July 23, 2546 B.E.
The Different Levels of Elevated Meditative Attainments
Today is the tenth day of this Rains-Retreat, and the countdown continues. Each Rains-Retreat lasts only ninety days. And now there are only eighty days left of this Rains-Retreat which is the season for attaining the Dhamma where the monks can see the Dhammakaya, the novice monks can see the Dhammakaya, and the lay devotees can see the Dhammakaya.
When you can attain the Dhammakaya, you will have your own refuge.
There are two levels to seeing the Dhammakaya. The first level is when one sees the Dhammakaya before one's mind comes to a complete standstill. The second level is when one's mind has come to a complete standstill before one sees the Dhammakaya. This is the level where one can see one Dhamma Sphere inside another. One can see the different Inner Bodies, layer by layer until one sees the different Dhammakaya.
At the first level, one sees the Dhammakaya in a variety of shapes and sizes made of different materials. Usually, He looks like the Buddha Image that one is familiar with, which is different depending on the time period, the country, and the region where Buddhism used to flourish. The Dhammakaya at this level looks like the visualized Buddha Image which varies depending on the region and the time period. The Image appears to one from the time that one visualizes the Buddha Image to the time when one's mind is almost at a standstill. The Buddha Image that one sees at this point still appears inanimate and lacks all of the thirty-two physical attributes of the Perfect Man.
To know and see all of the thirty-two physical attributes of the Perfect Man, one must first be able to attain the Dhammakaya. Everyone's Dhammakaya looks exactly the same. Whoever attains the Dhammakaya will see the same Dhammakaya. And then any doubts that one may have had about the Dhammakaya will disappear. One will be filled with joy and happiness instead. The Dhammakaya exists at the most profound and the most refined level. He represents the true Triple Gem inside us.
This is the goal of this Rains-Retreat, to attain the Dhammakaya at this profound and refined level. Some practitioners have already been able to see the Dhammakaya or the Buddha Image at the first level and that is fine as long as you can see the Buddha Image whenever you close your eyes to practice meditation. Keep on practicing until you become very good at it. Keep on practicing all the time whatever you may be doing.
One may ask another practitioner if his Buddha Image looks like the Buddha Image that one can see. When the answer comes, one may begin to doubt if what one sees is a product of one's imagination. What one should do instead is to be happy with whatever Buddha Image appears at the center of one's body because seeing the Buddha Image earns one
merit, wholesomeness and blessings. At least, one can see it. At this first level, the Buddha Image will appear different from one practitioner to another. But the experience can eventually lead one to attain the Dhammakaya who possesses all the thirty-two physical attributes of the Perfect Man. The Dhammakaya will have an additional feature, however. And that is the lotus bud on top of His raised crown. The Dhammakaya is crystal clear, pure, and alive.
Therefore, let everyone endeavor to attain the Dhammakaya during this Rains-Retreat so that he can have his own true refuge.
Everyone is here on earth to make clear the Path and Fruit of Nibbana and to pursue Perfections. Nibbana can be found inside each person. A word in an incantation which has to do with the Dhamma-Virtues is Opanayiko. It means keeping one's mind inside one's self for the purpose of meeting the Inner Triple Gem. One's mind is not supposed to be outside of one'sself at all. If one wishes to meet the real Dhammakaya, one must keep one's mind inside one's self at the seventh base in the center of one's body at all times. Keep practicing and in time one will be able to meet the real Dhammakaya.
