Note — a specific tradition’s technique
This closing method is the same one printed at the back of all three volumes. It’s not generic mindfulness — it’s the Dhammakaya technique taught by Luang Por Sod of Wat Paknam. Offered as an optional practice; take the parts that serve you.
Meditation here means calm, ease, and a deep happiness you can make for yourself. The steps:
- Settle in. Pay a moment’s respect to whatever you hold sacred, and steady your intention to be a decent person — it softens and readies the mind.
- Recall the good. Kneel or sit comfortably and bring to mind good things you’ve done — today, in the past, and intend to do — until you feel almost made of that goodness.
- Take your posture. Cross-legged, right leg over left, right hand over left, right index finger to left thumb; upright but not stiff. Close the eyes softly, as if dozing — no squeezing.
- Picture the sphere, say the word. Imagine a clear, bright crystal ball resting at the center of your body (two finger-widths above the navel). Gently, on repeat, say in the mind: Samma Araham. Coax; never force.
- Rest in it. When the bright sphere holds steady, let your attention rest at its very center. From there, the tradition says, a brighter inner sphere — the “Dhamma sphere” — rises on its own.
Four cautions
- Don’t use force anywhere in the body — it drags the mind off-center.
- Don’t crave to see. Stay neutral; what’s meant to appear appears in its own time.
- Don’t fuss over the breath. This method rests on gently gazing at inner brightness, so breath-control isn’t needed.
- Afterward, keep the mind at your center as you go about the day — standing, walking, working.
Weekend takeaway
The whole method, honestly: get comfortable, warm up the heart with a good memory, rest your attention on a bright point at your center with a quiet word, and don’t force a thing. Five minutes counts. Start there.