to access. The reason the wholesomeness within someone hasn't yet been able to work is precisely because there's no good, fresh information available to point them toward observation. That's why we must keep bringing fresh information to speak to the wholesomeness within them.