พระอาจารย์นำนั่งสมาธิ อธิบายว่าบทบาทเดียวที่มนุษย์ทำได้คือการกำหนดรู้ ส่วนการกลั่นแก้ไขตัวเราเป็นหน้าที่ของระบบกุศลธรรม (พระรัตนตรัยและพระนิพพาน) ให้วางใจไว้ที่ศูนย์กลางกายฐานที่ 7 ด้วยความสบายใจ พร้อมกับกรรมฐานประจำตัวของแต่ละคน จนกระทั่งมลทินถูกชำระสะสางไปทีละมิติPhra Ajarn leads a sit explaining that the one role a human being can perform is simply to keep knowing — the actual refining of the mind belongs to the wholesome-dhamma system (the Triple Gem and Nibbāna). He guides the mind to rest at ease at the seventh base at the center of the body, together with one's own meditation anchor, as defilements are purified dimension by dimension.
Why We Close Our Eyes: The One Role a Human Being Can Play
Let's sit and close our eyes for a while. Sitting with the eyes closed has great effect — it is a matter of letting the Triple Gem and Nibbāna come and refine us.
There isn't much we can do to ourselves. A human being cannot do much at all. All we can do is keep knowing — this is the one and only role a human being can perform. Try asking: can anyone keep knowing? Everyone can answer yes. Keep knowing always, without straying. Straying sometimes is only natural — that's fine.
But if you ask whether we ourselves can refine and correct ourselves — that's confusing, because we can't. Refining means separating the elements: separating the element that is defilement from the element that is pure. Refining is separating, like separating water from salt, for example. Separating the elements requires refining, and that refining is done by the Triple Gem and Nibbāna — that is, - system. It is the one that manages this matter.
It's like our liver, kidneys, and intestines. Our job is to eat food; the liver, kidneys, and intestines have the job of digesting and absorbing it. Each has a different role, yet they work in harmony. The mind is the same — is like that, the mind is like this. Our role is only to keep knowing. This we can do. Keep knowing — but where do we know?
Where the Mind Rests: The Seventh Base at the Center of the Body
Have a base for the mind to settle. You may know that base at the nostril, at , or simply as bodily awareness — there are many methods; use whichever you are used to. But the teachers recommend the position at the center of the body, , as the gateway position that can lead straight onto the path to Nibbāna. It is also the position of the imperial center, the center of the sphere of of the refined body, the celestial body, the brahma body, the formless-brahma body — throughout our lineage of teaching, the center of the sphere of merit has always been located right at this position.
If we are able, let the mind settle still right here. Wherever we fix our attention, the mind is placed there, and we go to know at that very position. Sati — — is the recollecting awareness; once recollected, it arises right there, because all dhammas can arise in only one place, the mind, and nowhere else. Once the sphere of knowing arises at this position, merit is drawn in, in the midst of the brightness of that sphere of mindfulness, right here.
Defilements and Merit: The Process of Purification
So this position receives refining first, through the wholesome-dhamma system, which handles the defilements — the stains that cause problems and obstacles and bring about difficulty. Light defilements simply evaporate, becoming gas, vapor; but heavy defilements settle as latent tendencies (anusaya). All we need to do is keep knowing — we know it in an easy, pleasant, comfortable way. Let there be only ease of heart, knowing while at ease. Whatever we do, the important thing is sammā-diṭṭhi — right view, an attitude that is both correct and good; it must be correct, and it must be good — true to the way things actually are.
We keep knowing, knowing always without straying. Once the sphere of knowing arises, it draws merit in. Merit's role is to remove defilement; as defilement lightens, problems and obstacles lighten too. Once defilement is gone, whatever was clinging and binding the mind in the coarser dimension is gone, and the mind is freed from the coarse dimension into a subtler one — even while we may still feel dim, hazy, clouded, whether we are aware of it or not. Liberation in each dimension keeps occurring, one after another, simply by our remaining with the wholesome-dhamma system — by keeping knowing, knowing always without straying.
We keep knowing at ease. Do not stray — because once we stray, the sphere of knowing, the sphere of mindfulness, fades away, and (avijjā) appears and imprisons us in the dimension of ignorance, until the wholesome force can win us back. Then we are set free, and the wholesome force points us to keep fixing mindfulness onward.
Ease as the Foundation: Purifying Through the Stream of Merit
Then sit and keep knowing while at ease, receiving the seat of merit together with the treasures that keep welling up and flowing through continuously. Rest the body in comfort, rest the mind in , with a mind that is relaxed, at ease, light, clear, cool, clean, pure, and radiant. Our mind will gradually settle still, gradually still, gradually lighter, gradually more at ease.
Then recall our (). Stay with our meditation anchor at ease. Whatever we do, let it be paired with ease of heart. Keep recollecting our meditation anchor while at ease. If reciting “Sammā-Arahaṃ, Sammā-Arahaṃ”, recite it with ease. Let there be only ease, and more ease — because comfort, whether of body or of mind, is the essential foundation of life.
If we stay fixed on ease of heart, clear merit flows in and purifies the demerit that is a condition hard to bear, hard to endure. Take that ease of heart to connect the stream of merit flowing through, washing away defilement. The defilement belonging to each dimension is limited — it is the result of our own small mistakes, which stain the mind and leave a trace behind. When an unwholesome force has taken hold and then departs, it leaves behind a trace as defilement, and that defilement will bear its result — but there is not much of it, only small amounts here and there.
We keep knowing, letting the sphere of knowing draw in merit to cleanse it away. All that is needed is that we keep knowing always without straying, continuously, on and on — and before long it is finished, purified dimension by dimension, until it is all gone by itself. This is the role of the human body: to cooperate with the wholesome-dhamma system in cleansing away defilement — since we do not know the method for cleansing defilement, nor do we know where the defilement is or how it is there.
All we can do is keep knowing, letting the sphere of knowing arise. Once it arises, the sphere of knowing — that is, mindfulness — draws in the pure energy that is merit, flowing through; and that very pure energy, merit, drives the wholesome-dhamma system to cleanse away the defilement by itself. Each has a different role, which necessarily has to work together.
The Happiness of the Wholesome-Dhamma System, Different from Other Happiness
Stay with our meditation anchor at ease. Whatever we do must be accompanied by ease of heart. Let ease of heart be the foundation supporting every activity, until our entire day is filled with nothing but ease. Practice until it becomes a habit — ease of heart together with a smile. Rest the body in comfort, rest the mind in calm, at ease, and more ease. Let there be only ease of heart.
Happiness, , (viveka), (virāga), (), () — leading toward Nibbāna. This is the happiness of the wholesome-dhamma system, which differs from the happiness of other natural forces, which is only excitement, thrill, and suspense that make the mind shake and scatter. Only the happiness of the wholesome natural force is happiness that is peaceful, tranquil, secluded, dispassionate, liberated, and pure — inclining toward Nibbāna.
Still, soft, relaxed, light, at ease, clear, cool, clean, pure, radiant. Stop within stop, still within still, soft, light, at ease. Let there be only ease of heart, and more ease, on and on, together with keeping knowing our meditation anchor. What matters most is that we want the knowing itself — we want the sphere of knowing, that is, mindfulness, to arise right here; that is the essential point. So we must keep knowing always without straying — knowing with whatever keeps us at ease.
Building Your Own Meditation Anchor Until It Truly Serves You
We need to have our own meditation anchor. What is our personal meditation anchor? We have to make ourselves familiar with it. We listen to dhamma recordings, to recorded teachings of various kinds, where the teacher will teach about the meditation anchor so that we can take it and practice it ourselves, so that it becomes our personal anchor. We then train until we can put it to use. A personal meditation anchor is something necessary and very important, which we must train to bring into being.
This is called bhāvanā — cultivation. Bhāvanā is making something come into being, making it arise. As soon as we fix our attention, it arises; every time we fix our attention, it arises in the mind. But for it to truly become established, we must repeat it again and again and again until the mind grows familiar with it. Once the mind is familiar, unwholesome forces — other natural forces — cannot dissolve it away. We must keep doing it until we can put it to real use. If we are not yet familiar with it, we keep doing it until we are; keep practicing, and before long we become familiar. Once familiar, we can use it, and it becomes a genuine benefit to us — it becomes tangible.
We may keep the mind at the breath, knowing the breath; or we may keep knowing a recitation word, or a meditation image (nimitta); or we may recite “Sammā-Arahaṃ 1, Sammā-Arahaṃ 2, Sammā-Arahaṃ 3”, counting on and on — if we forget, simply start again from 1, no matter, no need to hurry, no need to rush, because all we need is for the sphere of knowing — mindfulness — to arise, that's all. Know that we are knowing something; whatever we fix on, we must keep knowing that thing. Wherever we fix our attention, the mind is sent and placed there, and we go to know at that very position — we may even go there to rest, staying with the mind at ease. Staying with ease, and more ease, on and on — that is fine too. Only ease, ease of heart, and more ease, on and on, like this is also fine. Choose whichever way we can sustain continuously, often, always, until it becomes second nature. Keep knowing always without straying, knowing pleasantly, staying with ease of heart and more ease. Whatever we do, it must have ease of heart as its foundation, until it becomes automatic — keep doing it until it becomes automatic.
We need to build the ideal life we envision. If we do not build it, it can never become tangible — we must build it until it becomes something concrete that we can genuinely use, that brings us genuine benefit — like studying: finishing secondary school, a bachelor's degree, a master's, a doctorate — these become tangible things we can put to use. It is the same here: keep doing it until we can put it to use, so that it becomes the ideal life we envision.
Sati and Sampajañña: Knowing the Point and Knowing the Detail
“Sammā-Arahaṃ 1, Sammā-Arahaṃ 2, Sammā-Arahaṃ 3, Sammā-Arahaṃ 4, Sammā-Arahaṃ 5, Sammā-Arahaṃ 6, Sammā-Arahaṃ 7, Sammā-Arahaṃ 8, Sammā-Arahaṃ 9, Sammā-Arahaṃ 10” — word by word, knowing it word by word.
What we want is the sphere of knowing, that is, mindfulness (), and we want it clear — clear is () — knowing clearly, going down into the detail, the detail of the state of dhamma. This requires sampajañña to go in and know the details. Knowing, then, is sati; clarity is sampajañña — they know the same matter, but sampajañña knows deeply into the details of that matter. So sati and sampajañña go together as a pair, yet they have different roles. They work similarly — both are knowing — but one knows the main point: sati knows the essential point, while sampajañña goes in to know the details of that essential point, spreading in to know every detail of the state of dhamma, of that particular thing.
Closing Chant
He led the closing chant of the sit with a protective verse (parts of the recording were unclear, transcribed here as best as could be heard):
“Sabbe buddhā paccekā ca, yaṃ balaṃ arahantānañ ca tejasā naṃ bhaṇṭāmi sabbaso, sabba-buddhānubhāvena, sabba-dhammānubhāvena, sabba-saṅghānubhāvena, saddhā sotthī ntu te”