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to have something to eat every day. He sold the 
mouse to the householder for a few cents. He used 
the few cents to buy some sugar-cane juice from 
the people crushing the cane. He asked for another 
bucket of plain water. He took the water and the 
sugar cane juice to the gate of the town. He waited 
until the flower-gatherers from the palace came 
back from where they had been picking flowers 
outside the city wall. Of course they were tired and 
thirsty as they came to the gates. He gave them a 
glass of plain water to drink first of all. After they 
had slaked their thirst, he gave them a second glass 
of sugar-cane juice. The palace attendants didn't 
know how to pay the man so they gave him each a 
handful of jasmine flowers. The man took the flow-
ers and sold them for a small profit. He had a little 
more money than before. He bought more sugar-
cane juice and collected a little more rain water, he 
sold all of it to the flower gatherers on the second 
day, and got enough money for a second round of 
sugar-cane juice — enough for the people collect-
ing firewood. The people with the firewood drank 
the sugar-cane juice and each left him with a bun-
dle of firewood. He sold the firewood and got even 
more sugar-cane juice. He kept his eyes and ears 
open and noticed that there had been a storm in 
the night. In the royal forest there were many bro-
ken branches and tree-trunks on the ground. He 
took his sugar-cane juice along to the forest. He of-
fered to the forest keeper to be the one to clear up 
all the broken branches and the forester agreed be-
cause he would be able to have an easy day. He 
therefore offered sugar-cane juice to the children 
running and playing nearby and the children cut 
and gathered all the broken branches together into 
a huge pile. He sold the branches as firewood to a 
potter and bought a big barrel. Where he had sold 
sugar-cane juice by the bucket before, now he sold 
it by the barrel. He bartered sugar-cane juice for 
flowers, firewood and even grass-fodder. One day 
a big caravan of traders arrived at the gate with 
many hungry horses etc. He told the stable boys in 
the palace not to sell their fodder to anyone and he 
sold his own fodder at a high price to the traders. It 
was not enough and they even took the fodder from 
the palace to sell to them at the same high price so 
that everyone got a profit. He carried on working 
like this until before long he was able to put down 
a deposit on a trading ship. His ship kept trading 
until he had amassed a fortune of 100,000. In the 
end he returned to the old millionnaire who had 
been his master and presented him with the 100,000 
saying that all of this wealth had come from the 
policy of seeing benefit in a dead mouse. The 
millionnaire was so impressed that he gave the man 
a fortune of a million and also his daughter's hand 
in marriage. 
E.4 
Nakkhatla Jataka (J.49) 
There was once a bridegroom who was due to be 
married the next day. He was about to go to the 
wedding reception when a fortune-teller came and 
warned him that today was not an auspicious day 
for a marriage. The man believed the fortune teller 
and decided not to turn up for his own wedding. 
The bride waited and waited and then in impatience 
married someone else. The bride took all the first 
bridegroom's property in compensation for his hav-
ing broken the marriage contract and married some-
one else. 
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e 
The Fifth 
Group of Blessings 
"Becoming a Pillar of Society" 
The Fifth Grouping of the Blessings of Life is usually referred to as 
"Becoming a pillar of society". The Group consists of "Being Gener-
ous" (15), "Practising the Dhamma" (16), "Looking after your extended 
family" (17) and "Working in a blameless way"(18). In the Fourth 
Grouping, we have learned about harmony in the family life (where 
applicable) — doing things like recognizing and repaying the debt of 
gratitude we have to our parents will stimulate our awareness of good 
deeds and the harmony of the family life will be a foundation and a 
springboard to the real performance of virtue which we are to meet in 
this Fifth Grouping. Until now if we have fulfilled all the blessings we 
have learned from 1-14 we can say that we have done no more than 
'break even in our virtues. We have managed to steer dear of the mine-
fields of everyday life that might cripple future efforts to accumulate 
merit. Thus in this fifth grouping we start to explore the virtues where 
we do truly start to give something back to society and the world about 
us. We are sufficiently mature in our cultivation of good deeds to start 
to produce virtue for ourselves — first in bask ways (in the Fifth Group-
ing) but subsequently in more and more advanced ways. The fifteenth 
blessing of generosity can be regarded the first stepping stone on the 
path of actively producing virtues. It will start to make us into the sort 
of person who society can trust and look up to. It will make us a per-
son who can be considered a 'pillar of society'. 
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Blessing Fifteen: 
Generosity 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 Introduction to Blessing Fifteen 
Buddhism places great importance on generosity 
because it is seen as the origin of wealth. The Law 
of Karma states that "we shall reap what we sow" 
and if we provide for the happiness of others 
through our generosity, the karmic fruit will be that 
3. 
we will always be provided for in our own happi-
ness and convenience. Thus Buddhism sees gener-
osity less in a material way (benefit for the recipi-
ent) than in its spiritual fruits (benefits to the giver). 
A.2 The Importance of Giving 
A.2.1 Generosity is a basic virtue 
You may ask yourself why, if generosity is so 
fundemental, why it is not the first blessing. How-
ever, you must not forget that all the previous Bless-
ings are necessary preparation for the actual per-
formance of good deeds and recognizing and set-
ting a foundation for their accrual. From Blessing 
Fifteen onwards, all the content of the blessings is 
concerned with real good deeds. There are five good 
reasons for choosing generosity as a first priority 
in doing good deeds (Siam Rath Edn. 33/2/428): 
1. It is the first step on the stairway to heaven: It 
engenders the compassionate way of thinking 
characteristic of an angel even from the time one 
is still living in the human realm; 
2. It is like provisions that you can take with you: 
5. 
If you have been generous to others in your past, 
then in the future you will be on the receiving 
end of generosity. No matter how far your spir-
itual journey may take you, with the provisions 
you have stored up for yourself through our gen-
erosity, you will be sure never to fall on hard 
times. 
It is the direct path to Nirvana: It clears the way 
for doing other sorts of virtue with ease. To give 
an example, when peasants slaughter animals it 
is not that they don't know the karmic retribu-
tion of what they do — it because of force of cir-
cumstances of their poverty. If you are poor it is 
hard to keep the precepts properly. If you are 
poor, the opportunity to sit and listen to a ser-
mon is hard to find. Even the price of the bus to 
the temple is hard to find. If you are poor, then 
you have little chance of obtaining a good edu-
cation. If you are poor, you won't see the point 
of sitting for meditation. If you are generous then 
it will stop you from falling into poverty and the 
other sorts of good deed will come naturally. 
4. Generosity is a splendid means of escaping the 
cycle of rebirth. Anyone who is going to escape 
the cycle of rebirth must have faith in the per-
formance of good deeds. As for the good deeds 
for which it is easiest to see the fruition in the 
here and now, there is nothing to beat generos-
ity. 
Generosity purifies the mind: The most direct 
way we can cure ourselves of stinginess lurking 
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in the mind is to be generous. The more you give, 
the more you rid yourself from stinginess in the 
mind and the more and more control you gain 
over your desires. 
A.2.2 Generosity makes the world go round 
You can offer money to hire a person but if they 
don't want to do the job, you can offer the highest 
salary in vain. Generosity is like the downpayment 
needed to get a new project rolling. If if wasn't for 
the generosity of our parents, how could we have 
survived after the moment of our birth? If it wasn't 
for the extra hours of work put in by our teachers, 
would we be so able to make sense of the world 
around us today? Thus it is true that before all else 
one must practice generosity. 
A.2.3 Respect for generosity makes you 
respectable too! 
Some people complain that others show them less 
respect than they deserve. If we are moved by the 
value of giving, then others will respect us for that 
(i.e. we have respect for generosity) then when our 
generosity gives its fruit then we too will be the 
object of respect. If you find that others never treat 
you with much respect then the situation is telling 
you that your attitude to giving is a little reluctant. 
Thus if you find you are not being treated with 
enough respect, then don't go blaming others, put 
the blame on yourself first. Generosity is thus an 
indispensable prerequisite for being a 'pillar of so-
ciety'. 
B. GliALROSI 
B.1 Definition of Generosity 
The Pali word 'china' means literally 'to give'. In 
this Blessing, we take generosity to mean: 
'sacrificing your own possessions for the ben-
efit of other people, wholeheartedly, with the 
intention to honour the virtue of that person, 
or to assist a person of similar social standing, 
or to help someone who is worse off than our-
selves.' 
If you are not wholehearted about giving then it 
cannot be called 'dance. The Buddhist usage of the 
word 'generosity' is therefore broader than the 
equivalent word 'charity' in Christian culture which 
isusually restricted to giving to the poor and the 
sick. In the spiritual sense, idana'sometimes refers 
to our intention to give, sometimes it refers to the 
thing we want to give, sometimes it refers to ab-
stention from wrong-doing (e.g. not seeking venge-
ance from someone who has harmed you). In this 
particular blessing we will speak of only the first 
two instances of usage of the word, because we have 
already mentioned abstention from wrong-doing 
in Blessing Nine on "self-discipline". 
B.2 Categories of Generosity (A.i.90) 
There are two main categories of generosity 
1. Concrete generosity [amisadana] 
2. Abstract generosity [dhammadana] 
Material generosity can be subdivided by the qual-
ity of the gift: 
1. Giving things of worse quality than you 
would use yourself [dartadasa] 
2. Giving things of equal quality that you 
would use yourself 1dartasahayaj 
3. Giving things of better quality than you 
would use yourself Ichinasami] 
Or by the exclusivity of the gift 
254-6, A.iii.392) 
1. Personal [patipuggal 
na] 
2. Community Isaityhadanal 
Or by the nature of the gift (see BlessingFive §C.2 for 
further details), generosity can be divided into: giv-
ing useful material objects Ivatthudanat giving 
worldly knowledge [vidhayadana]; giving spir-
itual knowledge [dhammadanaJ; forgiving 
[abhayadanaJ; humility [apacayanaj; service 
Iveyyavaccat transfer of merit [pattidanaj, and; 
rejoicing in the merit of others [pattanumodarta]. 
B.3 Reasons for Giving 
Some reasons for giving are less noble than others 
—therefore it is useful to study the variety avail-
able to that we can select the noblest. According to 
the Buddha's teaching in the Pathama Dina Sutta 
[A.iv.236J there are eight different reasons why peo-
ple give gifts: 
1. giving because in the hope of getting something 
in return lasajja chinarg detij; Giving because 
wants something in return. Sometimes people 
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give because they want others to see them do-
ing so, or they want to become famous as the 
result; 
2. giving out of fear [bhaya &magi detib Giving 
out of fear. Some give gifts to others because they 
are afraid that if they don't give something the 
recipient will create problems for them (e.g. pro-
tection money). Such giving can even include 
being scared someone won't love us so we give 
them things to win their love; 
3. giving in order to repay past favours [adasi me 
ti Sartain deal; Giving in order to repay a debt 
of gratitude we have to someone else; 
4. giving to procure future favours [dasati me ti 
Sartain deti]; Giving with the thought that the 
recipient will repay our favour in the future —
e.g. Mr.A gives Mr.B some sweets so that the next 
day he can invite himself to eat a meal at Mr.B's 
house; 
5. giving for giving's sake frau danarg ti danarg 
deli]; Giving for the joy of it — perhaps because 
spontaneously inspired by a particular monk or 
seeing a group of children without transport to 
go to the temple and gladly paying the cost of 
hiring a bus for them. 
6. giving out of sympathy for the monks [aharg 
pacami, ime na pacanti, na arahami pacanto 
apacantanarg adatunarg ti &magi deli]; Know-
ing that monks cannot cook rice or catch fish to 
feed themselves out of fear that the monks will 
starve one gives them food. 
7. giving to improve your reputation [imam me 
danarg datato kalyago kittisaddo abbhug-
gacchati ti dancop deal, not just out of greed 
for praise, but because indeed generosity is a 
praiseworthy behaviour, and; 
8. giving in order to improve the quality of the mind 
[cittalankara cittaparitkkharattham danarg 
deti]. 
Two further possible reasons are noted in the 
DAnavatthu Sutta A.iv.236: 
1. Giving out of family tradition Idinnapubbarg 
katapubbagt pitu pitamahehi na arahami 
poraw:ort kulavargsarrt hapetu ti dancop. deti]: 
Giving only because your ancestors have always 
made a tradition of giving and you don't want 
to be the odd one out. 
2. Giving because you want to go to be reborn in 
heaven [imahcop clanam datva kayassa Urea 
parammaraga sugatitp saggarrt lokarrt 
upapajjissami ti chinagt deti] 
The first four reasons are no more than ways to keep 
up good relationships with the people around us. 
We want others to remember us for our goodness 
— it is the only reason for giving. There is no merit 
in such giving. This is the sort of giving which poli-
ticians like to do in order to win votes or of shops 
wanting to boost their sales by giving away free 
gifts. The remaining reasons are all types of giving 
which are done for merit, however people differ as 
to the extent they see the true nature of merit in 
what is given. In this blessing we will try to go as 
deep as we can, i.e. to discover the sort of giving 
that is going to improve the quality of the mind. 
C. HOW TO CULIIVATE GENEROSI TY 
Here is some practical advice for cultivating gener-
osity in a way that fulfils all the requisite compo-
nents. One should practice generosity according to 
the following steps: 
C.1 Make an intention 
Purify your intention by recollecting the virtues 
ofthe Triple Gem and the power of generosity to 
banish stinginess from the mind — filling your 
mind with faith and the joy of the act of generosity 
you plan to do. Once you have made your inten-
tion, make sure you fulfil it because according to 
the Vardba Sutta (A.ii.81), the Buddha taught that 
if someone has made a promise to offer a certain 
amount of requisites to a monk or someone who 
keeps the Precepts, or to parents who are virtuous, 
but when it comes to the appointed time: 
• do not come up with the goods, then in business 
they will always lose money; 
• come up with less goods than they said they 
would then they will always receive less than 
the anticipated profit; 
• come up with the goods, no more, no less than 
they promised, they will always receive the an-
ticipated profit; 
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• come up with goods exceeding the promised 
amount then they will always receive more than 
the anticipated profit. 
C.2 Seek out an appropriate gift: 
Seek out or buy an appropriate and wholesome gift 
by your honest efforts. Some people expect to find 
joy in giving to something else something they have 
obtained in a dishonest way — such as picking daf-
fodils in a public park to offer on a Buddhist shrine. 
However in his teaching on the Ten Ways of Con-
suming Sense Pleasure [kamabhogi] (A.v.176) the 
Buddha taught that there is no joy to be had in the 
giving of gifts obtained in dishonest or partially 
dishonest ways. 
C.2.1 The Quality of the Gift 
The Buddha enumerated three different attitudes 
to the quality of the gift chosen for an act of gener-
osity: 
1. Giving things of worse quality than you would 
use yourself Iclanadasal: This sort of giving 
which literally means "giving as a slave" hap-
pens when one gives a gift of worse quality than 
one would consider using oneself. An example 
of this would be selecting the smallest or most 
unattractive of three mangos to give to someone 
else. It is termed "giving as a slave" because at 
the time of giving, one's mind is still the slave of 
stinginess. Such giving is characterized by acts 
of generosity to those we consider worse-off than 
ourselves (cf. earlier comments §B.1 about the Chris-
tian definition of charity). 
2. Giving things of equal quality that you would 
use yourself [danasahaya]: This sort of giving 
which literally means "giving as a friend" hap-
pens when one gives a gift of quality equal to 
that one would consider using oneself. An ex-
ample of this would be selecting any of three 
mangos you would be happy to eat yourself to 
give to someone else. Such giving is character-
ized by acts of generosity to those we consider 
equal to ourselves — such as friends. 
3. Giving things of better quality than you would 
use yourself [danasami]: This sort of giving 
which literally means "giving as a boss" happens 
when one gives a gift of better quality than one 
would consider using oneself — choosing only 
the best to give to someone else. It is termed "giv-
ing as a boss" because at the time of giving, one's 
mind has stinginess under control. In general, 
Buddhists cultivating generosity try to make sure 
that their giving falls into this last category. When 
giving rice to the monks on their almsround, they 
will select the tender rice from the mouth of the 
rice-pot to give to the monks — before taking 
their own meal from the remainder of the pot. 
When offering food to the monks, supporters will 
offer delicacies they might never consider them-
selves worthy of eating — and when offering 
food, they might decorate and garnish the food 
with special attention. In fact, when we give to 
others we should always try to give things of a 
quality we would like to be give ourselves, no 
matter whether the recipient is of lowec, equal 
or higher social status than ourselves. Such giv-
ing is especially characterized by acts of gener-
osity to those we respect or to whom we have a 
debt of gratitude such as our parents, teachers 
or teaching monks. 
C.2.2 The Nature of the Gift 
Here are some "do's" and "don'ts" to help you with 
your choice — in general things which are worthy 
of giving are the four basic requisites: clothing, food, 
shelter and medicine. You have to be careful, how-
ever, because some forms of clothing are not suit-
able. These four are sometimes subdivided further 
into ten: 
1. food (but not aphrodisiacs); 
2. drinks (but not alcohol); 
3. cloth or clothing (but not immodest clothes); 
4. vehicles, shoes or fares for travelling; 
5. flowers; 
6. candles, incense; 
7. rubbing creams; 
8. bed clothes & beds; 
9. shelter; 
10. fuel. 
As for objects not suitable for giving: 
1. Alcohol for the purpose of drinking (rather 
than rubbing alcohol or alcohol for cleaning). 
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Alcohol is the component of some medicines. 
This usage is good — but don't use this as an 
excuse to give alcohol with a little bit of medi-
cine instead of giving medicine with a little 
bit of alcohol; 
2. To give shows, entertainment; 
3. To give a female animal to a male animal or 
vice-versa; 
4. To offer matchmaking services to find a part-
ner for others; 
5. To give someone else erotic pictures or even a 
picture of yourself (so that they think of us); 
6. To give weapons (especially when two peo-
ple are in the middle of a fight); 
7. To give poisons or drugs. 
In addition the gift should be made clean, refined 
and attractive to receive. At the time of giving you 
should do your best to relinquish your attraction 
for the appearance, sound, smell, taste, texture or 
mood of that object (The meditation master Luang 
Phaw Wat Paknam suggested to bring you mind to 
a standstill at the centre of your body as a practical 
way of achieving this). 
C.3 Make yourself pure before giving your gift 
Purify yourself before giving the gift by taking the 
Five or Eight Precepts. Meditate to purify the mind, 
thinking of the recipient as if they were as pure as 
an arehant, or as a representative perpetuating the 
teaching of the Lord Buddha. 
C.4 Make a resolution 
It is customary to raise the gift one intends to offer 
to one's forehead while making the resolution. Mak-
ing a wish or resolution is like setting up a long-
term plan for yourself. If a government takes care 
of a country it must have a long-term plan. Even 
merchants have plans for what they will be doing 
in the years to come. In Buddhism we have merit 
as our budget and we have our resolution or ambi-
tion as our long term plan for doing good deeds 
over the course of the lifetimes to come. If we have 
made a resolution at the time we make a merit of 
some sort then when the merit gives its fruit it will 
give its fruit in the way we have made the wish. 
However we must also be careful about the thing 
which we wish for —supposing we make a resolu-
tion but our mind is still under the influence of de-
filements then it might be disastrous because we 
leave ourselves wide open to the working of evil. If 
we make a resolution about something skilful, by 
contrast then the merit will give its full fruit, short-
ening our path to Nirvana. An example of a skilful 
way of making a resolution is: 
"Through the power of this good deed, from 
this day forth may my mind never fall under 
the influence of greed or stinginess again and 
may I never be born in a family with stingy or 
greedy people ever again and may I never be 
born in a country where there is a shortage of 
basic needs for survival, and even when it 
comes to studying the Dhamma, may I never 
be stuck with a teacher of the Dhamma who is 
stingy with his teachings and wants to keep his 
knowledge to himself. May I never know short-
age of anything skilful. May I always be well 
provided-for ... and may the power of this gen-
erous deed help me to enter upon Nirvana 
[nibbana paccayo hobs]." 
Or more briefly according to the traditional Pali: 
"Sudinnatp vats me danam asauakkhaya 
valicup hotu" (May these alms that I have given 
on this day be for an end of all defilements.) 
C.5 Harbour no regret in mind: 
Having offered the gift, make sure the gift is gone 
from your mind too by thinking only of the joy of 
giving and not allowing any feeling of regret to 
enter your mind. It is also customary to transfer 
the merit of one's generosity [pattidanamaya] 
by making the intention that the merit of our 
good deeds might also benefit our deceased rela-
tives wherever they might find themselves re-
born — in accordance with the Pali verses: 
"Idam fiatinam hotu, sukhita hontu aatayo" 
(May this merit accrue to all my [deceased] rela-
tives. May all my [deceased] relatives be 
happy). 
C.6 Summary: Four 'Puree 
In conclusion, there are four things that will ensure 
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that the giving we do will bring the maximum of 
merit: 
I. Pure Gift. The thing which we give must be 
something we have come by in an honest way 
or bought with money that is honestly earned; 
2. Pure Intention. A pure intention for giving 
means the intention to reduce the stinginess 
in your mind, or to reduce the number of de-
filements in the mind or cultivate your Per-
fection of Generosity or Loving Kindness. The 
Buddha also taught that if you want to gain 
the maximum of merit from a gift you must 
maintain the quality of the mind during three 
periods of time. Intentions which are not pure 
are giving with the wish for something in re-
turn e.g. giving for one-upmanship, giving to 
make yourself famous or giving to make 
someone else love us: 
I. before giving fpubbecetana make sure that 
you come to the act of giving wholeheart-
edly 
2. during the act of giving fmuficanacetanat 
give with respect and a mind full of faith 
and without any trace of irritability 
3. after giving faparaparacetanal: make sure 
that the mind is still joyous not regretting 
what you have given away. Some people 
go home and sit thinking, "Maybe I gave 
too much. Maybe I should ask the monk 
for some of it back!" 
3. Pure Recipient The more pure the person re-
ceiving our gift, the more merit we will ac-
crue. If the recipient is a layperson, they 
should be a layperson who keeps the Precepts. 
If they are a monk, they should be a monk 
who keeps the Vinaya, not just someone who 
is masquerading as a monk. If the monk is an 
arahant (i.e. has no further defilements) then 
he will be a supreme field of merit 
4. Pure Giver: Even you as the giver must be 
keeping the Precepts. If you think of yourself 
as a receptacle for merit in the same way as a 
bowl might contain watet. then you mustn't 
be like a leaking or dirty container (Precepts 
incomplete) or else your merit will leak away 
or be sullied. 
Nowadays, it is hard for us to earn enough money 
to both feed ourselves and to offer as donations —
therefore when we do come to have the opportu-
nity to give donations, make sure that you possess 
all four of the factors mentioned above. 
D. WHO TO GIVE 
D.1 Giving to an individual: 
The Buddha taught in the Dakkhrnivibhafiga Sutta 
253) that the amount of merit from a gift to 
an individual hatipuggalikadana] is in propor-
tion to the purity of the recipient. If you give food: 
1. to a humble animal it will give long-life rigid, 
good complexion Ivarnial, happiness Isukha], 
strength [bala] and intelligence [patibizatia] for 
no less than 100 lifetimes; 
2. to a person who does not keep the Precepts your 
gift will give the same fruits for 1,000 lifetimes; 
3. to a person who keeps the Precepts your gift 
will give the same fruits for 100,000 lifetimes; 
4. to a hermit or ascetic outside the Buddhist mo-
nastic community who has attained some de-
gree of mental powers your gift will give the 
same fruits for 1012 lifetimes; 
5. to a person who practices with the intention to 
train himself to become a stream-enterer, the 
fruit is countless; 
6. to a person has actually attained sainthood at 
the level of stream-entry [sotripana] then the 
merit is even more; 
7. to a person who practices with the intention to 
train himself to become a once-returner 
[sakidagclmi] then the merit is even more; 
8. to a person has attained sainthood at the level 
of once-returner lsakidagamil then the merit is 
even more; 
9. to a person who practices with the intention to 
train himself to become a non-returner 
lartagamil then the merit is even more; 
10. to a person has attained sainthood at the level 
of non-returner [onagami] then the merit is 
even more; 
11. to a person who practices with the intention to 
train himself to become an arahant then the 
merit is even more; 
12. to a person has attained sainthood at the level 
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of arahant then the merit is even more; 
13. to a paccekabuddha 
then the merit is even 
more; 
14. to a filly-enlightened Buddha then the merit is 
even more; 
If you favour a particular person when you are mak-
ing your donation, then you the amount of merit 
gained as the result of the gift will be reduced. Some 
people go to a particular temple and single out a 
particular monk for their attention. It is almost like 
something personal between the giver and the re-
cipient. The giver feels that there must be some-
thing personal between themselves and a monk be-
fore they will give that monk any support. They 
will not help strangers. They might look down on 
monks of low rank. Their mind is rather narrow. 
Of course they still receive merit from their good 
deed, but it is slightly reduced from what it could 
be — because the merit in all of these categories of 
recipient cannot beat the merit from offering a gift 
to the community of monks. 
D.2 Offering to the monastic community 
Offering to the monastic community Isatighadana] 
means giving a gift which is not specific to any par-
ticular monk in a monastic community. Such a per-
son does not mind who the monastic community 
delegates to receive a particular gift from them.Even 
if the community sent a novice to receive their gift 
they wouldn't mind. Their mind would be filled 
with faith before, during and after their making of 
the gift.The Buddha taught that anyone who is suf-
ficiently broad-minded to support the Sangha in 
this way will receive countless merit. 
h. HOW MUCH TO GIVE 
E.1 Duty ofa Buddhist to support their religion 
The Buddha specified the duty of a Buddhist house-
holder towards members of the monastic commu-
nity in the sixth of the "six directions" of the 
SingalovAda Sutta, as follows: 
1. kindly acts towards the monastic community 
2. kindly words towards the monastic commu-
nity 
3. kindly thoughts towards the monastic com-
munity 
4. by keeping an open house to the monastic 
community 
5. supplying the monastic community with their 
material needs 
In other words it is the duty of every Buddhist 
householder to perform acts of generosity towards 
the Sangha. The Buddha laid down the rule that 
monks must earn their livelihood by alms alone. 
Monks are not allowed to earn income by any other 
means. The Buddha's intention by this rule was that 
monks be able to devote their time to their real du-
ties of study and meditation in order to be: 
1. pure in body, speech and mind and to be a 
worthy field of merit for the householders 
2. worthy teachers to the householders 
Of course the government could organize things 
so that people could support Buddhism out of their 
taxes in the same way the State finances the Church 
in many western countries, but because Buddhism 
has (like the Protestant Church) has always empha-
sized the importance of independence from 
"worldly" concerns such as political policy, the price 
of this freedom is that Buddhism must rely on the 
reciprocal relationship between monk and laity at 
a grassroots level which cannot be manipulated by 
any politician. 
By supporting the monastic community, the 
householders maintain the intactness of the Triple 
Gem for perpetuity — for the peace and harmony 
of society and the world at large. 
It is not difficult for well-intentioned household-
ers to understand the importance of the first four 
duties of the householder towards the monastic 
community — however, in the society of the present 
day where even the media find it profitable to sen-
sationalize the laxity of a miniscule minority of 
members of the monastic community — the 
repurcussions are having a negative effect on the 
whole monastic community throughout the world. 
No small number of formerly dutiful household-
ers exposed to such sensationalism have discontin-
ued their support for the monastic community out 
of uncertainty as to which monks are practising in 
earnest. 
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Thus it falls upon earnestly practising monks to 
co-operate in trying to salvage the tarnished image 
of the monastic community — because if the faith 
of the Buddhist laity is allowed further to deterio-
rate, eventually the laity will lose their understand-
ing of Buddhist principles — becoming capable of 
heinous social crimes or of defecting to other reli-
gions. Such people will only add to the fragmenta-
tion and internal divisions which already exist in 
society. 
.E.2 Managing your resources 
When we talk of generosity Idanct] in this blessing 
we mean giving those things which are surplus to 
our needs. Some people might doubt as to how 
much they really need or might be unable to dis-
tinguish between 'need' and 'want' and hence the 
Buddha gave guidance about how householders 
should budget their earnings so that their generos-
ity is neither reluctant nor a burden on the family 
expenditure. The Buddha taught (Adiya Sutta 
A.iii.45) that the family budget should be divided 
into five as follows: 
1. one part to support the immediate needs of 
yourself, your parents, your children, spouse, 
servants 
2. one part to extend generosity towards your 
friends 
3. one part which should be saved in case of 
emergency (for example fire, flood, excess 
taxation, theft or extortion by malevolent rela-
tives) 
4. one part which should be used for five sorts 
of dedication 
1. for one's extended family 
2. for hospitality 
3. for dedicating merit for the departed 
4. for taxes 
5. for dedicating merit to the things that you 
believe in according to your local custom 
(e.g. ascetics, animals, physical forces and 
elements, lower deities or higher deities de-
pending on your culture) 
5. one part to extend support to well-practising 
monks and ascetics 
The Buddha did not say that each part should be 
20% of your earnings, but he taught that you should 
budget for each of these sorts of expenditure. As 
for the "working capital" which you have built up 
for yourself, the Buddha taught in the SihgalovAda 
Sutta (..18011.) that you should apply one-quar-
ter of your earnings for your immediate needs, one-
half should be reinvested in your business and the 
remaining quarter should be saved in case of emer-
gency. It is up to each individual to decide how 
much of their income to use as "working capital" 
and how much to use for generosiry. If you budget 
in this way, you will be able to practise generosity, 
giving neither too much nor too little. 
E.3 Degree of Generosity 
As mentioned above, generosity usually refers to 
giving away what is excess to one's needs. Gener-
osity thus trains one to overcome the tendency to 
want more and more without end — and to be able 
to distinguish between 'need' and 'want'. If you 
have a big plate of food and you know that half 
will be enough for you, to give the other half to a 
hungry friend is generosity Ilona]. However in 
some places such as the "Four Virtues of the House-
holder" [gharavasadhamma] (S.i.215; Sn.189) the 
Buddha exhorted his householders to train them-
selves even to be willing to sacrifice their own con-
venience for the good of others. In such a case, a 
hungry man might forgo the whole of his large plate 
of food for the benefit of a friend who has eaten 
nothing for three days. Such giving is a more de-
veloped form of generosity known as "self-sacri-
fice" [cdga]. In pursuit of the perfection of gener-
osity the bodhisattva cultivated self-sacrifice to the 
point he was willing to sacrifice all his material pos-
sessions, but also parts of his body such as blood 
and eyes [upa-dana-paramita] and his own life 
Iparamatta-dana-paramital. 
1. 1214-SULES OF GIVING 
El Speed of Outcomes 
A final point about generosity concerns the reason 
why some people perform an act of generosity and 
receive the fruit of their deed immediately. For ex-
ample, someone is generous and immediately 
comes into a fortune or is made king or attains en-
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lightenment. What is the reason? There is an addi-
tional factor in the performance of generosity which 
influences the swiftness with which the merit will 
give its fruit. If you look at the set of teachings 'the 
giving of a noble one' (Sappurisadana Sutta 
A.iii.172) you will find the answer. The Buddha 
taught that a noble man will give: 
1. with faith (i.e. with full faith in the favour 
able outcome of a good deed): will bring the 
giver wealth, attractive and trustworthy 
appearancewith a good complexion; 
2. with respect: will bring the giver wealth and 
endowment with obedient children, spouse 
and servants; 
3. at the correct time; will bring the giver wealth 
and the wishes of the giver will come to frui-
tion without delay; 
4. with the thought to help the recipient; will 
bring the giver wealth and higher enjoyment 
of the pleasures of the senses; 
5. without coming into conflict with yourself or 
others: will bring the giver wealth and pro-
tection of possessions from fire, flood, misap-
propriation by tax-collectors, theft and exhor-
tation by enemies of malevolent heirs. 
E2 Difference of fruit by difference of gift type 
Whenever we do generous deeds, we reduce the 
influence of greed in the mind, however the degree 
of the reduction will depend on the purity of the 
gift, the intention, the recipient and the giver. Apart 
from these factors, the fruits of our giving is also 
influenced by the type of thing we offer is. To take 
the example some examples of offerings. The first 
five come from the Kill:dada Sutta (S.i.32) — see 
table below. 
Therefore, if ever you have the opportunity to 
cultivate generosity, never let the opportunity pass 
by unanswered. Sometimes we think of waiting 
until we are more ready, but often if we wait until 
everything is ready, the opportunity is gone. 
ILLUS I RA I IN E EXAMPLE*, 
G.1 Proverb: Mahapadayi Sutta 
Those who give the things they like, are wont to 
receive things that they like; those who give the 
supreme, are wont to receive supreme things; those 
who give good things are wont to receive good 
things; those who give the ultimate are wont to at-
tain the ultimate; persons who give the supreme, 
the good, the ultimate, will have long life and hon-
our wherever they are born. 
Offering 
Example 
Fruit 
giving food 
meal for monks 
long-life, bright complexion, good health, strength, quick-
wittedness 
giving cloth or clothing 
robes for monks 
good complexion 
giving transport 
vehicles, shoes, a lift, bus/ 
train fare 
happiness 
giving light 
candles, lanterns, fuel oil 
outstanding eyesight 
giving shelter 
a place for the night, a 
building 
everything! 
giving 
permanent 
buildings, trees 
long-life, strength, security of personal property 
property 
time-limited giving 
receiving guests, those 
preparing to travel, first 
harvest 
wishes will come true, lack of difficulty in times of shortage 
forgiving, giving life 
forgiving others, extend- 
ing the lifeof condemned 
animals, releasing fish 
long-life 
giving knowledge 
a lecture, needed advice 
intelligence, easy attainment of wisdom 
TABLE 15.1: THE MERITORIOUS FRUITS OF VARIOUS SORTS OF GENEROSITY 
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0.2 Metaphor: A bunting house 
If our house catches fire, the possessions we can 
manage to salvage before it burns down will be all 
we are left with. In the same way, the possessions 
that are really our own, are those we can convert to 
merit by the power of our generosity in the space 
of our lifetime, before the fires of old-age, sickness 
and death burn up this impermanent body of ours. 
Dutiya Jana Sutta 
G.3 Metaphor: Cow and Pig ((rad.) 
The pig was jealous of the cow because the cow 
seemed to be very popular with everybody. 
Someone advised the pi&"Don't be jealous —
popularity is in proportion to one's generosity. The 
cow gives her milk daily to make butter and yo-
ghurt and cheese". 
The pig was indignant saying,"Generous — ■ 
generous! Look at all the things mankind has to 
thank me for— my bristles make paintbrushes and 
my flesh makes all the pork dishes of the world." 
"Don't confuse the issue," said the advisor, "—
all the things the cow gives, she gives while she is 
still living!" 
Ever wondered why the people who are only gen-
erous in their will are never very popular? 
0.4 .Er. Culasataka Brahmin (DhA.iii.002f1) 
There was once a couple who were so poor that they 
only had a loincloth each and between them they 
only had a single shawl. If the husband went out of 
the house with the shawl then the wife had to hide 
in the house. If the wife went out of the house, the 
husband had to stay home. They couldn't go any-
where together because they only had a single 
shawl between them. One day the husband went 
alone to hear the teaching of the Buddha. He was 
filled with faith and thought to offer the shawl to 
the Buddha. He took off the shawl, then thought of 
his wife at home and changed his mind. He listened 
to the sermon further until midnight and again he 
was filled with faith to offer the shawl — but when 
he thought of his wife, he changed his mind again. 
He listened to the sermon further almost until dawn 
and this time when he was filled with faith, he of-
fered the shawl to the Buddha without any further 
hesitation, while exclaiming the words, "Cittame 
Cittame" meaning "I have conquered (it), I have 
conquered (it)." King Pasenadi was sitting nearby. 
If anyone shouts anything like this near a king, they 
will normally have their head chopped off — but 
the king was interested to know what he had con-
quered. The poor man said that he had conquered 
his stinginess. The king thought, "such a person is 
rare" and therefore set the man up in life with a 
standard of living fit for a millionaire.The man of-
fered everything he had been given to the Buddha 
except for a shawl for himself and one for his wife. 
The king therefore gave the man even more pos-
sessions. 
In the morning the Buddha revealed to the rest of 
the monastic community that if the man had man-
aged to conquer his stinginess since the beginning 
of the sermon, he would have been made four times 
as rich. If he had conquered his stinginess at mid-
night he would have been twice as rich. His hesita-
tion had blunted the power of his meritorious in-
tention. The Buddha concluded that if anyone ever 
has the faith to do a good deed, then they should 
quickly do that good deed before the intention is 
overtaken by stinginess. 
0.5 Ex. Sumedha Hermit (J.i.30ff.) 
At the fruition of the ninth ascualteyya kappa of 
pursuing perfections the bodhisattva was born as 
a hermit called Sumedha. He trained himself in 
meditation until attaining magical powers — be-
ing able to fly through the air. One day he travelled 
in the air and saw all the people of a certain town 
building a road. He asked why they were building 
the road. They replied that the Buddha Dipafikara 
had already arisen in the world so they were creat-
ing a road to receive the Buddha. Sumedha the her-
mit asked permission to rebuild part of the road 
for himself, and the people of the town permitted 
him. They thought he would use his hermit's pow-
ers to magic the road to completion, so they gave 
him a piece of road that ran over a piece of sub-
sided ground, with a deep hole in it. Sumedha 
wanted to cultivate generosity the 'hard way' in 
order to fulfil his Perfections so instead of using 
magical powers he started to mend the road by the 
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sweat of his brow. Consequently, he had not fin-
ished leveling his piece of mad when the Buddha 
and his disciples reached the place. Sumedha 
thought, 'the road I have built is not finished —
never mind, only two metres remains - so I will 
lie down in the hole in the road myself'. When the 
Buddha arrived, he bowed at the feet of the Bud-
dha and invited the Buddha and all of his disciples 
to be his field of merit and allow him to be a hu-
man bridge for them all to traverse the unfinished 
piece of road. The Buddha and all the disciples 
walked over his body and instead of feeling aches 
and pains, Sumedha was filled with joy to have been 
of service to the Buddha. That was the lifetime in 
which the Dipaiskara Buddha gave Sumedha the 
prophecy of his own Buddhahood that he would 
need to go on to attain full enlightenment four 
asankheyya and 100,000 kappas later. It was also 
the lifetime that the bodhisattva recognized gener-
osity as the foundation of all other Perfections (as 
mentioned at §A.3 above). 
G.6 Ex. Aputtaka millionaire (DltA.iv.76ff.) 
One day in the time of the Buddha, King Pasenadi 
of Kosala (of Sivatthi) came for audience with the 
Buddha in the afternoon. King Pasenadi said that a 
miraculous thing had happened concerning a mil-
lionaire in his town. (Millionaires in our own time 
are simply rich people, but in those times 'million-
aire' was a title bestowed by a king, on wealthy 
economists. Some in those times may have been 
wealthy but if they had no knowledge of econom-
ics, they would not qualify for such a title. Million-
aires had the duty to be patrons who would use 
their knowledge and their wealth to support the 
king in the development of the nation. They were 
almost like bankers of the present day.) A million-
aire had died without heir so the whole legacy of 
the millionaire became national property and had 
been taken for storage in the palace. When the mil-
lionaire was alive he had been so stingy that he 
would not even allow expenditure to feed himself 
decently. He would survive only on rice husks and 
over-ripe fruit sold at clearance prices. He would 
wear only rag clothes — anyone who saw him 
couldn't believe he was a millionaire. He would not 
even buy soap so he always smelled from never 
washing. 
The King asked how such a person could be so 
rich but seemed unable to spend any money on him-
self. The Buddha looked at the previous lives of the 
man and told the king that in a previous lifetime, 
the man had donated food to a paccekabuddha. 
Arahants, paccekabuddhas and frilly-enlightened Bud-
dhas are so pure of mind that anybody giving a 
donation to any such will accrue a lot of merit. On 
this particular occasion he had instructed his wife 
to offer food to the paccekabuddha and went to work. 
When he returned he found out that his wife had 
given all the best of their food to the paccekabuddha. 
He thought with regret, "If we had eaten that food 
ourselves, we would have had plenty to eat for 
many days. If we had given the food to our work-
ers, they would have worked their hardest for us 
for many days." When the merit of the donation of 
food gave its fruit, he became a very rich man, but 
from his regret at a later time, he was always stingy 
in any expenditure for his own convenience. He was 
only able to use remnants because at that time when 
he regretted having offered food to the pacceka-
buddha, all he thought of giving the paccekabuddha 
was remnants. 
G. 7 Er. Daddalla Vimanaoatthu (Vo.48) 
In the time of the Buddha there were two sisters. 
The elder was called Patta and the younger was 
called Supatta. Both sisters did as many merits as 
they could throughout their lives. Patta intended 
to do more merits than her little sister. When Patta 
passed away, through the power of her merit, she 
was reborn as an angel and was born in the second 
level of heaven (Tavatimsa). Patta the angel won-
dered where her little sister had gone. Only much 
later did an angel of very bright complexion intro-
duce herself as her former little sister who was now 
an angel in the higher fifth level of heaven 
(Nimmanaradi). Patta the angel was confused. She 
had always done many more merits than her little 
sister—how come she had a lower rebirth? Supatta 
the angel revealed that even though she had had 
less chance than her elder sister to make generous 
donations to monks, whenever she did make a merit 
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it was always a donation to the monastic commu-
nity kasighadana] rather than the personalized 
merit [patipuggalikadana] offered by the elder sis-
ter. As the result of her donations, the elder sister's 
mind was not truly broad, and the merit she ac-
crued was reduced. As for her little sister, although 
she had less opportunity to make merit, she always 
offered it with the thought,"May my gift be received 
by any monk who practices in earnest— any monk 
who is a representative of the monastic community 
will do." Thus when the younger sister passed 
away, as a result of her mind being broader and 
having fewer biases in her understanding of 
Dhamma, she took a more fortunate rebirth than 
her sister when she passed away. 
G.8 Er. Jujaka Brahmin & his wife Amitta-
tapana J.M.5214, 593 
Some people like to ask about the story of Vessandara. 
In that particular Jfitalca,there is an evil man a hun-
dred years old called Jfijalca who has a young wife 
called Amittatipana (aged 17). Some ask what this 
old man did to get himself a wife young enough to be 
his grandchild. Amittatfipanit was someone fond of 
giving but instead of offering fresh flowers to the monks 
she would always offer only shriveled flowers. When 
the time came for her to marry, then her husband was 
also old and shriveled. As forJujaka, he would always 
like to offer flowers to the monks that were fresh so 
when the merit gave its fruit the result was different. 
Fora similar reason, if people habitually offer only sec-
ond-hand things to the monks, maybe they will always 
get a widow(er) for their spouse! 
G.9 Ex. Bhattabhatika the woodcutter 
(DhA.iii.87ff.) 
There was once a millionaire called Gandha Benin 
who inherited a fortune — and considering that he 
would be unable to take it with him when he died, 
made every attempt to use up his wealth within his 
lifetime by every sort of extravagence. He would 
spend 100,000 kaltapanas each day alone on his own 
food. His extravagence became renowned and he 
would thus eat in public so that the peasants could 
come to watch what delicacies he would eat each day. 
One day a wood-cutter passed by and became so en-
tranced by the millionaire's food that he realized he 
would die if he didn't get to taste such food. He 
pushed his way to the front of the crowd and begged 
the millionaire for a taste of the food. The millionaire 
refused, saying "If I give you a taste, the rest will be 
wanting one too." Instead the wood-cutter offered 
three-years of his work in the service of the 
millionnaire in order to earn a taste of such food, and 
the millionnaire agreed. 
At the fulfilment of three year's labour,the wood-
cutter (in the meantime nicknamed Bhattabhatika —
"the one who labours for a meal"), was sitting at the 
table about to tuck in to the delicacies he had earned 
for himself. At that moment a paccekabuddha passed 
into view on almsround. Seeing the paccekabuddha, the 
woodcutter hesitated thinking: 
"that I have had to work three years for this meal 
must be because I am lacking in merit to find my-
self subject to such poverty. Meat this meal myself 
it will only sustain me fora day, but if I offer it to the 
paccdcabuddha,it will sustain me for many lifetimes?' 
The woodcutter offered a large portion of the food to 
the paccekabuddha who then closed the lid of his bowl. 
The woodcutter appealed to the paccekabuddha to re-
ceive more food saying: "don't just help me for this 
lifetime — help me in the next lifetime too!" The 
paccekabuddha removed the lid of his bowl and the 
wood-cutter put all the remaining food into the bowl, 
while making the wish, "may this merit bring me hap-
piness and success in every lifetime, may I know some 
part of the wisdom of this paccekabuddha". The 
paccekabuddha gave his blessing to the effect that the 
wood-cutter's every wish should be fulfilled. 
The onlookers for the wood-cutter's meal were in-
spired by the wood-cutter's generosity and how he 
had given something that was so hard to give. They 
applauded him so loudly that the millionaire came 
out to see what all the noise was about. He too was 
inspired by the wood-cutter's example and shared so 
much wealth with him that he too was to attain the 
status of millionnaire. 
He performed charitable works to the end of his 
days and was reborn as Sukha who ordained as a 
novice under Sariputta at the age of seven and very 
quickly attained arahantship. This is an example of 
"giving things of better quality than you would use 
yourself" [dane:semi]. 
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Blessing Sixteen: 
Dhanuna Practice 
A. INTR.011tlt HON 
A.1 Purification in Buddhism 
On our path of self-development via the Manual of 
Peace there are many reasons on many levels of de-
scription why to purify oneself is attractive. 
• On a personal level: it would be a rare person 
who isn't proud of the many strengths they con-
sider they have in their character — purification 
can be the way in which one builds and improves 
the strengths already in one's character. At the 
same time, if one knows oneself to have certain 
weaknesses of character, by purification, one can 
overcome these weaknesses. 
• On an interpersonal level: by purifying ourselves 
of weaknesses and building on our strengths we 
can become the sort of person who others feel 
privileged to consider as a friend 
• On a social level: purifying oneself can contrib-
ute to overcoming the weaknesses and inequali-
ties that are often so obvious in our modem so-
ciety by being one less person who is prone to 
corruption, nepotism and fraud, while display-
ing the sort of compassion which makes our so-
ciety a more pleasant place to live. 
In Buddhism, according to the Law of Karma, we must 
receive the retribution of the good and bad actions that 
we do. (Usually) the only way in which karmic retribu-
tion becomes defunctis by giving its fruit. Howeve; rather 
than just sitting and waiting for one's karma to run out, 
the Buddha suggested two ways to purify oneself 
• dilution of old bad karma with large quantities 
of new good karma: Supposing you compare the 
negative things in our past to a spoonful of salt 
and you compare the positive things in life to a 
container of water. Supposing you put the spoon-
ful of salt in a glass of water — if you taste the 
water it will still have the salty taste. If you put 
the same amount of salt in a bucket of water you 
will find that the water still tastes salty but less 
so. But what if you put a spoonful of salt in a 
huge water tank? Now even if you taste the wa-
ter, you will no longer be able to detect the salty 
taste — even though the salt is still there. In the 
same way although we may have things we have 
done in the past which we regret, we can start 
afresh in our lives by doing so many positive 
things in our life that the old negative things 
become insignificant. 
• direct uprooting of the old bad karma through 
meditation: This method is described in the 
higher blessings of "Austerity" (31) and "Chas-
tity" (32). 
In this blessing we consider pure living at the level 
of the householder — leaving purification at the 
more intense monastic level to later blessings. 
A.2 Buddhist Purification compared to that of 
other religions 
In its approach to purification, Buddhism is rather 
unique when compared to other religions. In Chris-
tianity (esp. Catholicism), if a Christian breaks a 
commandment, he will go to confession with a 
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priest in church. In that way, he can absolve his sins. 
Although confession has an important role in Bud-
dhism too (primarily monastic) from the point of 
view of declaring one's intention to renew one's 
effort to overcome evil deeds after having broken a 
precept— it is not seen as a way of overcoming the 
consequences of the evil done. Supposing Mr. A 
punches Mr. B in the street and subsequently con-
fesses it to someone he respects, Buddhists would 
see this as helping Mr. A to feel better about it, and 
to avoid repeating his behaviour — but it doesn't 
help Mr. B. feel any better about his swollen nose! 
— i.e. the consequences, even on a superficial level, 
do not go away because of the confession. 
In Hinduism, there is also a way of purification 
— bathing in the River Ganges on full-moon days. 
Hindus believe they can rinse away their sins with 
river water. If sin were really washable, then pre-
sumably it is a sort of bodily dirt, rather like dried 
sweat? 
The Buddha however, concentrated on the resi-
due of evil deeds left as defilements in the mind. He 
said that you can wash your mouth out a hundred 
times a day, but it doesn't get rid of the evil effects 
of the bad speech that comes from your mouth.You 
can wash yourself in the river a hundred times per 
day, but it doesn't get rid of the effects of the evil 
bodily acts which you have done. This blessing 
deals with the Buddhist approach to mind purifi-
cation—specifically by the technique of "dilution". 
A.3 Definition: Practising Dhamma 
The Pali word we use for Dhamma Practice is 
"dhammacariya". This word is the compound of two 
words —1dIrantmd and ' cariya'.'Dhamind is a word 
which has anything up to forty different meanings, 
but for our purposes in the study of Buddhism it 
means 'correctness', 'goodness', 'purity' or 'what 
the Buddha taught'. Sometimes ' dhamind means 
'phenomena' — which is a neutral term applied to 
positive and negative things— for example, aging, 
sickness and death are all rdhaminasi. In English we 
capitalize Dhamma when it is meaning goodness, 
purity or the Teaching of the Buddha and leave it 
with a small 'd' when it refers just to phenomena 
or mental phenomena. The word ' cariya' means 
'conduct' — therefore, 'Dhammacariya' means the 
'practice of good deeds' or 'correct practice'.The sort 
of deeds that are good or correct are described in 
more detail below — however, to give practical 
principles for the purposes of this blessing, we can 
say that it is that the sort of deeds and conduct 
which comply with this blessing are those which 
promote our sense of responsibility for human dig-
nity on three levels: 
• the personal level 
• the interpersonal level 
• the level of society and the economy 
In this particular blessing we will concentrate 
mainly on the first two levels of description — not 
because the social level is irrelevant, but because 
we will deal with it in more detail in Blessing Eight-
een (Blameless Work) and Blessing Nineteen on not 
consuming the things that lead to economic unfair-
ness. 
The Dhamma Practice of this achieves two goals: 
• protecting yourself from the effects of the evil 
we have done in our past (= practice for pu-
rity) 
• furthering our good deeds (= pure practice) 
A.4 Dhamma Practice in the Sequence of the Blessings 
The Buddha chose to put "Dhamma Practice" as the 
sixteenth blessing (i.e. before "Looking after one's 
extended family" [17] and "13lamelessWork" 118) be-
cause looking after one's extended family and harm-
less work, both of which concern our dealings with a 
wider society (the members of which have a wide 
variety of dispositions) are possible minefields of con-
flict. Without particular caution in our dealings, we 
run the risk of spoiling our good intentions or com-
ing into conflict through our own partiality. Thus be-
fore embarking on works of "social value" we have 
to prepare ourselves by studying the right approach 
to our worldly and spiritual work so as not to bring 
harm inadvertently to ourselves or others. 
B. PRACTICE FOR PERM 
There are many ways of practising good deeds for 
your own benefit, but in this Blessing we empha-
size the groupings of good deeds which boost our 
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sense of responsibility for our own human dignity. 
B.1 Avoiding the Defilements of Action 
Firstly, it is vitally important that we avoid the four 
defilements of action Illamakilesak namely: 
1. Killing people or animals bacThatipitta]; 
2. Stealing or taking what is not given 
[adinnadana] 
3. Adultery or sexual intercourse outside mar-
riage [kltmesumicchdcara]; 
4. Telling Lies [musavtida]; 
You will notice that these four forms of behaviour 
are diametrically to the decent behaviours described 
in the moral codes of almost any religion. In Bud-
dhism restraint from these behaviours is covered 
in the first four of the Five Precepts. Keeping the 
Five Precepts is well known to be the underlying 
virtue that allows us to be born human. If we want 
to stay human (i.e. remain humane or respect our 
own human dignity) then it is necessary to live our 
lives according to the Five Precepts. Even compro-
mising our behaviour for any single one of the Five 
Precepts diminishes our humanness by that amount 
— but that is not the end of it— those human 
intuitions which we lose are replaced by the same 
amount of savage or animal instincts. If we are to 
give up all of our Precepts then we reduce our in-
stincts entirely to the level of a savage [manusso 
tiracchano). The missing fifth Precept, i.e. to re-
strain oneself from the consumption of alcahol or 
substances that cloud the mind [surameraya-
majjapanzaciatthand veramatii] is not included 
inthe Four Defilements of Action, but reappears 
later in Blessing Nineteen. 
A person who cannot manage to restrain himself 
from these defilements of action compromises their 
own human dignity — they will have no scruples 
about constantly taking advantage of other people 
both in their presence and behind their backs. If they 
have neither fear nor shame of evil or its conse-
quences then nothing will be left of their respect 
for human dignity. 
Anyone who can abstain from the Four Defile-
ments of Action is someone established in self-dis-
cipline because they are able to keep the Precepts 
— they neither harm others nor take advantage of 
them. Because such a person does nothing to harm 
society, then it can be considered as social respon-
sibility to a certain extent. 
B.2 Cultivating the Five Virtues [pudea-
clhamma] 
If we want to go further than simply avoiding tak-
ing advantage of others, in Thai Buddhist culture 
there is a traditional set of virtues called the "Five 
Virtues" [iaticadhamma] which build on the vir-
tues of abstinence cultivated in the Five Precepts, 
namely: 
1. Compassion (controlling all the nasty things 
that come from the body in a way that will 
not offend them (personal cleanliness to the 
eye and to the nose; well-spoken (courteous 
& express concern for others); good manners; 
going out of your way to help others; not do-
ing things to create suspicion in others; 
2. Generosity: This means giving resources, 
time, forgiveness, attention, teaching, advice 
(see Blessing Fifteen for fled details); 
3. Contentment with one's spouse: This means 
being faithful to one's spouse (if applicable) 
and actively practising the virtues that keep a 
marriage going (see Blessing Thirteen for full 
details); 
4. Truthfulness in everything you say, honesty 
to yourself, earnestness in every task you do 
and earnestness towards good deeds. Train 
yourself to do your very best in every task that 
comes to you. Train yourself to be a person of 
principle, honest to yourself and honest to 
other people. You will find that all ten of the 
principles above will come automatically; 
5. Mindfulness train yourself to keep your mind 
at the centre of the body the whole of the time 
whether you have your eyes closed for medi-
tation or open for other duties you perform 
during your life. Meditate too to give your-
self the encouragement to keep practicing 
because you are getting to the roots of the 
problems that crop up in life. 
Cultivating any or all of these virtues will add to 
the strength of accumulated positivity in the mind 
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that will be able to change our mind from negative 
to positive on a more regular basis. Even if we have 
negative things in our past — the things we have 
done and which we may now regret —by building 
up more and more positive deeds in the way we 
mention above will allow us to dilute the regrets 
and anxieties we have in our minds. 
B.3 Fulfilling the Tenfold Path of Wholesomeness 
Our aim in cultivating these virtues is to establish 
oneself in the Tenfold Path of Wholesomeness 
[kusaladhammapatha] which we have already 
seen in Blessing Nine: 
1. absolutely not killing. 
2. absolutely not stealing 
3. absolutely not committing adultery 
4. absolutely not lying 
5. absolutely not gossiping 
6. absolutely not speaking harshly. 
7. absolutely not chattering idly 
8. absolutely not thinking to take the posses-
sions of others 
9. absolutely removing yourself from vengeful-
ness. 
10. absolute possession of Right View 
C. PURL 1 RA.0 I ICE 
A second facet of Dhamma Practice is behaving in 
accordance with purity. This means particularly in 
our decision-making we must establish our think-
ing in 'purity and not allow impure things like de-
filements and temptation to interfere with what we 
know is good and fair. Pure practice instils respect 
for the human dignity of yourself and others. It in-
cludes: 
• refraining from bias (see K.1 below); 
• avoiding the six roads to ruin (see Blessing 19); 
• fulfilling one's duties in the six directions men-
tioned under the relevant blessing topic 
• a child's duties to their parents (see Blessing 
11, §C.4); 
• a parent's duty to their child (see Blessing 12, 
§B.3); 
• a student's duties to their teacher (see Blessing 
7, §E.1); 
• a teacher's duties to their students (see Bless-
ing 7, §E.1); 
• a husband's duty to their wife (see Blessing 13, 
§C.2.3); 
• a wife's duty to their husband (see Blessing 13, 
§C.2.4); 
• friends' duties to each other (see Blessing 2, 
§D.2); 
• an employer's duties to their employees (see 
Blessing I8, §D.1); 
• an employee's duties to their employer (see 
Blessing I8, §D.2); 
• a congregation member's duties to their clergy 
(see Blessing 15, §E.2); 
• a clergyman's duty to the congregation (see 
Blessing 3, §C.2); 
CA Lack of Bias 
The four forms of bias comprise: 
1. Bias because of desire IchandZigatil: e.g. par-
ents who don't love their children equally be-
cause of bias based on desire, may treat their 
children unfairly; 
2. Bias because of hatred (dose:gat* e.g. teach-
ers suffering from bias based on hatred or 
anger will behave unfairly towards annoying 
students, perhaps awarding them less than 
their due grades; 
3. Bias because of ignorance Imoluigatit e.g. 
someone who suffers from bias because of ig-
norance may take decisions based on his own 
stupidity or lack of information or put some-
one wicked or stupid in a position of respon-
sibility; 
4. Bias because of fear [byagati].e.g. someone 
who is biased because of his fears might bear 
false witness against someone he knows is 
innocent because someone he is afraid of told 
him to do so. 
All forms of bias cause us to trample the dignity of 
the innocent. Trampling dignity through bias starts 
with trampling one's own dignity, by twisting the 
truth in one's own heart and mind. Such bias in 
our minds then twists the things we say and do to 
deviate from what is righteous and appropriate. 
Such behaviours are all the sign of a cowardly and 
wicked person who has no love of justice — and 
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