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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 [sila] 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. INTRODUCIION 
A.1 The Place of Blessing Twentrseven in the 
order of things 
Patience is necessary as an interactive virtue be-
cause we need to be prepared to overcome many 
possible obstacles, especially conflicts and temp-
tations, 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 de-
filements in the mind — but you could never 
attain wisdom without a foundation of patience. 
In fact patience is not only the foundation of wis-
dom — it is the foundation of every sort of vir-
tue in the world. Thus if we already have a mir-
ror 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 our 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 ob-
stacles with trepidation, with patience we wel-
come them as challenges — thus every success 
both in spiritual and worldly ways is a monu-
ment to the virtue of patience. The Buddha 
praised patience as one of the greatest virtues, 
second only to wisdom. 
Ii. PATIENCE 
B.1 Definition: Patience 
The root meaning of the Pali word for patience, 
"Monti" 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. 
£2 Characteristics of Patience 
The characteristics of authentic patience are as fol-
lows: 
1. We can put up with things: If insulted by a fool, 
one pretends one has not heard. If you are repri-
manded for something that is not true or if you 
are provoked, you pretend not to heat Some 
have just given up drinking alcohol and know-
ing 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 grati-
tude to them. Supposing you have always been 
someone with very strong false views, by pa-
tience you will keep your mouth shut, not al-
lowing your views to express themselves in your 
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speech and by continuing to work on yourself 
— until there are 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 an-
gry, 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 an-
gry provocation have won the battle which 
is hard indeed to win." (S.1157) 
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 
laddng.There should not even be thought of get-
ting your own back on others who have hurt you 
in the past. 
3. Not bringing tears to others: One avoids bring-
ing 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 be-
ing 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 grind-
ing 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 nos-
ing into the affairs of others which don't concern 
you. Instead of going for instant solutions from for-
tune tellers, one should get down to hard and hon-
est 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 at-
tained 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 pa-
tience: 
"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 modern day by those who misunderstand pa-
tience. 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 con-
tinue 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 culti-
vation of patience. In this case it would be better 
referred to as stubborness. 
Supposing some hooligans are normally trouble-
makers and they ignore someone who tells them to 
stop, carrying on with their normal troublemaking 
— is that patience? They may say it is the cultiva-
tion 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 character-
istic of patience is for as long as you are truly pa-
tience 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 evil — allows you to endure until you can 
extract yourself from the clutches of evil behav-
iour 
• the patience to continue to do all manner of vir-
tuous deeds — allows you to persevere in doing 
good deeds 
• the patience to maintain one's mind, not allow-
ing it to become clouded — allows you to keep 
your mind pure and radiant 
B.4 Levels of patience 
Patience exists at at least four different levels: 
1. Patience in the face of hardship: This means en-
durance of hardships caused by the environ-
ment 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. How-
ever, some people sit around a gambling table 
or sit watching a movie all night without mov-
ing 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 suf-
fering implicit in illness. If a person has an ill-
ness 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 
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 moan-
ing 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 saying, "Don't attend to the patients 
who cry out loudly first, because they are still a 
long way from death. Take care of the ones who 
have no strength to cry out any more — because 
we have no way of knowing how much longer 
they will be with us. 
3. Patience in the face of conflict (tnental suffer-
ingk This refers to patience we have when con-
fronted by anger, discontent and denial that 
comes from hearing insulting words, unpleas-
ant treatment or manners, being put under pres-
sure 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 pa-
tience for yourself. Everybody in the world 
loves to do exactly whatever they want with-
out 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' dif-
ferences 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 pa-
tience not to succumb to the temptation of tour-
ing night clubs, gambling, addictive drugs, brib-
ery, corruption, promiscuity, drunkenness con-
cerning 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, gam-
bling, 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 sud-
denly seems more acceptable as a way of enhanc-
ing 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 ofer 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 dif-
ferent 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. CUL11VAI 1NG PATIENCE 
C.1 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: 
1. Reflect regularly on one's sense of conscience: 
When we are fully ashamed of evil [bin] and fear 
the consequences of evil [ottappaj, 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 cart 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 medi-
tate 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 head-
ache." 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 atti-
tude 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. Fain yourself in meditation continuously. 
Patience and meditation are complementary vir-
tues - 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 dean. 
C.2 Turning a blind eye to provocation 
The Great Abbot of Wat Paknam taught how pa-
tience is invaluable for the cultivation of medita-
tion. 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: 
1. don't go looking at the inappropriate things —
for example, don't go looking at the other peo-
ple who go to the same temple who might an-
noy you 
2. don't go liste ' g 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 unpleas-
ant 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 prod-
uct 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 your-
self the victim of the end products of injustice rather 
than letting it spoil your day, you can cultivate pa-
tience as follows: 
1. 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. 
2. 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 op-
ponent 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 accord-
ing 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 mak-
ing 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. 
b. ILLUS1 RAI IVE EXAMPLbS 
D.1 Metaphor: Grass is Patient 
Despite its small size, the tenacity of grass has al-
lowed 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. Khantivadi Jataka (J.313) 
At a time when the Lord Buddha was still pursu-
ing Perfections as the Bodhisattva, he was born as 
a hermit. He was meditating in a royal park. That 
day the king was drunk and came through the for-
est 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 lis-
ten to the teachings of the hermit nearby. When the 
king woke and found himself alone he lost his tem-
per. 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 feet and swallowed him directly into 
Aveci Hell. The hermit remained alive, but covered 
in his own blood. The courtiers attended to the her-
mit'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 Ex. Punnovada Sutta M.267 
In the time of the Buddha there was a man called 
Purrna who lived in the town of Sunitparanta 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 cru-
elty. Murder was a daily occurrence. Pur.ma had 
been a merchant travelling with his brother to trade 
in the town of Savatthi. 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 coun-
try and to try meditating there instead. The Bud-
dha 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?" 
Pucrna replied, "I can." 
The Buddha asked, "What will you do if they in-
sult 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 look-
ing for effective means to take their own lives." 
The Buddha thus allowed Punna to make the 
journey. Meditating in favourable surroundings, he 
was able to attain arahantship before long, and 
made an important contribution to spreading Bud-
dhism in that province of cannibals. 
D.4 Ex. Temiya the Mute J.M. 
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. Even-
tually, the king and the people lost all hope that he 
would be king and sentenced him to death. How-
ever, at the moment he was to be executed, he dem-
onstrated to the executioner that he had no disabil-
ity 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 fol-
lowed his example and all left the home life to be-
come ascetics in the same way. This is the power of 
the perfection of patience. 
D.S Ex. Circa MiTioavika 
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 over-
came his rivals accusations through the use of pa-
tience. There once was a woman called Cifica 
Mfidavika who supported ascetic sects. She was 
also a very beautiful woman — the local beauty of 
Savatthi and also a competitor of Visalia. 
Visilda supported Buddhism throughout her life. 
In that time, they would always invite celebrities 
to do the opening ceremony for local events. Bud-
dhists would always invite Visfilchfi to open their 
ceremonies.The naked ascetics would always invite 
Cifica Mioavika to do their openings. One day, be-
cause the naked ascetics were losing many follow-
ers to the Buddha, they enlisted the help of Cifica 
Mfidavika 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 tem-
ple she would pass them in the opposite direction 
and make it look like she was about to sleep in the 
kuti of the Buddha. When they asked where she was 
going, she would say, "To bring pleasure to the 
Buddha." In the morning Ciftca Marfravilca 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 Chita 
Mfirfravika pregnant. After nine months, many sup-
porters had been put off going to the temple. Chita 
Mioavika 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 an-
gry. Dine's Mariavika 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 oth-
ers 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-
ple. One where Chico Mimavika 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 At Magandiya 
In another place, a Queen Magandiya hired peo-
ple 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 reputa-
tion. Wherever he went, there were hired men by 
the hundred waiting to insult him. They would fol-
low him wherever he went, insulting him, until his 
secretary, Ananda could not stand it any more. He 
suggested to the Buddha that they go to another 
town. 
The Buddha asked Ananda, "And what happens 
if in the next town there are also people coming to 
insult us?" 
Ananda 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 mots. 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 se-
cret, 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 prov-
erb (Dh.252): 
Sudassam vajjam arifiesam 
attano pana duddasarrt 
Paresam hi so oaf jani 
opuuati yathizbhusam 
Attano pans chadeti 
kalim va kitava satho 
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 weak-
nesses we must improve upon. In this respect, we 
start to appreciate that the acquisition of higher vir-
tues requires more than just the four levels of pa-
hence described in the Blessing Twenty-seven, 
namely: 
1. Patience in the face of physical hardship: work-
ing on normally despite rain, hot or cold 
weather; 
2. Patience in the face of physical suffering: work-
ing 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 vir-
tues to their fruition is the additional sort of pa-
tience that allows us to receive (instead of refus-
ing) 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 an-
guish and temptation, but if anyone gives them a 
piece of advice they will turn their back on the per
who gives them it. When it is close to examina-
tion 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, 
Blessing Twenty-Eight: Openness to Criticism 311 
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he will not listen— why? — because how can some-
one 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." 
Sarabhafiga Jfitaka Q.522) 
Who is the most stubborn person in the world? In 
fact everybody in the world has the seeds of 
stubborness in them, but it's just a question of de-
gree. The sound of advice seems to singe their ears 
so badly that they never listen to such things. Thus 
we come to 'openness to criticism' as the twenty-
eighth step on the staircase of Buddhist practice. 
13. Oi 1MM:it'!" 10 
B.1 Definition: Openness to Criticism 
In the original Pali, openness to criticism uses the 
word isovacassata' —literally, someone who learns 
easily and is gentle in response to teaching. When 
a person of knowledge teaches them something use-
ful out of compassion, they will follow the advice 
given with respect and humility — without 'ifs' or 
'buts' or answering back. Thus if they are taught 
something, they start by listening — then they do 
what they have been advised without showing re-
luctance but thinking of the compassion of that per-
son to have taken the trouble to give a piece of ad-
vice. 
B.2 Characteristics of those open to criticism 
The characteristics of someone who is open to criti-
cism are as follows: 
1. Doesn't answer back wizen warned or given ad-
vice. Some people will immediately criticize 
someone back as soon 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. Will 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 
4. 
5. 
6. 
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 dif-
ference 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 
advice, acting on what they have been told in a 
way that will give the advisor the encourage-
ment to pass on further advice to them, if the 
need arises, in the future. 
Having the highest respect for what they have 
been taught and for the person who has given 
the advice: Some people follow the advice they 
have been given with reluctance. However, if 
someone is really open to criticism, they will 
not even show reluctance because they will be 
afraid of showing disrespect towards what has 
been taught and the person who has given the 
advice. In fact, anyone who had come to give 
us advice, is taking a big risk because they know 
that they might not meet with a favourable re-
sponse if they give someone a piece of personal 
advice — and yet they still give it. When some-
one is criticized, usually they have not even 
thought whether the criticism is true or false, 
they must first express some resistance to the 
criticism. This is the sign of an untrained mind. 
Thus a well trained person will pause to con-
sider the value of teachings received instead of 
immediately thinking, "How dare they criticize 
me?" or "Who are they to criticize me?" If they 
are even better trained, not only will they con-
sider whether what they have been taught is 
true or not — they will show their enthusiasm 
to hear criticism, no matter whether the criti-
cism received is true or not. They think instead, 
"What a great risk this person has taken in giv-
ing me some criticism — look at how they have 
singled me out for special attention — so I had 
better be quick to thank them for their good in-
tention." 
Will show the greatest humility: They will re-
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spond to criticism without expressing stubborn-
ness 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 Briclhus. 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 stub-
born 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 per-
son 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 temp-
tation to burst into a tantrum or be unpleasant 
to the person giving the advice; 
10. 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 zip 
again if ever they notice anything else in their 
behaviour which needs improvement. They will 
not be afraid of being embarrassed by knowl-
edge of their faults — because the character of 
a wise man is never to suffice as to new knowl-
edge. 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 mem-
ber of my family etc. etc. 
H. 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 ex-
plained 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. 
£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 lis-
ten to criticism without expressing any resist-
ance, 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 ad-
vice. Some people appreciate criticism from a 
person more senior than them but will be irri-
tated 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 fol-
low 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 be-
come part of your personality. At first, if you pre-
vent 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. How-
ever, 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. 
BA Ulterior motives for being open to criticism 
It is rare to find someone who can genuinely take 
criticism on board. However saying that, that some-
one 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: 
1. Materially-motivated: some people make them-
selves very obsequious because they seek for 
something material in return. Why are some chil-
dren so obedient? You will see why after they 
receive the legacy from their parents. Once re-
ceived 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). Re-
ally 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 intelli-
gence 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 understand-
ing 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 wis-
dom 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 treas-
ure that will help them towards the goal of per-
fection. Only this last category is open to criti-
cism 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 obe-
dient, 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 
C.1 Categories of stubbornness 
There are basically three categories of stubborn peo-
ple in the world: 
1. 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 intelli-
gent 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 lim-
its of their knowledge or the gaps in their expe-
rience. 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 
the cleverest and beyond criticism'. Such peop
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 igno- 
4. 
ranee'. 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 
5. 
to cause disharmony in any group. 
We will further examine the practical ways of deal-
ing with the first two sorts of stubbornness in §D.3 
below. 
C.2 Reasons for stubbornness 
Some people think that training oneself to be sensi-
tive 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 stubbomess in people (so that we 
can get rid of it)? Mahamoggallina Thera taught 
in the Anumana Sutta how sixteen possible sorts 
of traits can create stubbornness in the face of criti-
cism 095-7): 
1. Determination to do evil ipapiccho hoti 
papikananz icchancup]: Some people will wish 
for success in the most evil things (like steal-
ing Buddha images from temples or smuggling 
heroin). Such determination to do evil will 
make them evil for the whole of their life. It 
sounds very extreme but even normal people 
it. 
suffer from it now and then when we think 'just 
this once we'll make them sorry'. At that time 
the seeds of stubborness are creeping into the 
mind. 
2. Overestimation of oneself lattukarp sako hoti 
9. 
paraoambhil: When we think we are superior 
to everyone else, then again it is a root of 
stubborness. Again you will listen to no-one 
3. Losing one's temper easily Peodhano hoti 
kodhabhiblzatop If you know you have this ten-
dency 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. 
6. 
7. 
Vengefulness Ikodhano hoti kodhahetu 
upanalii]: 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 per-
son 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. 
Inability to control oneself when angry 
Ikodhano hoti abhisaligi]: 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. 
Those who have to have the last word if criti-
cized Ikodhano hoti kodhasamantarp vacant 
niccharetal: unable to control what they say 
when criticized. 
Those who have an excuse for everything 
Icudito codakena codakcup patippharati]: 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 how-
ever I want, don't come interfering in some-
thing that is none of your business." If you 
meet such people, don't waste time trying to 
change their ways — however, if you recog-
nize the same habits in yourself, get rid of such 
habits without delay. 
Those who give others the brush-off Icudito 
codakena codakcup apasadeti]: Whenever 
someone tries to give such a person advice, 
they chase them away saying that they have 
no time to listen to such talk. 
Those who find a callous way of answering 
back 
Icudito 
codakena 
codakassa 
paccaropetii: who will always find a way of 
answering back to the person who gives them 
advice in a way that will hurt them. They will 
say something like, "Don't go worrying about 
me — use your time more usefully and worry 
about the state of your own husband." Instead 
of accepting advice and showing enthusiasm 
to follow it — they ignore the advice and go 
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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, "1 may have my weak-
nesses and faults but at least I manage to keep 
control of my own husband...". 
10. Those who change the subject to avoid speak-
ing about the matter [cudito codakena aiiiien' 
afifiam paticaroti bahiddha katharp 
apananzeti, kopafica, dosaficaappaccayafica 
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 sampayatil 
12. Those who persecute anyone who tries to ad-
vise them in order to hide their faults [makkhi 
hoti palasil: In Buddhism monks have to con-
fess their faults so that there is nothing left se-
cret. 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 [issuki hoti 
nzacchari]: or glossing over favours received 
from others in order to make themselves look 
superior. 
14. Those who are jealous [satho hoti moyavikthis 
extreme form of selfishness makes one narrow 
minded to the extent that you are unable to re-
ceive 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 atimani]: because they feel they are al-
ready 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 Nee-
dle. 
16. Someone who has views which deviate se-
verely from reality [sadidhiparamasi hoti 
adhanagahiduppatinissaggi]: They might 
thinly, "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 start-
ing point of stubbomess that will make us unable 
to correct our weaknesses. 
D. CI 7L1 IVA1 LNG On:AMISS 1 0 CRITICISM 
D.1 Correction of stubborn habits for monks 
The Buddha taught that monks should improve 
themselves by inviting others Ipavarayal to give 
their criticism, whatever their relative rank or sta-
tus. 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 fol-
lows: 
"If any of you have seen, heard or suspected 
any behaviour of mine that is unpleasant in any 
matter, please inform me of such miffs out of 
compassion, so that I might ealize 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 criti-
cise 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 an-
swer 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 criti-
cize 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 stubborn-
ness 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 weak-
nesses. 
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 cat-
egory: 
1. 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 giv-
ing 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 ex-
tremely 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 lim-
ited 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 bot-
tom of a well. If you are a boss with stubborn 
people if this type working for you and even af-
ter 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 'Brahma-
danda treatment'. 
Thus now that we know the qualifies of a person 
sensitive to self-improvement, we can examine our-
selves 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 re-
turn; reflecting on the criticism; following the ad-
vice; getting an appropriate benefit from following 
the practice and eventually appreciating the good-
will of that person. From someone who never man-
aged 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 per-
son 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 per-
son giving the advice, by answering back. 
L. ILLUSIRA1 IVE EXAMPLES 
E.1 Proverb: Criticism like hidden treasure 
(Dh.76) 
Nidhinarp' va pavattaram yam passe 
vajjadassinarp, niggayhavadisp medlivirp, 
tadisant panclitatp bhaje, tadisam bhaja-
mitnassa, seyyo hoti na pepiyo 
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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hidden treasure, it is always better and never 
worse, to cultivate such an association. 
£2 Metaphor: Frog at the bottom of a well 
A stubborn person who doesn't open themselves 
to criticism is like a frog living at the bottom of a 
well who has never had the chance to see the world 
from any other perspective. No matter how many 
people might come along and point out how much 
better the world is outside the well, such words are 
lost on the frog who through his lack of experience 
always assumes he knows better. 
.E.3 Metaphor: Paralysed by Stubbornness 
The people of old compared a stubborn person to 
someone who has been paralyzed. Even though all 
round him there may be delicious food, beautiful 
clothes and many other useful things, they are all 
useless to that person because the paralyzed per-
son is unable to pick them up. In the same way, if a 
person is stubborn, even though they might have 
an arahant for a teacher, are unable to absorb any 
of the goodness of that person. 
E.4 Er. Jivaka heals King Candappa-jjota 
(Vin.26.831) 
In the time of the Buddha King Candappajjota of 
Ujjeni could not be healed by anyone in his own 
kingdom, so he sent a letter to King Bimbisfira ask-
ing him to send the court physician Jivaka 
Komfirabhacca to take care of him. Normally in 
the treatment, the patient must swallow ghee to be 
cured. In this case, the patient stubbornly refused 
treatment because in his religion, they prohibited 
the eating of dairy products. Jivaka considered the 
condition of the king would be helpless if he didn't 
take ghee, so he make what may have been the 
world's first 'capsule' by concealing the ghee in-
side a digestible husk. Jivaka knew that after half-
an-hour, the medicine would give its effect and the 
king would regurgitate the ghee. Besides being 
cured, the king would know that he had been fooled 
by the doctor. Jivaka administered the ghee cap-
sule to the king and immediately asked for the 
king's fastest elephant to go looking for additional 
herbs. The king granted his request and Jivaka 
made a quick get-away, without any intention to 
return. When the king regurgitated the ghee and 
knew he had been fooled, he ordered his soldiers 
to pursue and kill Jivaka, but Jivaka was long gone 
on a swift elephant and they could not catch him. 
The king was angry all day and all night, but within 
a few days he was cured of his illness, and changed 
his attitude to Jivaka , even sending him a reward 
of siveyyaka cloth to thank him for his attention. 
The king made an effort to change his stubborn 
personality from that day onwards. 
.E.5 Er. Radha Thera DhA.ii.104ff 
There was one day in the town of Ftfijagaha, the 
Lord Buddha was staying at Veluvana Temple and 
Sariputta was there also. An aged Brahmin called 
Rfidha who had been shunned by his wife, family 
and in-laws because he was not very wealthy. They 
abandoned Radha instead of looking after him in 
his old age. He didn't want to bother anyone un-
duly so he thought of becoming a Buddhist monk 
for the final days of his life. None of the monks in 
the temple were interested to take responsibility for 
his ordination because they saw that he was already 
old and would only be a burden on the temple. No-
one would give him ordination. The Buddha asked 
if there was not a single monk in the temple who 
had received benefit from this Brahmin in the past. 
Sariputta spoke up and said that once a long time 
ago Radha had given him a ladleful of rice when 
he was on almsround. The Buddha therefore asked 
Sariputta to help out Radha on this occasion. 
Sfiriputta ordained Rfidha and allowed him to stay 
in the same kuti teaching him meditation and the 
teachings of the Buddha. Rfidha practised hard and 
possessed the quality of being sensitive to self-im-
provement. He never thought of looking down on 
the teachings of a much younger monk. He prac-
tised everything he was taught. There was no hesi-
tation or doubt in his mind. If he was asked to use 
the mantra iSamma-Arahame and think of a Bud-
dha image that was exactly what he did. He was 
not like some people who sit and think, "How can 
it be possible that we can imagine something and 
see it?" or "How could there ever be brightness in-
side?" or "The mind has the nature to think, what's 
the use of trying not to think?" or "Surely the teach-
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ing monk is making it up as he goes along?" like 
most people. Radha did exactly what was asked of 
him. Sariputta was a young monk who could sit 
for meditation for five to ten hours at a time. Even 
though Radha was seventy, he would still sit to-
gether with Siriputta without worrying about stiff-
ness. Radha thought, "After all, I have made the 
effort to become a monk, so what is there to be 
feared about meditation when I have left behind 
everything else?" and after three days was able to 
become an aralrant. 
E.6 Ex. Brahmadarada punishment of Channa 
DhA.ii.1101): 
In the time of the Buddha, when he left the palace 
to ordain, he went together witha horseman called 
Channa. Channa also ordained at that time, but 
from that day to the time when the Buddha entered 
Parinirvana, he could make no progress in the 
teachings of Buddhism. The reason for this is that 
he would selfishly do whatever he felt like doing 
and would ignore the advice of all the other monks 
in the community. He would be so proud of the fact 
that he had accompanied the Buddha when he re-
nounced the palace that he thought that the whole 
of Buddhism should thank him for it. He was not 
ready to listen to anyone's criticism because he saw 
them all as ungrateful. He would listen to no-one 
but the Buddha himself. However, the Buddha 
didn't have enough time to give Channa personal 
attention, so he ended up as a stubborn monk 
Ananda asked the Buddha "What can we do with 
this monk because if you should ever enter upon 
parinibbana, there will be no-one left who can do 
anything to help this monk" 
The Buddha said, "You must perform the 
Bralunadaoda punishment." 
Ananda asked, "How can we do that?" 
The Buddha explained, "From now on, whatever 
Channa wants to do let him do it. Whatever he 
wants to say let him say it. Shun him by treating 
him as if he wasn't there and don't speak to him or 
do anything to co-operate with him." 
When the Buddha passed away, all the monks did 
what the Buddha had instructed and within a very 
short period of time Channa became like an out-
cast in the community. Channa came grovelling to 
Ananda saying, "Please be a refuge to me — I will 
stop being stubborn." 
All the monks had a meeting and decided to for-
give him. As a result of everyone treating him in 
the same way, he could soon realize his mistake and 
change his ways. 
If you have a stubborn child in the family, the par-
ents can use the same technique of punishment. 
However, if your parents are stubborn, as children 
you should not try using this technique or maybe 
you will be punished yourself! Even in schools or 
places of work might adapt this for their own use. 
E.7 Ex. Sariputta criticized fora squint under,
robe 
Mi1.397) 
Sariputta's humility was as great as his patience. 
He was willing to receive correction from anyone, 
not only with submission, but with gratitude. It is 
told in the commentary to the Susima Sutta that 
once through momentary negligence, a corner of 
the elder's under-robe was hanging down. A seven-
year old novice, seeing this, pointed it out to him. 
Sariputta stepped aside a once and arranged the 
garment in the proper way and then stood before 
the novice with folded hands saying "Now it is cor-
rect, teacher!" and said the following verses: 
"If one who has gone forth this day, at the age 
of seven should teach me, I accept it with a low-
ered head. At the sight of him, I show my zeal 
and respect. May I always set him in the teach-
er's place." 
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