นำนั่งสมาธิ: ตั้งใจอยู่ในระบบกุศลธรรมด้วยหลักสติปัฏฐานสี่Guided Meditation: Abiding in the Wholesome System through the Four Foundations of Mindfulness

Settling Body and Mind, Preparing to Sit

Let us rest body and mind for a moment, so that Nibbana, the Triple Gem, and the wholesome system work together to purify and refine the elements within us. Gently close your eyes, comfortably. Make the body at ease and the mind calm — relaxed, open, spacious, empty, light and at ease, clear, cool, clean, pure, and radiant. Whatever we set our mind on, that is what arises.

Whatever the Mind Sets, That Is What Arises

When we set our mind on good things, good things arise for us. When we set our mind on bad things, bad things arise for us as well. We are the owners of this house of body and mind, free to do as we wish — but everything we do brings its results back to us. That is why we need to learn and understand, so we can practice rightly, allow good and wholesome things to arise in our lives, and avoid what is wrong and unwholesome.

Merit and Demerit: The Two Forces that Shape Our Life

What, then, is good, and what is not good? Good is this: when we set our mind rightly, the pure energy called merit flows in, bringing happiness and subtle wealth that affects our life both now and in the future. The purity within the sphere of merit clears away the stains and defilements that cause trouble and hardship in our lives. Within that sphere of merit, everything turns to happiness — ease of body, ease of mind. Whether we sit, lie down, stand, or walk; whether we talk with someone, work, or rest — everything brings comfort of heart, free of worry, until happiness and the fulfillment of our wishes come easily. No one can deny that this is what good truly means.

As for what is not good: when we set our mind wrongly, demerit flows in instead. Demerit is an energy of defilement, appearing as a dark sphere, filled with stain and gloom that breeds trouble, hardship, suffering, and danger. Within that sphere of demerit runs a current of suffering — a state that is hard to bear. And within the sphere of demerit lies something darker still, called the sphere of ruin, whose purpose is to destroy our assets — physical assets, wealth, good qualities, followers, gain, status, praise, happiness, even the path and fruit of Nibbana. This sphere of ruin continually erodes and destroys these good things until they vanish from our lives. No one can deny that this is what not good truly means.

The Three Natures, the Law of Kamma, and the Wholesome System as Our Refuge

We therefore need to recognize the good and harmful results that will come to our lives, by learning to abide in the right and wholesome system. Our lives are governed by three natures: the wholesome, the unwholesome, and the neutral or indeterminate. These three natures use two laws — the law of kamma and the law of the Three Characteristics — to govern our lives and the lives of all beings. The law of kamma has governed us from the past into the present, and continually yields its results moment by moment. Through our inner thoughts and feelings, it directs us to create causes — the wholesome nature steering us toward good causes, the unwholesome nature steering us toward harmful ones. Once a cause is created, it yields its result sooner or later. We cannot escape these two laws.

Our one way out, our only refuge, is to abide in the wholesome system. Only the wholesome system can truly benefit us, because it is watched over by the Triple Gem, with Nibbana overseeing the whole. Each person's own Triple Gem resides within the center of their being, guiding, directing, and teaching us — much like a thought arising on its own — to act rightly and well. Once this wholesome quality is established, it draws in a stream of merit, together with subtle wealth, happiness, and the pattern of success, into our lives. This is the one system we can truly rely on.

The unwholesome system, by contrast, brings only suffering and danger — not even sparing us when we close our eyes and leave this world, leading us instead into the states of hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals, in the long, weary lower realms. The neutral system, meanwhile, causes no harm but brings no benefit either — it simply lets our precious time and resources slip away wastefully, neither doing good nor doing evil, until our lifetime runs out for nothing. Yet our journey through the round of rebirth is long, and if we let it pass for nothing, what will we rely on? To abide in a fortunate realm requires merit to sustain us; without merit, we cannot remain in a fortunate state at all. And when unwholesome kamma bears fruit, great suffering follows. That is why we need to learn, understand, and train ourselves to abide in the wholesome system.

The Four Foundations of Mindfulness: Knowing Body, Feeling, Mind, and Mental Objects

To abide in the wholesome system, the Lord Buddha taught in the Satipatthana Sutta that monks should clearly know the body, feelings, mind, and mental objects, in order to remove craving and aversion toward the world. In short, he taught us to know the body and mind, and to let go of liking and disliking entirely.

To know here means to fix attention deliberately on something specific. For example, fixing attention at the nostrils to know the breath is called anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing. Fixing attention on the abdomen — rising as the breath comes in, falling as it goes out — is the “rising-falling” method. Knowing the body in all its postures is called body-contemplation. Knowing feelings — pleasant, painful, or neutral — is called feeling-contemplation. Or dwelling with the mind, knowing whatever thought or feeling arises within, recognizing what nature has entered and what we are thinking, is called mind-contemplation. Or abiding with mental objects — the qualities that are the mind's concerns — fixing on and considering any one of them, is called mind-object-contemplation.

We may choose to know any of these, all serving to remove craving and aversion — delight and sorrow — toward the world. Let there be no delight, no sorrow; keep the mind neutral and balanced, undisturbed by liking or disliking. Or we may rest the mind at the center of the body, staying with a sense of ease, letting only ease remain, holding to it continuously. Or we may stay with whichever meditation anchor we are already familiar with — whatever anchor we know well, we simply rest with it, at ease.

A Familiar Meditation Anchor, and the Closing Chant

Calm meditation takes a feeling or mental object as its anchor — the anchor is what holds the mind steady. Whatever anchor we are familiar with — such as the in-breath and out-breath — we simply recognize it as it appears and stay with it continuously. Or we may stay with the recitation “Samma Arahang, Samma Arahang”, resting in ease. There are many good objects we can know, hold to, and let mindfulness rest upon. Once mindfulness is established, it draws in a continuous stream of merit.

This pure element of merit is what drives the wholesome system, refining and purifying the elements within us, freeing us from the stains and defilements that cause trouble and hardship in our lives. As the stains grow lighter, our troubles grow lighter too; and once the stains are gone, whatever binds us to the coarser dimension falls away, and we move from the coarse dimension toward ever subtler ones — even while things may still feel dim or unclear, whether we are aware of it or not. The wholesome system continues, without pause, to refine and help free us.

Knowing this, we settle and rest with the meditation anchor we know well, each person practicing in their own way. He then closed the sitting with a Pali chant of blessing: “Sabbe buddha balappatta, paccekananca yam balam, arahantananca tejena, rakkham bandhami sabbaso. Sabba-buddhanubhavena, sabba-dhammanubhavena, sabba-sanghanubhavena, saddha sotthi bhavantu te” — meaning: by the power attained by all Buddhas, by the power of the Paccekabuddhas, and by the might of the Arahants, may protection be bound all around; by the power of all the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, may well-being come to you all.