พระอาจารย์นำนั่งสมาธิด้วยการวางใจให้ผ่อนคลาย เข้าใจธรรมชาติสามฝ่าย และหลอมรวมใจไว้กับองค์พระธรรมกายที่ศูนย์กลางกาย ก่อนย้ำคำสอนของหลวงปู่ที่ว่า “ประกอบเหตุ สังเกตผล สนใจเถิดประเสริฐนัก” แล้วปิดท้ายด้วยการแผ่เมตตาไปทั่วสรรพสัตว์ และอุทิศส่วนบุญอโหสิกรรมแก่คู่เวรคู่กรรมทั้งหลายPhra Ajarn leads a sit that begins with relaxing the mind, understanding the three natures that govern every life, and merging one's heart with the crystal Buddha image at the body's seventh base. He then repeats Luang Pu's teaching, “do the cause, watch the result, attend to it — how noble,” before closing with loving-kindness spread to all beings and merit dedicated with forgiveness to every karmic counterparty.
Let us gently close our eyes, just comfortably. Relax , the mind, and let it stay easy — open, spacious, light, clear, cool, clean, pure, and radiant. Keep returning to this relaxed state again and again.
All can only appear at the mind — nowhere else. Whatever we set the mind on, that is what appears; the mind is a “ready-made element” that manifests exactly what we direct it toward. When we hold something good in mind, something good appears there, because everything wholesome exists to benefit every mind. Only three things can ever appear within us — image, sound, or feeling — and these are what we use to anchor the mind, drawing in the pure energy of to run the system of wholesomeness, refining the mind toward continuous and freedom, lifting it higher and higher. That is the aim of nature. As caretakers of this house of body and mind, our task is simply to keep recognizing what is good and beneficial, letting it arise within us. When we do, the stream of merit flows in and lifts the mind; when instead we dwell on something bad, that is always waiting for its chance seizes it and drags the mind down. So we must steer clear of the unwholesome and stay with what is good.
Ease of body and mind is the foundation of life. Keep returning again and again to a sense of ease — think at ease, speak in ways that bring ease to yourself and others, act with an easy mind. Whether we can do this in the future depends entirely on what we practice now; the more we train, the more natural it becomes, and once we are at ease with good things, good things arise easily for us. Practicing is simply learning to live within this system of wholesomeness — bringing the mind to rest gently with the body, relaxed and light.
The Three Natures and the Law of Kamma
This practice matters for every life, because we all live under the governance of three natures — the wholesome, the unwholesome, and (, , and dhamma). All three operate through and (impermanence, suffering, non-self).
The law of kamma is simply the ripening, in each present moment, of causes we planted in the past, good and bad alike, unfolding automatically according to a fixed pattern. The three natures continually compete, moment to moment, to become the “master of the house” of our mind; whichever one succeeds directs our body, feelings, mind, and mental states, driving us to create new kamma that then ripples on into the future. This cycle has run since the distant past and stretches on toward what is to come, binding beings to spin endlessly in the round of rebirth. We cannot escape the grip of these three natures.
Our mistakes come from not understanding this system. That is why our past lives have been lived so unevenly — carrying burden after burden, again and again falling under the sway of the unwholesome; the more we carry, the more we suffer, and the more it weighs down the very purpose of having been born — a purpose that is vast and noble, even as our time in this human life is limited.
The System of Wholesomeness — the Only Way Out
To move beyond these limits and free our life from the cycle, there is only one path: to rely on the system of wholesome dhamma. This system is the nature of goodness itself, overseen by the Triple Gem, with Nibbāna behind it — a system full of love, understanding, and sincerity, always supporting all beings, always guiding us, almost as if the right thought simply occurs to us on its own, so that we may reach happiness, success, and fulfillment with ease.
We need to understand this system and bring our practice into line with it. When we live within it, the wholesome refines and clears away the impurities in the mind, leaving it clear, clean, and pure. From here on, our life should be an ideal life — correct, good, and made beautiful through this system: goodness through Dhamma, beauty through precepts () — a life of right view, pure and free in every moment. Simply by living this way, gently and at ease, holding to what is noble and good, the wholesome dhamma will keep lifting the mind higher. Our body and mind become the channel through which the stream of merit flows, and our life is transformed for our own benefit and that of others.
The Mind's Foundation: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness, and How to Sit at Ease
This wholesome life begins at the mind. We must keep asking: where is my mind right now? How does it feel? How should I care for it and settle it rightly? Living within this system requires the mind to have a clear base — as the Buddha taught in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta: “Monks, you should clearly know the body, feelings, mind, and mental objects, in order to remove and grief in regard to the world.” This is a sentence we must remember and understand deeply, because it can turn an ordinary person into a noble one.
Wherever we place the mind, the mind settles there — this is called “attention.” And as we come to know that place, arises right there; merit flows in through the center of that mindfulness, refining and clearing it first, before drawing us into the inner dimension as grow lighter.
As we close our eyes and turn inward, if we feel dazed, drowsy, foggy, or unclear — the effect of impurities interfering — simply pull back a little: open the eyelids slightly, just enough that the eyelashes barely touch and a little light gets through. This keeps us balanced between the inner and outer worlds. Then return gently to the we're familiar with, at ease, with a relaxed and easy mind — open, spacious, light. Ease and simplicity are the ground of the wholesome; difficulty and strain are the ground of the unwholesome.
Approach it as though sitting down to rest, not “meditating.” Think of it as comfortable relaxation, staying with your object at ease. Resting the right way is something we need to learn — it differs from ordinary rest, because it needs a clear base for the mind. Wherever we place it, the mind stays there, knows there, and rests there, at ease. In every moment we sustain this awareness within the wholesome system, a wholesome mind arises, and mindfulness — its — arises together with it. In that moment we appear radiant within the Triple Gem, within Nibbāna, within the boundless awareness of the Awakened Ones. The stream of merit from the utmost subtle depths of Nibbāna pours continuously into the center of our body and mind, driving the system of wholesomeness, refining our inner elements to be clear, clean, and pure, freeing us from coarser levels into ever subtler ones. Every level still carries some impurity until we reach arahantship, so we must keep doing this — establishing mindfulness and drawing in the stream of merit again and again.
This stream of merit doesn't only come from sitting in meditation — any act of goodness invites it. Luang Phor summarized it: merit flows into our mind in two ways — first, when we do good; second, when we resist the temptation to do wrong. When a wholesome mind occupies our heart, it guides us to do what is right; when an unwholesome mind tries to lead us astray, the wholesome steps in to help us resist. If we accept that help and resist, we are preserving the “normal” wholesome state — our precepts (sīla) brighten as a result of the pure energy of merit flowing in. That is why sīla means “normalcy” — the wholesome nature's normal state, undisturbed by wrongdoing, continuously reinforced by the merit it draws in, enough to overcome the unwholesome.
Living within the wholesome nature works as a system — it needs its components engaged to reduce the share held by the other natures (the unwholesome that creates suffering, and the indeterminate that wastes our precious resources) and increase the share of wholesomeness that brings good things into our life. Every practice, every activity, is a “cause” made together with some nature or other — and which nature stands behind it is something we discover by observing the result.
Luang Pu's Teaching: “Do the Cause, Watch the Result, Attend to It — How Noble”
Our revered Luang Pu repeated this teaching three times, three ways:
“Do the cause, watch the result, attend to it — how noble.”
“Do it in the cause, watch it in the result, attend to it — how noble.”
“Do it right in the cause, look closely at the result, pay close attention — how noble.”
He taught us: after doing the cause, watch the result. Pay attention to this observation, because it lets the mind check how sound and fitting the result is. When it is right, the good result confirms we are on the right path, strengthening our confidence, and brightens further — the pure energy of merit flows in even more radiantly, each sphere of merit brimming with purity, sanctity, and ful happiness.
Luang Phor therefore taught that in every moment of practice we should notice three things together: knowing, joined with happiness and purity. As we stay aware, we notice the state present in each passing moment — the stream of merit flowing continuously, its happiness, its purity — and we need mindfulness to keep recognizing this ongoing flow at the center of body and mind. If happiness and purity are hard to sense, it means impurity still remains; more impurity means more hindrances, less impurity means fewer. Wherever impurity exists, it does its job — clouding purity with defilement, clouding happiness with suffering, right where the current of merit is trying to flow.
Our only task is simply to keep noticing, continuously, so that the stream of merit can flow in and cleanse the impurity within our mind's current level. The impurity at each level is finite, but our capacity to draw in merit through awareness is not — meaning the merit available to us is boundless, as long as we keep living within this wholesome system without ever giving up. Let merit clear away impurity completely; as each level's impurity clears, we move on to subtler and subtler levels, until we can directly sense happiness and purity.
Merging the Heart with the Crystal Buddha Image at the Seventh Base
At that point, let us bring this mind — now transformed by happiness and purity — to rest with the Triple Gem, by uttering the name “Sammā-Arahaṃ,” settling the mind still at the body's seventh base, the point that aims directly toward the path to Nibbāna.
To find : imagine two lines — one running from the navel straight to the spine, another running from the right side of the waist to the left. Where these two lines cross forms a point; place the index and middle fingers together at that crossing point at the level of the navel, then move up two finger-widths — that is the seventh base. Rest the mind there, still, soft, relaxed and light — or simply settle it gently at the center of the abdomen, still, soft, light, at ease — while repeating “Sammā-Arahaṃ.”
This recitation is the name for the subtle Arahant Dhamma Body, the Triple Gem, which resides at the center of everyone — one's own for oneself. As we utter the name, the form appears in the mind; form and name always arise together, wherever one is, the other appears too. This form has the likeness of a clear crystal Buddha image, clean and pure, crowned with a lotus-bud finial, glistening and radiant, seated within a sphere of Dhamma that fills the lap.
When this image appears at the center of our being, it does not appear alone — it comes together with boundless compassion. It takes our elements of seeing, remembering, thinking, and knowing, along with the elements of earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness, and refines them to be clear, clean, and pure, clearing away defilements — kammic results, obstructive forces, misfortune — until they vanish. It even adjusts things ahead of time on our behalf, so that success and fulfillment come to us with ease.
More than that, it expands to overlay and merge fully with our human body — its lap upon our lap, its body as one with our body, its face, arms, torso, and head becoming one with ours. Its wish is for us to become a single unity with it, so that it can support us to the fullest. We do this by feeling: “I am the Buddha image, the Buddha image is me” — letting our entire body become this crystal Dhamma Body, glistening, radiant, clean, and pure, from head to face to arms to torso.
Once our bodies are merged as one, we merge our minds as one too. To do this, we need to know what the subtle Dhamma Body at our center is doing: it is dwelling in the attainment of ceson (nirodha-samāpatti) — gathering the mind to stop, gathering the mind to still — refining our inner elements toward purity. Whatever it does, we do the same: it gathers and stops, gathers and stills — soft, light, at ease; stopped within stopped, still within still, soft, light, at ease, at the center of the image, the center of our body, the center of our mind.
Then we send our heart and mind straight toward the path to Nibbāna, into the very center of the center — of the image, our body, our mind — stopped within stopped, still within still, soft, light, at ease, deeper and deeper toward the center. The mind is a ready-made element: as we set it, so it becomes. As we aim straight for Nibbāna, we appear radiant at its very center, amid every Fully Awakened Buddha, every Silent Buddha, and every Arahant.
Nibbāna already holds all beings at its center. Any being who stands in universal goodness — whether Buddhist or not, whether religious or not — draws, through that goodness, the stream of merit from the utmost subtle depths of Nibbāna continuously into their own center, just as it now flows into ours. Nibbāna takes this flowing merit-element and uses it, through the Dhamma Body's mastery, to refine our inner elements toward clarity and purity, and to set good patterns of success in place for us.
Loving-Kindness Radiating to All Beings and the Whole Universe
We use this time, while the Dhamma Body works this good cause on our behalf, to create good causes for others and for all beings, through cultivating (). Mettā is a tool of the wholesome nature, meant for those with abundant merit to support those with less. Life in saṃsāra depends on mutual support — none of us can stand alone; we all rely on one another. For society to be good, it needs mettā — sincere, pure love and goodwill.
Let us hold in mind sincere, pure love and goodwill — like a mother's love for her small child. As we do, a sphere of mettā — round, clear, and bright — arises at the center of our mind, drawing in pure energy continuously into its brightness. This dhamma has the special quality of dissolving resentment and irritation from our own mind, from others, and from the surrounding environment.
We then expand this heart, full of mettā, outward to cover our home, illuminating every corner, making the atmosphere — people and beings alike — bright, cool, clean, and pure. We expand it further to cover the whole village, the district, the province, the country, neighboring countries, and on to every nation, until it covers the entire world — turning this world into a radiant, cool, clean, pure crystal sphere.
May all beings of the world be free from suffering and find happiness — devas of every heavenly realm, brahmas, formless brahmas, and also beings in hell, hungry ghosts, and animals. May all beings be free from suffering and find happiness. May those with much suffering have less; may those with little suffering have none left; may those with little happiness have more; and may those already happy grow happier still.
We continue expanding this mettā-filled heart out into the vastness of the cosmos, covering countless stars — tens, hundreds, thousands, millions upon millions — and onward across ten thousand world-systems, a hundred thousand koṭi universes, infinite universes, letting our loving-kindness shine into every particle where beings dwell, bright, cool, clean, and pure. And still the stream of merit keeps pouring continuously into the brightness of this loving-kindness.
Dedicating Merit, Forgiveness, and the Closing Aspiration
We now dedicate this merit to all beings: may all beings be free from suffering, find happiness, and share in the merit we have sincerely made. We also dedicate it to our ancestors, our parents, siblings, grandparents, teachers, and all who have shown us kindness, as well as to devas who help and support us, to those who have cared for and protected us, and to every we may have wronged — may we forgive one another, and may they too share fully in this merit.
Having dedicated this merit, we now merge ourselves into oneness with the Triple Gem and our great teachers, for we can never be apart from them — their kindness toward us is beyond measure. In every passing moment they never cease refining and helping us, whether we sleep, wake, stand, walk, sit, or lie down; they alone support us without limit. Let us gather the mind, stop, and still it at the center of the Buddha Jewel, the Dhamma Jewel, and the Sangha Jewel, and rest still at the center of the subtle Dhamma Body of our revered Luang Pu, our revered Luang Phor, and Khun Yai Achan. The mind is a ready-made element: as we set it, so it becomes.
As we merge ourselves with them into one unity, we appear radiant within them, and they appear radiant within us — through the human body, the subtle body, the celestial body, the brahma body, the formless-brahma body, every strand of our being shining within the Triple Gem and our great teachers. Together we appear radiant at the center of Nibbāna, amid boundless awareness. The stream of merit from its utmost subtle depths pours continuously into our center. We dedicate this merit and make our aspiration: may it set a lasting good pattern within this bright sphere of merit, so that throughout our path of building perfections we are filled with knowing, happiness, and purity, and achieve success and fulfillment in everything right and good.
We pay respect and ask for blessings — for the merit, glory, strength, power, and grace of Nibbāna throughout all elements and all Dhamma, and for the blessings of our revered Luang Pu, Luang Phor, and Khun Yai Achan. May all this merit combine with what we have sincerely accumulated since our very first life until now, becoming sacred merit of boundless power, purifying our body, speech, mind, and inner elements to be bright, cool, clean, and pure. May we be freed from misfortune, negative kamma, obstacles of every kind in this life, and may , hatred, delusion, lust, , wrong view, craving, and clinging be extinguished without a trace. May we gain the Dhamma-eye, penetrating fully into the of the Dhamma Body — complete in the three knowledges, the eight knowledges, the six higher powers, the four analytical s, the eight s, and the fifteen conducts.
May we also have strong health and long life, able to build merit and perfections throughout our lives, with unfailing resolve on the path toward Nibbāna, the ultimate end of Dhamma. Wherever we travel, may we meet only good fortune and safety, be loved by humans and devas, and have bright wisdom that penetrates the Buddha's teaching and the knowledge of the Dhamma Body. In whatever work or duty we take on, may it flourish and succeed beyond expectation, with resources that never run short, generously used to build great perfections with full strength.
And when the time comes to close our eyes on this world, may we be reborn in the Tusita heaven, in the special sphere for bodhisattvas. When we return to build perfections again in the human world, may we be born into a family of right view, a warm and complete family, able to recall past lives from birth and study the knowledge of the Dhamma Body correctly and authentically. May whatever wrong or unwholesome acts we have committed in the past be fully forgiven and never bear fruit; may we commit no new wrong through body, speech, or mind. May all the good and merit we have sincerely accumulated combine into a sacred, powerful result that continues from this moment until the very end of Dhamma. May all these good wishes come to fulfillment for all of us, from now on, in every life, until the ultimate end of Dhamma, by the boundless power of every Fully Awakened Buddha. May it be so, in every respect.