ทดสอบผู้รู้ภายในแล้วเห็นภาพตรงกับความจริง ควรทำหรือไม่ และแยกอย่างไรว่ามาจากฝ่ายไหน?I Tested My Inner Knower and the Vision Matched Reality — Should I Keep Testing, and How Do I Tell Which Side It's From?

A student asked: during a good sit, wanting to test the quality of the mind, they played rock-paper-scissors with a friend, asking their inner knower each time which hand the friend would throw — and both times, the vision that came up matched what the friend actually threw. The second time, they also asked which province the friend lived in, and the image that appeared matched reality there too. Is this kind of testing something one should do, and how can we tell which side an image or thought is coming from?

Why Every Side Wants to Interact With Us

Every nature — kusala (wholesome), akusala (unwholesome), and abyakata (neutral) — wants to be accepted by us. When we accept one of them, our interaction with that side grows, and that is exactly the opening they use to steer us toward what they want, drawing on that energy to drive their own system forward.

Kusala wants to connect with us; it wants us to trust it and interact with it. Akusala, on the other hand, aims to distort the truth and conceal reality from us, so that we won't connect with kusala. Abyakata doesn't help us, but it doesn't distort the truth either. Only kusala can lead us to a genuinely better quality of life, and we have to rely on it — as human beings we simply don't know very much on our own, so relying on this powerful inner knower isn't optional; it's necessary.

Testing the Quality of the Mind

Testing the quality of a wholesome state of mind means asking: is the mind arising right now possessed by kusala, complete with its wholesome mental factors (กุศลเจตสิก)? That's why the test of playing rock-paper-scissors with a friend came about — asking the inner knower before each round which hand the friend would throw, and seeing it play out exactly as shown, both times. The second round, asking which province the friend lived in and seeing the answer match reality too.

The purpose of this kind of testing is to build real confidence that there truly is a knowing, powerful being within us that we can rely on, and that every wholesome thought that arises is entirely its doing — not ours. Every thought that appears is either kusala, akusala, or abyakata.

How to Tell Which Side a Thought Comes From

Since no thought actually belongs to us, we're free to question it and put it to the test — and we need to, in order to build real confidence. Otherwise we end up scattered, chasing after every thought. The first step is: never accept a thought as “yours.” Once it isn't yours, ask who is steering and directing you, then ask what they want to direct you toward, and what the advantages and drawbacks are.

• If it's kusala — kusala means wise. It can lay out the advantages and disadvantages clearly, both of doing and not doing, and its answer leaves you genuinely impressed.
• If it's abyakata — abyakata isn't wise and doesn't know the truth. It just pulls old information from memory to answer you — plain information you already knew — so there's nothing impressive about it, since you didn't need to be told.
• If it's akusala — akusala runs on emotion alone, with no reasoning, and distorts the truth to create confusion and misunderstanding. When it can't answer, it turns emotional — and that's how you know the question hit akusala. If it does answer, the “knowledge” it gives is false and distorted.

Only an answer from the kusala side leaves us genuinely impressed. That's the mark we can use to tell them apart.