การลดทิฐิมานะต้องเข้าใจกฎแห่งกรรมและกฎไตรลักษณ์ อาศัยความสันโดษยินดีพอใจในสิ่งที่ตนมีตนเป็น พร้อมทั้งอยู่ใกล้กัลยาณมิตรและศึกษาธรรมะตามหลักมงคลชีวิตReducing mana-ditthi means understanding the law of kamma and the law of the three characteristics, resting in contentment with what we have, and keeping good friends while studying the Dhamma along the lines of the blessings for life.
Someone asked the teacher how to reduce excessive pride and clinging to views (mana-ditthi), since working together becomes difficult when people hold onto their own opinions and sense of status.
Mana-Ditthi as a Tool of the Unwholesome
Teams struggle to work together because of mana-ditthi — pride and attachment to one's own views — which makes thoughts, words, and actions clash. We need to reduce mana-ditthi to a level where we can still work together; this was Luang Phor's own teaching.
Recall the s (jetasika). The unwholesome mental factor of aversion uses mana-ditthi as a tool of wrongdoing, and factor of greed uses the same view and pride whenever benefit or advantage is at stake. Once we see an advantage in front of us, we want more and more, so pride and views get pulled in as tools — thinking, "I have more authority than you, more rank, more ability, more people under me." That kind of comparison is exactly what makes working together hard, because it's a wrong view, not right view — different opinions that no longer support each other, held together with the pride of "I'm better than they are." That's where the problem starts.
The benefit we actually receive is limited — it's the result of good causes we made in the past. But once we see an advantage right in front of us, we want more than that, even though can only give what it gives. The unwholesome mind steps in and says, "I can get you more, I can arrange it" — so it starts causing trouble for others, and the other side loses out. That breeds envy, , and quarrels, with the unwholesome mind behind it all along.
How to Reduce It
The way to reduce mana-ditthi is to hold right view — understanding that every moment is the result of the law of kamma and (impermanence, suffering, non-self), which govern every life. The law of kamma gives its results from the merit and demerit within us; whichever is larger wraps around and draws in the conditions to bring about its result. Once we've made causes at a certain level, we get results at that level. If we're not sfied and want more than our results allow, wrong view arises — thinking our rank or ability entitles us to more — and the comparisons start again.
The remedy, once we understand the law of kamma, is to rest in () — being satisfied with what we have and who we are. If our results only stretch this far, we're content with that for now, and greed has nothing to work with. Living in that contentment also blocks the law of the three characteristics, which the unwholesome mind is always trying to seize, from steering us any further.
All of this depends on the ratio of wholesome to unwholesome within us. When wholesome outweighs, it leads us toward s and a good environment; when unwholesome outweighs, we get pulled toward an environment that feeds the unwholesome instead. That's why studying the matters so much — without it, the unwholesome mind is the only voice guiding us, ruling through emotion, and reason can never outmatch emotion.
The practical answer is to stay in a suitable environment, keep good s, make sincere aspirations, and set ourselves on the right path — following the blessings for life (mangala): not associating with fools, living in a fitting place, setting oneself rightly, being well-learned, skilled, disciplined, and speaking wisely. Understanding and practicing this way, we stop causing trouble for others through pride and clinging to views.