การถูกฝ่ายบาปครอบงำขึ้นอยู่กับสัดส่วนกุศล-อกุศลในตัวและพลังงานบุญบาปที่สั่งสมมา ซึ่งถูกควบคุมด้วยกฎแห่งกรรมและกฎไตรลักษณ์ ทางแก้คือหมั่นกำหนดรู้กายเวทนาจิตธรรม ดำรงอยู่ในระบบกุศล และฝึกฝนศีล สมาธิ ปัญญา เพื่อเหนี่ยวนำบุญมาชำระมลทินจนหลุดพ้นBeing overwhelmed by the unwholesome depends on our own ratio of wholesome to unwholesome and the accumulated energy of merit and demerit, governed by the law of kamma and the law of the three characteristics. The remedy is to keep noting body, feeling, mind, and mental objects, live within the wholesome system, and train in precepts, concentration, and wisdom to draw merit in until it clears away impurity and leads to liberation.
Someone asked why we're so easily overwhelmed by side — whether it's mostly past unwholesome kamma coming to fruition, or something else — and what can be done to protect ourselves.
It Comes Down to Ratio and Energy
The answer lies in the ratio between and unwholesome within us, and whatever energy happens to be due at that moment. Take Devadatta — even with a wholesome share large enough to guarantee he'd become a Paccekabuddha in his next life, over 2,000 years ago he still acted wrongly toward the Buddha and ended up in the Avici hell realm for an immense stretch of time. That happened because the unwholesome energy piled up like a mountain, waiting for its moment, landed exactly on his life's timeline at that point — and the downfall followed.
The results of past unwholesome kamma are simply unavoidable — even the Buddha himself experienced illness and had a lifespan set by . Everything is governed by the law of kamma carrying forward from past to present, and then takes over from present to future — whoever holds the greater ratio at that moment gets to seize the advantage. Together, these two laws compel every being to keep generating new unwholesome causes that will shape the future. Only these two systems govern us: the law of kamma and the law of impermanence.
Keep Noting Body, Feeling, Mind, and Mental Objects
That's why, during sitting meditation, the teacher keeps returning to the law of kamma and the law of the three characteristics. We need to keep noting — as the Buddha said, "Monks, you should clearly note body, feeling, mind, and mental objects." If we don't note for ourselves, the forces of nature will do it for us, and that brings trouble. But if we note deliberately, we get to choose good things to note.
Noting Suffering versus Noting Ease
There are two ways to note. One is noting suffering, the other is noting ease. Those following the path through note suffering directly, so as to grow weary of and let go of the world, tracing suffering back to its root, unraveling it knot by knot until they're free. The approach Luang Phor teaches instead is to note a feeling of ease, because ease is the foundation of life. Simply bring body and mind to sit quietly, and keep noting ease, ease, ease — merit flows in together with that ease, gradually clearing away the accumulated impurities, until the feeling becomes lighter and more at ease over time.
Living Within the Wholesome System
Practicing the means learning and training ourselves to live within the wholesome system, which the Triple Gem oversees and which has Nibbana behind it. The wholesome system really only has two activities: doing good and avoiding evil. Merit flows in through giving, keeping precepts, meditating, and studying the Dhamma until right view is established, and through living within .
To put the tools inside us — the spheres of precepts, concentration, wisdom, release, and the of release — to real use, we need to train in the : precepts, concentration, and wisdom, so as to draw merit in and brighten each sphere in turn, until release and the knowledge of release can finally do their work and lead us all the way to liberation.