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ways serene and pleasing to the eye. 
When told about the patience of Bhaddiya, the 
Buddha said, 'An arahant never loses his temper, 
he has no desire to speak harshly or to think ill of 
others. He is like a mountain of solid rock. Asa solid 
rock is not shakeable by wind so also, an arahant is 
unperturbed by scorn or by praise.' Only then did 
the other monks come to know that Bhaddiya had 
long before attained arahantship and was invulner-
able to worldly vicissitudes. 
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Blessing Thirty-Six: 
Sorrowlessness 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 True love and possessive love 
Second only to wisdom, compassion [kararza] —
or true love — is considered one of Buddhism's 
key virtues. The further we can extend our mind, 
the more broadly and impartially we will be able 
to spread our love. Compassion is not a virtue to 
make you a narrower or more egoistical person. 
On the contrary, it will lead to a breaking down 
of the barriers between yourself and the rest of 
the world. For arohonts such love comes naturally. 
However, for those who are still unenlightened, 
the love we experience, although called by the 
same name, is possessive in its nature. Possessive 
love is subject to the three Universal Character 
istics and cannot last forever. It also re-inforces 
our egoism unlike its enlightened equivalent, 
'compassion'. However, worst of all, possessive 
love has a painful withdrawal symptom called 
'sorrow' — the nature of which we will discover 
later in this blessing. 
Because an arahant has no further possessive 
love he is thus free of sorrow. Thus sorrow-
lessness is another of the four characteristics of 
an orahont described in Group X. In fact 
'sorrowlessness' is closely concerned with virtues 
discussed in the immediately preceding Bless-
ings. In Blessing Thirty-three we talked about two 
types of suffering — the inevitable and the mis-
cellaneous (largely avoidable). In Blessing Thirty-
Five we have already been introduced to the vi-
cissitudes of the world: which are all features of 
life in the world which are unavoidable — but to 
which you can make your mind invulnerable by 
attaining arahantship — allowing one to see the 
desirable and undesirable things of the world as 
subject to the Three Universal Characteristics. 
This blessing deals with making oneself invul-
nerable to the second category of suffering which 
is avoidable — those that resemble sorrow. As we 
shall see, sorrowlessness is a fruit of attaining 
arahantship — but even though we may not have 
reached arahantship ourselves, it doesn't stop us 
from drawing some conclusions (see §C. below) for 
how to reduce potential sorrow in our life — even 
if we cannot completely eradicate it. 
A.2 Definitions: Sorrow & Sorrowlessness 
The word 'sorrow' or 'sob' has already been in-
troduced since the Four Noble Truths of Blessing 
Thirty-three. It is a term which refers to the suf-
fering state of a mind that is torn by dryness. A 
mind of sorrow is a mind that feels dry and 
cracked like the earth in a land suffering from 
drought. It is like a leaf that has become so dry 
that it has lost its life and freshness. Sorrow arises 
when someone encounters an undesirable situa-
tion which makes us feel burned out and help-
less. The antonym for sorrow, the word 
'sorrowless' (or in the Pali 'asoka') refers to the 
mind that is not vulnerable to sorrow — and is 
the title for this blessing. 
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N.‘1 I RE OF SORROW 
B.1 Cause of Sorrow 
The problem of the untrained mind is that it tends to 
pick up indiscriminately on all the negative emotions 
of perceptions coming to us through the senses. The 
mind will not stay still but will constantly try to find 
some new perceptual food to feed the senses. How-
ever whatever sort of thing it senses, it will not stay 
with that thing for long, but will soon be on the move 
searching for something new If you listen to some 
pleasant music, after only a few minutes you will be-
come bored and start looking for something tasty to 
eat instead. Before you have eaten much, you think 
to yourself that you would rather lie down and take a 
sleep. Before you have been asleep for very long, you 
would rather go outside and take a walk. There is 
never any satisfaction with any particular sensation. 
There is only one sort of sensation with which the 
mind never gets bored — and that is when one falls 
in love with someone or something. Such possessive 
love causes the mind to be fixated firmly with no more 
wandering. Once the mind has attached itself to pos-
sessive love it can no longer get itself free. In such a 
state of mind, any day you don't get a glimpse of your 
lover; you feel that you have no appetite. Even to hear 
their voice on the telephone, to see a glimpse of their 
face, or to catch sight of their house can help to satisfy 
you. If they love you in return, the suffering remains 
within the limits of toleration—but what if they don't 
love you in return? Or what if they start out by loving 
you and later change their mind — or love someone 
else — or die? It is at this point that the mind will 
become so dry that it will feel like it will tear in two. 
Now if you hear a love song, you would rather ay. 
Now if someone invites you to go and see a romantic 
movie, you would rather stay at home. From a mind 
that used to be interested in absorbing many differ,
ent stimuli, now it has had such an overload from the 
stimulus of falling in love that it no longer wants to 
absorb any stimuli at all. Thus, sorrow is like a with-
drawal symptom from possessive love —in the words 
of the Buddha: 
Piyate jhayate soko 
Sorrow is caused by things that are dear to us 
J.iii.162, DhA.iii.277 
Thus if anyone wants to live sorrowlessly in the 
world, they should avoid absent-mindedly falling 
in love and life will be that much easier. 
Possessive love doesn't just refer to people, but 
loving anything to the point you become attached 
— whether it be your house or your car. Anything 
that has anything to do with love is like a thorn 
that one day will produce sorrow. 
In spite of our common sense, and in full aware-
ness of the perils of falling in love — however, cir-
cumstances sometimes get in the way of our better 
judgement. Many women decide they could better 
use their time devoting their time to their work or 
to their spiritual development, but they cannot 
stand be labeled an 'old maid' by their relatives so 
half-heartedly go looking for love. Some parents 
want to put an end to their responsibility for look-
ing after their children so they rush them to get 
married. 
£2 The Degree of Sorrow 
With relation to possessive love, Buddha taught: 
"If you love a hundred (of them) you will have 
a hundred measures of suffering; 
If you love90you will have90 measuresof suffering; 
If you love80you will have80 measuresof suffering; 
If you love70you will have70 measuresof suffering; 
If you love60you willhave60measuresof suffering; 
If you love50you willhave50 measuresof suffering; 
If you love40you willhave40 measuresof suffering; 
If you love30you willhave30 measuresof suffering; 
If you love20you willhave20 measuresof suffering; 
If you love 10 you will have 10 measures of suffering; 
If you love 5 you will have 5 measures of suffering: 
If you love 4 - 3 - 2-1 of them, you will have 4 -
3 - 2-1 measure(s) of suffering. If you love noth-
ing and no-one when you will not have suffer-
ing about anything. Such a person will be with-
out suffering and without regrets as to their life. 
In fact the existence of suffering, despair and 
sorrow in the world is only brought about be-
cause of the love we have for physical things. 
When there is no further physical thing that we 
love (be it our body, people, animals or posses-
sions) there will be no further suffering, despair 
and sorrow. Whosoever can put aside their love 
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for such physical things will attain happiness 
in this world. Those who wish to evade sorrow 
in this world would be better to avoid falling 
in love with the physical things of the world." 
Ud.(verse 176) 
If you want to conclude in more colloquial lan-
guage: 
The more your possessive love, the more the 
sorrow. The less your possessive love, the less 
the sorrow. If you have no possessive love, 
there will be no sorrow. The more your pos-
sessive love, the more the tears. The end of 
possessive love is the end of tears. 
C. PRACTICES FOR MINIMIZING SORROW 
The minds of those who have already attained Nir-
vana (i.e. those who have already attained the 
Dhammakaya Arahant) will be insulated from sor-
row. For those who have attained the Dhammalcitya 
Gotrabhil, for as long as they can maintain their 
mindfulness, they will not experience sorrow. How-
ever, even with such a high attainment, such peo-
ple cannot keep their mind in Nirvana twenty-four 
hours-a-day. There will be times when their 
mindfulness is disturbed and they will be left vul-
nerable to sorrow. It is only the arahant who is shel-
tered from sorrow for the whole of the time. For 
the anagami, sakidagami and sotapana, the pro-
tection is not continuous. Sorrowlessness lasts for 
only as long as they can maintain full mindfulness. 
Strictly speaking, on the subject of 'sorrow-
lessness' in this Blessing, there is not much left to 
say. It is a result that arises as the result of coming 
to an end of defilements. Howevec, for those who 
are not yet arahants, there is still much to be learned 
from sorrowlessness because if we know enough 
we can reduce our vulnerability to sorrow for the 
things we already love and we can avoid exposing 
ourselves to sorrow for the things we do not yet 
love thereby ... If you don't yet have transcenden-
tal attainment at your disposal— not to fear—there 
are still behavioural and attitudinal changes you 
which you can use to reduce your liability to sor-
row. 
As mentioned in the introduction, we cannot es-
cape the eight vicissitudes of the world — but sor-
row is something we can choose to avoid. In fact 
we could choose to walk away at any time but, most 
people fail to make that choice. The thought to cul-
tivate oneself towards enlightenment has not even 
occurred to most people. Some are even afraid to 
practice meditation in case their defilements run 
out. They are afraid they will have no love left for 
anyone in the world any more — which is rather a 
misunderstanding of the true meaning of love. They 
pin all their hopes on the happiness of marriage, 
only later to be disappointed. Thus, if you want to 
take the choice to reduce your sorrow, if you still 
love things, you should try to reduce such attach-
ments before you experience the resulting sorrow. 
What can you do though, if your mind still feels 
the need to love things? There are several ways: 
1. Distinguish between possessive love and true 
love: you should cultivate true love while avoid-
ing possessive love as much as possible. It is not 
that Buddhists cannot express appreciation for 
things or people they like — but you should not 
allow your attraction for things to err into the 
possessive form of love. The surest way to know 
that love has started to become possessive is that 
it will tend to disembody your mind (especially 
by causing your mind to be drawn further and 
further away from the centre of your body); 
2. Love yourself truly: This is not an invitation to 
egoism — but instead of loving other people, 
why don't you try loving yourself instead? If you 
love yourself a lot, then you have to express your 
love for yourself. The best way to express love 
for yourself is to put effort into doing the maxi-
mum of wholesome deeds for yourself by: 
Avoid the evil things you have not yet done; 
Give up evil things you have already done; 
Start doing the good things you have not yet 
done, and; continue doing the good things 
you have already started to do; 
3. Meditate regularly: You should also meditate a 
lot and in that way you will be less likely to be 
caught in the sticky glue of passion; 
4. Cultivate self-discipline: By keeping the Five 
Precepts you will be able to protect yourself from 
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antisocial behaviours coming from your posses-
sive love. Moreover, if you can keep the Eight 
Precepts you will be able to start to throw off the 
ties that bind you to the stickiness of possessive 
love at its roots. The best sort of protection from 
such sorrows is the life of a monk. Thus if you 
think you want to avoid all sorrow, you should 
be quick to ordain! 
5. Recollect death and cultivate mindfulness of 
body: By recollecting death and cultivating 
mindfulness of the deterioration of the body, it 
will gradually reduce the tendency of the mind 
to thirst for sensual stimulation. If you practice 
the recollection of death habitually it will help 
you in your practice of meditation because it will 
stop your mind becoming distant from your 
body. It will allow you to escape from the trap of 
the senses. If you are in love, then your mind is 
fixated on something external to the body for 
long periods of time. However, if you recollect 
death habitually, it will release your mind from 
the attachment to love and because you consider 
the state of yourself, it will teach your mind to 
stay habitually within your body, instead of con-
tinually being hungry for new sorts of sensual 
stimuli. Thus if you ask the real reason for or-
ganizing funerals, in fact it is not the occasion 
for people to get together to cry tears of sorrow 
— but as the occasion for everyone to recollect 
on the implications of death for themselves. In-
stead of being sorry for the deceased, in future 
we can train ourselves to be sorry for ourselves 
instead. 
With the help of these practices, even though you 
are not yet an arahant, your mind will be better cen-
tred within the body and less easily enamoured by 
attraction for things that must eventually lead to 
sorrow. 
b. mut 
RAI1VI, EXAMPLES 
111 Metaphor: Monkey-trap 
In the olden days hunters had an ingenious way to 
catch monkeys. They would leave a piece of wood 
covered in glue lying next to a fruit tree. Monkeys 
eating the fruit would accidentally touch the sticky 
wood and its hand would get stuck firmly to the 
wood. Next it would try to pull the wood off using 
its other hand— but the other hand would get stuck 
to the wood as well. Accordingly, it would try to 
kick its hands free with one foot — but its foot 
would get stuck to the wood. Of course, it would 
try to kick its hands free with the other foot — but 
its other foot would get stuck to the wood as well. 
There was only one more thing it could do — to try 
to bite itself free. It would try to bite the wood, but 
its mouth would get stuck to the wood. Finally, it 
would roll around in a ball on the ground and wait 
for the hunter to come and collect it. When talking 
of falling in love, people are no more sensible than 
birds or monkeys. The expression on the face of the 
trapped monkey and the expression on the face of 
a jilted lover are exactly the same...
D.2 Ex. Mallika Sutter (S.i.75) 
Queen Mallika was the favourite queen of King 
Pasenadi of Kosala — and a woman renowned for 
her wisdom. One day the king asked his queen, 
"Who do you love the most in the world?" In his 
mind he wanted the queen to answer, "You of 
course!" The queen answered after a great deal of 
deliberation, "I have been thinking about your ques-
tion and I observe that all the animals in the world 
love themselves above all others—and I think that 
I am just the same!" 
D.3 .Ex. Death of Visakha's grandchild 
(DhA.iii.2781);) 
Visalia had been a stream-enterer [sotapana] since 
the age of seven. As a stream-enterer she had at-
tained the Dharnmakfiya and had seen the Four 
Noble Truths in the physical body, but not yet in 
the angelic body or any of the higher ones. Her at-
tainment, as with all stream-enterers was to be able 
to uproot three of the ten fetters [samyojana] in her 
mind, namely: 
1. False view of self-view [sakkayadittlzi] 
2. Doubt [vicikicchaJ: meaning specifically 
doubt concerning the action of the karma. 
3. Belief in Superstition Isilabbata-paranzasa]: 
belief in ritual and superstition. 
The other seven forms of fetters including sensual 
desire [kamat-ago] in her mind had still not been 
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destroyed or uprooted. When Visalia was a young 
woman, she married. She had ten sons and ten 
daughters — a total of twenty children in all. Be-
cause she had so many children, before long she 
had a lot of grandchildren. One day, her favourite 
granddaughter Datta died. Even as a stream-en-
terer, she forgot herself and went crying to the Bud-
dha. 
The Buddha asked, "Visakha, you once wished 
your children and grandchildren to fill the whole 
of Savatthi, didn't you?" 
"That is correct," said Visakha. 
"Do you know how many people day each die in 
the town of Savatthi?" 
"Some days ten people, some days nine, some 
days eight, some days seven, some days six, some 
days five, some days four, some days three, some 
days two, some days one— at least one person dies 
each day in Savatthi," said Visakha who had a 
good general knowledge of her town. 
"When there is a death every day in Savatthi, it 
is better that you save your tears because otherwise 
you will have someone to cry for every day." With 
the help of the Buddha's reminder, Visalia real-
ized that the more love you have for all your chil-
dren, the more tears you will have to shed when 
they die. 
D.4 Ex. Uraga jataka (J.354) 
When the Buddha was still pursuing Perfections 
as the Bodhisattva, he was born as a Brahmin 
farmer. At that time he enjoyed a harmonious fam-
ily life. He had a young son and a young daughter. 
Later, his household expanded with the addition 
of a son-in-law and a servant. 
One day he was ploughing in a field some dis-
tance from his home together with his son, who was 
weeding and burning the weeds. The bonfire made 
a lot of smoke — some of which went into the bur-
row of a snake. The snake could not breath so it 
came out of its burrow and bit the son. By the time 
the father realized, his son was already dead from 
the poison. 
Normally a father would cry at the death of his 
son, but for the Bodhisattva, he saw that there was 
nothing more he could help with, so he continued 
to plough the field. A neighbour passed the 
Bodhisattva on the way to the homestead and the 
Bodhisattva told him to give the message to his wife 
that she should only send one portion of food for 
the packed lunch that day instead of two. When 
those at home received the message, they guessed 
what had happened. All of them came rushing to 
the field and saw the son lying dead. However, like 
the Bodhisattva, the mother, sister, wife and serv-
ant did not cry, but helped to cremate the son. 
As they were cremating the corpse, an old Brah-
min with a radiant complexion appeared from no-
where and asked, "Whose body is this you are cre-
mating?" 
"My son's," replied the Bodhisattva. 
"Normally a father must cry at the death of his 
son—or at least his mother or sister or wife or serv-
ant must cry." 
"We have our reasons for not crying," explained 
the Bodhisattva and he continued," because when 
the life of someone's body is expended it is like a 
snake which must slough off an old skin. I see my 
son as no more than a snake shedding its skin. 
Therefore I have no sorrow. My son will have an-
other life ahead of him — if he has been good he 
will have a good birth. If he has done evil he will 
have an unfortunate birth. Even if I were to cry, it 
would make no difference to my son's afterlife des-
tination." The father was not crying because he 
didn't love his son, but because he could love him 
but also let go. 
The mother did not cry either. She said, "When 
my son was born, no-one invited him to come. 
When he left us, he didn't say farewell. He has gone 
in the same manner that he came. When this is the 
reality, what is the point of crying over spilt milk. 
Even if I were to cry, my son would have no way of 
knowing — because he has already gone else-
where." 
The little sister didn't cry. She said, "If I were to 
cry it would just spoil my looks. It would just make 
me ill so they would have to waste time looking for 
a doctor. It would just make me emaciated for no 
good reason. It would just increase the worries of 
the rest of the family — so why cry? No-one is go-
ing to be any happier as the result of my crying." 
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The wife said, "There is no more use crying than 
there is use in a child crying for the moon that has 
set on the horizon. Even though we have come to-
gether for this cremation, it doesn't make any dif-
ference to the feelings of the deceased because he 
has already gone wherever he must go." 
The servant said, "You cannot pick up the pieces 
of a broken pot and make it what it used to be. In 
the same way, it is no more use crying over a dead 
body — do we think it would bring them back to 
life again? He has already gone wherever he must 
go." 
Even the servant had a metaphor and an expla-
nation for her lack of sorrow — so how could they 
train themselves to think like this? It turned out that 
wherever the brahmin fanner went, he would teach 
his wife and children and even his servant, 
"You should make the recollection of death ha-
bitual. You have to think of death habitually be-
cause death is for sure. Life is not certain. Our 
aggregates are not permanent and they are of a 
nature to decay. Therefore you should never be 
reckless towards the accumulation of merit both 
by day and night. Make recollection of death 
your habit." 
It turned out that on that occasion, the old man who 
had come to ask them the questions was Sakka, the 
king of heaven in disguise. 
In the case of the Brahmin farmer, the whole of 
the family looked upon death without any sorrow 
because they recollected death habitually. The rec-
ollection of death will have the effect of minimiz-
ing the number of things in life that will cause us 
sorrow. If you do your morning and evening chant-
ing on a daily basis you will remember the words 
at the end of the evening chanting: 
'We are of a nature to age, we have not gone 
beyond aging; we are of a nature to sicken, we 
have not gone beyond sickening; we are of a 
nature of a nature to die, we have not gone be-
yond dying! 
If you do your chanting with true recollection every 
day and sit for meditation too, you will soon find 
that you start noticing the changing state of your 
own body in the direction of deterioration. 
When you are a child and you get a cold, just by 
taking a nap you can soon recover. However, by 
the age of twenty it might take you all night before 
you are able to get over your cold. By the age of 
thirty, it takes two or three days to get over your 
cold. By the age of forty, it takes four or five days to 
recover. By the age of fifty, to get over a cold might 
take a week or even two weeks for some people. 
By the age of sixty, it might take a month to get 
over a cold. By the age of seventy, you feel as if you 
have had a cold continuously. By the age of eighty, 
if you get a cold, you feel as if you are going to die! 
If you remind yourself of death often, if you fall in 
love it won't be for long and it won't be with too 
much attachment because you will always have the 
feeling that the 'Grim Reaper' is stalking you wher-
ever you are going and that will help to put your 
life in perspective. 
However, it is noticeable from this particular tale 
that the Bodhisattva, even though he had trained 
himself in the recollection of death to this degree, 
still was attracted to have a family of his own and 
not to remain single. However, if his wife were to 
die, he wouldn't waste any time grieving. Thus if 
you practice the recollection of death, if you are still 
not in love, you will not be drawn into the poten-
tial sorrow of such a relationship. If you are already 
in love then at least you will be able to maintain 
your own 'personal space'. 
D.5 Ex. Patacarit Theri (Dhatii.260ff.) 
Paticard was the daughter of a rich man from 
Savatthi. She was very beautiful and was closely 
guarded from suitors by her parents. One day, how-
ever, she fell in love with a man-servant and eloped 
with him to a village far away from Savatthi. In 
due course she became pregnant As the time for 
giving birth drew near, on several occasions she 
asked permission from her husband to return to her 
parents in Savatthi for the birth (in accordance with 
the tradition of the time). Her husband, however, 
fearing that he would be beaten up by her parents, 
discouraged her from going. One day, however, 
while her husband was away, she set out alone for 
the home of her parents. Her husband managed to 
catch up with her on the way and pleaded with her 
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to return home, but she refused. Unfortunately she 
went into labour there and then, she gave birth to a 
son in the forest. After the birth of her son, she re-
turned home with her husband. 
Not long afterwards, she became pregnant again 
and she made the same request to her husband as 
before but again was turned down. As the time for-
giving birth to her second child drew near again 
she set out for the home of her parents in Savatthi, 
taking her son with her. Her husband followed her 
and caught up with her on the way; but as it started 
to rain heavily, she went into labour again.The hus-
band went to look for a suitable place to give birth 
but while he was clearing a little patch of land, he 
was bitten by a poisonous snake, and died on the 
spot. Meanwhile, while Paticfira waiting for his 
return, gave birth to her second son. In the morn-
ing, she searched for her husband, but found only 
his corpse. Full of grief, and blaming herself for the 
death of her husband, she continued on her way to 
her parents. 
Because it had rained incessantly the whole night, 
the river was so swollen it was not possible for her 
to cross the river carrying both sons at once. Thus, 
she left the elder boy on the near bank of the rivet, 
while crossing the river with her baby, leaving him 
on the far bank. She then went back for the elder 
boy. While she was midstream, a hawk hovered 
over the baby thinking it was a piece of meat. She 
shouted to frighten away the hawk, but all was in 
vain; the hawk carried the baby away. Meanwhile, 
the elder boy heard his mother shouting from the 
middle of the river and thought she was calling for 
him. He attempted to cross the river himself but 
was carried away by the strong current. Thus, 
Pal:sari lost both her sons as well as her husband. 
She wept and lamented loudly, 'A son is carried 
away by a hawk, another son is carried away by 
the current, my husband is also dead, bitten by a 
poisonous snake!' Later, she met a man from 
Savatthi and fearfully asked after her parents. The 
man replied that due to a violent storm in Savatthi 
the previous night, the house of her parents had 
fallen down and that both her parents, together with 
her only brother had died, and had been cremated. 
On hearing this tragic news, Patficari went com-
pletely mad. She did not even notice that her clothes 
had fallen from her and that she was half-naked. 
She went about the streets, shouting out, 'Woe is 
me!' 
At this time the Buddha was preaching at the 
Jetavana monastery, and he saw Papal% at a dis-
tance; so he willed that she should come to the con-
gregation. The crowd seeing her coming tried to 
stop her saying, 'Don't let the mad woman come 
in.' However, the Buddha told them to make way 
for her. When Paticari was close enough to hear 
him, he told her to control her mind and to keep 
calm. As she became aware of herself, she realised 
that she did not have her skirt on and quietly 
crouched down. Someone gave her a piece of cloth 
to cover herself. She then told the Buddha how she 
had lost her sons, her husband, her parents, and 
her only brother. 
The Buddha consoled her, 'Pal:sari, have no 
fear; you have now come to one who can protect 
you and can really guide you. Throughout this 
round of existences, the amount of tears you have 
shed on account of the death of sons, husbands, 
parents and brothers is voluminous.' Then, the Bud-
dha expounded to her the Ana ma tagga Sutta 
(S.ii.178ff.),which dealt with countless existences, 
and she felt relieved and calmed. The Buddha 
added that one should not worry too much about 
those who were gone, but that one should purify 
oneself and strive to realise Nibbana. On hearing 
this discourse Patficfira realised the uncertainty and 
futility of existence and attained stream-entry. 
Patricia became a bhikkhuni. One day, she was 
cleaning her feet with water from a water-pot. As 
she poured the water for the first time, it flowed 
only a short distance and disappeared; then she 
poured for the second time and the water went a 
little farther, but the water she poured for the third 
time went the farthest. As she looked at the flow 
and the disappearance of water poured out succes-
sively for three times, she pondered, "even so do 
mortals die, either in childhood, in middle age or 
in old age". The Buddha, seeing her through his 
supernormal powers from the Jetavana monastery 
sent forth his radiance and exhorted her, 'Patficara, 
you are now on the right path, and you now have 
Blessing Thirty-Six: Sorrowlessness 409 
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the true perception of the aggregates ikhandha] 
of life. One who does not perceive the imperma-
nence, unsatisfactoriness and insubstantiality of 
the component things is useless even if he were 
to live for a hundred years.' Soon after, Patficara 
attained Arahanthood and was later to be praised 
by the Buddha as the foremost amongst the nuns 
for knowing the Vinaya. 
D.6 Ex. Tigers in the Town (traditional) 
Once upon a time, there was an old Chinese monk 
who built a temple deep in the forest at the top 
of the mountains. The monk had stayed inside 
the temple he had built without going anywhere 
else for almost the whole of his life. One day the 
monk found an orphaned boy in the forest. The 
monk brought up the child until he was a teen-
ager. Like the monk, the boy had spent nearly the 
whole of their life in the temple. The only con-
tact they had with the outside world was when 
they had monks come to visit them from other 
temples. All his life, the boy could not remember 
having met anyone else but monks. 
One day the monk needed to go on some er-
rands in the nearby town and he needed to take 
the boy along too, to help carry things. Thus on 
the day before they had to make the journey, the 
monk gave the boy a warning. He warned, "There 
is a type of animal that lives in the town that is 
very frightening. The animal looks just like you, 
but it has long hair, red cheeks and red lips. Such 
animals have strange effeminate habits. Whatever 
you do, don't get close to any of these animals. 
They are worse than tigers! If you don't follow 
my advice, you will never get back to our temple 
alive. Keep your distance." 
The two of them went into town and the town 
was full of the sort of tigers that the monk had 
warned him of. The boy looked at the 'tigers' but 
he didn't find them at all frightening. To him they 
looked quite attractive. Whenever the monk was 
not watching him, he would stare at every 'tiger' 
that passed. On the way back to the temple, the 
boy was not his usual cheerful self, but hung his 
head, dragged his feet and would hardly speak 
at all. The monk asked him, "Is anything 
wrong?". 
The boy replied, "I am thinking about tigers". 
The monk thought to himself, "Here we go again 
— after bringing up a boy the whole of his life in 
seclusion, he is still making the same mistake as 
the rest of them!" The boy's mind was so dry, that 
he could hardly enjoy his life any more. This is 
the dryness of mind that we mean by 'sorrow'. 
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Blessing Thirty-Seven: 
Freedom from 
Subtle Defilements 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 Place of Blessing Thirty-Seven in the order 
of things 
The subject matter of this blessing is in fact a result 
of practising all the previous blessings from not as-
sociating with fools up until the practise of the 
Brahmafaring. As a result of training, the mind be-
comes progressively more refined until one can see 
the Four Noble Truths — in the same way that the 
Buddha did. Ultimately we must work on ourselves 
until there are no remaining defilements in the 
mind. Even for the Buddha, it was not possible to 
achieve such attainments instantly. Even in his fi-
nal lifetime it took six full years. Having become 
enlightened, as a result of his teaching, others too 
were able to come to an end of defilements. 
Defilements, like litter, have gross and subtle 
forms. Gross litter can be picked up and put in a 
trash can — fine litter is more difficult to detect. In 
the same way, the defilements of the mind have 
subtle forms which can be compared to fine dust 
so small that that it cannot even be seen with nor-
mal eyesight. Such defilements are equivalent to the 
dust that clings to a mirror, making it dull — you 
only notice such dust when you can dean away 
such dust so that you can see clearly in the mirror 
again. 
It is the absence of these subtle defilements which 
is the subject matter of this blessing. Of course, such 
a state is the result of the practice of those who have 
already come to an end of defilements — but for 
the benefit of the general reader, we take the op-
portunity in this Blessing to examine the nature of 
the subtle defilements and give some possible ad-
vice for uprooting them. 
A.2 Definitions 
Defilements are like pollutants or impurities found 
in the mind which stop the mind from working in 
its normal efficient way. They are equivalent to bac-
teria or viruses in the body — external carriers of 
disease which cause the body the suffer from vari-
ous illnesses. The Pali word used to refer to this 
blessing is rvirajarni which literally means 'stain-
less', 'faultless' or 'freedom from defilements and 
passion'. In the commentaries it is used specifically 
to mean freedom from the subtlest of defilements. 
Attaining freedom even from such subtle defile-
ments is beneficial because for as long as such sub-
tle defilements are still present, the mind will lose 
its lustre — the subtle defilements will penetrate, 
encapsulate and infiltrate the mind making the 
mind lose its radiance. The mind which is free of 
subtle defilements is indeed free of all defilements, 
whether they be gross, medium or subtle. All have 
been completely uprooted and no longer hold sway 
over the functioning of the mind. So definitively 
have the defilements been eradicated from the mind 
that they can never grow back. Thus the mind is 
pure and chaste and radiant as is the case for the 
mind of an arahant. 
Blessing Thirty.Seven: Freedom from Subtle Defilements 411 
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I3. DEI I IINIENYIN 
B.1 Comparison of Different Groups 
In all there are three types of defilements — greed, 
hatred and delusion — each of which has its iden-
tifying characteristics: 
Defilement Family 
Seriousness of 
Potential Damage 
Duration of 
Potential Damage 
Greed/Desire 
Hatred/Anger 
Ignorance/Delusion 
Slight 
Grave 
Grave 
Long-lived 
Short-lived 
Long-lived 
TABLE 37.1: Damage Characteristics of 
Different Defilement Groups 
In a little more detail: 
• Desire has the characteristic of not being very 
damaging but requiring a long time to recover 
from its negative effects. Once we have made a 
mistake regarding desire, it will be a long time 
before we can remedy everything to be as it was 
before. As a clear example, think how long it 
takes to recover from a broken heart — or the 
sorrow described in Blessing Thirty-six. The ef-
fects of desire (in the absence of aggression) are 
not particularly damaging either in spiritual or 
in worldly ways — with incest and theft being 
about the most extreme consequences. 
• Hatred and anger are very damaging but it 
doesn't take long to recover from them. How-
ever, under the sway of hatred, there is no end 
to the violence and cruelty one can do. One can 
even go as far as to kill one's own teacher and 
parents. The worldly retribution for violence is 
severe— you can be put in prison all your life or 
executed. Spiritual retribution is also severe —
especially for the serious actions such as killing 
an arahant, or one's parents. The grasp of hatred 
and anger are usually short-lived, however. If 
one is angry, often all that is needed is for some-
one to say sorry, and the tension is gone. Some-
times anger disappears as quickly as it comes —
and one cannot even remember what one was 
supposed to be angry about. Sometimes one can-
not imagine in retrospect how one could have 
done something one did whilst one was angry. 
Thus if you have collected up spite from con-
flicts in your past, be quick to settle those dis-
putes by forgiveness even if the disputes are with 
those who should really be asking your forgive-
ness. 
• Ignorance has the character of being very dam-
aging and also it takes a long time to remedy its 
action. The most frightening thing about igno-
rance is that we don't know that we don't know. 
It is like a blind man who has lost his way. The 
worldly and spiritual retributions for ignorance 
are both serious. If one does something without 
understanding, one will keep on making the 
same mistakes without end. Ignorance is also the 
root of desire and hatred. It is very hard even to 
know where to start dealing with ignorance if 
one has not yet attained the Dhammakfiya. Even 
when you have attained the Dhammakaya, to 
eradicate ignorance still takes a lot of effort. Some 
stream-enterers [sotapanct] need to practice fur-
ther for up to seven lifetimes before they can get 
completely free of their ignorance. 
B.2 Classification of Defilements 
For each of the three families of defilements —
greed, hatred and delusion — there are gross, me-
dium and subtle levels of the defilements (as illus-
trated in the table on the right): 
This blessing primarily concerns the subtle de-
filements, however, by way of comparison, we will 
start by describing the grosser defilements —mov-
ing through each family of defilements in decreas-
ing order of seriousness. 
B.2.1 Greed Group [raga 
The group of defilements of greed and desire in-
cludes all defilements which have positive attach-
ments generating love, passion or desire. In ap-
proximate order of decreasing seriousness, greed 
and desire come in the following varieties: 
1. Desiring things in a Dishonest Way llobltaj: This 
is the desire which if given the opportunity, 
would cause one to use dishonest means to get 
the object of the desire. It is when one lets one's 
greed get out of hand to the point it starts to 
erode one's better judgement to the point one 
would steal or use aggression to get someone 
else's possessions. Suppose you want to obtain 
something that belongs to someone else — by 
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Greed 
Hatred 
Delusion 
Heavy 
Desiring things in a Dishonest 
Way Ilobha] 
Vengefulness 
lbycipadal 
Wrong View 
Milcchet ditthil 
Medium 
Open Covetousness 
fabhijjhavisamalottha) 
Discrete Covetousness 
Iabhijjha] 
Wanting to obtain things by 
unscrupulous earnings 
Iptipicchal 
Wanting in excess of your fair 
share 
Inuthicchai 
Lust 
Reemaragal 
Deviousness 
Minya] 
Directed Anger 
Idosal 
Undirected Anger 
Ikodhal 
Delusion 
knonal 
Subtle 
Grasping for the Sensual 
Realms 
[hamarciga] 
Grasping for the Form 
Realms 
Iriiparrigal 
Grasping for the Formless 
Realms 
laraparcigal 
Irritability 
Ipallgha1 
Dislike 
lentil 
False View of Individuality 
IsakkayadiAil 
Doubt 
tele/hitched 
Adherence to Superstitions 
Isilabbataparanzasal 
Conceit 
Inuirtal 
Absent-Mindedness 
I uddhacca] 
Ignorance 
laviffill 
TABLE 37.2 
Heavy, Medium & Subtle Defilements in the Three Defilement Groups 
Blessing Thirty even: Freedom front Subtle Defilements 413 
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honest means you could save up to buy it (such 
a feeling is not desiring for things in a dishon- 
6. 
est way) — howevet, even if you have a big sal-
ary, but you think to cheat someone else in or-
der to get the thing you want, instead of pay-
ing for it — such a feeling is desiring things in 
a dishonest way; 
2. Open Covetousness labhijihavisarnalobha]: 
This is the desire for something so strong that 
you can no longer keep the desire to yourself. 
You cannot stop yourself from showing an in-
terest, from staring at the thing you want or 
even using unscrupulous means to get what 
you want; 
3. Discrete Covetousness labhijihrti: This is the 
desire for something which is strong, but not 
so strong that you cannot conceal your inter-
est; 
4. Wanting to obtain things by unscrupulous earn- 
7. 
ings [papicchaJ this sort of greed doesn't go as 
far as stealing things, but means when people 
use money of uncertain origin to pay for what 
they desire. They pay using earnings accrued 
in an unscrupulous way. It is like someone who 
wants to get rich and he will do any sort of work 
to achieve his end — even if it means selling 
drugs or stolen goods or gambling or going into 
prostitution to earn their living. Besides indi-
rectly bringing harm to society, of course such 
desire will detract from one's aedability; 
5. Wanting in excess of your fair share [ma- 
8. 
hicchaj: This is when one's greed gets out of 
hand to the point one loses one's consideration 
for others. It is like someone who takes more 
than their fair share of food on the table — or a 
9. 
member of a group who shares a taxi with them 
but who refuses to contribute his fair share of 
the taxi fare at the end of the journey. It is also 
illustrated by the sort of person who goes into 
a business partnership, but who is reluctant to 
pay for anything extra if he knows that the re-
turns will be shared. However, his reluctance 
soon disappears if the profit ever comes to him 
personally! It is not stealing, or income from un-
scrupulous livelihood, but it is still taking ad-
vantage of others; 
Lust Ikanzaraga]: This is being attracted obses-
sively to someone or something — like some-
one who is attracted to someone of the oppo-
site sex (even if he never mentioned his love to 
anyone). Some people might ask whether such 
love is wrong, because it doesn't take advan-
tage of anyone else—in fact it may not be harm-
ful to anyone, but it is a defilement, a subtle 
one. It is of no harm if the object of your love is 
not already married — but as we have learned 
in Blessing Thirty-Six, wherever there is love, 
tears must follow. Even if you have only ever 
loved your lawful wedded spouse and have 
never taken an interest in anyone else, it is still 
unwise to harbour this defilement of sensual 
pleasure in your mind, because it may cause 
you problems some time in the future; 
Deviousness [mayaj: This is when you would 
like to get something but you are too embar-
rassed to ask for it directly— therefore you find 
an indirect way of obtaining what you want —
like saying, "1 guess you don't use this any 
more? If you leave it lying around it will prob-
ably go rusty!" in order that someone gives you 
something they own but which you want. You 
wouldn't have the courage to ask for such a 
thing directly. It also includes all the daft things 
young people do in front of a mirror before they 
go courting a boy-/girlfriend; 
Grasping for the Sensual Realms Iltinaraga]: 
This is when you still have an attraction for sen-
sual pleasure which will cause you to be reborn 
in the sensual sphere; 
Grasping for the Form Realms [ruparaga]: This 
is when you still have some attraction for the 
pleasures of the form absorptions. When one 
meditates to the degree one attains the first ab-
sorption or higher, one attains happiness that 
money cannot buy. Of course, the happiness of 
complete liberation from defilements is supe-
rior to this — but some people who attain such 
meditation think that it is the ultimate, because 
some people who attain this level can even per-
form miracles. Therefore they don't try to make 
414 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living 
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any further progress. Their spiritual progress 
gets stuck at this point and they lose sight of 
their long-term goal. However, to have attained 
form absorptions to become deluded by is still 
far superior to attaining nothing at all!; 
10. Grasping for the Formless Realms[artiparega]: 
If you attain the formless absorptions but you 
become elated by your attainment instead of 
training yourself further then you will be sub-
ject to this subtle defilement and be unable to 
make any further progress; 
B.2.2 Hatred Group [dosts]: 
Hatred includes all the defilements which react with 
aversion to unpleasant stimuli. It can mean the 
thoughts or expressions of aggression towards oth-
ers, their possessions or their reputation — and in-
cludes anger and illwill. In approximate order of 
decreasing seriousness, hatred comes in the follow-
ing varieties: 
1. Vengefitlness[bytipadaj: This is anger, grudges, 
spite or the wish to destroy others that is so 
strong that if you don't succeed in destroying 
someone today, you will make sure you succeed 
on a future occasion. It is like water boiling so 
violently that it will spit out of the container and 
scald the people nearby; 
2. Directed Anger [dosa]: This is anger itself with 
the thought to kill the object of your anger or 
burn down their house or kick them or insult 
them or discredit them. This is like water at a 
rolling boil, where you can hear the sound of the 
bubbles breaking; 
3. Undirected Anger [kodhaj: This again is anger, 
but not yet with the accompanying thought of 
how to express the anger. It is the sort of anger 
that comes from biting your tongue when you 
are eating or inadvertantly stubbing your toe. 
You have not yet put the blame on anyone — it 
is just a feeling. This is like the fizz of water that 
is starting to simmer; 
4. Irritability [patigha]: This is not so serious as 
anger, but it is the feeling of friction in one's mind 
when there is aversion present. When a mother 
wants to sit for meditation and her daughter has 
the radio turned up loud, she will say, "Can't 
you turn down the volume, I would like to medi-
tate now?" When her daughter says, "Why do 
you have to meditate now?" although the mother 
is not angry, she will be irritated by her daugh-
ter's lack of co-operation. Although irritability 
per se is of negligable harm, you have to over-
come it because it has the potential to develop-
ing into fully-fledged anger; 
5. Dislike [ctrati]: This is the sort of feeling of awk-
wardness when you have a slight difference in 
taste from another person but you have to share 
in their activities or share the same workplace. 
Thus you would prefer not to share in the same 
activities as this person. If you still have such a 
feeling, your mind is still under the sway of the 
subtle defilements of the mind. 
R2.3 Ignorance Group Imohaj: 
Delusion is ignorance or drunkenness especially 
that which causes us not to know the difference 
between what is good or bad for our quality of 
mind. It is not an ignorance of arithmetic or com-
puters. It is an ignorance of the spiritual values in 
life which are essential for everyone to know — and 
which include the knowledge of right and wrong, 
appropriate and inappropriate behaviours. It is a 
sort of blindness of the mind. It doesn't depend on 
your level of education or even if you can read and 
write — but it depends on your attitude to the 
world. Someone who is well educated might even 
be more subject to delusion than his uneducated 
counterpart because they think their graduation 
certificate is a substitute for wisdom. In approxi-
mate order of decreasing seriousness, delusion 
comes in the following varieties: 
1. Wrong View Imiccha ditthi]: This is the most 
coarse form of delusion. It includes the belief that 
good is evil or that evil is good or that heaven 
and hell don't exist or that we have no debt of 
gratitude to our parents. We have already cov-
ered the importance of discretion since the first 
blessing — and as we have seen it is the sort of 
delusion that opposes any sort of self-develop-
ment in the cycle of existence. Even the serious 
misdeeds lanantariyakamtratj such as killing 
our own parents, or arahants are not so serious 
Blessing Thirty.Seven: Freedom from Subtle Defilements 415 
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as wrong view because some day you can es-
cape the effects of the karma. However, there is 
no light at the end of the tunnel for those with 
wrong view; 
2. Delusion Inzoha]: This is delusion which ob-
structs our understanding of the difference be-
tween right and wrong. 
3. False View of Individuality Isakkayaditthi]: 
This is the view that you are superior to others. 
In fact our individuality is on many different lev-
els and for as long as our view of ourselves ex-
tends no further than the physical body, we will 
be caught up in false view of individuality; 
4. Doubt [uicikiccha]: This is doubt as to whether 
the law of karma really works or not. It is doubt 
as to whether it is really possible to make 
progress in meditation or whether it is really 
possible to become enlightened; 
S. Adherence to superstitions isilabbata-
paramasa]: This means being caught up in su-
perstitious rites and rituals (ones without reasons). 
Some people believe that eating certain foods will 
allow them to gain salvation — for others ritual 
bathing in some sacred river, fortune tellers, spirit 
worship or other forms of superstition are seen 
as a refuge from suffering. The only way to come 
to a real end of such beliefs is to attain the 
Dhammalthya. Until you manage to attain the 
Dhammakiya, you will find that you will always 
be believing the last thing you heard. 
6. Conceit [maw]: There are three ways in which 
people may be conceited about themselves: 
1. Assuming themselves to be of the same sta-
tus as others 
2. Assuming themselves to be of lower status (in-
feriority complex) 
3. Assuming themselves to be of higher status 
(superiority complex) 
In fact, all three are wrong. If we assume our-
selves to be superior to others, and by virtue of 
our skills or experience or behaviour we are su-
perior to them, we cut off our opportunity to 
improve ourselves further. It will make us reck-
less. If we assume ourselves to be superior but 
in fact we are just the same as them, then it is a 
form of bullying. If we think we are superior even 
though we are inferior, then our mistake of atti-
tude will be even worse. Instead of comparing 
ourselves with others, we should compare our-
selves today with how we were yesterday or last 
week and look for any improvements. 
7. Absent-mindedness [uddhacca]:This is restless-
ness of mind of the sort you experience when 
you try to keep your mind on the object of medi-
tation, but your mind wanders onto every other 
subject under the sun. 
8. Ignorance *Coin This is lack of true knowledge 
or possession of the wrong sort of knowledge in 
a person. This is the lack of knowledge about 
the important matters of 'where we have come 
from', 'why we are here', 'when we will die' and 
'where we will go when we die'. For such knowl-
edge, you need to attain the Dhammalthya to 
get any real answers — not just the initial 
Dhammakaya, but the Dhanunalthyas of the 
higher Buddhist saints. 
B.3 Conclusion as Fetters 
The subtle defilements can also be concluded in the 
form of the Ten Fetters [samyojana] which are 
sequentially uprooted by each of the stages of Bud-
dhist sainthood as already discussed in Blessing 
Thirty-three (see §C.1, Table 4). 
B.4 Why we can't afford to tolerate the subtle 
defilements 
Although the subtle defilements on the face of it 
seem harmless, we cannot afford to tolerate their 
presence of mind. It is just like a spark which can 
cause the whole of a city to burn down. The Bud-
dha thus taught us to see danger even in the small-
est things Icusumattesu uajjesu bhaya-dassaui]. 
Even though all these mental taints might be con-
sidered minor — no more than 'rust' in the mind, 
we have to try to get rid of them because otherwise 
they will be damaging to us in the future. For most 
people, the mental taints are so subtle that they feel 
that it doesn't really matter whether they are there 
or not. They are like tiny bacteria which can cause 
much more serious diseases. Often if we are still 
living the household life with a husband or wife 
and children, it is difficult to appreciate the dan-
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gers of these taints. However, when we leave the 
household life and dedicate ourselves to mental 
training, we see that these taints cannot be ignored. 
Thus you have to be careful of defilements of all 
levels. You cannot afford to overlook even the small-
est. The best security is to uproot all— until no fur-
ther remain. 
£5 Overcoming the Subtle defilements 
Most of the ways of overcoming the subtle defile-
ments have been dealt with in detail in the preced-
ing Blessings: 
• Greed can be overcome by practising content-
ment (see Blessing Twenty-Four) and by getting 
life properly in perspective through meditation; 
• Stinginess can be overcome by practising gener-
osity (see Blessing Fifteen): 
• Sensuality needs to be transcended by: content-
ment with one's own spouse, giving up frivo-
lous behaviour, using funerals to your benefit, 
associating with good friends (see Blessing Two), 
loving yourself unselfishly (see Blessing Thirty-
Six), spreading loving kindness limitlessly, stay-
ing single, keeping the Eight Precepts and stay-
ing celibate (see Blessing Thirty-Two) and persist-
ence (see Blessing Twenty-Seven). 
• Anger has different ways of overcoming it de-
pending on which situation you meet it in: if you 
are so angry that you have lost control of your 
temper, it is better to withdraw amicably and 
come back later, while recomposing your 
mindfulness — if you are still in control of your 
temper, you should say or do nothing harmful 
while thinking clearly through the full range of 
options and outcomes available to you for over-
coming the problem causing your anger — in 
the meantime, if you are of a personality liable 
to anger, you should try to cultivate loving kind-
ness, train yourself in patience (see Blessing 
Twenty-Seven) and try to avoid associating with 
angry people (see Blessing One); 
• False View needs to be overcome by cultivating 
wisdom, meditating more, overcoming doubts 
while giving Buddhist teachings the benefit of 
the doubt. 
• Conceit needs to be overcome by being humble 
(see Blessing Twenty-Three), being wary of com-
paring yourself with others, checking yourself 
for false views, associating with good friends (see 
Blessing Two) and avoiding flatterers (see Bless-
ing One), being thorough in all that you do, not 
finding fault with others, cultivating respect (see 
Blessing Twenty-two)and training yourself in 
gratitude (see Blessing Twenty-Five) since child-
hood. 
C. ILLUSHIAlIVII EXAMPLES 
C.1 Metaphor: Droplet of water on a lily pad 
Just as a droplet of water skates around on a lily 
pad without sticking— for those who have attained 
Nirvana, even the subtlest of defilements can no 
longer attach to the mind. 
C.2 Ex. Monks overestimate their attainment 
(Dhatiii.11 fl" 
In the time of the Buddha there was a group of 
monks who had been practising in isolation in 
the forest, keeping their Precepts strictly and 
practising hard. They had been practising for so 
long that they became convinced that they had 
already overcome all the defilements in the mind. 
They thought they had no remaining greed, ha-
tred or delusion. All the monks felt fulfilled and 
left their practice in the forest to return to the tem-
ple. They planned to visit the Buddha. The Bud-
dha knew through his meditation that this group 
of monks had overestimated their attainment and 
in fact had still not reached an end of defilements! 
The Buddha told Ananda to wait for the monks 
at the gate of the temple and tell them to go to 
stay in the cemetery instead of coming to see the 
Buddha immediately. In the cemetery there was 
the corpse of a beautiful woman who had just 
recently died. When the monks saw the corpse 
of the woman they would be attracted by her 
(former) beauty. The monks would then know 
that there were still subtle defilements remain-
ing in their minds and they would know that they 
needed to practice further. In this case, without 
the right circumstances to magnify the subtle 
defilements into a recognizable emotion, the 
small defilements in the minds of these monks 
had remained hidden without them realizing it. 
Blessing Thirty-Seven: Freedom from Subtle Defilements 417 
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C.3 Ex. The Revenge of the Kali Ogress 
(Dlul.i.37ff.) 
Once there was a householder whose wife was bar-
ren. Being unable to bear a child and afraid that 
she would be mistreated by her husband or her 
mother-in-law, with the best of intentions she ar-
ranged for her husband to marry a second woman. 
In spite of her original goodwill, on two occasions, 
as soon as she knew the second wife was pregnant, 
the barren wife gave the other food mixed with 
miscarriage-inducing drugs. When it came to the 
woman's third attempt, she wife kept the pregnancy 
secret. However, when the barren wife came to 
know about it, again she caused an abortion. Even-
tually the second wife died in childbirth. Before her 
death, the unfortunate woman was filled with ha-
tted and vowed vengeance on the barren wife and 
her future offspring. Thus the feud started. 
Next lifetime, the second wife was born as a vil-
lager near Savatthi. She kept a hen (the barren wife 
of the previous existence) and every time it laid an 
egg, the woman would destroy it. The hen became 
very angry and as a result, it was reborn as a cat 
and the woman was reborn as a hen in the same 
house. The cat ate up the eggs of the hen. In their 
next existence, the hen became a leopard and the 
cat became a deer. The leopard ate up the deer as 
well as its offspring. Thus their feud continued for 
several existences. 
When it came to the time of the Buddha, one of 
them was born as a woman and the other as an 
ogress [yakkhini]. On one occasion, the woman was 
returning from the house of her parents to her own 
house near Savatthi accompanied by her husband 
and young son. While they were resting by a road-
side pond, her husband left her to bathe himself. 
During his absence, the woman was approached 
by the ogress in human guise. Despite, the ogress's 
transmutation, the woman still recognised her —
and fled with her child straight to the monastery 
where the Buddha was expounding the Dhamma. 
She put her child at the Buddha's feet. The ogress, 
in hot pursuit of the woman, was unable to enter 
the monastery. Nonetheless, the Buddha sum-
moned the ogress to his presence. He admonished 
both of them for their long and bitter feud, 'If you 
two had not come to me today, your enmity would 
have continued endlessly. Enmity cannot be ap-
peased by enmity; it can only be appeased (tither 
by loving-kindness.' Reflecting on the admonition, 
both realised the futility of their hatred, admitted 
their mistakes and resolved to help each other mu-
tually from that day on instead of continuing with 
their senseless feud. 
C.4 Ex. Kauai ,fataka(J.467) 
There was once a king who had two sons. When 
the king passed away, the older prince did not want 
to take the throne. He renounced the throne to his 
younger brother and went to live as a regular citi-
zen in the border country. The action of the older 
prince looked like renunciation, but in fact, the 
prince had not yet overcome his desires. A local 
millionaire knew that the ex-prince would not be 
very gifted at earning a living, so he helped by sup-
porting him in every way. The millionnaire had his 
conditions. He told the ex-prince to tell his little 
brother not to collect taxes in their area, so that the 
millionnaire could use these funds to support the 
ex-prince instead. The ex-prince did as he was ad-
vised and the king exempted them from taxation. 
Everyone was happy, but the defilements in the 
mind of the prince gradually became more power-
ful. The neighbouring provinces got jealous and 
asked to be exempted from paying taxes in the same 
way. As the special incomes of the ex-prince in-
creased, his greed became insatiable. He wanted to 
go back to being the king again. His younger brother 
would not agree at first, but later allowed him to 
return as king. The king had done many good deeds 
in the past and Indra the king of the gods wanted 
to teach him a lesson, to put him back on the cor-
rect path of life. Indra appeared to the king in hu-
man guise and told the king, "There are another 
three domains greater than the ones you have which 
you have not conquered."Before the king could ask, 
Indra disappeared. The king became dissatisfied 
with what he had. He wanted to invade border ter-
ritories and conquered three neighbouring prov-
inces. The king was so impassioned to acquire the 
three domains he had never seen that he became ill 
just thinking about them day and night. No doctor 
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could cure the king of his illness. 
At that time, the Bodhisattva had just finished his 
studies and volunteered to cure the king. He found 
out what the cause of the illness was and healed 
the king without medicine, but by using questions 
to make the king regain his mindfulness. The 
Bodhisattva knew the king had one kingdom but 
wanted govern another three — a total of four. He 
asked, "When your majesty sleeps does your maj-
esty sleep in four beds?" 
"No, only one!" replied the king. 
"When your majesty eats does your majesty fill 
your stomach four times?" 
"No, to be full just one meal at atime is enough!" 
"Then why does your majesty want to rule four 
kingdoms when you already have a kingdom of 
your own?" 
The king was miraculously cured of his illness. 
Blessing ThirlySeven: Freedom front Subtle Defilements 419 
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