พระอาจารย์นำนั่งสมาธิ ชี้ให้เห็นธรรมชาติสามฝ่ายคือกุศล อกุศล และอัพยากตะ พร้อมอุปมาการปลูกมะม่วงว่าเหตุที่ทำเพียงครั้งเดียวให้ผลซ้ำไปทุกภพทุกชาติ ก่อนนำเข้าสู่การหลอมรวมใจกับพระธรรมกาย แผ่เมตตา และอุทิศส่วนบุญอโหสิกรรมปิดท้ายPhra Ajarn leads a sitting meditation explaining the three natures of the mind — wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral — through the simile of a mango tree: one act of merit or demerit, once it matures, bears fruit again and again across lifetimes. The sit moves into merging with the Dhamma body, radiating loving-kindness, and closes with merit dedication and forgiveness.
Let's practice together. Close your eyelids gently, comfortably. Relax , relax the mind, until it feels open, spacious, empty, light, clear, cool, clean, pure, and bright. Send your heart and mind straight toward the path to Nibbana, at and mind, at — the position of the “center of the emperor,” the gateway that leads directly to Nibbana along the inner middle way.
When we place the mind at this exact spot and let it relax, all we need is ease of mind — one comfort after another. Ease of mind is a foundation of life that we must deliberately cultivate: when we hold something good in mind, good things appear and affect us; when we hold something not good, that too appears and affects us. So we should keep the mind relaxed and turned toward what is good, because can only arise in one place — the mind. Once it arises there, it reveals its qualities to the mind, which is our instrument of knowing; whatever the mind knows, that is what we know.
When we hold what is good in mind, () arises — a clear, bright, round sphere, brimming with and sanctity, able to clear away the defilements that create problems and obstacles in life. Within that sphere of merit is also happiness of body and ease of mind — the kind of ease that makes eating, sleeping, talking with others, and working all feel light and worry-free. But if our merit is small, our ease of mind is small too.
Demerit (bāpa), by contrast, is like a state of suffering — hard to bear — that dissolves the happiness born of the element of merit. When merit and demerit are evenly matched, whichever is stronger shows its results. If demerit is stronger, we feel suffering: boredom, gloom, stress, irritation, weariness, discouragement, hopelessness, restlessness, discomfort, resentment — all layering in together. When unwholesome defilement grows stronger, our whole life shifts, because demerit is what clouds the mind.
The Three Natures: Wholesome, Unwholesome, and Neutral
But if the neutral state () is strong, there is no happiness and no suffering — just neutrality, taking neither suffering nor happiness. We can never step outside these three natures. There are only three: wholesome states, unwholesome states, and neutral states. If we are not dwelling with , we are dwelling with , or with the neutral — we cycle among these three. Only the wholesome nature brings us real benefit: rightness and goodness, lightness and ease, sincerity and purity of heart, understanding, and the happiness we long for. The other natures bring no benefit at all — only suffering and harm.
These three natures use and to govern all beings. The law of kamma is the result of what these three natures led us to do in the past, because we consented to it. When the unwholesome leads us to do harmful things that trouble ourselves and others, demerit seizes the opportunity to take root — because it wants to drag down the element of our being, so it presses on us. When the unwholesome takes hold, it arrives together with that hard-to-bear state called suffering, pressuring us first, then forcing us toward wrong action — through , aversion, delusion, lust, and , all of which are simply tools of the unwholesome. This is why we must guard carefully against letting the unwholesome take hold.
The Law of Kamma: One Cause, Fruit Across Many Lifetimes
When demerit flows through us, it gathers up these causes and stores them in the sphere of kamma, then waits for the chance to give its result and disrupt our life — both in the near future and in the far future, across lifetimes to come. We commit an act only once, yet its result lasts a long time — like planting a mango tree. We plant just one mango seed, and once the tree is fully grown, it bears fruit across its whole canopy, and it bears fruit again every single season. Demerit works the same way: done once, but each time it ripens, the result is severe, repeating across future lifetimes for a long time to come. This is the frightening nature of demerit.
The same is true in reverse: when goodness, led by the wholesome, is something we accept and act on — performing good deeds that draw merit in — that merit likewise gives fruit, both in the near and the distant future. So if we wish for a good future, we should perform good causes: giving, keeping precepts, practicing meditation, being humble, helping others, rejoicing in others' merit, sharing merit, listening to and teaching Dhamma, and aligning our views with truth.
Giving, Precepts, and Meditation: The Path of Perfection (Bāramī)
In making merit, what we're really after is that pure energy called puñña. We perform good causes in order to seek purity of the “merit element.” Building bāramī (perfections) is merit that has been further refined into purity. When we set out to build bāramī, we must keep in mind. The virtue of giving is releasing — a “dark quality” that constricts the heart. Giving expands the heart, freeing it from that darkness, and makes us a bringer of good fortune to the world. Every other perfection likewise depends on virtue. Meditation practice is the cause that keeps us dwelling within the wholesome system.
Once we understand these three natures, we must choose a side — the side of the wholesome. When we can dwell with the wholesome, it draws in the energy of merit to power the wholesome system, clearing away the defilements that cloud us, purifying the mind, and freeing it — moving from coarser to subtler dimensions, one after another.
The Two Channels Through Which Merit Flows
Our revered teacher taught that to draw merit in to power the wholesome system, we must understand that merit can only flow in through two channels: performing wholesome deeds, and resisting the evil of the unwholesome. Merit flows in to support us in overcoming demerit, and goodness arises in the heart. We become good through wholesome action; beauty of character comes from dwelling in precepts, in the purity of . Only these two — goodness and precept — can draw in the energy of merit, purifying and liberating our life.
A life dwelling within the wholesome system is a life of good and beautiful moral conduct, carrying us along the path of purity and , from coarse to subtle dimensions, through , understanding, and — supported by : , wisdom, faith, concentration, and effort. These five will mature in us over time, leading toward freedom — a life of purity and liberation moving through dimension after dimension, both liberation of heart and . This is the essential core of Buddhism, as the Buddha taught: “Monks, you should clearly discern the body, feelings, mind, and mental objects, in order to remove craving and aversion toward the world.”
Merging Body and Mind as One With the Dhamma Body
The Buddha taught us to focus — wherever we focus, the mind settles there; this is called “attention.” Once attention settles at that point and we go in to know it, a sphere of knowing — mindfulness — arises there, and the Triple Gem shines forth right where the mind resides, because all Dhamma arises in only one place: the mind. Wherever the mind is, all Dhamma appears there.
While abiding at the center, let us stay at ease — nothing but ease of mind. Bring a wholesome heart to merge with the Triple Gem into one. We do this by reciting the name “, Samma Arahang, Samma Arahang” — a designation for the one who has practiced rightly and well, free from all defilement, replete with wisdom, purity, and boundless compassion. As we say the name, the Triple Gem appears at the center of our mind, because form and name arise together — wherever the name is, the form appears too. The form that appears is a crystal-clear Buddha image, brilliant, radiant, delicate, soft, gentle, clear, cool, clean, and pure.
Once this image appears at the center of our mind, it does not appear for nothing — being full of boundless compassion, it refines our seeing, memory, thought, and knowing — the elements of earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness — making them clear, clean, and pure, freeing us from every defilement. Let us merge with this image, feeling that we are the Buddha image and the Buddha image is us — our whole body becoming a crystal Dhamma body, radiant, clear, cool, clean, and pure from head to face, cheeks, shoulders, arms, torso, down to the feet.
Once body has merged with body this way, let mind merge with mind as one. Do as the image does: gather the mind to stillness, to stopping. Still within still, within calm, soft, relaxed, at ease, clear, cool, clean, pure, radiant. As body merges with body and mind merges with mind, the image carries us from coarse to subtler dimensions — freeing us from clinging to a fixed sense of self. It expands beyond the body, growing vast, spreading out into the atmosphere of the world, into the universe — while at the same time being drawn back into the center, into the body and mind, toward a subtler image at a small, clear point at the center, merging with each new image that arises one after another, carrying us ever further into purity and liberation.
Radiating Loving-Kindness From Ourselves to the Universe
Once we have done good for ourselves, we turn to doing good for others and for all beings, by cultivating (). Mettā is a tool of the wholesome nature, meant for those with abundant merit to support those with less. Life in the cycle of existence requires us to depend on one another — we cannot live in isolation; we need community, family, society. But the society we dwell in must be a good one, grounded in the wholesome system — good through Dhamma, beautiful through precepts. Simply by holding mettā in mind — genuine, pure love and goodwill — mettā arises at the center of our heart as a clear, bright sphere, drawing in a continuous stream of merit within its brightness. Mettā's special quality is its power to dissolve resentment and friction in the atmosphere, in the hearts of people, beings, and things.
Once mettā arises within us, it illuminates every atom of our body, mind, and surrounding atmosphere, then expands to cover our home and its surroundings, then our village, sub-district, district, province, country, and all countries, until it covers the whole world — turning this world into a crystal world, bright, cool, clean, and pure. May the people of the world and all beings be free from suffering and find happiness — earth spirits, tree spirits, sky spirits, celestial beings of every heaven, brahma and formless brahma beings, as well as beings in hell, hungry ghosts, and animals — may all beings be free from suffering and happy. May those with much suffering have less; may those with little suffering be free of it entirely; may those with little happiness have more; and may those who already have much happiness have even more.
Having made this wish, we expand this heart filled with mettā out into the atmosphere of the universe, covering countless stars — tens, hundreds, thousands, millions, billions — extending onward through countless world-systems, infinite universes. Mettā shines on, refining every atom of every being and thing to brightness, clarity, coolness, cleanliness, and purity, while our own heart expands, blossoms, opens, becomes light, clear, cool, clean, pure, and radiant — and the stream of merit flows continuously within that brightness of mettā.
Dedicating Merit, Forgiveness, and Aspiration
We then dedicate the merit that has arisen to all people and beings — may all beings be free from suffering and find happiness, and may they share in the merit we have sincerely made. We also dedicate it to our ancestors, parents, siblings, grandparents, teachers, and all who have shown us kindness, as well as the devas who help and support us, and those who look after and protect all beings. To any being we may have wronged — our karmic counterparties (kū kam kū wen) — we ask forgiveness of one another, and may they too share equally in this merit.
Having dedicated the merit, we merge ourselves once more with the Triple Gem and our great teachers into one — resting still at the center of the Buddha Jewel, the Dhamma Jewel, and the Sangha Jewel, and at the center of the subtle Dhamma body of our revered late Grand Master, our Master, and our Grand Teacher. As the mind commands, so it is; as we resolve, so it becomes. Once merged as one, we shine forth at the center of the Triple Gem and our great teachers, our entire stream of elements and Dhamma made clear and bright.
Taking this most auspicious moment of shining at the center of Nibbana, we bow to ask a blessing, setting our resolve firmly within this bright sphere of merit — that our entire path of building perfections be filled with knowledge, happiness, and purity, and success in all that is right and good. May all this accumulated merit and power combine into a sacred force of great strength, freeing us from misfortune, past kamma, obstacles of every kind, and may greed, hatred, delusion, lust, , wrong view, craving, and clinging be utterly extinguished. May we gain the eye of Dhamma, penetrating fully into the knowledge of the , may we have good health, a long life, and be able to build merit and perfections throughout our lives, with unfailing high spirits, walking straight toward the path to Nibbana, to the end of Dhamma.
May every good wish here become reality — for all of us, in every life, in every existence, until we reach the very end of Dhamma — by the boundless power of every Lord Buddha. May it all come to pass, according to every wish.
(The sit closes with the traditional Pali verse invoking the protective power of the Buddha, the Paccekabuddhas, and the Arahants.)