พระอาจารย์แนะว่าการค้าขายให้สำเร็จอัศจรรย์อาศัยได้สองทาง คือกำลังแห่งจิต (เจโตวิมุตติ) ด้วยการกำหนดใจให้มั่นอย่างที่คุณยายเคยสอน หรือกำลังแห่งปัญญา (ปัญญาวิมุตติ) ที่รู้วิธีลงมือทำ แต่ถ้ายังไม่มีทั้งสองอย่าง วิธีที่ง่ายที่สุดคือพึ่งครูบาอาจารย์ด้วยความนอบน้อมไม่อวดเก่ง ดังเรื่องของหลวงพ่อฤๅษีลิงดำที่ต้องกลับไปแก้ไขจนกว่าครูจะยอมรับ นอกจากนี้การระลึกถึงครูบาอาจารย์ด้วยใจเคารพ ยังช่วยสร้างบุญใหม่มาเสริมบุญเก่า ทำให้การค้าขายราบรื่นยิ่งขึ้นPhra Ajarn teaches that selling successfully can draw on two kinds of power: the power of mind (ceto-vimutti), by resolving firmly in the way Khun Yai once taught, or the power of wisdom (panna-vimutti), knowing exactly what to do. If a person has neither yet, the simplest path is to rely humbly on one’s teacher without showing off one’s own skill, as in the story of Luang Phor Ruesi Lingdam, who kept redoing his work until his teacher accepted it. Recollecting one’s teachers with a respectful mind also generates new merit that reinforces old merit, making one’s trade or business run more smoothly.
A student once asked Phra Ajarn how to make selling succeed as if by a miracle, and asked him to show the way. Phra Ajarn told a story about Khun Yai. Once, in the early days of building the temple, Khun Yai went to visit a sponsor. On the way back, the car passed a vendor sitting and selling her goods. Khun Yai remarked, “If it were me, I would have sold everything long ago.” When someone asked her how she managed that, Khun Yai answered, “If you want to sell it all, just resolve it firmly. Decide the goods are sold out, and sold out they will be. Why? Because the mind is a servant to whatever is resolved. Whatever you determine, that is what happens. Determine it well, and it turns out well. Determine boredom, and boredom comes. Determine that the goods run out, and they run out.”
Phra Ajarn explained further that once the mind is set on the goods selling out, the power of our mind influences people walking by so that they feel compelled to buy — even someone who had already walked past without buying would turn back and buy, surprising even themselves at why they had bought it.
Ceto-vimutti and Panna-vimutti
Phra Ajarn explained that the method Khun Yai used draws on the power of the mind, called ceto-, which produces a person of great inner power. The other path draws on the power of wisdom, called panna-vimutti, which belongs to “those who know” — they can tell exactly what to do, how to design something, what to say, and they will also help remove obstacles along the way.
When You Don't Know What to Do, Rely on Your Teacher
But if a person has neither this power of mind nor this power of wisdom, and does not know what to do, Phra Ajarn said the simplest path is to rely on one’s teacher. If you have a teacher, lean on your teacher.
He then gave the example of Luang Phor Pan of Wat Bang Nomkho, whose student was Luang Phor Ruesi Lingdam. Once Luang Phor Ruesi Lingdam had attained jhana, his teacher tested him by having him make sacred objects. He devoted himself to sustaining jhana-samabatti throughout an entire Rains Retreat, from the first day of Vassa to the last. When he finished, he thought his teacher would surely praise him — but as he carried the sacred objects on a tray into the teacher’s hut, Luang Phor Pan simply shook his head. He did not dare walk any further in, and went back to reflect that he still had not gotten it right.
So he began again, starting from the day the Retreat ended, continuing through another full Rains Retreat and beyond — 365 days in all. He brought the sacred objects, made with the power of mind through ceto-vimutti along a pure, clean lineage, to pay respect to his teacher once more. But the teacher again shook his head and said it still would not do — even after 365 days of effort.
He went back to reflect once more. This time he made the objects in a single day, invoking the Buddha, the , the Sangha, and Nibbana into them. The next day he brought the tray to his teacher, having done the work in just one day. This time Luang Phor Pan saw it and said, “This is how it must be.” The lesson from this story: if you have a teacher, rely on your teacher — do not show off your own skill.
Relying on Teachers of Great Virtue
Phra Ajarn said that whatever we do, we should rely on our teachers, because our teachers are sacred and powerful. Even the Great Reverend Teacher himself acd that the Great Reverend Grand Teacher was extraordinarily sacred. In his own era, some people even said the Abbot of Wat Paknam was “too sacred.” The teachers we can rely on include the Lord Buddha himself, the Great Reverend Grand Teacher, the Great Reverend Teacher, and Khun Yai Ajarn.
Old Merit and New Merit Make Selling Easier
Phra Ajarn closed by explaining that our old exists at a certain level, and our trading or selling will only go as far as that old merit allows. But when we bring our teachers to mind, new merit arises, called sangharatana — directing the mind to recollect them and reflecting that they are ones who uphold the Dhamma. Doing this lets merit flow in; the new merit that flows in draws the old merit along with it. This means we are not merely living off old merit alone, but have new merit added to reinforce it — helping us meet good fortune, and helping the merit of the Universal Monarch work more easily for us.