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El Metaphor: Small sapling with supporting stake 
When a new-grown tree is still a flimsy sapling, it 
needs a supporting stake to protect it against strong 
winds — otherwise it will be blown down or torn 
up by its roots. Similarly, one who hopes for spir-
itual progress in one's life needs to express respect 
to those worthy of respect — to keep a place for 
those people in one's heart — so that those people 
can be a guiding light and an example, and a pro-
tection against False View and unwholesomeness 
which might otherwise reappear in one's life. 
F.2 Er. Sumana the Garland-Maker 
In the time of the Lord Buddha, within the walls of 
the palace the workers divided themselves up into 
different sections and one of the sections was spe-
cifically for flower arranging. The section head was 
called Sumana and his duty was to arrange flow-
ers to decorate the palace, to decorate the throne 
and even decorate the royal bed chamber of the 
king, to give all of these places a delightful fra-
grance. Sumana fulfilled his duty to the satisfac-
tion of all in the palace every day, year in year out 
without ever slipping up. 
One day, in the season where flowers were the 
hardest to find, Sumana travelled to every part of 
the city and wherever there were flowers to be 
bought, he would buy them all. No-one else in the 
city had any flowers left to use for themselves. 
Every last flower in the city had to be used for the 
decoration of the palace. 
Even though Sumana had exclusive rights to all 
the flowers in the city, because the dry season had 
caused a drought, he could hardly find any flower 
— even food was scarce let alone flowers. One day 
the flowers were so scarce that in the whole of the 
city all Sumana could find were eight (coconut shell) 
measures of jasmine flowers. Really, this wasn't 
enough to decorate the palace, but it was better than 
nothing. 
That day, as Sumana was bringing the eight meas-
ures of jasmine flowers to the palace, he met with 
the Lord Buddha along the way. The Lord Buddha 
was on almsround. Sumana regularly attended the 
Buddha's sermons but he had never really had the 
chance to make a decent offering to the Buddha, 
partly because of his poverty and partly because 
his faith was not very profound. 
That day, as Sumana saw the Lord Buddha he felt 
that the Buddha looked particularly resplendent 
and worthy of faith. The deportment of the Bud-
dha seemed so perfect in every respect that he felt 
that it was only fitting to bow down before Him. 
Sumana's next thought was that all he had was eight 
measures of flowers. If he used them to honour the 
king, all the king could give him was income, food 
and clothing to see him through the present life-
time. However, that day he was going to pay re-
spect to the Lord Buddha to create for himself the 
positive karma that would bring him benefits not 
just in this lifetime but in many lifetimes to come. 
Even if the king were to execute him, it wouldn't 
affect the good results of these deeds. 
Sumana raised the flowers to his forehead and 
when he had made his resolution, sprinkled the jas-
mine flowers on the path ahead of the Lord Bud-
dha with the intention that the Buddha would walk 
upon his fragrant offering. 
The Lord Buddha saw the strength of Sumana's 
faith — to the degree that he was prepared to lay 
down his life in order to make this offering. Thus 
the Lord Buddha created a miracle in order to bring 
Sumana real joy, to allow him to gain the full merit 
of his generous deed and lead him to attain enlight-
enment in the future. 
Thus as soon as the flowers were released from 
Sumana's hand, the flowers floated up as a net of 
flowers above where the Lord Buddha stood and 
this net would follow the Lord Buddha wherever 
He went. At both sides of the path all of the house-
holders came out of their houses to see the miracu-
lous sight and were inspired by the sight of the flow-
ers which seemed to have a life of their own in hon-
our of the Lord Buddha. 
Through Sumana's faith together with the power 
of the perfections of the Lord Buddha, the jasmine 
flowers sent their scent throughout the whole of 
the city. The scent followed the Lord Buddha whet-
ever he went and this attracted everyone out of their 
houses to see the sight of the Lord Buddha. 
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Many of the householders had seen the Lord Bud-
dha before, but they had never been inspired by 
Him. But that day the sight of the Lord Buddha was 
so impressive that many of the householders were 
inspired to faith. Those who were only slightly faith-
ful put their hands together in a gesture of prayer. 
Those who were more inspired raised their hands 
in a gesture of prayer and offered words in praise 
of the Lord Buddha. Those whose faith was even 
greater prepared food to offer into the Buddha's 
bowl and followed him around to see what would 
happen to the flowers. 
The Buddha's almsround took him all over the 
city and eventually brought Him to the front of the 
palace. The king heard the news and came to give 
alms himself. Then the king invited the Buddha to 
take his breakfast in the palace. 
As the Buddha was taking his meal, the ceiling 
of flowers remained above Him — while the Bud-
dha gave His blessing and until he returned to 
Jetavana Temple. As He entered the temple the 
flowers fell down in a pile at the temple gate. This 
only added to the faith of the followers and even 
Sumana thought,"If the king is to execute me for 
failing in my duty, it has certainly been worth it!" 
By contrast, Sumana's wife thought the opposite. 
She wondered how her husband could have been 
so incredibly stupid. If he had given the flowers to 
the king at least he would have got money in re-
turn. By giving the flowers to the Buddha, he got 
no money in return. All he got was faith and how 
was that going to feed his hungry children? And if 
the king were disatisfied about not getting his flow-
ers and decides to execute Sumana and decide to 
execute his wife and children too, 
all suffer 
because of his stupidity. And if Ping seized 
Sumana's belongings, he would just take Sumana's 
possessions — he would take the possessions of 
everybody in the household. She didn't want that 
to happen. The wife went straight to the king and 
disowned all responsibility for her husband's ac-
tions. She demanded divorce from her husband 
there and then, and swore before the king that if 
her husband was to suffer for his actions let him 
suffer alone. The king asked her if she was sure of 
what she was doing. The wife asserted that she was 
quite sure of her actions. 
Instead of being angry with Sumana, the king felt 
intrigued and inspired by the flower-man's exam-
ple and decided to give Sumana a prize for his vir-
tues. In the end Sumana received the prize alone 
because his former wife had already disowned him. 
When the story reached the ears of the Lord Bud-
dha, the Venerable Ananda asked the Lord Bud-
dha about the fruits of Sumana's faith on that occa-
sion. The Lord Buddha taught that with a strength 
of faith that someone is prepared to lay down his 
life, such as that of Sumana, faith is very deeply 
rooted in someone's mind, making the mind of 
Sumana very radiant and that for at least a hun-
dred-thousand aeons [kappa]. However many 
rebirths Sumana took, he would be born in only 
the human and the heaven realms. He would never 
be born in the neither realms of hell, animals, hun-
gry-ghosts or asiwas. After the appropriate length 
of time, Sumana would become enlightened as a 
paccekabuddlia. 
Thus from the power of faith in the Buddha,the 
resulting brightness and clarity of mind will stay 
with one throughout the course of many lifetimes. 
One's discretion will be impeccable and because 
one's judgement is sound, one will be a wise one in 
every lifetime. This is the fruit of paying respect to 
those worthy of respect— radiance of mind, which 
ultimately will lead to Right View in every lifetime. 
DhA.ii.40ff. 
F.3 Ex. Sudhaplinlaya helps build pagoda 
Another illustratory tale is that of Ven.Sudipirmliya 
Thera. When he became enlightened as an arahant 
he recollected his previous lives to see how he had 
come to attain arahantship and meditating to rec-
ollect his previous lives he discovered that he had 
made an offering of only a handful of lime. 
Suclapirgliya Thera was born in the era of one of 
the previous Buddhas, at the time when that Bud-
dha had already entered Parinirvana. The people 
of the country were building a cetiya in which to 
inter the relics of that Buddha. SudapirAliya Thera 
was a man of faith despite his poverty, he thought, 
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"I have relied on the Teachings and virtue of the 
Lord Buddha all along. Now that the people are all 
building a cetiya as a memorial to the generations 
of the future to take the same opportunity as the 
Lord Buddha to do good deeds all their life. It is 
only fitting that I should make some contribution 
to the building of the cetiya on this occasion." 
With this thought in mind, SudapiccliyaThera felt 
strong faith in the Buddha and wanted to take a 
part in paying homage to the Lord Buddha along 
with the other people. As a pauper, he had no pos-
sessions to give as an offering. He went and bought 
a handful of lime and took this lime as his contri-
bution to the building of the cetiya. But on this oc-
casion, although the contribution was small, but his 
faith profound. 
The fruit of Sudapirmliya Thera's faith made his 
mind so radiant that from that lifetime onwards to 
his final rebirth, he was born only in the human 
and the heaven realms. He never descended into 
hell throughout 94 aeons and attained arahantship 
in his final lifetime. 
In the opposite respect if we cultivate anger or 
vengefulness for 94 aeons this will lead us to do no 
end of hateful ads and the resulting extra interest 
of bad karma will ensure that you never get born 
in the human realm again. 
Ap.i.133 
F.4 Ex. Kosataki pays homage at pagoda 
Another example is that of Kosataki. Her name 
means 'loofah'. There are many species of loofah. 
Some can be eaten. Some are inedible and have to 
be thrown away. At the time when the Lord Bud-
dha had already passed away and his disciples were 
organizing a grand cremation, King Ajatasattu en-
shrined the relics of the Lord Buddha in a cetiya and 
when the ceremony was over, there was a festival. 
At that time there was a woman who was pitifully 
poor who had had faith in the Lord Buddha since 
the time when he was alive. When the people of 
the country were holding their festival to celebrate 
the completion of the new cetiya, this woman 
wanted to join in the celebration by honouring the 
cetiya with flowers.The woman wasn't discerning 
enough to buy beautiful flowers like the rest of the 
people. She went and collected four loofahs from 
the edge of the forest — golden yellow in colour. 
These loofahs were priceless — because no-one 
would pay good money for something inedible. She 
took the four such fruits and set off in the direction 
of the cetiya with the full intention to offer them in 
homage to the Lord Buddha. 
She was in such a rush that she didn't look where 
she was going, so fixed was her mind on making 
her offering at the cetiya. In her path were a cow 
and calf. The cow saw the determination of the 
woman and misunderstood that she wanted to 
harm her calf and responded by goring the woman 
to death, before she could reach the cetiya. Even so, 
even though the woman never reached the cetiya, 
her mind had such a determination to accomplish 
her good deed that with the collected potential of a 
mind with shame and fear of evil, virtue and the 
wisdom to appreciate the good deeds of the Lord 
Buddha, meant that as she was gored to death she 
was reborn immediately as an angel — her clothes 
became immediately refined as angelic raiment of 
the same golden colour as the loofah and the an-
gelic mansion that arose as the result of her merit 
was also the colour of the loofah. 
Indra, the king of heaven saw the new arrival in 
heaven and asked what merit she had performed 
to cause the arising of a golden coloured mansion. 
The angel smiled shyly and replied that she had 
done only something very insignificant —just tak-
ing four loofahs to pay respect to the cetiya contain-
ing the relics of the Lord Buddha but she had been 
gored to death by a cow on the way and regretted 
not having reached her goal or else the golden col-
our of her raiment and the mansion would surely 
have been even more striking than this! 
On hearing this, Indra exclaimed,"Paying respect 
to the Lord Buddha with a mind of faith, even 
though He has already entered parinibbana in no 
way lessens the fruits of good karma. Whether the 
Lord Buddha is alive or passed away gives fruits 
of merits equally." 
For this reason, even though we have been born 
in a time after the Lord Buddha has already passed 
Blessing Three: &pressing Respect to Those Worthy of Respect 
63 
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away, it should in no way lessen our diligence in 
paying respect to the Lord Buddha. 
Eitavimanavatthu, Vv.iv.9, VvA.200ff. 
F.5 Ex. Paiicapapci pays homage with resentment 
There is one more illustratory example — that of 
Paficapapa. This name means 'five types of evil' and 
is the name give to this particular woman by her fa-
ther. The reason for such an inauspicious name was 
that the child was born defective with knarled hands, 
lame feet, a squint mouth, squint eyes and a crooked 
nose. None of her bodily organs were in symettry. 
Her hands went one way and her feet went another. 
Although the child was repulsively ugly, she had one 
attractive point — her skin was soft like that of an 
angel. Because of her one good point, Parkapipfi 
was to become the queen of the country late life. 
When she was in the royal palace as one of the royal 
consorts, her skin was so soft that the king forgot all 
the other women the palace. The other consorts were 
so jealous that they framed her so that the king had 
to float her away on a raft downstream. But as soon 
as she reached the next kingdom, all it took was one 
touch for the king there to take her as his queen. Eve-
rybody was so astonished that a woman so physi-
cally deformed could come to be the queen of two 
kingdoms that someone asked the Lord Buddha how 
this could come to be. 
The Lord Buddha looked back at her previous life-
times and discovered that the woman had made 
an offering to a paccekabuddha but the offering was 
made out of anger. On that day, the woman was 
shoring up the wall of her house with mud. A 
paccekabuddha also needed mud to build his kuti and 
seeing that the woman had more than enough mud 
came bowl in hand to ask for some of the mud. The 
woman was reluctant to give away any of her mud, 
but gave the paccekabuddha some anyway. Out of 
anger, she threw a clod of mud into the 
paccekabuddles bowl. At the time she was scowl-
ing, with her eyebrows knitted togethet, her feet 
stamping the ground and shaking a fist at the 
paccrkabuddha. The result of her reluctant gooddeed 
in future rebirths was that her stamping feet were 
lame, the hand which threw the mud was knarled 
and her scowling face was deformed beyond rec-
ognition. The good part of her deed, the generos-
ity, still gave its fruit— because the mud which built 
the kuti which helped shelter the paccekabuddha from 
the rain gave her angelic complexion. But this could 
not diminish the bad part of the deed that was not 
being polite to those worthy of respect. 
J.v.440ff., Kuala attaka (J536) 
Thus in conclusion, not paying respect to those wor-
thy of respect, or not having faith in those who ought 
to inspire faith clouds the mind and the extension of 
this ultimately to become a fool. 
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The Second 
Group of Blessings 
"Turning towards wholesomeness" 
It is rare to find a system of spiritual wisdom that has environmen-
tal considerations built into its metaphysics. The possible 
exception is the Chinese Feng Shui" system which probably has its 
roots in Buddhism anyway. In science by contrast, there is always a 
great debate in developmental biology about the relative influence 
of the genetic component and the formative experience — the so-
called 'nature v. nurture' debate. For science, of course it is mostly 
considerations of the development of physical features like a col-
our, or a size which might have an influence in the 'survival of the 
fittest', but for spiritual wisdom, we are more interested in the de-
velopment of spiritual maturity. However, no less than with sci-
ence the Blessings of Life recognize that there is influence both by 
our internal dispositions (nature) and our environmental influences 
(nurture). The fourth blessing on "amenable location" is the first 
blessing of the second grouping of blessings which deals with "turn-
ing towards wholesome discretion". If we have practised the first 
three blessings successfully, we will already have" turned our back 
on negative discretion". In this set of three blessings, the first (Bless-
ing Four) deals with "nurture" influences of the environment on 
the development of our discretion. The second (Blessing Five) deals 
with the "nature" influences on the development of our discretion 
and the sixth deals with having a clear aim or purpose in one's life. 
All three together are necessary if we want to set ourselves on the 
path of development of spiritual maturity. Thus, in Buddhism, it is 
acknowledged that the environment must be good if people are to 
become good. If the environment lacks virtue, it will hinder peo-
ples' spiritual growth. 
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TABLE 4.1 
AMENABLE LOCATION ON 
DIFFERENT LEVELS OF DESCRIPTION 
AMENABLE 
LOCATION 
National 
Level 
Local 
Level 
Neighbourhood 
Level 
Household 
Level 
A m enable 
Location 
Unextreme Cli- 
mate, not too rug- 
ged, accessible 
from other coun- 
tries 
Ease of earning an 
honestliving,good 
social infrastruc- 
true, no infectious 
diseases. 
Good water & 
electricity sup- 
plies, good roads, 
no traffic jams, 
good communica- 
tions, no natural 
disasters 
Well planned house, 
sufficient spaces, 
good ventilation, 
trees forshade, parks 
nearby, no distur-
bance from noise 
1 inenable 
Loud 
Self-sufficient in 
food 
Supply of good all 
year round 
Proximity of mar- 
ket 
A cottage garden, a 
good cook in the 
house 
Amenable 
\ eighbours 
Righteous mon- 
arch or govern- 
ment, population 
honest, no terror- 
ists or anarchists 
who threaten soli-
darity 
Lack of criminals, 
outlaws and mafia 
Access to doctors, 
patrons/benefac- 
tors, wise men, no 
dens 
of 
vice 
nearby 
Heads of the house-
hold must be virtu-
ous and not engage 
in roads to ruin 
1 inenable 
i)liamina leach- 
ings 
Just law and cus- 
toms 
Good educational 
system in worldly 
and spiritual mat- 
ters 
Monks pass on 
almsround, tern- 
ples and schools in 
area 
Atmosphere 
of 
learning and teach-
ing Dhamma in the 
home, having at least 
one communal meal 
daily 
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Blessing Four: 
Living in an Amenable Location 
A. IN IHOLRICI1ON 
A.1 Amenability of Location in general 
Generally speaking, an appropriate or amenable 
location is one which facilitates success in what we 
set out to do. If we are a fisherman then it might be 
a place on the coast closest to the fish breeding 
grounds. If we are in business then it might be a 
place with all the hustle and bustle of the crowds 
where our business will prosper. And what if we 
are monks? Monks need a place with special char-
acteristics — a place that is both peaceful and quiet 
but not too far from the homesteads of the village. 
For soldiers, an amenable location is a strategic one. 
In conclusion, each and every profession and ac-
tivity has its own appropriate location for facilitat-
ing success. The word 'location' can equally well 
be applied to the microcosm the setting of a par-
ticular activity as it can to the macrocosm. Even if 
you are sitting at a dining table, sitting at one side 
of the table might be more or less amenable than 
sitting at the other. The location that most concerns 
a person or his activities is his immediate environ-
ment or neighbourhood- but the more distant en-
vironments of his locality or country also have a 
part to play. 
A.2 Amenability in Dhamma practice 
The sort of location to be examined in this Blessing 
is the location amenable to refining the mind or put 
another way, the location that facilitates the depth 
by which we can understand the Teachings of the 
Lord Buddha. In such an amenable location, even 
though a person may initially lack wisdom, he can 
make a success of his life. On the contrary, in an 
unamenable location, even though he may have a 
high IQ and be capable, given no support, there is 
i
no way for him to achieve his full otenfial. Even 
though someone might get a 
, if he is ma-
rooned on a desert island, all his 
owledge goes 
to waste. You might be the world's greatest tacti-
cian, but if you are forced to live in the forest with 
primitive tribal people, all you knowledge will go 
to waste. 
The factors that mark an amenable location also 
apply to appropriate areas to live. The Lord Bud-
dha highlighted four factors which make a location 
amenable — these are: 
1. Amenable location 
2. Amenable food 
3. Amenable neighbours 
4. Amenable Dhamma teachings 
A.3 Amenable is not the same as materially 
prosperous 
In many materially prosperous countries, life can 
be physically convenient. Often the infrastructure 
is well developed. Employment is easy to find and 
it is easy for residents to save up their wealth. On 
the surface, such a country might look attractive to 
live in, but one is wont to forget that although ma-
Blessing Four: Living in an Amenable Location 67 
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terial poverty might be hard to find, spiritual pov-
erty might be rife (see §.8.4 below). In such a coun-
try, the opportunity and the means to develop spir-
itual maturity might be very hard to find. The 
chance to accrue merit might be almost non-
existant. Residents in such countries think only of 
work from the time they get up in the morning to 
the time they go to sleep at night. Thoughts of gen-
erosity, self-discipline or meditation might be the 
last thing on their minds. Even for those who have 
some spiritual calling, often they can find no-one 
to give them useful advice. To live in such a coun-
try might be life wasted from the point of view of 
spiritual development. It would be better to make 
some sacrifices of material convenience in choos-
ing the place you want to live, in order to live in an 
environment of spiritual richness — which is truly 
an amenable environment for one's spiritual 
progress. 
B. Components 
The components of amenable location cannot be 
defined globally because they mean different things 
at different levels of explanation (see diagram p.66): 
£1 Amenable Location 
B.1.1 National Level 
At the geographical level, it may mean an amena-
ble climate that is not too hot and not too cold. It 
might mean that the landscape is not too rugged or 
liable to flooding — but at the same time with con-
venient communications towards the rest of the 
world. 
B.1.2 Local Level 
At a more local level, an amenable climate means 
ease for the populace in earning a decent living, 
good communications, proper social infrastructure 
and a plentiful supply of clean drinking water. 
B.1.3 Neighbourhood Level 
On the level of the neighbourhood, the things that 
make the environment amenable are a proper wa-
ter and electricity supply, a good road system to 
avoid traffic jams, good communications and no 
flooding in the wet season. 
B.1.4 Household Level 
On the level of the household, the things that count 
for making the environment amenable are a prop-
erly planned house with sufficient space, good ven-
tilation, enough trees round and about to give 
shade, nearby open areas or parks and no distur-
bance from noise. Applying the same principles to 
a temple, amenable temple grounds is sufficiently 
spacious for the number of templegoers, with 
enough shade to allow the congregation to medi-
tate in comfort and without disturbance from the 
hustle and bustle of urban life. 
B.2 Amenable Food 
B.2.1 National Level 
On a national level, amenable food means being 
self-sufficient in one's food supply, not having to 
rely on neighbouring countries for one's food sup-
ply, or drinking water. 
B.2.2 Local Level 
On local level, amenable food might mean the prox-
imity of a market for foodstuffs. It might also mean 
being able to grow home-produce. In any case, any-
one who lives in an area liable to flooding should 
try to be self sufficient with their own cottage gar-
den. It doesn't matter how you go about growing 
the vegetables. For some villages, when the floods 
come, if the government doesn't send in supplies 
by helicopter for two or three days, the whole vil-
lage will starve. These are always the villages which 
are too lazy to grow their own vegetables. If they 
had grown their own vegetables, even though the 
floods come, it doesn't particularly bother them. By 
contrast, those places that plant only cash crops like 
maize, lose everything they have as soon as the 
floods arrive. Just having a few vegetables like on-
ions in the garden allows one to survive for over a 
month even when the floods come. 
B.2.3 Neighbourhood Level 
Amenability of 
food at the neighboulnood level 
might mean the proximity of the market. 
B.2.4 Household Level 
An amenable food supply at the household level 
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can be summarized with just a few brief hints: 
I. You should have a supply of vegetables used 
around the kitchen in reserve in your cottage 
garden in case of times of need. 
2. Your house should be located close to the mar-
ket. If it is too far from the market, this will be-
come an obstacle to obtaining food. 
3. Your house ought to have a good cook. A good 
cook is the heart of a successful kitchen. There 
was once an army general who commented in 
front of his wife (whether he meant to praise 
her or criticize her is uncertain) saying, "the 
only reason that I've been able to put up with 
her all these years, is her only single good point 
— apart from this point there is nothing good 
about her. She neglects the children. She is use-
less at receiving guests. She takes little care of 
the household finances - I have to do the ac-
counts myself. The only reason that I've been 
able to put up with her all these years, is that she 
makes a tasty meal. If it wasn't for her being a 
good cook, we would have gone our separate 
ways years ago." Anybody who thinks they can 
rely on instant foods, convenience foods and 
take-aways should think again. Everybody 
should attempt to learn how to cook. If ever you 
have to take care of someone who is ill or lonely 
or anxious, who have lost their appetite, and you 
can't get out to the market — that will be the 
time when your ability to make a proper meal 
will really make a difference. 
For as long as we still have defilements in the mind, 
we still have an appetite and we still have our fa-
vourite foods. Were not all like crocodiles which 
can survive on gravel. For as long as we're still hu-
man, we are still choosy about the food we eat. Too 
sweet or sour, salty or oily and the food loses its 
attraction. Thus if the food we eat is to be amena-
ble there is no harm in food being tasty. 
£3 Amenable Neighbours 
£3.1 Definitions 
The various characteristics of a location or a neigh-
bourhood, whether good or bad, are only general 
characteristics. Even if the general characteristics 
of a location are abysmal, but the place is inhabited 
by virtuous people, then the drawbacks of the lo-
cation can be overcome. On the other hand, in a 
good location with good housing and employment 
prospects, if the inhabitants are dishonest, however 
beautiful the buildings, it can be no better than a 
den of thieves. If the inhabitants are peaceful and 
well mannered, like monks, then the buildings are 
a refuge as good as a temple. 
B.3.2 National Level 
At the national level, amenable personnel means a 
population who eke out their existence by honest 
means. It means a population that lacks criminals, 
terrorists or anarchists who threaten the solidarity 
of the country. 
B.3.3 Local Level 
At the local level, if the populace are interested in 
nothing more than earning their living, society will 
not be a happy one. 
B.3.4 Neighbourhood Level 
At the neighbourhood level, in addition to a 
hardworking populace there must be those who 
make a direct contribution to the well-being of the 
society. 
1. Doctors are necessary in any society. Without 
them, every illness will entail death. Even if a 
location is the most profitable of marketplaces, 
without doctors in the background, it can never 
become an amenable society. 
2. Patrons and benefactors. Patrons and benefac-
tors arise in a society where there is trading. 
Those who live in a mercantile society reap the 
benefits of having capital and such a society 
breeds rich benefactors and millionaires. Com-
pare a society of people where there are only 
paupers and beggars and you will see how hard 
it is for such a society to become amenable to the 
study of Dhamma. In the time of the Lord Bud-
dha, if a king decided to establish a new city, even 
if he had sufficient labour, craftsmen, without 
being granted a benefactor or patron from a 
neighbouring city, to be the patron of the new 
city, the king wouldn't dare to build a new town. 
Blessing Four: Living in an Amenable Location 
69 
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(see §.D.2 below) The reason that having a patron 
was so important, apart from being a capitalist 
who would stimulate trade and growth, he 
would act as the economist who would help the 
king with his financial policy-making so that the 
new city would be able to keep its financial head 
above water. 
3. Wise men. Many of the reasons for the impor-
tance of the wise have already been covered in 
Blessing Two. In brief, the wise have a special 
discretion which allows them to distinguish be-
tween what is right and what is wrong, what's 
appropriate and what's inappropriate, what is 
meritorious and what is downright evil. Even if 
you're illiterate, but you can tell the difference 
between right and wrong, you can still be con-
sidered a wise one. Thus if you are choosing a 
place to live, avoid choosing a place where no 
wise ones live, because in such a place society is 
not amenable to the study of Dhamma. 
4. Righteous Monarch who is established in the Ten 
Virtues of a Monarch. Without going into detail, 
it can be said that a qualifying monarch must be 
just and moral. Of course the country's leader 
doesn't have to be a king to make it an amenable 
place to live. The same virtues in a president will 
make his country as amenable as a country gov-
erned by a virtuous king. 
B.3.5 Household Level 
Amenable personnel at the level of the household 
means the leader of the household must be virtu-
ous. The husband should abstain from drinking al-
cohol, the wife from gambling. Both should be ear-
nest in earning an honest living. Their children 
should be earnest in their studies and should be 
obedient to their parents' command. In this way 
the household will be united as the smallest unit of 
an amenable society. 
B.4 Amenable Dhamma 
B.4.1 Definitions 
Dhamma is the culture or principles which governs 
the lifestyle of a society that lives in an amenable 
location. At the most basic level amenable Dhamma 
in a society means the governing principles of law 
and order that the society abides by. Amenable 
Dhamma is lacking from countries where outlaws 
run amok. At a deeper level, amenable Dhamma 
equates with culture and tradition that is one of vir-
tue. The law protects society only from acts of vio-
lation through the channels of body and speech, but 
has no effect on the quality of peoples' minds.The 
minds of a nation can be shaped for the better only 
by culture or traditions that raise the quality of 
mind. Examples of this might be the attitude of re-
spect that a child should have towards his parents 
or a student towards his master. For as long as such 
traditions are still perpetuated and passed down 
from one generation to the next in a particular soci-
ety, that society is still an amenable place to live. 
By contrast, you should avoid going to live in a 
barbaric society where man has no respect for his 
fellow man. An example of this would be the primi-
tive society which idolize the man who is able to 
kill his own father — seeing him as the epitomy of 
hard-heartedness and fit to be the leader of the 
tribe. 
At a yet deeper level, amenable Dhamma in a so-
ciety means a good educational system which al-
lows the citizens to make a thorough study of both 
worldly and spiritual matters— where both schools 
and temples form the educational infrastructure of 
society — and all citizens are equipped with suffi-
cient rationale not to be credulous. 
Deeper still, Buddhism should be well rooted in 
that country. The Lord Buddha taught that some 
people are born empty-handed and die empty 
handed —because they cannot distinguish between 
good and bad deeds. They just do whatever they 
feel like doing. When they are young, their parents 
bring them up. When they are full-grown, they get 
married and have a family — and their children 
get married and have their own children and the 
family name is perpetuated for another generation. 
In the end they pass away and they have no merit 
or demerit to take with them when they go. It is 
this sort of person that Buddhism recognizes as 
being born empty-handed and dying empty-
handed. Put another way, life has been fruitless for 
them. 
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Even though some people are born on the door-
step of Buddhism, they still leave the world empty-
handed — so what chance do people who have 
never even come across Buddhism stand? The Lord 
Buddha thus laid down guidelines for life, teach-
ing that having taken human birth, you must seek 
benefit both for this lifetime and the next. Benefit 
can only accrue if you use your body and mind for 
positive good deeds that will give worthwhile re-
turns on our having been born human. The Lord 
Buddha taught that at the very least, you ought to 
be able to set yourself up in life. If you are in debt 
or still have to rely on others for the roof over your 
head, you have not yet suceeded in even the most 
rudimentary of human duties. If you are a man (and 
not a mouse) you must be able to stand on your 
own two feet. This is what we call benefit for the 
present lifetime. 
From our description so far of the features of an 
amenable location, whether the inhabitants know 
Buddhism or not, they will manage to succeed in 
fulfilling benefit for the present lifetime. Where 
those who don't know Buddhism miss out, is 
through not knowing how to fulfil benefits for the 
next lifetime. Without a knowledge of Buddhism, 
you can do no better than use up the merits accrued 
from previous lifetimes. No additional merits are 
accrued this lifetime and at the end of this life, your 
after-life destination will be one of suffering. 
Those who accrue benefit for future lifetimes, when 
they die will not go to hell or be born as animals. 
Whatever the proportion of good and bad deeds 
they may have done, at the very least they will take 
human birth again — even though they may be 
handicapped in one way or another. 
B.4.2 National Level 
Amenable Dhamma Wachings at National Level 
means having just laws and customs as the national 
identity. 
B.4.3 Local Level 
Dhamma for the children means having a good 
school. If our children have the chance to study at a 
decent school, it will give them a head start in life 
because there is such a great variety of quality in 
the teaching given at different schools. Dhamma 
for the adults means having a good temple near at 
hand. At the very least, if there is a temple near to 
our house there will be monks who pass near to 
our house on their almsround and we will have the 
opportunity to make merit every morning. If we 
want to listen to a sermon, we won't have to go far. 
If a site is close to both the school and the temple it 
will earn plenty of points for amenable Dhamma. 
B.4.4 Neighbourhood Level 
Amenable Dhamma Teachings at the Neighbour 
hood Level means that monks pass on almsround 
and having temples and schools in the vicinity. 
B.4.5 Household Level 
This means an atmosphere of enthusiasm for 
Dhamma learning and teaching in the home. 
£4.6 Profit in for next life (A.iv.284) 
The special characteristic of Dhamma teaching that 
prevents a person from "leaving the world empty-
handed" are the sort of teachings that lead to "profit 
in the hereafter". The Lord Buddha taught that the 
minimum of virtue required is the four virtues for 
benefit in the hereafter as follows Isampayikaftha-
payojana] (see detail from B1.2 §C4.2). 
1. Faith Isaddhal: means confidence in thingsyou ought 
to have faith in—being a person of discretion especially 
in the operation of the laws of karma—that doing good 
deeds will lead to good outcomes and that doing evil 
will lead to bad retribution. Without such well-founded 
faith you have little chance of well-being in your future. 
2. The Precepts kik]: You must keep the minimum 
of Five Precepts as the baseline of one's virtue 
because the Precepts measure the degree to 
which you are a person as opposed to being a 
savage. 
3. Self-sacrificeicaga]: Self-sacrifice has many lev-
els of meaning from the superficial to the deep. 
At its simplest, it means avoiding being so stingy 
that you cannot bear to see anyone else sharing 
your possessions or getting any benefit from 
them. It means the habit of liking to share with 
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others. At its deepest level it means giving up 
even the destructive feelings we might feel to-
wards other people or more generally, letting go 
of anything that encroaches on our quality of 
mind — i.e. all thoughts of evil and unseemly 
habits until none remain. 
4. Wisdom Ipaiifial. To be specific, diligence in 
studying both worldly and spiritual knowledge 
— so that we can earn a decent living efficiently 
and at the same time know the difference be-
tween good and evil — in order to win the path 
to heaven. Once people are able to identify what 
is merit and what is demerit, they will gain the 
inspiration to do only good deeds. Thus knowl-
edge paves the pathway to heaven. 
C. PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS 
C./ Choosing the location of a new home 
Having studied the four main principles of a loca-
tion which is amenable to the spreading of the 
Dhamma, we have at the same time discovered a 
recipe for success in choosing the location of a new 
house. In the olden days, no-one would dare to 
build a new house without first seeking the advice 
of a teaching monk or at the very least of a fortune 
teller. They would always advise the oracle in ques-
tion to look at the lie of the land. In fact, the most 
successful oracles were not interested in the lie of 
the land at all, but were interested in how many of 
the four principles of amenable location were 
present at the proposed site of the new house. If 
you want to tell as much about the potential site of 
a new house as the oracles of old did, start by draw-
ing up a grid with five rows as follows: 
Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 Site 4 
1. Location 
2. Food 
3. Neighbours 
4.Dhamma 
Once you have drawn up the grid, supposing you 
wanted to build a house and you have a choice of 
four or five locations, but cannot decide which to 
choose, then award points to each of the different 
locations according to the four principles of an 
amenable location: location, food, neigbours and 
Dhamma. Give each principle points out of twenty-
five. When we add up the total points for each dif-
ferent location, we will be able to choose the most 
amenable location by choosing the site with the 
highest point rating. Use the following guidelines 
for giving points: 
1. Amenable location: We should look at the neigh-
bourhood and give points if the place has good 
facilities including access, running water, elec-
tricity and a telephone line. If there is already a 
house on the site, the more spacious the better. 
The quality of the construction work will also 
guide you as to your awarding of points. Look 
at the subdivision of moms to see whether it is 
habitable or not. Give the location points accord-
ingly. 
2. Amenable food supply: Consider that if you 
should choose a particular site for your home, 
you will be living there for a long time and there-
fore should give adequate thought to the avail-
ability of food. Make sure that the location isn't 
too far from the market or from a shop selling 
food and various other 'perishables'. If any of 
these sources of food are close at hand, you can 
award that site plenty of points for the food sup-
ply. 
3. Amenable neighbours: Inspect the location to see 
whether it is near to or part of a slum. Do people 
gamble there or nearby? Is it close to a liquor 
factory? Is it a den of thieves? If it is any of these 
things, then keep your distance. Choose some-
where else. If on the contrary, all the neighbours 
are respectable, socially distinguished and of 
Right View (such as doctors or teachers) of good 
social standing and of good conduct, then this 
should attract us to live nearby. At the very least, 
those good neighbours will give us peaceful sur-
roundings and in times of need they will be able 
to help us. Give the neighbours the appropriate 
point rating. 
4. Amenable Dhamma: In order to give points for 
this particular factor, it is necessary to divide the 
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factor into two contributing parts: Dhamma for 
the children and Dhamma for the adults. 
When you add up the total points for each site, you 
should choose the location with the maximum 
points as the site for your new house. Next time 
you move house there is no need to call in the for-
tune teller— or a monk either, because armed with 
an understanding of the factors that make a site 
amenable for habitation, you can choose the site for 
new house without anyone else's help. This is cer-
tainly a good example of Dhamma that is immedi-
ately applicable to everyday life. 
C.2 Making your present home amenable 
For those who do not ordain and leave the home 
life, usually, the home and family form the hub of 
life. In this connection, what should be done to the 
home to make it amenable to the prospering of the 
Dhamma? According to Thai tradition, even though 
we might have three meals a day, there should be 
at least one of those meals when the whole of the 
family is together (See Blessing12, §B.3.1 heading 3.2). 
Some people claim that they are overburdened 
with work. However if you consider that the only 
reason that you spend so much time at work is to 
be a breadwinner for your family to send your child 
to a private school — then think again. If you are 
left with no time to bring up your children prop-
erly and your child gets addicted to heroin because 
of your negligence, a million dollars would be in-
sufficient to rectify the problem. If on the contrary, 
you can get by while still finding sufficient time to 
give full attention to your child's upbringing, then 
you will be rewarded when your child grows up 
into a virtuous example of a human being. 
Many parents have been reduced to tears by dis-
appointment. They're upset that their child cannot 
go to university because of becoming a junkie. They 
cry about their awful child — but it would be more 
fitting to cry about having been such an awful par-
ent who didn't take the trouble to bring up their 
own child properly! 
Therefore, remember that bringing up a child 
means more than just seeing that there is food on 
their plate. You need to instil your child with vir-
tue and to this end, both children and parents 
should see each others' faces across the dining ta-
ble at least once a day, and discuss Dhamma, in-
struct one another and comment on the habits 
which each should be improving upon. If you can't 
manage to meet at mealtimes, you should make 
sure that the family come together before bedtime, 
perhaps for Evening Chanting —but even bedtime 
cannot beat mealtimes. A child will never miss a 
meal, and a good telling off before dinner will stay 
in his mind for a long time. 
Thus if you are to give a good example of 
Dhamma which is amenable to the household, then 
a family being together at mealtimes will certainly 
fit the bill. 
C.3 Relative importance of the Four Amenable 
Location Factors 
In conclusion, an amenable location has four char-
acteristics: an amenable location, amenable food 
supply, amenable personnel and amenable 
Dhamma. If you put these four characteristics in 
order of importance, you will find the following: 
Amenable Dhamma is the most important, fol-
lowed by amenable personnel, followed by ame-
nable food supply and an amenable location is the 
least important of the four. 
Even though the location may not be ideal, but 
the food is plentiful or neither the location or the 
food supply are ideal, but the inhabitants are ame-
nable, they can soon improve the quality of the lo-
cation and the food. However, the thing that makes 
the inhabitants amenable is having Amenable 
Dhamma it that location. This is the reason why 
Amenable Dhamma is the most important attribute 
of the four. 
C.4 Amenable Location outside, Amenable Location inside 
There are two different types of amenable location: 
1. Amenable Surroundings: the quality of location 
which is determined by the four factors already 
discussed. 
2. Amenable Location within: This is the most im-
portant influence on the quality of our well be-
ing — i.e. a healthy body and mind — a body 
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73 
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and mind that are in no way disabled or infected 
by disease. 
Some people are born with a silver spoon in their 
mouths. They are brought up properly by their par-
ents, but when they grow up, instead of feeling 
grateful for all the efforts made by their parents, 
they inflict illness upon themselves by turning 
alcaholic. There are a myriad diseases that come as 
a result of drinking alcohol. Even lying can be the 
source of disease (see Blessing Nine, §C.1.4) causing 
your memory to become blurred and eventually 
leading to senile dementure as the result of the bad 
karma you have accumulated throughout the 
course of your life. 
Thus as we have seen from the examples of break-
ing the Precepts of lying or drinking alcahol, all of 
the Precepts, if broken, will be the source of illness. 
Thus you need to protect your internal environ-
ment. If you pollute the quality of your internal en-
vironment, success will elude you for the rest of 
your life and your future lifetimes will be even 
worse. Take care of your Precepts and they will take 
care of you. 
Now that you know the four factors of an ame-
nable location if you are still a child you should look 
for a location that is going to be amenable to your 
own education. If you are an adult then you should 
try to make your location into an amenable location, 
wherever you go. As an adult, it isn't good enough 
simply to go looking for amenable locations, you 
should be working actively to improve the quality 
of the environment. 
D. !mks' 1 iVIIVE EXAMPLItS 
D.1 Metaphor: Bonsai Bodhi Tree 
It is said that if you plant a tree in fertile soil, it will 
grow until it is many metres in diameter. If you take 
the same tree and plant it in a flower pot or a bar-
rel, it will end up as a root-bound bonsai tree in-
stead. Even if it is watered and carefully tended for 
several generations it will never grow higher than 
a few inches. Asked why a thousand-year old tree 
reaches only a few inches in height, we come back 
to the conclusion that it has been planted in an 
unamenable location. Even though it doesn't grow 
tall, it doesn't die. 
D.2 Ex. Establishing Saketu (DhA.i.386) 
When King Pasenadi built the new city of Saketu 
in the time of the Lord Buddha, he sent a letter to 
King Bimbisara to ask for permission to move one 
of the patrons from that kingdom to live in the new 
city. King Bimbasara sent Visalchit's father as pa-
tron to the new city. Before long, the patron got all 
the finances of the city properly organized and 
Saketu became one of the most prosperous city-
states in India at that time. This goes to show that 
an amenable city doesn't just consist of buildings 
but it needs the presence of amenable neighbours 
such as benefactors and patrons. 
D.3 Ex. Ariya the ftsherntan (Dluliii.3116JT) 
Even though some people in the time of the Lord 
Buddha had no worldly knowledge — they were 
completely illiterate and were of the lowest trades 
— but they had the good fortune to be born in an 
amenable location (i.e. in the same time and place 
as the Buddha) and because of this fact alone, were 
able to attain enlightenment to level of a stream 
enterer Isotapana]. 
There was a fisherman called"Ariya" (lit. "noble 
one") who lived during the time of the Buddha. As 
a fisherman, he caught and killed fish every day. 
One day in meditation, the Buddha saw Ariya's 
potential to attain the fruit of stream-entry 
Isotapattiphala] and went, with a number of other 
monks to where Ariya was fishing. Seeing the Bud-
dha approaching, Ariya became ashamed of his ac-
tion and hid his fishing line. When the Buddha ar-
rived, while standing in front of the man, he asked 
Sariputta his name. "Sariputta", replied 
Sariputta. The Buddha then proceeded to ask the 
name of each of the monks and overhearing, the 
man wondered whether after asking all the monks' 
names, the Buddha would ask his. The Buddha 
knew what he was thinking and asked the man his 
name. "Ariya" replied the man. In fact, the Bud-
dha didn't need to be told the man's name. The Bud-
dha gave Ariya a teaching that anyone who still 
harmed other living beings could not be called 'no-
ble' on account of his actions. He said that one's 
nobility comes from not harming other living be-
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ings. Hearing the Buddha's teaching, Ariya attained 
stream-entry and from that day onwards never 
killed a living being again, having transcended the 
very intention to kill — in spite of the fad that he 
was illiterate. He lived in the depths of poverty, but 
he had one auspicious advantage in his life, and 
that was to live in a time and place where there was 
the opportunity to come face-to-face with the Lord 
Buddha — and this alone allowed him to become 
enlightened to the level of a stream-enterer. 
D.4 Ex. Ghosaka's lifetime as a dog 
(DhA.i.169, PsA.504ff.) 
Another example of a similar phenomenon hap-
pened in a time before the Lord Buddha. At that 
time, the only Buddhas in existence were 
paccekabuddhas who although enlightened, were 
unable to teach for the benefit of the manyfolk. 
These paccekabuddhas came on almsround in the city. 
Having collected alms, they would return to the 
forest to take their meal. This would be his normal 
daily routine. Seeing that the paccekabuddha had to 
walk such a long way each day, one of the more 
faithful supporters invited the paccekabuddha to 
dwell nearby his own house and would bring food 
for the paccekabuddha every for every morning and 
midday meal. 
Any day when the householder was not free to 
make the offering himself, he would send his well-
trained dog to carry a tiffin set of food to offer to 
the paccekabuddha at his place. As the dog grew more 
familiar with the paccekabuddha it took a liking to 
Him because the deportment and manner of the 
paccekabuddha was so gentle. If the dog was at home 
and failed to mind firewood for its master it would 
be beaten. However, in the dwelling of the 
paccekabuddha it was a different story. When the dog 
came close he could listen to the chanting of the 
paccekabuddha. There was no risk of being beaten 
and the paccekabuddha would even divide part of 
the food to give to the dog as well. The dog became 
more and more familiar with the gentle manner of 
the paccekabuddha. 
At the end of the rainy season, the paccekabuddha 
bid the householder farewell and returned to the 
forest. The paccekabuddha made his journey by float-
ing through the air. The dog watched the 
paccekabuddha go with regret and howled as loudly 
as it could because there was nothing else for it to 
do. It was a sad farewell for the dog who still had 
the paccekabuddha on its mind. The dog was so sad 
that as it came to the end of its howling, it dropped 
dead. However, as the result of the faith of this dog 
in the paccekabuddha and from howling at the de-
parture of the paccekabuddha, the dog was reborn 
immediately as an angel called Ghosaka — whose 
duty was to be a spokesman for the rest of the an-
gels. 
In the time of the Lord Buddha, Ghosaka was re-
born in the human realm as Ghosaka the 
Millionnaire and was one of the greatest patrons of 
Buddhism. The result of living in an amenable lo-
cation and taking the chance to be an attendant to a 
paccekabuddha led him to become an angel on dying 
from rebirth as a dog and from his rebirth as an 
angel to be reborn as an important patron of Bud-
dhism. 
D.5 Er. Monk and Fire-Hundred Bats (Vagguli 
Vattlat SadS. 81ff.) 
Another example comes from the time of a previ-
ous Buddha. There was a monk who had retired to 
a cave in order to train himself. The monk would 
rise early each morning and chant the Abhi-
dhamma.The monk shared the cave with five-hun-
dred bats. During the day the bats would return to 
the cave but at night they would fly outside to feed. 
Thus the bats would hear the chanting of the 
Abhidhamma every day. Even though the bats had 
no way of knowing the meaning of the chanting, 
they became familiar with the sound of the monk's 
chanting and became inspired with faith. 
When it came to time for the bats to pass away, 
they died with faith in their hearts and were all re-
born as angels. Passing away from their existence 
as angels, they were reborn as men in the time of 
the present Buddha. All five hundred men became 
ordained as monks and hearing the chanting of the 
Abhidhamma only once, unlike normal people who 
might remain indifferent to the chanting, could re-
Blessing Four: Living in an Amenable Location 
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member the words of the Abhidhamma which were 
still impressed in their minds from that previous 
lifetime, and recollecting the words of the 
Abhidhamma were soon able to become enlight-
ened as arahants. 
Thus, it is easy to see that simply living in an ame-
nable location is not just advantageous for people 
—even lowly animals can experience the benefits! 
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Blessing Five: 
Having done good deeds 
in one's past 
A. IN fRODULHON 
With Blessing Five we are still exploring the vir-
tues which comprise "turning towards wholesome-
ness" as exemplified by the second grouping. Last 
blessing we have already mentioned the "nature-
nurture" dichotomy of scientifically understood de-
velopment. Last blessing already covered the 
"nurture"aspect of the environment — and so this 
Blessing we come to the factor of "nature" — the 
aspects of our character and personality which we 
bring with us into the world. In this Blessing we 
attempt to explain the variety of material and spir-
itual success between different people in the world 
— differences which are not accountable in terms 
of the Blessings we have already studied up to this 
point. How for example can we explain the differ-
ences in disposition and life success of identical 
twins (with the same genetic components), brought 
up by the same parents in the same environment? 
How about newborn children, who far from be-
ing a clean slate have different personalities, differ-
ent potentials and different speeds of learning. Sci-
ence would attribute these things to genetic differ-
ences between their grandparents. This might work 
out for some things such as how people look or their 
physical strength, but I think you would agree that 
there are many other things that genetics cannot 
explain. No scientist has ever found a gene for in-
telligence for example. All that are found are the 
abberations that make people handicapped — and 
these are in spite of the fact that neither their par-
ents or their grandparents were handicapped in 
such away. Thus it must be something about the 
child himself brings with him into the world. 
This Blessing attempts to account for the dispar-
ity in terms of the residue of life experience picked 
up by individuals in their past — particularly the 
positive life experiences. 
In order to understand the rather lengthy matter 
of having done good deeds in one's past, it is nec-
essary to study the subject of merit in general and 
to touch also upon the subjects of retribution and 
mind quality. Some people study the Manual of Peace 
from Blessing One (Not Associating with Fools) 
through Blessing Two (Associating with the Wise), 
Blessing Three (Paying Respect to those worthy of 
Respect). They are able to accept all the reasoning 
of these first three Blessings, and are able to follow 
them in their everyday life. They even find that 
Blessing Four (Living in an Amenable Location), 
makes sense in their everyday lives — because in 
any case they have to choose the location for their 
home and the place where they go to school, col-
lege and university. However, they may have diffi-
culty with the claim that the sort of deeds we have 
done in the past can affect our quality of life and 
even the quality of society. It is obvious that with 
with this Blessing we are starting to deal with more 
subtle phenomena than before. 
Al. Success and Failure in Life 
Success and failure might appear on many differ-
ent levels — on the level of society, the level of life-
style, the level of personality or the level of the mind 
itself — but basically it comes down to quality of 
mind on four levels 
A person blessed with success on the level of the 
mind will have a quality mind — that is a mind that 
Blessing Five: Having Done Good Deeds in One's Past 
77 
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is stable and unwavering, hard to distract, pure and 
radiant, spacious and light, adaptable to any sort 
of task and implicitly happy and peaceful. Those 
who are less lucky might have a mind that is dull, 
inert and easily distracted. 
A person blessed with success on the level of the 
personality might may find that people believe every 
word of what they say. Those who are less lucky 
might find that even if they tell the truth solidly for 
a month, no-one will believe them. 
A person blessed with success on the level of the 
lifestyle might seem to be born smart. Their discre-
tion is reliable. Those who are less lucky might have 
such bad judgement that they become too afraid to 
make any decisions, always hesitating or 
provaricating instead — and they miss life's oppor-
tunities as a result. Even though they might do their 
best at work and take painstaking care never to 
make any error — they may be disliked and dis-
criminated against by their boss. 
A society blessed with success can muster all its 
human and natural resources to become a world 
leader. Less lucky countries, even those with edu-
cated citizens and abundant natural resources can 
be reduced to deserts by corruption and civil strife. 
It. Mg. MARAS 
BI. "Merit": Definitions and Characteristics 
This residue of positivity or strength of mind which 
we have built up for ourselves in their past, is called 
by the technical team, 'merit'. The Pali word 1/30ifia' 
from which we derive the word 'merit', can be 
translated in different ways according to context 
just like the word 'well' can mean 'healthy or 'prop-
erly' depending on the context. Thus, the word 
puitit Et' has many meanings — it can mean good-
ness, purification, cleansing, happiness or full. This 
spectrum of definitions, tell us not only the charac-
teristics of merit, but also something of the func-
tion of merit too. The word 'merit' in English 
Ipufifia] can sometimes be confusing because it 
makes us think of being honoured or praised or 
approved of by another person. However, all that 
is intended in this case is that it is 'deserved'. It oc-
curs spontaneously without needing a third party 
to award it to us. A general definition of merit is: 
'the result of doing a good deed'. It has the follow-
ing characteristics: 
1. It is distilled in the mind as soon as we perform 
a good deed; 
2. Is the agent by which the quality of the mind is 
improved; 
3. It can be accumulated; 
4. Merit belongs to the one who performed its origi-
nating deed; 
5. As we use it, normally it will become exhausted; 
6. The amount of merit depends on strength of in-
tention, amount of effort and amount of grati-
tude and ingratitude of the producing action. 
7. Gives effects attracting favourable circumstances 
at four levels: mind, personality, lifestyle and 
society. 
If you are an advanced meditator you can use your 
meditation to see what merit is like. However, the 
most that a normal meditator can see of the merit is 
like its shadow. We see its effects and so deduce 
that it must be present. We can compare merit to 
electricity (i.e. something which we cannot see or 
feel because it is nothing more than a source of 
power which cannot be observed with the naked 
eye). Normally, we cannot see electricity, only the 
effects it causes such as the heat from an iron when 
electricity is connected, or the electric shock which 
ensues if one grasps a live wire; it enters a light bulb 
and gives us the light by which we can read in the 
evening; it goes into a radiator and brings us 
warmth; it enters a refrigerator and stops our food 
from decaying and it enters a motor and makes it 
to spin. In the same way that we can use electricity 
without really ever having seen it, most of us have 
to be able to content with accruing merit without 
seeing it for ourselves. Merit cannot be observed 
with the naked eye, nevertheless we have the feel-
ing that when we perform a meritorious deed, that 
the mind is refreshed and loses any sense of irrita-
tion or crampedness leaving the mind spacious, 
light and content. Most people in the world have 
never seen the real nature of merit itself, and thus 
have their doubts as to whether doing good deeds 
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really creates merit or not. However, those with 
more experience of meditation, who have seen the 
real nature of the merit for themselves, will see the 
merit as clearly as others see the rain falling from 
the heavens. 
B.2 "In the past": Defined 
At this point we have to examine the meaning of 
the merits that we have performed in the past —
and this may apply to anything in your past 
whether it means yesterday or many years ago. In 
fact our past can be divided into two periods: 
1. Our Recent Past: which means the time from 
which we were born from our mother's womb, 
and opened our eyes for the first time to look at 
the world right up to yesterday. 
2. Our Distant Past: which means all of our exist-
ences and experiences up to the time when we 
entered the womb in the most recent lifetime. 
To describe both of these periods of our past 
in a simpler way we can say that the merit in 
our recent past is all the good deeds we have 
done this lifetime since our childhood on-
wards. Examples of such good deeds might 
include helping our parents wash the dishes 
when we were young. We might have helped 
with the family business as we became older. 
Eventually, when we completed our education, 
and got down to a steady career, we have di-
vided our time between earning a living and 
accruing good deeds for ourselves. All these 
good deeds right from the time when we were 
born can be referred to as merit in our recent 
past. 
As for the merit in our distant past, this re-
fers to the merits that we have accrued in our 
previous lives, whether it may be last lifetime 
or a hundred lifetimes ago. 
B3. Quality of Merit 
Apart from categorizing merit according towhen it 
was accrued merit can be categorized according to 
its quality: mundane merit [lokiyapuft fie] and tran-
scendental merit Vokuttarapuiiii al. 
1. Mundane merit is the merit that people are gen-
erally familiar with — that is to say for people 
for whose mind is not completely pure at the time 
they do the good deed. Such merit can run out. 
When the merit is used up, it will no longer give 
its benefits —just like a tank full of petrol which 
has a limited range. 
2. Transcendental Merit is the merit that arises in 
the pure mind. Such merit is steadfast and will 
never diminish or be exhausted. 
Thus the purity of the mind also has an important 
role to play in dictating the quality of the merit we 
are able to accrue for ourselves. 
C. ACCRUING MERIT 
Cl. Three Major ways to Accrue Merit 
There are Ten Major Ways to Accrue Merit. As 
mentioned in the preceding sections, merit arises 
as the result of doing good deeds. Unfortunately, 
simply knowing that "good" is "meritorious" 
doesn't explain how to go about doing good deeds. 
"Goodness" or "merit" can become meaningless 
and cliched if they are not defined in the context 
of practice, and for this reason that Buddhism sum-
marizes the different ways of practice of good 
deeds into a collection of ten types of practice in 
three categories through which merit canbe ac-
crued. For the benefit of such people, the three 
categories of 
ways 
to 
accrue 
merit 
[pufiiitikiriyavatthts] are — generosity, keeping 
the precepts and meditation. 
1. Generosity includes merit generated through 
generosity, merit generated through service, 
merit generated through the transfer of merit to 
others and merit generated through rejoicing in 
the merit of others. 
2. Keeping the Precepts includes merit generated 
through keeping the Precepts. 
3. Meditation includes merit generated through 
meditation, merit generated through humility 
towards those of high virtue, merit generated 
through listening to Dhamma sermons, merit 
generated through giving a discourse on the 
Dhamma and merit generated through correct-
ing our assumptions about the world. 
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C2. Ten Major Ways to accrue merit 
If you expand these three categories into their ten 
types of practice we get the following: 
1. Generosity: this means merit generated through 
generosity Ichinarnaya]. Some may wonder why 
merit can be accrued as the result of giving. Merit 
arises in the mind as explained above. The mind 
in its natural state takes the form of a clear sphere 
of diamond brightness, however, when polluted 
by defilements, these reduce the sparkling mind 
to dullness and weakness, lowering the poten-
tial of the mind. If a person does something gen-
erous, giving away some part of that wealth 
which is the source of their anxiety, the mind 
becomes more at ease. Merit arises and this merit 
lights up the mind for a while. The radiance 
gradually accrues in the mind. The brightness, 
or the merit accumulates in the mind as gener-
ous deeds are performed regularly. The merit 
that arises from generosity is generated by two 
actions of the mind: firstly, the removal of the 
defilement of greed from the mind — something 
which immediately upgrades the quality of the 
mind and of our character too; secondly, as a re-
sult of the benefit obtained from the gift by the 
recipient — the more benefit is obtained by the 
recipient, especially from a gift that is hard-wear-
ing, the more merit will be accrued by the 
giver.There are many different forms of gener-
osity 
1. Giving useful material objects to others, 
whether it is food, clothing, shelter or medi-
cine, will generate merit for the giver. The 
most basic act of generosity is the gift of some-
thing that is beneficial to the recipient 
ruatthudancti. 
2. Giving worldly knowledge [vidhayadonci] 
Merit is also generated if you give the gift of 
knowledge that is beneficial to the recipient. 
of benefit to any recipient. Knowledge may 
be vocational skills — such as how to set one-
self up as a tailor. 
3. Giving spiritual knowledge [dhammadana] 
of benefit to the recipient is knowledge of the 
Dhamma such as the advice contained in this 
book. 
4. Forgiving: There is also a way of giving where 
you don't have to make any physical effort at 
all — when you are angry with Mr. A, Mr. B 
and Mr. C. All of them have at some time or 
other contributed trouble to your life. Suppose 
that one day, you decide to put an end to all 
the anger and forgive them for all the upsets 
they have caused you in the past — and start 
afresh. In such a case, as soon as the thought 
crosses you mind to forgive them, merit will 
arise in your mind. Even though you haven't 
expended even the slightest physical effort, 
you have managed to earn yourself merit 
though giving 'forgiveness' labhayadarta]. 
Even giving others a smile instead of a scowl 
will bring you merit according to the same 
principle of forgiveness! 
2. Humility: This means merit generated through 
Humility towards those of High Virtue 
[apacayanamaya]. You may be surprised that 
even without expending any physical effort, sim-
ply possessing the attitude of humility can cause 
one to accrue merit. The person who, instead of 
finding fault with others is both humble and re-
spectful, has a virtue that will allow him to find 
the good in each and every person he meets. He 
will put others' faults to one side. Such humility 
will lead the owner to accrue merit, because at 
the very least, they will always see the world in 
a positive light, allowing them to remain in a 
pleasant mood the whole day long. If they are 
perceptive they will have the wisdom to see the 
virtues in the hearts of others and instil them-
selves with those virtues which they see in oth-
ers — accruing even greater merit for them-
selves. 
3. Service: This means merit generated through 
Service [veyylvaccatnaya]. This is the domain 
of those who immediately rush to assist others 
who they see doing good deeds. For example, if 
they find out that their neighbour is preparing a 
meal to offer the monks, they will prepare all the 
seasoning needed for the meal and and give that 
to the neighbour making the meal. 
4. Transfer of Merit: Merit generated through the 
transfer of merit to others Ipatticlonamaya]. 
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