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C. OUTCOMES OF LISTENING TO THE DHAMMA 
C.! Fruits of listening to the Dhamma (A.iii.248) 
I. Hearing things never before heard [assutaO 
suAAti]: Because a Dhamma teacher will always put in 
the effort to find new items of Dhamma for the listener 
(see Blessing Three 1C2), if we attend a Dhamma 
sermon, we will almost always be hearing something 
we have never heard before; 
2. Clartfring things already heard [sutaO 
pariyodapeti]: If it happens that the subject to the 
sermon is something we have already heard before, at 
the very least, it will allow us to revise and depthen 
what we already know and raise our mastery to a new 
level allowing us to remember more; 
3. Dispelling one's doubts [ka]khal5 vihanati]: If after 
hearing teachings in the past, it is still with some 
reluctance that we give up old bad habits and strive for 
new better ones, as a result of hearing a Dhamma 
sermon, some of that doubt and reluctance will be 
dispelled; 
4. Straightening one's views [Atha!) ujuO karoti]: In 
the course of our everyday life as we journey in pursuit 
of virtue, we may come up against many obstacles from 
inside and outside which might conspire to infiltrate our 
thinking with 'false views' [micchA diEEhE]. Such 
false views if left to their own devices can eventually 
lead our spiritual cultivation to go in circles or else to 
deviate from the objectives we have set ourselves. One 
advantage of regularly hearing Dhamma teachings is 
that we will be able to identify the workings of False 
View in our mind and to uproot these, cultivating Right 
View [sammA diEEhE] in their place. 
5. Calming the mind and bringing happiness 
[cittamassa pasEdati]: Hearing Dhamma sermons will 
'wake us up' to the reality of life and the world, shaking 
our mind out of distraction with sensuality, vengeance 
and aggression while making clearer to us where our 
weaknesses lie, and to raise up our morale giving us the 
means by which to definitively overcome those weak-
nesses — ultimately attaining the path and fruit 
of Nirvana. 
C2 Predispositions acquired through listening to the 
Dhamma 
By listening to Dhamma sermons, even though we 
might not understand everything of what we hear, 
something which we will gradually acquire in our 
personality through our perseverence are certain sorts 
of pre-disposition. Such deeply rooted habits become 
like bedrock for the mind. Even though we might not 
understand everything we hear when we listen to the 
Dhamma, before long, we will start to build up a 
vocabulary of technical terms associated with the 
Dhamma — even if we are not sure of the meaning, we 
have a familiarity with them. Sometimes we don't 
know the meaning of chanting, but before long we have 
a passing acquaintance with the Pali words. Such 
predispositions will be like 'capital' that will be a 
downpayment making cultivation of good deeds by us 
easier in future in four different ways: 
I. Quicker attainment of wisdom: in subsequent 
existences one will attain wisdom quickly and with 
ease. One will be able to recall and apply items of 
Dhamma with ease allowing one to attain the path and 
fruit of Nirvana quickly: 
2. Ability to teach: in subsequent existences, once one 
has a knowledge of Dhamma, it will be easy for one to 
teach it and explain it to others; 
3. Recognition of the Dhamma message: in subsequent 
existences, even if one cannot remember items of 
Dhamma oneself, but upon hearing Dhamma teaching 
from others, one will be able to attain the path and fruit 
of Nirvana quickly 
and one's understanding will be thorough and 
without any shadow of a doubt. Like a person who has 
heard the sound of a drum once before 
even much later, after a journey of many miles 
if they are to hear the sound of a drum for the 
second time, they will recognize it instantly for what it is. 
It would be hard for anyone to persuade such a person that 
what they are listening to is not a drum. 
4. Easily re-awakened to the value of Dhamma 
teachings: in subsequent existences, even if one can no 
longer remember the Dhamma one has 
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learned, and even if there is no-one to teach it, but 
on hearing only a few words of advice from others, 
or perhaps even overhearing such advice 
— it will bring back one's former knowledge of 
Dhamma easily allowing one to attain the path and 
fruit of Nirvana with ease. 
Even those who regularly perform their Morning and 
Evening Chanting, even though they might not know 
the precise meaning of the Pali vocabulary 
— it is certainly not a waste of time because at the very 
least it will bring peace of mind and a familiarity with 
the Pali turns of phrase so that in a future existence 
even just overhearing the sound of someone else 
chanting, it will attract one to investigate more closely 
and have the opportunity to hear Dhamma teachings —
and having heard them, to understand them with ease as 
the result of the past disposition we have built up for 
ourselves, so that we can attain the path and fruit of 
Nirvana with ease. 
D. ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES 
D. I Proverb: Those who see the danger in the cycle of 
existence (S.v.94-6) 
"O! You who see the danger in the cycles of 
existence [saOsAra], in whatsoever era the 
Noble Disciples hear the Dhamma, listen to 
the marrow of their bones, listen to the 
innermost part of their mind, and who muster 
all of their encouragement, bending their ears 
to listen in earnest — in that era their Five 
Hindrances will be overcome and their Seven 
Factors of Enlightenment [bojjhalga] will be 
brought to completion through the power of 
their meditation." 
D.2 EL CElapanthaka DhA.L239ff 
There was one monk in the time of the Lord Buddha 
called CElapanthaka who had ordained for ten years but 
was so inert that after all that time he could not even 
remember four lines of verse (one vagga). His elder 
brother (already an arahant) despaired. He thought, 
"My younger brother is so dumb he cannot even 
remember four lines of verse so what chance would he 
have of learning the chant 
ing or any of the longer suttas of the Buddha?" 
CElapanthaka was chased out of the temple and 
shunned because he wasn't considered worth his 
almsfood. CElapanthaka left the temple in despair and 
met with the Buddha. CElapanthaka informed the 
Buddha that he was going to disrobe. The Buddha asked 
him, "When you ordained, did you ordain to offer your 
life to Buddhism or did you ordain for the benefit of 
your big brother?" CElapanthaka agreed he had 
ordained to offer his life for Buddhism so he renewed 
his interest to continue with the ordination. The Buddha 
looked back into the previous lifetimes of CElapanthaka 
to see what was the problem impeding his progress in 
the apprehension of Buddhism. In past lives he had been 
very intelligent but he had become arrogant as the result 
of his intelligence and had regularly teased a fellow 
monk who was not so gifted so often that the other 
monk despaired and disrobed. That evil had made him 
as stupid as his victim in every subsequent lifetime. The 
Buddha realized that to memorize any scriptures would 
be fruitless so he found another way to teach the monk. 
He taught the monk the word 'rajoharaAa& (meaning 
sullied) and gave the monk a piece of white cloth with 
which to wipe his own head. He gave the monk the 
practice of reciting the word while at the same time 
wiping his head with the cloth. The white cloth was 
blackened by sweat and dirt and eventually 
CElapanthaka, seeing that the impurity of his own body 
had sullied the white cloth to make it black, lost 
attraction for his own body, his mind was able to enter 
the centre of his body and attain the DhammakAya 
inside. He became an arahant where he stood. His elder 
brother could not believe he was enlightened until his 
younger brother performed a feat of mental power by 
replicating thousands of images of himself 
[manomayiddhi]. 
D.3 Er. JanasAna Ascetic (MahAvaOsa-EEkA 190ff) 
In the time of Kassapa Buddha, there was a python 
which had dug a burrow just next to a cave where 
monks regularly chanted the Abhidhamma. The monks 
often chanted the verses concerning the sense doors 
[Ayatana] and how they should be re-
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strained. The python heard the chanting every day but 
because it was a snake, of course it could not 
understand the meaning. It could only remember the 
word 'Ayatana' and the pleasant personality of the 
monk chanting the verses. It was these things that the 
snake remembered at the last moments of its life. 
Usually animals will only think of food, mating and 
fear of death — but this snake thought only of Dhamma 
and was reborn as an angel. It lived in heaven for a 
hundred years. The ex-snake was reborn in about 300 
li.C. as JanasAna and his former familiarity with the 
chanting attracted him to ordination, even from teenage. 
He became an ascetic who was able to become versed 
in the Y edas.Thew[rr.M*rMn Masi M we Ak breinewOcemicetn. 
At that time the Queen who would be mother to the 
Emperor Asoka conceived. Usually when women become 
pregnant, they have morning sickness which leads them to 
have some strange compulsions. Some would like to eat 
strange things such as sand or human blood. Some feel 
compelled to shout at the neighbours. For the mother of 
Asoka, her compulsion was to have the moon and the sun 
at her feet and to eat stars and clouds. 
The young ascetic heard the strange desires of the queen and 
was able to tell her that he child would be no ordinary son. lie 
told her that wanting to stand on the sun and the moon was a 
sign that her son would rule the whole of the subcontinent. 
Wanting to eat the stars was a sign that Asoka would kill 
some of his own brothers and sisters and wanting to eat 
clouds was a sign that he would destroy heretic sects which 
got in the way of the truth (like the clouds which hide the 
sun). 
The life of Emperor Asoka proved all the prophecies of 
the ascetic to be true, so Asoka sent his men with a 
golden palanquin to invite the ascetic to the palace. 
However, on the way, the ascetic visited Vattaniya 
Hermitage and met with an arahant Assagutta who 
taught about the sense doors. Just hearing the word 
'Ayatana' woke him up to the value of Buddhism to the 
extent that he asked to 
I. The Vedas arc Hindu scriptures in which some of the prophetic 
materials share elements of the Buddhist scriptures from a time when 
Buddhism has almost disappeared from the world and which is 
passed down to the next era. 
ordain at that very moment and could become an 
arahant himself in the reign of Asoka. Thus even 
listening to the Dhamma without understanding the 
meaning can have implications to the extent of 
enlightenment in the future. 
D.4 EL Saccake Nigantha M.i.234ff, MA.i.469ff 
In the JAyamaigalagAthA chanting which recollects the 
victories of the Buddha achieved without aggression — there 
was one example in that chanting of a dialogue with a leading 
philosopher in contemporary India. Both his parents were also 
philosophers. In his own right, he was renowned for his skill 
in dialogue. He was not contented when many of his 
supporters became followers of the Buddha so he planned to 
defeat the Buddha in debate to descredit Him. He went to see 
the Buddha with a huge congregation of supporters (who 
loved debates). 
That morning the Buddha had seen in his meditation 
that Saccaka Nigantha was ripe for progress in 
Dhamma that day, but not to the extent of attaining the 
Path and Fruit of Nirvana (the reason for this was 
because he lacked sufficient engrained familiarity with 
the Dhamma). However, as a result of their debate, 
Saccaka Nigantha would absorb the Dhamma he had 
learned as an engrained familiarity that would help him 
towards enlightenment in a future lifetime. The 
philosopher was defeated in the discussion and listened 
to the teaching of the Buddha. He invited the Buddha to 
take a meal in his own house and again heard a 
repetition of the same sermon, but still was unable to 
understand it. He could manage no more than faith. 
In the next lifetime he was born in Sri Lanka and 
became a monk known as KAOa-Buddharakkhita at an 
early age. He knew all the Teachings by heart, but the 
engrained habits of a philosopher rendered him unable 
to practice any of them. He knew only the theory. One 
day his teacher warned him to practice himself or else 
all his students would be arahants before him. The 
monk realized his mistake, practised for himself and 
was soon able to become an arahant himself. At that 
time, with his old ability in dialogue together with the 
sermon in his mind, received from the Buddha in a 
previous life 
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time, he was soon able to become a valuable Buddhist 
missionary. 
D.5 EL KAOE KuraragharikA (DhA.iv.103ff) 
KAOE 
KuraragharikA 
was 
the 
mother 
of 
SoAa-KuEikaAAA Thera. On one occasion, SoAa 
passed through his home town. On his return from the 
Jetavana monastery, his mother met him and organised 
a grand charity in his honour. Having heard that her son 
could expound the Dhamma very well, she requested 
him to give a discourse. SoAa complied with her 
request and so she built a pavilion for the purpose. A 
large crowd, including his mother, turned up to listen to 
the Dhamma expounded by SoAa. 
While she was at the pavilion, some thieves broke into 
her house. However the leader of the thieves went to 
the pavilion to keep an eye on her. His intention was to 
kill her should she return home early on learning about 
the theft at her house. Her maid, left behind to guard 
the house, went to the pavilion to inform her about the 
theft, but the lady only said, 'Let 
the thieves take all my money, I don't care. But don't 
come and disturb me while I am listening to the 
Dhamma!' Having reprimanded her, she sent the maid 
home. 
The leader of the thieves, who was sitting closeby, 
overheard everything. Her words also made him think, 'If 
we take away the property of this wise and noble lady, we 
will surely be punished. We might even be struck by 
lightning.' The leader got alarmed, hurried back to her 
house and ordered his thieves to return all the things they 
had taken. The gang of thieves then went to the pavilion to 
listen to the Dhamma. 
SoAa finished his exposition of the Dhamma at the 
crack of dawn. Then, the leader and all the thieves 
admitted their mistakes and requested for her forgive-
ness. Being a kind and devout lady she pardoned them 
all. Realising the evil of their ways, all the thieves 
joined the Holy Order. After receiving instructions 
from SoAa, the new hhikkhus went into the forest to 
practise meditation. The Buddha knowing their mental 
attitudes sent forth his radiance and exhorted them on 
the way to gain Purity 
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7-
The Eighth 
Group of Blessings 
"Instilling Oneself with Higher Virtues" 
Having acquired the basic virtues in Group VII culminating in regu-
lar listening to the Dhamma (Blessing Twenty-Six) — to cultivate 
oneself further on the Buddhist path of progress, it is necessary to 
instill ourselves with higher virtues such as patience, openness to 
criticism, the sight of a true monk and regular dicussion of the 
Dhamma. There is a major distinction between the basic virtues 
described in Group VII and the higher virtues described in Group 
VIII. The basic virtues of Group VII are concerned with making 
ourselves receptive to what we hear during a Dhamma talk — and 
this is the major purpose of the virtues of respect, humility and 
gratitude. However the culmination of Group VIII is more demand-
ing. Even after the explanation of various items of Dhamma in 
Group VII we may not understand them until we see them exem-
plified. We might be able to understand the Precepts [site] from a 
Dhamma sermon, but we might not be able to comprehend how 
they can bring happiness until we see the happiness of a monk who 
keeps the Precepts well in Group VIII. Thus the 'higher' virtues of 
Group VIII are more demanding because they are 'interactive' vir-
tues — namely patience and openness to criticism — which make 
us ready before we see a monk and discuss the Dhamma with him. 
Without these two major 'interactive' virtues, if the monk should 
attempt to point out a profound truth to us which conflicts with the 
defilements still lurking in our mind, if too much is demanded of 
us, instead of improving ourselves, we might flounce away in a 
huff — the 'fool' re-appearing in us because our patience and open-
ness to criticism is insufficient. 
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Blessing Twenty-Seven: 
Patience 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 The Place of Blessing Twenty-seven in the order 
of things 
Patience is necessary as an interactive virtue because 
we need to be prepared to overcome many possible 
obstacles, especially conflicts and temptations, in order 
to acquire the higher virtues. Patience is one of the most 
important qualities of mind we can possess. We do 
meditation the whole of our lives to give rise to the 
wisdom that will allow us to identify and overcome the 
defilements in the mind — but you could never attain 
wisdom without a foundation of patience. In fact 
patience is not only the foundation of wisdom — it is 
the foundation of every sort of virtue in the world. Thus 
if we already have a mirror with which we can examine 
the quality of the mind, the first thing we should be 
looking for is 'patience' in the mind. No matter what 
task we undertake, our success relies not only upon our 
level of wisdom, but also ow patience to apply our 
wisdom to its intended conclusion. Patience is the virtue 
allowing us to overcome the temptation to backslide or 
become dejected instead of being diligent. Instead of 
seeing obstacles with trepidation, with patience we wel-
come them as challenges — thus every success both in 
spiritual and worldly ways is a monument to the virtue 
of patience. The Buddha praised patience as one of the 
greatest virtues, second only to wisdom. 
B. PATIENCE 
B.I Definition: Patience 
The root meaning of the Pali word for patience, 
"khanti" literally means maintaining one's normal state 
— and this would be true no matter whether shaken by 
tempting or unpleasant stimuli — in the face of such 
obstacles, a patient person remains steadfast. 
B.2 Characteristics of Patience 
The characteristics of authentic patience are as fol-
lows: 
I. We can put up with things: If insulted by a fool, one 
pretends one has not heard. If you are reprimanded for 
something that is not true or if you are provoked, you 
pretend not to hear. Some have just given up drinking 
alcohol and knowing that a colleague might 
intentionally order some liquor and sit down at the 
same table with the intention of making your mouth 
water — if you pretend not to see, that is the practice of 
patience. Patience is to do all the good things you 
normally do with restraint of speech and mind. It 
applies especially when someone has done you a favour 
in the past, but later does something annoying to you. 
Patience is to continue to treat them well without 
forgetting your debt of gratitude to them. Supposing 
you have always been someone with very strong false 
views, by patience you will keep your mouth shut, not 
allowing your views to express themselves in your 
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speech and by continuing to work on yourself 
— until there am no further traces of such false 
views even in your thoughts. 
2. Avoiding being cruel: One is able to keep one's 
temper under control — rather than getting angry, 
violent or threatening. Those who lose their temper 
easily show a lack in their development of patience. 
There is a proverb coined by Indra that: 
"Those angry in response to the angry 
provocation of others are the worse of the two; 
Those who don't respond angrily to angry 
provocation have won the battle which is hard 
indeed to win." (S.i.157) 
At a more subtle level, avoiding cruelty even means 
avoiding allowing other things to irritate you —
whether it be extravagant people, or working in the 
hot weather — irritation would be a sign that your 
level of patience is still lacking.There should not 
even be thought of getting your own back on others 
who have hurt you in the past. 
3. Not bringing tears to others: One avoids bringing 
suffering or mental hurt to others because of any hatred 
we might bear towards them. 
4. Maintaining joyousness of mind the whole of the 
time: One should not allow one's mind to fall away 
from contentment — rather than being vengeful or 
putting the blame on the weather, fate or scapegoats, we 
should try to do all sorts of work with a mind that is 
blythe. You look on the bright side of the world, instead 
of thinking who to blame for hardships — instead of 
grinding your teeth whenever you are ill thinking, 
"Why is it always me? Why do others never get ill like 
me?" 
In addition to all of these you should be interested only 
to mind your own business — instead of nosing into the 
affairs of others which don't concern you. Instead of 
going for instant solutions from fortune tellers, one 
should get down to hard and honest work to ameliorate 
the situation through your own abilities. Keeping the 
Precepts no matter whether others laugh at you or not, 
would count as patience. Supposing you have never 
meditated 
before, or you have meditated but have still not attained 
the Sphere of Dhamma or you are still not able to 
maintain the Sphere of Dhamma the whole of the time 
or you are still unable to attain the Dhammakaya —
then getting on with our daily practice in spite of what 
anyone else says, can be counted as patience. 
B.3 Misunderstandings concerning patience 
Some may be familiar with effigies of three monkies 
often seen in Asia — one monkey with its hands over 
his eyes, the second with his hands over his ears and a 
third with a hand over his mouth. This is a symbol of 
the ancient proverb advocating patience: 
"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" Even though this 
proverb is well known, even the meaning of the three monkies 
has been twisted in the modem day by those who misunderstand 
patience. They say: "Even if you see evil behaviour turn a blind 
eye; even if you hear evil speech, pretend you haven't heard; 
even if you know something evil is going on, keep your mouth 
shut" Thus various evil actions such as corruption continue 
unabated as a result of the pseudo-patience of its witnesses. Thus 
if we are really to understand patience, we have to look carefully 
at its guiding principles instead of succumbing to widespread 
misunderstandings. Supposing a child is too lazy to study or help 
around the house. If his mother reprimands him and he is 
unmoved and indifferent, is that patience? Indeed, it is 
maintaining one's normal conduct in the face of unpleasant 
stimuli, but it is not the cultivation of patience. In this case it 
would be better referred to as stubbomess. Supposing some 
hooligans are normally troublemakers and they ignore someone 
who tells them to stop, carrying on with their normal 
troublemaking 
— is that patience? They may say it is the cultivation of 
patience, but in fact it is more likely to be insensitivity 
to advice. 
Supposing someone is so poor that he is about to 
starve, but instead of helping himself by going out 
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and earning money, he puts up with the situation 
— calling it patience — In fact, he could show a lot 
more patience in striving hard to do the necessary to 
ameliorate his situation. 
By contrast, patience should be the saving grace that 
allows one to extricate oneself from truancy, 
delinquence or poverty. The important characteristic of 
patience is for as long as you are truly patience it 
should be on the basis of a radiant mind not a clouded 
one! True patience is thus: 
the patience to extract oneself from and avoid all eviPaYir18, "Don't attend to the patients who cry out loudly 
— allows you to endure until you can extract yourself from first, because they are still a long way from death. Take 
the clutches of evil behaviour 
care of the ones who have no strength to cry out any more 
• 
the patience to continue to do all manner of virtuous - because we have no way of knowing how much longer 
deeds — allows you to persevere in doing good deeds 
they will be with us. 
• 
the patience to maintain one's mind, not allowing it 
to become clouded — allows you to keep your mind pure and 
radiant 
from a cut in their finger they will scream and cry as if 
they were going to die. In a hospital there were three 
patients. One was crying out as if in agony and it was 
discovered that she had lost her ring finger. She couldn't 
accept her own bad luck because she thought, "I'll never 
be able to wear a wedding ring any more." The second bed 
had a patient who was just moaning now and then. She had 
lost her arm and both legs. At the third bed, all was quiet 
because the patient had a broken neck. It was because of 
many similar situations that the people of old had the 
B.4 Levels of patience 
Patience exists at at least four different levels: 
I. Patience in the face of hardship: This means en-
durance of hardships caused by the environment around 
us — such as the heat of the sun, or the rain. We were 
born with the sky over our heads and not a roof, so if it 
rains or the sun is hot then we have to accept it and 
carry on with our work in the rain or the sun. 
2. Patience in the face of physical suffering: Eve-
rybody has physical feelings in their body. All you need 
to do is sit without moving for a few minutes and you 
will start to feel stiff. However, some people sit around 
a gambling table or sit watching a movie all night 
without moving or complaining — but why when you 
sit for meditation for a few minutes is it such a grueling 
experience (?) — only because you lack patience in the 
face of suffering. This category of patience also 
includes toleration of the suffering implicit in illness. If 
a person has an illness and they exaggerate their 
suffering by reveling in it, it is as if they are twice as ill 
than they need to be. Some people can tolerate all sorts 
of hardship, but if they see their own blood 
3. Patience in the face of conflict (mental suffering.): 
This refers to patience we have when confronted by anger, 
discontent and denial that comes from hearing insulting 
words, unpleasant treatment or manners, being put under 
pressure by one's boss or by one's subordinates and 
various sorts of injustice in society. People in our society 
are very diverse in their dispositions 
— thus don't expect everyone to be as you would 
want in every respect — thus once you start to 
develop the social dimension of your life, if you 
want to get along with other people, you need to 
prepare plenty of this sort of patience for yourself. 
Everybody in the world loves to do exactly whatever 
they want without taking any notice of any 
regulations — but in fact it just shows that you are 
lacking this third form of patience. The more people 
live in a community together, the more occasions 
there will be for conflict. People have different hab-
its, needs and backgrounds and if they don't have the 
capacity to be tolerant of others' differences then 
conflicts will soon break out. Even if you possess all 
the forms of patience already discussed, but you lack 
patience in the face of conflict, you cannot make a 
success of life — supposing you resign from a place 
of work every time you get a little bit of criticism? 
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4. Patience in the face of temptation: This means 
patience to avoid succumbing to attractive or distractive 
things which maybe you would like to do but which are 
inappropriate e.g. the patience not to succumb to the 
temptation of touring night clubs, gambling, addictive 
drugs, bribery, corruption, promiscuity, drunkenness 
concerning rank or power or boasting etc. This is 
resistance towards the things that distract us from our 
real work or purpose — for example, to resist the 
attraction of going on outings, gambling, smoking, 
drinking or taking drugs. Before you had experience of 
any of these things, you would have found it easy to 
resist any of them because you regarded all of them in a 
negative light — but whenever you have had your first 
taste, your capacity to refuse is significantly weakened. 
Before you knew the rules of poker the whole game 
seemed very tedious but as soon as you knew how to 
play, it began to feel more like a way of strengthening 
friendship, or an aid to mental calculation. Before trying 
heroin, like the rest of the world you would condemn it, 
but once you become more familiar with it, it suddenly 
seems more acceptable as a way of enhancing your 
strength. It might take patience not to accept a bribe. If 
someone offers you a bribe of a 1,000 or 10,000, you 
might find it easy to refuse, saying, "What do you think 
I am — a mercenary?" But what if they offer you 
100,000 to keep your mouth shut? You might say, "Per-
sonally, I don't have the need of your money, but 
sometimes, I have to help out my employees and their 
families ... but both my self-respect and those of my 
employees are worth more than your money!" When 
offered a million, there is only one response left — "I'll 
take it!" As soon as you are put in a position of 
responsibility, there will be things to tempt you. The sort 
of patience that you need to overcome this sort of 
temptation is even more difficult to master than patience 
against conflict. Most people who are already 
temple-goers already feel indifferent if anyone comes up 
and insults them — it is not much different than 
listening to a dog barking. We often 
congratulate ourselves for being so patient — not 
getting angry when insulted. However, are you 
patient enough not to smile when someone praises 
you? Flattery is specially dangerous for young ladies 
who run away with the first spotty youth to chat 
them up. This final type of patience is the hardest of 
all to develop — as in the words of the ancient 
saying: 
"Not to be angry when insulted is hard enough 
— but not to be elated by flattery is harder still" 
Thus obstacles on all four levels can be overcome 
by patience. 
C. CULTIVATING PATIENCE 
Cl Training oneself in patience 
Training oneself in patience when one is put in situ-
ations of hardship can be easier if one bears the fol-
lowing tips in mind: 
I. Reflect regularly on one's sense of conscience: 
When we are fully ashamed of evil [hiri] and fear the 
consequences 
of evil 
[(mapped, 
patience 
will 
automatically arise; 
2. Transform negative emotions into positive ones: In 
the case we are maltreated, by relativizing, and 
reminding ourselves that things could be worse, we can 
elevate our level of patience in the face of hardship. If 
they insult you, remind yourself it is better than being 
beaten by them. If you are beaten by them, remind 
yourself that it is better than dying at their hands. Some 
people only like to meditate when they feel it is easy 
for them to do so. On days when it doesn't seem to be 
going very well, often they make no attempt to carry on 
with the practice. Such people will be unlikely to make 
progress, because they refuse to meditate at exactly the 
time when they need to sit for meditation the most. If 
you sit for meditation and find it is not going as well as 
you expected, don't give up. Think instead, "Today all I 
can see in meditation is pitch darkness — well at least 
that is better than feeling dizzy." And if some days you 
sit for meditation and you feel dizzy, think instead, 
"today I feel dizzy in meditation — well at least that is 
better than feeling stiff." And if 
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some days you sit for meditation and feel stiff, think 
instead, "Today I feel stiff in meditation — well at 
least that is better than having a headache." And if 
some days you sit for meditation and have a 
headache, think instead, 'Today I have a headache 
when meditating — well at least that is better than 
having a fever." Such an attitude is equivalent to the 
attitude of a boxer who dodges punches to avoid the 
painful blows they are intended to cause. 
3. Practice meditation regularly: Meditation is the 
foundation of all sorts of patience. Patience allows our 
meditation to deepen. As our meditation deepens, our 
ability to be patient is improved. This is why no matter 
what part of Buddhism you want to study you have to 
meditate first to prepare the mind. Train yourself in 
meditation continuously. Patience and meditation are 
complementary virtues — for patience to be good, there 
must be a good quality of meditation as its foundation. 
For meditation to progress, it needs patience as its 
springboard. Patience is like the left hand and 
meditation like the right. If the left hand gets dirty, it 
can be washed with the right. If the right hand is dirty it 
can be washed with the left — and if both are dirty, one 
can be rubbed against the other to get them both clean. 
C2 Turning a blind eye to provocation 
The Great Abbot of Wat Paknam taught how patience 
is invaluable for the cultivation of meditation. He 
taught that you need to: 
"do as if your eyes are blind like bamboo; do as if 
your ears are as deaf as frying pans; do as if your 
body is as humble as a doormat-rag; do as if your 
mind was as steadfast as the earth" 
The conclusion of his advice is in the order of the 
above verses: 
I. don't go looking at the inappropriate things — for 
example, don't go looking at the other people who go 
to the same temple who might annoy you 
2. don't go listening to the things that are inap-
propriate — for example, don't go listening to gossip 
3. don't look down on even the humblest of work 
4. don't allow your mind to be upset by elation or 
disgust: your mind needs to be like the earth which 
doesn't recoil no matter whether unpleasant refuse or 
the most exotic perfume is poured onto it and a 
mountain remains unshaken in the face of the winds 
from the four directions. 
If you can follow these four practices, you will soon be 
able to cultivate patience and other virtues will follow. 
C.3 Practising patience in the face of injustice 
Similarly the Great Abbot of Wat Paknam gave a path 
of practice to victims of injustice. Sometimes you know 
that you are being maligned — but to lose your temper 
about it would do nothing to help the situation. Usually 
such injustice is the end product of a longer train of 
contributing factors which are better dealt with cooly 
and calmly by such means as new legislation — thus if 
you find yourself the victim of the end products of 
injustice rather than letting it spoil your day, you can 
cultivate patience as follows: 
L Never fight back For example if they insult you, 
don't insult them in return. If there is a fight there is 
always a winner and a loser. In our case that is never 
enough because we will settle for nothing less than 
outright victory. If they put an article of lies about you 
in the paper, don't go giving an interview to the 
newspapers instantly. Maybe you should just have a 
private talk with your boss to let him know the real 
situation. Don't engage in mud-slinging. Even if you 
publicize your response in the papers, they may twist 
your words to their own advantage. 
Z Never run away. By running away it is like ad-
mitting your guilt. 
3. Do good deeds continuously. 
This is the 
transformative part of our patience. Don't give up but 
maintain your quality of mind. Don't leave weak spots 
for your opponents to attack further. The initial 
accusation is only like the first punch of a boxing match 
— to see how the opponent will open himself up to 
further attacks. 'Good' in the worldly sense means 
carrying on 
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with `business as usual'. Do everything according to 
the book, in case someone looks for fault with your 
practice. In spiritual ways, don't go relying on others 
but rely on the merit you have done. Merit is really 
the thing that helps people win or lose. Thus any 
morning when you haven't given done something 
generous, don't dare to take breakfast. Any day 
when you don't intend to keep the Precepts, don't 
dare to leave the house. Any evening when you 
haven't done your meditation and chanting, don't 
dare to go to bed. In that way your goodness will 
accumulate making you less vulnerable to injustice. 
If you can manage to follow this advice, before long 
you will win a victory without bloodshed. It will be 
outright victory and the public sympathy will fall on 
your side. 
D. ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES 
D.1 Metaphor: Grass is Patient 
Despite its small size, the tenacity of grass has allowed 
it to spread to every corner of the world. In the same 
way, despite a person's lack of wealth, knowledge or 
ability, their patience will allow them to train 
themselves towards happiness and success in life. 
D.2 Er. KhantirAdE JAtaka (J.313) 
At a time when the Lord Buddha was still pursuing 
Perfections as the Bodhisattva, he was born as a hermit. lie 
was meditating in a royal park. That day the king was drunk 
and came through the forest with his retinue of court ladies. 
The king fell asleep in the forest, so all the courtiers became 
bored and instead of attending the king, they went to listen to 
the teachings of the hermit nearby. When the king woke and 
found himself alone he lost his temper. When he found the 
courtiers, instead of being angry with his courtiers for leaving 
him, he became jealous of the hermit for having become the 
centre of the courtiers' attention. 
He shouted at the hermit saying, "What's so good about 
you? — Speak up for yourself if you have any 
particular virtues to speak of!" 
The hermit said, "I have the habit of not being driven to 
anger. I train myself in patience." 
The king said, "That's all I wanted to hear. We'll soon 
find out where your patience lies!"— and had his 
attendants whip the hermit a thousand of times. 
The hermit remained indifferent. He said, "Your 
majesty, patience is not to be found my skin but in my 
mind. Even if you were to strip all my skin off you 
would not find it." 
The king said, "That's all I wanted to hear. We need 
waste no further time with whipping," and proceeded to 
cut off the ears, nose, arms and legs of the hermit. 
The hermit remained indifferent. Of course it would 
have been agony, but the hermit maintained the quality 
of his mind, and in spite of the pain he was not angry. 
Normally, if something hurts our body, it hurts us to our 
mind, but not in the case of this hermit. Instead of the 
hermit being angry, it was the king who got angry 
because he couldn't manage to upset the hermit. He 
stamped on the ground in anger and turned his back on 
the hermit to leave the park. As he turned, the earth 
opened up beneath his fret and swallowed him directly 
into Aveci Hell. The hermit remained alive, but covered 
in his own blood. The courtiers attended to the hermit's 
wounds and redressed him. They were afraid the hermit 
would be angry with them — they all said that they 
only did what they did because the king had ordered 
them to do so. The hermit replied, "Long live the king 
and anyone else who decides to cut off my arms, legs, 
ears and nose. People of the likes of me have no anger 
left for anyone." 
D.3 Er. PuAAovAda Sulfa Miii.267 
In the time of the Buddha there was a man called 
PuAAa who lived in the town of SunAparanta in the 
south of India. At that time the south of India was less 
developed than the rest of the country. There were even 
cannibals living in the forests and all the inhabitants 
had a reputation for their cruelty. Murder was a daily 
occurrence. PuAAa had been a merchant travelling with 
his brother to trade in the town of SAvatthE. He had the 
chance to hear the teaching of the Buddha and was so 
inspired that he asked to ordain. He tried his best in 
meditation but the foreign climate and the environment 
was not amenable to his meditation — and he could 
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make no progress. One day he came to take his leave of 
the Buddha in order to return to his home country and 
to try meditating there instead. The Buddha disagreed 
with his idea reminding him, "Have you forgotten the 
cruelty of the people in your homeland? Will you be 
able to tolerate the people there?" 
PuAAa replied, "I can." 
The Buddha asked, "What will you do if they insult 
you?" 
"I will consider that being insulted is better than their 
beating me with their hands." 
"And what if they beat you?" 
"I will consider that being beaten is better than their 
throwing clods of earth, sticks and stones at me." 
"And what if they stone you?" 
"I will consider that being stoned is better than their 
stabbing me with spears and knives." 
"And what if they stab you with knives and spears?" 
"I will thank them because some people who want to 
die have to waste considerable time looking for 
effective means to take their own lives." 
The Buddha thus allowed PuAAa to make the journey. 
Meditating in favourable surroundings, he was able to 
attain arahantship before long, and made an important 
contribution to spreading Buddhism in that province of 
cannibals. 
D.4 Et Temiya the Mute J.vi. 11): 
When the Buddha was still pursuing perfection as the 
Bodhisattva, he was born as a prince called Temi. 
Because the king wanted Prince Temi to grow up into a 
king who was able to take decisions in his place, from 
the age of six or seven, he would be taken to sit on the 
king's lap when the king had to make serious decisions 
in court. One day when the prince was eight or nine, he 
was present in court when the king sentenced a 
murderer to death by live burning at the stake. Because 
of the Perfections which the Bodhisattva had cultivated 
over the course of many lifetimes, the power of his 
patience and meditation was very well developed. He 
knew that in his past he had been a king who had or-
dered the death of robbers in exactly the same way 
and as the result he had spent many lifetimes in hell. He 
considered that if he grew up to be king again in this 
lifetime then he would have to order the death of people 
again in the same way and he would risk going to hell 
again. Therefore he decided to train himself further in 
patience. He decided that he would not fall for the 
temptation of the power of kingship and that he would 
pretend to be mute from that day forth so that he would 
not be made king by his father and the people of the 
kingdom. He pretended to have no strength whenever 
he was in public. He would show no interest either in 
toys or in sweets that people used to tempt him to co-
operate. When he grew up a little more, the king 
brought young princesses to tempt him. He felt 
tempted, but relied on the power of meditation he had 
built up for himself since he was young. Eventually, the 
king and the people lost all hope that he would be king 
and sentenced him to death. However, at the moment he 
was to be executed, he demonstrated to the executioner 
that he had no disability and he had been faking all 
along — and escaped to become an ascetic instead. 
When the people of the town found out what had 
happened, they followed his example and all left the 
home life to become ascetics in the same way. This is 
the power of the perfection of patience. 
D.5 Et CY ilea MAAavika 
During the lifetime of the Buddha, he was falsely 
accused many times by those who didn't agree with 
what he was doing. At that time the Buddha overcame 
his rivals accusations through the use of patience. There 
once was a woman called Ciiica MAAavika who 
supported ascetic sects. She was also a very beautiful 
woman — the local beauty of SAvatthE and also a 
competitor of VisAkhA. VisAkhA supported Buddhism 
throughout her life. In that time, they would always 
invite celebrities to do the opening ceremony for local 
events. Buddhists would always invite VisAkhA to 
open their ceremonies.The naked ascetics would always 
invite Cif= MAAavika to do their openings. One day, 
because the naked ascetics were losing many followers 
to the Buddha, they enlisted the help of Citica 
MAAavika to spread gossip about the Buddha. In 
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the evening, when supporters of the Buddha were 
returning from listening to His teachings at the temple 
she would pass them in the opposite direction and make 
it look like she was about to sleep in the kid! of the 
Buddha. When they asked where she was going, she 
would say, "To bring pleasure to the Buddha." In the 
morning Cifica MAAavika would pass the supporters 
who came to offer food in the morning. When they 
asked where she had been, she would say, "Bringing 
pleasure to the Buddha."She pretended to be on intimate 
terms with the Buddha. She faked that she had become 
pregnant, by wearing a concealed lump of wood over 
her stomach. Gossip started amongst some people who 
were still unsure of the virtue of the Buddha. Some 
believed that he had made Cifica MAAavika pregnant. 
After nine months, many supporters had been put off 
going to the temple. Cifica MAAavika stood up in the 
middle of a sermon and asked, "Are you only interested 
in teaching others rather than paying attention to our 
unborn child?" If any woman in India made an 
accusation like this, she would be instantly believed. 
Many people walked out of the temple. The Buddha 
continued to use patience as his weapon. He said, "Only 
the two of us know the truth of the situation." He didn't 
deny or accept the accusation and he was not angry. 
Cifica MAAavika didn't know what to do. She strode 
about irritably and somehow the lump of wood slipped 
out from under her dress. Everyone knew the truth of the 
situation. "Have you given birth to a lump of wood?" 
some asked — but others were not so forgiving — they 
were going to kill her. She ran out of the gate of the 
temple, but as soon as she escaped the temple, the Earth 
split open between her feet and swallowed her straight 
into Aveci Hell. In India there are still two holes in the 
ground close to the historic sight of Jetavana Tem 
pie. One where Cifica MAAavika was swallowed up —
the second belonging to Devadatta. Even to the present 
day, the soil of those two holes remains infertile to any 
crops planted on them. 
D.6 Er. MAgandiyA 
In another place, a Queen MAgandiyA hired people to accuse 
the Buddha because in the past she had been presented to the 
Buddha as gift and as a monk he was unable to accept the gift. 
She had felt slighted and later vengeful. When she became 
queen she used her authority to destroy his reputation. 
Wherever he went, there were hired men by the hundred 
waiting to insult him. They would follow him wherever he 
went, insulting him, until his secretary,/nanda could not stand 
it any more. Ile suggested to the Buddha that they go to 
another town. 
The Buddha asked /nanda, "And what happens if in the 
next town there are also people coming to insult us?" 
4tanda replied, "We should move on to another town." 
The Buddha said, "If you think like that, we will be 
moving for the rest of our lives. Better, when we find the 
get to the root of the problem and solve the problem at its 
roots. The roots of our problem are right here in this town. 
If we do good deeds and nothing but good deeds, within 
seven days the problems will sort themselves out." 
After seven days, the hired insulters went to get paid. 
They were supposed to keep their work secret, but 
when they were paid they spent their money on drink. 
They were no longer able to keep their silence and 
started to boast where they had got their money from. 
When the 'cat was out of the bag', the people of that 
country wanted to execute the MAgandiyA — and that 
was the end of the story. 
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Blessing Twenty-Eight: 
Openness to Criticism 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 The place of Blessing Twenty-Eight in the order 
of things 
We need to be open to criticism because many of our 
faults are less apparent to ourselves than to other 
people. As in the words of the Buddhist proverb 
(Dh.252): 
SudassaO 
vajjam 
alifiesal5 
attano pana duddasaO 
ParesaO hi so vajjAni 
opuAAti yathAbhusaO 
Attano pana chAdeti 
kaliO va kitava saEho 
Easily seen are the faults of others 
but one's own are difficult to see 
Like chaff one winnows another's faults but 
tends to hide one's own 
Even as a crafty fowler hides 
behind sham branches 
— just like a fish born and raised in the water might 
never know what `water' is — we are sometimes so 
used to our faults that we fail to notice them. Thus we 
need to rely upon outsiders to offer their criticism to us 
in order that we can know the weaknesses we must 
improve upon. In this respect, we start to appreciate that 
the acquisition of higher virtues requires more than just 
the four levels of pa 
tience described in the Blessing Twenty-seven, namely: 
1. Patience in the face ofphysical hardship: working 
on normally despite rain, hot or cold weather; 
2. Patience in the face ofphysical suffering: working 
on normally despite illness or pain; 
3. Patience in the face of conflict: working on nor-
mally despite having to avoid conflict; 
4. Patience in the face of temptation: working on 
normally despite the ever-present temptation of things 
like bribes which we might like but know are not good 
for us; 
— indeed, what we need to bring the higher virtues to 
their fruition is the additional sort of patience that 
allows us to receive (instead of refusing) the criticism 
offered to us by others. In fact, the openness to 
criticism (or not being stubborn) which is the subject of 
this Blessing, is like another subtle form of patience —
but is patience in the face of criticism. Some people can 
tolerate all forms of physical hardship, physical 
suffering, mental anguish and temptation, but if anyone 
gives them a piece of advice they will turn their back 
on the person who gives them it. When it is close to 
examination time, a parent might warn their child, 
"Son! Isn't it about time you started doing your 
revision?" The son turns round and says, "Why don't 
you say such things before I dress up to go out?" If his 
little brother gives him advice, even if it is useful 
advice, 
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he will not listen— why? — because how can someone 
younger than him have the cheek to talk in such a way? 
In this respect, the Buddha taught: 
"Those who tolerate criticism from superiors do so 
out of fear; those who tolerate criticism from equals 
do so to compete; but those who tolerate criticism 
from subordinates; the Noble ones praise as the 
ultimate of patience." 
Sarabhalga lAtaka (J.522) 
who has given them the advice in return. Some 
answer back with the words, "And are you so 
superior as to expect to criticize me in that way?" 
Or "How come you are the only person to say such 
a thing?" If someone doesn't accept advice in such 
a way, it doesn't make any difference to the person 
who gives the advice. They only bothered to say it 
out of compassion for the listener! 
Facilitate further teaching: they will follow the 
Who is the most stubborn person in the world? In fact advice, acting on what they have been told in a way that will 
everybody in the world has the seeds of stubbomess in give the advisor the encouragement to pass on further advice 
them, but it's just a question of degree. The sound of to them, if the need arises, in the future. 
advice seems to singe their ears so badly that they never 2 
Having the highest respect for what they have been 
listen to such things. Thus we come to `openness to taught and for the person who has given the advice: Some 
criticism' as the twenty-eighth step on the staircase of people follow the advice they have been given with 
Buddhist practice. 
reluctance. However, if someone is really open to criticism, 
B. OPENNESS TO CRITICISM 
they will not even show reluctance because they will be afraid 
of showing disrespect towards what has been taught and the 
B.1 Definition: Openness to Criticism 
person who has given the advice. In fact, anyone who had 
In the original Pali, openness to criticism uses the word 
come to give us advice, is taking a big risk because they know 
`sovacassata' — literally, someone who learns easily 
that they might not meet with a favourable response if they 
and is gentle in response to teaching. When a person of give someone a piece of personal advice — and yet they still 
knowledge teaches them something useful out of give it. When someone is criticized, usually they have not 
compassion, they will follow the advice given with even thought whether the criticism is true or false, they must 
respect and humility — without `ifs' or `buts' or 
first express some resistance to the criticism. This is the sign 
answering back. Thus if they are taught something, they of an untrained mind. Thus a well trained person will pause to 
start by listening — then they do what they have been 
consider the value of teachings received instead of 
advised without showing reluctance but thinking of the 
immediately thinking, "How dare they criticize me?" or 
compassion of that person to have taken the trouble to "Who are they to criticize me?" If they are even better trained, 
give a piece of advice. 
not only will they consider whether what they have been 
taught is true or not — they will show their enthusiasm to 
hear criticism, no matter whether the criticism received is true 
8.2 Characteristics of those open to criticism 
or not. They think instead, "What a great risk this person has 
The characteristics of someone who is open to criti- 
taken in giving me some criticism — look at how they have 
cism are as follows: 
singled me out for special attention — so I had better be quick 
Doesn't answer back when warned or given advild'thank them for their good intention." 
Some people will immediately criticize someone back as sgon 
Will show the greatest humility: They will re 
as they hear a few words of advice. If a person is really 
sensitive to self-improvement, they will not protest in return 
or make excuses when they are given advice, but accept that 
advice with humility. 
2 
Hill not turn a deaf ear when given advice. 
Some say they are practising patience when they 
remain inert to advice given! 
3. 
Has no intention to find fault with the person 
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spond to criticism without expressing stubbornness 
and without pretending as if they already knew 
better. 
7. 
They will express their happiness and gratitude at 
having received advice: In the time of the Buddha, they 
would express appreciation with the word 'SAdhu'. For 
people really interested in training themselves, receiving 
criticism is like an elixir for the mind. They feel really 
thankful to the critic to the degree that they will thank that 
person immediately. However for a stubborn person, when 
they receive criticism which is correct and they know it, the 
words 'thank you' seem to get stuck in their throat. 
8. 
Follow the advice to an appropriate extent 
Supposing someone points out the reality of a situation. 
"Why at your age and your time of life are you still unable 
to support yourself? Why are you still gambling every 
day? When your children grow up and see you like this, 
what will they think?" Really, what that person has said is 
out of goodwill for the listener 
— but if they are stubborn they will respond, "And 
what about you then — and who are you to speak 
when you drink alcohol every day?" Even if what 
the critic says is not 100% true, if we are on the 
receiving end of the criticism must temporarily 
forget their bad points in order to help ourselves 
open up to their advice. Rather than continuing to 
err just to prove our point, once we know we are in 
the wrong, we accept this and do what is right 
according to the Dhamma. 
9. 
Has acceptable and polite behaviour: Anyone 
who is open to criticism must resist the temptation to 
burst into a tantrum or be unpleasant to the person 
giving the advice; 
M. Must listen with intent to all sides of advice given 
without answering back and should even go so far as 
to invite that person to speak up again if ever they 
notice anything else in their behaviour which needs 
improvement They will not be afraid of being 
embarrassed by knowledge of their faults — because 
the character of a wise man is never to suffice as to new 
knowledge. Thus if someone gives you some advice 
you could think to yourself, 'thank you' because it 
has been worthwhile keeping friendship with you, 
or paying respect to you as an elder member of my 
family etc. etc. 
11. Tolerant even to advice that comes in the form of 
unpleasant speech: we have to accept that we have not 
yet come to an end of defilements. Sometimes someone 
has already carefully explained something to us, but we 
are unable to follow what they have said. Sometimes 
we are not smart enough to grasp what they mean. 
Sometimes, the person who gives us the advice might 
already be irritated or in a bad mood. Sometimes they 
might speak a little harshly or use comparisons that are 
a little direct. If any of the case, then you should still be 
patient and not be angry as a result. 
B.3 Characteristics of those open to criticism 
For ease of remembering, these eleven headings can be 
summarized down to three main characteristics of those 
open to criticism — being able to: 
1. Hear out criticism: Someone who doesn't even hear 
out others have to say is very stubborn. 
2. Follow advice: Some people pay attention to listen to 
criticism without expressing any resistance, but they 
never follow the advice given. Such a person is fairly 
stubborn. 
3. Appreciate the goodwill of the person who has 
given the advice: No matter what the relative social 
standing of the person who gives the advice. Some 
people appreciate criticism from a person more senior 
than them but will be irritated if criticized by a peer or 
someone like their husband or wife. Such a person is 
not entirely open to criticism. Some people accept and 
follow advice given to them by seniors and peers but if 
someone younger or subordinate offers them advice, it 
is too much for them. They lose face and so cannot 
accept advice. 
If you are put in such a situation and you still feel 
irritated, try biting your lip instead of criticizing them 
in return. You will build up a habit of being a good 
listener to such advice which will start to become part 
of your personality. At first, if you prevent yourself 
from criticizing them in return but 
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can still not bring yourself to follow their advice — at 
least you keep the channel open to improvement in the 
future. At first you may have no inkling of appreciation 
for the goodwill of that person. However, if over the 
course of time, you can prevent yourself criticizing 
them in return and can follow their advice too, before 
long you will start to see through to the goodwill of that 
person too. 
8.4 Ulterior motives for being open to criticism 
It is rare to find someone who can genuinely take 
criticism on board. However, saying that, that someone 
accepts criticism doesn't automatically mean that they 
are motivated by self-improvement — they may have 
an ulterior motive. Not to be able to distinguish 
between the openness to criticism and `pseudo' 
openness to criticism can 
potentially be very 
misleading. Thus when dealing observing our own or 
others' responses to criticism, we should make a clear 
distinction between the negative and positive sorts of 
openness to criticism: 
L Materially-motivated: some people make themselves 
very obsequious because they seek for something 
material in return. Why are some children so obedient? 
You will see why after they receive the legacy from 
their parents. Once received if they lose their original 
obsequiousness, it is a sign that they were only obedient 
for the money. Some people are stubborn by nature, but 
they will change their tune whenever they are close to 
influential people (but only for as long as they have the 
chance of being promoted). Really such people are not 
open to criticism — they are only compliant to your 
face but behind your back they will behave differently. 
2. The gullible: Such people look compliant and 
obedient but the reason is not through intention. They 
are obedient because they lack any intelligence to think 
for themselves. Usually they lack any initiative of their 
own and will do anything they are told to do. You 
might chase them off to school, and they will 
obediently listen to the teacher for hours at a time 
without understanding a word. If you tell them to go to 
school they go. If a friend tells them to skip school then 
they play truant. They will do whatever the last per 
son they meet has told them to do. They tend to lack 
any aim in life because they lack the wisdom to see 
the need for one — in fact they lack any confidence 
in themselves. 
3. Spiritually motivated: only this last category are 
such people who want to improve themselves without 
limit. Thus any criticism is taken as treasure that will 
help them towards the goal of perfection. Only this last 
category 
is 
open 
to 
criticism 
for 
purposes 
corresponding to the Manual of Peace. 
Thus in practice, if you have those close to you, or 
subordinates who seem to be compliant and obedient, 
you need to ask yourself what motivates them to be so. 
Is it because they want to run off with your daughter? If 
this is the case, as soon as they get her hand in 
marriage, they might never lift a finger to help you 
again. So be careful not to be fooled by such behaviour. 
C. STUBBORNNESS 
Cl Categories of stubbornness 
There are basically three categories of stubborn people 
in the world: 
I. stubborn because of ignorance: their intelligence 
doesn't allow them to see the value of the advice they 
are being given. Sometimes, they might not only be 
ignorant — they may be too lazy to change. For such 
people it is not worth devoting too much effort to 
encouraging them to change. Such people are stubborn 
without realizing it. 
2. stubborn because of intransigent views: In fact they 
are very intelligent people, but only intelligent in the 
materials they have studied. There may be many more 
things that they do not yet know or understand. They 
don't realize the limits of their knowledge or the gaps 
in their experience. They think they already know 
everything there is to know. Many such people have 
high IQ and always get the best results in the class. 
Such success gives rise to the feeling that 'I'm the 
cleverest and beyond criticism'. Such people get their 
first class honours degree, but when they try to apply 
their talents in the workplace may die in the effort. 
They are unable to accept advice from anyone else so 
those who have the 
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potential to help them leave them to their ignorance'. 
They leave them to learn from their own mistakes. 
Such people will meet with disaster, as the result of 
their own inability to listen to others. 
3. stubborn because short-tempered: these will lose 
their temper upon hearing the slightest thing they 
disagree with. It is very hard to eke any sort of 
cooperation from such people. They are likely to cause 
disharmony in any group. 
We will further examine the practical ways of dealing 
with the first two sorts of stubbornness in §D.3 below. 
C2 Reasons for stubbornness 
Some people think that training oneself to be sensitive 
to self-improvement should be simple. All you have to 
do is to stop being stubborn — but that is easier said 
than done. You have to ask yourself what is the root of 
the damage in a stubborn person. What is the reason for 
stubborness in people (so that we can get rid of it)? 
MahAmoggallAna Them taught in the AnumAna Sutta 
how sixteen possible sorts of traits can create 
stubbornness in the face of criticism (M.i.95.7): 
Vengefulness [kodhano hoti kodhAhetu 
upanAhE]: Not only angry with others — but even long 
after the event still harnessing a grudge for that person 
even though it is so long ago you cannot even remember 
who that person is. Thus, if you are angry, never let it last 
overnight. To be angry for no longer than it takes to drink 
a glass of cool water. 
2 
Inability to control oneself when angry 
[kodhano hoti abhisalgEj: Not being able to control your 
gestures with your angry. e.g. stamping or tearing one's 
hair out, or spitting or slamming doors. If you meet 
anyone like this don't waste time giving them advice. 
3 
Those who have to have the last word if aid-
cized [kodhano hoti kodhasAmantaO vAcaO nicchAretA]: 
unable to control what they say when criticized. 
4 
Those who have an excusefor everything 
[cudito codakena codakaO paEippharati]: a person who is 
asked to sit politely when in the temple will find an excuse 
for doing whatever they like, for example "If you want to 
learn the Dhamma you have to be comfortable in body and 
mind, so if I want to stretch my legs however I want, don't 
come interfering in something that is none of your 
business." If you meet such people, don't waste time 
trying to change their ways — however, if you recognize 
the same habits in yourself, get rid of such habits without 
delay. 
Determination to do evil [pApiccho hoti pApikArfaO 
Those who give others the brush-off [cudito 
icchAnaO]: Some people will wish for success in the mostcodakena codakaO apasAdeti]: Whenever someone tries 
evil things (like stealing Buddha images from temples or to give such a person advice, they chase them away saying 
smuggling heroin). Such determination to do evil will makthat they have no time to listen to such talk. 
them evil for the whole of their life. It sounds very extreme 
Those who find a callous way of answering 
but even normal people suffer from it now and then when 'bock [cudito codakena codakassa paccAropeti]: who will 
think `just this once we'll make them sorry'. At that time thilways find a way of answering back to the person who 
seeds of stubborness are creeping into the mind. 
gives them advice in a way that will hurt them. They will 
2 
Overestimation of oneself [attukaO sako hoti 
say something like, "Don't go worrying about me — use 
paravambhi]: When we think we are superior to everyone your time more usefully and worry about the state of your 
else, then again it is a root of stubborness. Again you will own husband." Instead of accepting advice and showing 
listen to no-one 
enthusiasm to follow it — they ignore the advice and go 
3 
Losing one's temper easily [kodhano hoti 
kodhAbhibhEto]: If you know you have this tendency then 
you must bite your lip if ever you are criticized in case you 
lose your temper with the person giving you advice — or else 
you will have no second chance of a helping hand. 
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further by using the advice as the excuse to hurt the 
person who has helped them with the best of 
intention. Or maybe, "I may have my weaknesses 
and faults but at least I manage to keep control of 
my own husband...". 
10. Those who change the subject to avoid speaking 
about the matter [cudito codakena arifien' aillia0 
paEicaroti bahiddhA kathaO apanAmeti, kopailca, 
dosarica appaccayalica pAtukaroti]: They cannot refuse 
the accusation so they change the subject instead. 
11. 
Those who become suspicious of the person 
who advises them [cudito codakena apadAne na 
sampAyati] 
12. Those who persecute anyone who tries to advise 
them in order to hide their faults [makkhE hoti 
paoAsE]: In Buddhism monks have to confess their 
faults so that there is nothing left secret. Suspicion will 
not arise in a community. If faults are kept hidden the 
perpetrator will end up with anxious neuroses. 
13. Those who like mudslinging [issukE hoti 
maccharE]: or glossing over favours received from 
others in order to make themselves look superior. 
14. Those who are jealous [saEho hoti mAyAvE]:this 
extreme form of selfishness makes one narrow minded 
to the extent that you are unable to receive advice from 
anyone else in case they look better than you when you 
admit your faults 
15. Those who are boasting and arrogant [thaddho 
hoti atimAnE]: because they feel they are already 
superior to others. They bring a needle to offer the 
monks and boast about it until it becomes a crate of 
needles or Cleopatra's Needle. 
.16. Someone who has views which deviate severely 
from reality [sadiEEhiparAmAsE hoti 
AdhAnagAhEduppaEinissaggE]: They might think, 
"Our parents ought to be thanking us for all we have 
done for them. If it wasn't for us, they would have died 
of loneliness in their old age" or else "Generosity just 
makes the recipients lazy." With such thoughts in mind, 
they will not be able to benefit from advice all their 
lives — as if the compass in their minds has 
malfunctioned. 
Like all of these qualities, all of these are the starting 
point of stubbomess that will make us unable to correct 
our weaknesses. 
D. CULTIVATING OPENNESS TO CRITICISM 
D. I Correction of stubborn habits for monks 
The Buddha taught that monks should improve 
themselves by inviting others [pavaraAa] to give their 
criticism, whatever their relative rank or status. In the 
rainy season, when Buddhist monks stay in the same 
place for three months when travel is inconvenient. At 
the end of the rainy season retreat (lent) the Buddha 
made it monastic discipline that all the monks in the 
temple should meet together and make the invitation to 
one another to invite the other monks to correct each 
others behaviour out of goodwill for one another and 
for the rest of the community. The words of the 
ceremony areas follows: 
"If any of you have seen, heard or suspected 
any behaviour of mine that is unpleasant in any 
matter, please inform me of such errors out of 
compassion, so that I might realize my own 
faults and be more careful of my behaviour in 
future." 
Every monk from the abbot of the temple to monks 
newly ordained that day must participate in the 
ceremony. 
D.2 Correction of stubborn habits for laypeople 
If you are not a monk, but a layperson, there are 
nonetheless many ways in which you can help to make 
yourself more open to criticism: 
1. Reflect on the harm you bring to yourself by your 
obstinacy: If you realize that you are closing the door 
on useful advice others might have for you like a 
paralytic person surrounded by useful objects, none of 
which he can reach. Even if a person is surrounded by 
the wise he can gain nothing from any of them. 
2. Reflect that criticism is hidden treasure: Reflect 
upon the Buddhist proverb that 'he who gives us 
personal advice and criticism is he who points the way 
to treasure.' 
3. Train yourself in respect so that you try to see the 
good points about others instead of the bad 
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points. Whatever criticism you might receive from 
others, extend a heart of gratitude towards them, 
because the trouble they have taken to criticise us 
shows that they have high expectations of us — think 
like this even if you don't agree 100% with what they 
have criticised you for — hear out their criticism 
instead of rushing to answer them back or pick a fight 
with them. 
4. Open the opportunity for others to criticise you: In the 
same way as monks invite others to criticize one another, 
members of the same family can invite criticism from one 
another from time to time. If children are trained in such a 
way from an early age, then they can avoid collecting the 
sixteen damaging traits before they develop and they can 
avoid the disadvantages of stubbornness in later life. 
5. Meditate often and regularly: If we can train our 
mind to the point of radiance and steadfastness, it will 
allow us to reflect wisely on the advice given to us by 
others seeing how such advice can be applied to 
improve our personal weaknesses. 
D.3 Dealing with the stubbornness of other people 
If you have to work with stubborn people, never forget 
that the stubborn come in more than one category: 
I. Those who are stubborn through ignorance: such 
people prefer to be ordered to do things rather than to 
hear reasons for things. Don't bother giving reasons for 
things which are not appreciated because it is about as 
much use as playing a flute for the benefit of a buffalo; 
2. Those who are stubborn because of their views: 
such people prefer not to be ordered around — but 
rather to be given reasons, explanations and choices for 
the things you would like them to help with. If they are 
not too entrenched in their own views, given a good 
reason, before long they will want to comply — but if 
their views are extremely rigid, you will have to let 
them do what they insist and be there to give 
compassionate advice when they start to realize their 
own mistakes.As for the 'stubborn by view' in fact 
they are already quite clever, but only in the limited 
areas they know. They are like a frog at the bottom 
of a well that thinks it knows the whole of the world 
because it already knows the bottom of a well. If you 
are a boss with stubborn people if this type working 
for you and even after ordering them and teaching 
them they still do not respond, you may have to 
punish them 
(e.g. by reducing their salary). Failing that you might 
use the punishment of shunning them known in 
Buddhist tradition as the 'BrahmadaAIa treatment'. 
Thus now that we know the qualities of a person sensitive to 
self-improvement, we can examine ourselves for these 
qualities so that if ever we receive advice or criticism from 
someone else, we will get benefit from them: listening 
without criticism in return; reflecting on the criticism; 
following the advice; getting an appropriate benefit from 
following the practice and eventually appreciating the good-
will of that person. From someone who never managed to 
pass an examination, you will be able to develop yourself into 
someone who passes more than fails. 
The people of old said that advice to a person stubborn 
by stupidity is like watering a tree stump. 
(i.e. useless) but you might at least get a few mush-
rooms to eat as the result. However, advice to a person 
stubborn because of false views is like pouring water 
on a dog. The dog doesn't get wet but will shake itself 
until everyone around it is wet instead. Such a stubborn 
person will accept no advice and instead they will turn 
the criticism back on the person giving the advice, by 
answering back. 
E. ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES 
E.I Proverb: Criticism like hidden treasure (Dh.76) 
NidhEnaO' 
va 
pavattAraO 
yaO 
passe 
vajjadassinaO, niggayhavAdiO medhAviO, tAdisaO 
paAlitaO bhaje, tAdisaO bhajamAnassa, seyyo hoti 
na pApiyo 
Should one find a man, who points out faults and 
who reproves, let him follow such a wise and 
sagacious person, as one would a guide to 
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