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Whenever someone does a good deed and his 
mind is full of merit as the result of his good-
ness, and he transfers some part of his merit to 
another person, or to his deceased relatives, these 
are all counted as ways of generating merit 
through the transfer of merit. 
5. Rejoicing in the Merit of others: Merit generated 
through rejoicing in the merit of others 
Ipattanumodanamaya]. This sort of merit is ac-
crued by those who, whenever they see that 
someone else has done a good deed, is pleased 
for them and rejoices with them in the merit that 
they have made. Even if they are unable to con-
tribute anything more to that person's merit 
making, by rejoicing with them or congratulat-
ing them on doing their good deed, they will earn 
a part of the merit for themselves too. It is in this 
connection that you often hear the word 'Sadhu!' 
in Buddhist circles. 
6. Keeping the Precepts: Merit generated through 
keeping the Precepts [sita]. Keeping the Precepts 
ensures that we never take advantage of others 
through our physical or verbal actions — and at 
the same time we bring no harm to ourselves. 
You might wonder how keeping the Precepts can 
possibly give rise to merit. When we abandon 
all thoughts of taking advantage of others, in 
their place arises the radiance of merit that has 
accrued in the mind. This will have the effect of 
quenching heart-felt troubles. 
7. Meditation: This means merit generated through 
meditation I bhauanamayalMeditation is a way 
of training the mind to become wiser. There are 
many different subdivisions to what can be con-
sidered as mind training and these include read-
ing books on Dhamma, chanting and meditation 
itself. Meditation has the effect on the mind of 
causing the arising of radiance and distancing 
the mind from disturbance by anxiety, limiting 
its habitual wandering, bringing peace. When-
ever the covering of defilements is banished from 
the mind, especially the defilement of ignorance 
which usually imprisons the mind in darkness 
and undermines its true potential, wisdom will 
arise in the mind as the brightness of merit. 
8. Listening to Dhamma Sermons: This means 
merit generated through listening to Dhamma 
sermons [dhammassavanamaya]. Listening to 
Dhamma lectures or sermons on the Dhamma 
will enhance our wisdom. Before, we might have 
had only a rudimentary understanding of the 
real nature of the world, but now as a result of 
hearing Dhamma Teachings, we know how to 
tell the difference between good and evil. Such 
an improvement in the level of our wisdom will 
result in our accruing merit for ourselves. 
9. Giving a discourse on the Dhamma: This means 
merit generated through giving a Discourse on 
the Dhamma [dhammadesanamaya] Teaching 
the Dhamma by giving a sermon will bring merit 
to the preacher in the following ways: 
1. Preaching will rid the mind of reluctance to teach 
others. Some people are reluctant to share their 
wealth with others. Others are reluctant to 
share their knowledge with others. Giving a 
sermon, instructing others about to lead their 
lives virtuously, will help to uproot the trait 
of keeping valuable knowledge to oneself. 
2. Preaching helps you to revise the different groups 
of dhannnas. As you preach, you are able to 
revise the different groups of dhammas, in-
creasing your mastery of them. As you recol-
lect those dhammas, you will be inspired by 
them and this will bring radiance to the mind. 
Mastery also comes through the necessity to 
revise from the Dhamma texts, sometimes two 
to three weeks in advance of actually giving 
the sermon, in order to obtain a profound 
understanding of the Dhamma topic in hand 
before having to teach it to others. 
10. Straightening One's Views: This means merit 
generated through Straightening out one's 
views: Iditthujukammamayal As the result of 
listening to a good sermon, the listener will have 
the discretion to tell good from evil, right from 
wrong. They will no longer doubt that doing 
good deeds gives good results or that doing evil 
will bring bad results. Before long the mind is 
steadfast in the pursuit of good deeds and in the 
avoidance of evil. This process is what we mean 
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by correcting our understanding of the world. 
Once our understanding is proper, then the 
deeds of mind, speech and body will be good 
and proper too. The determination will arise in 
the mind that you will pursue good deeds for 
evermore—no longer being sidetracked into evil 
or unproductive ways. 
Thus if you it hard to remember all ten categories 
of meritorious deeds, you can summarize them 
down to three major categories: generosity, keep-
ing the Precepts and meditation. 
D. NUM-LIONS OF MERIT 
Dl. Level of mind 
The first benefits that merit will bring when it arises 
are benefits at the level of the mind. This is one of 
the most important benefits because there is no need 
for one to wait for the after-life in order to see the 
results. Whenever we perform a good or meritori-
ous deed, merit will arise immediately. If you do a 
good deed at night, merit will arise at night. If you 
do a good deed by day, merit will arise by day. If 
you do a good deed on an aircraft in mid-air, then 
the merit will arise in our mind there in mid-air. 
Wherever you are, if you perform a meritorious 
deed, the effect will arise in the mind instantane-
ously — it doesn't need much expenditure of en-
ergy for such merit to arise — even just thinking to 
do a meritorious deed will cause merit to arise and 
will put the mind at ease. There is no need to wait a 
long time in order to see the results at the level of 
the mind of your meritorious deeds. You don't even 
need to wait for someone to admire you for doing 
such a good deed. The results of merit will arise 
automatically in the mind without you having to 
do anything more than good deeds — and the ben-
efits that arise are as follows: 
1. Merit cleanses the mind: When the mind is clean 
it is ready to pursue even greater degrees of good 
deeds. In the days before we started accruing 
merit, we considered that our mind was already 
pure. However, as soon as we start doing meri-
torious deeds, we realize that our mind has be-
come purer than we ever expected. Before our 
mind was as bright as the morning star — but 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
now our mind is even brighter, with the radi-
ance of the full moon. No matter how clouded 
and dull the mind might be beforehand, when 
merit arises in the mind will clarify the mind just 
like soap or detergent cleans the dirt out of a cloth 
leaving it pristine and white. 
Merit raises the quality of the mind: Merit that 
arises in the mind helps to filter out defilements 
which might otherwise operate in the mind. 
Merit will neutralize such negativity in the mind, 
not allowing them to affect the spaciousness and 
lightness or to slow down the operation of the 
mind —and having filtered the mind in this way, 
the mind is left ready to serve us in all types of 
task. The meritorious deeds we do therefore 
upgrade the quality of our minds. 
Merit brings us happiness: When the mind is 
purified and filtered by the arising of merit, it 
gives rise to radiance and refreshedness of mind 
which is the precursor of happiness. Such hap-
piness is not fleeting, superficial happiness. It is 
an overflowing of happiness like on the days we 
make an offering or a donation at the temple and 
we feel refreshed by the goodness of our action, 
as if our heart was so big that it filled the whole 
of our being. 
Merit will make the mind more stable: Merit will 
make our mind more stable in the face of the 
worldly vicissitudes such as being praised or 
insulted. 
Merit will make the mind more flexible: The 
mind will have increased potential for success 
with the task in hand, whether the task be large 
or small, gross or refined — whatever the na-
ture of the task, the mind made flexible will be 
ready for all eventualities. 
Merit will make the mind more radiant: It will 
increase the potential of the mind to gain insight 
to overcome all manner of obstacles that arise in 
the course of performing any task. 
Merit will increase the potential of the mind: You 
will begin to notice the difference whenever you 
apply your mind to any task. You might over-
come the tendency to lose your temper easily. 
The mind that is free from anxiety and 
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cloudedness, that is spacious and pure and stead-
fast will be the mind of the highest potential. 
8. Merit will allow better decisions to be taken: 
Decisions can be made quickly and accurately 
without hesitation. 
9. Merit will allow a more insightful analysis of 
any situation:Thoughts will be 'on the ball' and 
a correct analysis of the situation every time.The 
mind dwells only on subjects that are skilful. You 
find yourself unable to think over anything po-
tentially damaging to your high state of mind. 
10.Merit will make your thinking thorough and 
comprehensive: You will not allow your thought 
to be dragged down into shoddiness. 
11. Merit will help to make your thought both no-
ble and deep: Merit will incline your mind to-
wards the higher things of life and away from 
the baser side of life. 
All of these features illustrate the general benefi-
cial effects of merit at the level of the mind. They 
are effects that take place equally no matter which 
of the ten ways you use to generate merit. How-
ever, the benefits of merit go further than this. They 
are more than just a feeling in the heart — leading 
to rebirth in more fortunate realms live to come. 
D2. Level of Personality 
This level of the effects of merit is easier to observe 
than the effects on the mind. As we accrue more 
and more merit, the general benefits, no matter 
which way in which we accumulate merit, will 
spread to the level of our personality and will gradu-
ally change it for the better. The changes in our char-
acter originate from the changes mentioned above 
in the quality of the mind. 
1. Merit will bring you physical grace: from your 
complexion to your voice and even your physi-
cal proportions — all are attractive and appro-
priate to the task of pursuing perfection. 
2. Merit will bring knowledge, wisdom and mas-
tery: because the illumination whch merit brings 
will awaken us to the nature of the world as it 
really is. Anyone who has set their heart on be-
ing smart should start by cultivating merit. 
3. Merit will help to upgrade our tastes and values: 
As the mind dwells on matters that are only vir-
tuous and leaves aside evil thought, thinking 
things through thoroughly and in depth, our 
tastes and values will change in favour of virtue 
and morality. 
4. Merit will develop our character and personality: 
These changes of attitude and and discretion will 
express themselves in changes of character and 
personality. 
5. Merit causes our speech to become skilful: skil-
ful thought becomes habitual and this causes our 
speech to be skilful too. 
6. Merit causes our behaviour to improve: Good 
speech has its effect on our physical actions and 
we find that our behaviour gradually changes 
for the better. The way that we express ourselves, 
our deportment when in company, no matter 
where we mix socially, will be impeccable instead 
of being vulnerable to all forms of temptation. 
7. Merit strengthens our patience: We no longer 
drool over others' possessions. In the olden days, 
others might have been suspicious even at the 
sight of us, worrying about when we were go-
ing to rob them of their beloved possessions —
but now that there is no more drooling, they can 
enjoy their wealth in peace. 
8. Merit causes us to have more control over our 
temper: You certainly wouldn't let yourself be 
drawn into a conflict any more. This is another 
way in which one's personality changes as the 
result of upgrading the quality and potential of 
the mind. 
9. Merit improves our personal appearance: Per-
sonality includes your personal appearance. 
Merit accrued will cause our complexion to be 
soft and radiant—so much more refreshing than 
before when you weren't interested in merit. 
10.Merit will reduce our anxieties: All your mis-
givings and bones you had to pick with others, 
which before used to keep you awake at night, 
will now be forgiven. 
D3. Level of Lifestyle 
Merit will take its effect on our mind and our per
immediately whenever we perform a meri-
torious deed. At the third level, that of the lifestyle, 
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however, we cannot be sure how quickly the ben-
efits will be manifested because our quality of life-
time arises as the result of both present and past 
deeds. The effects of good and bad deeds are mixed 
together inseparably. When there are so many con-
tributing factors, it becomes very complex to deter-
mine the exact source of the merit that has given 
particular benefit in a particular lifetime. It is just 
the same as looking at a particular cell in our body 
and not knowing which item of food we ate has 
nourished that cell. This is part of the reason why 
we are often hesitant to believe that doing good 
deeds brings good results or that doing bad deeds 
brings bad results. Some of the general results of 
our merit are as follows: 
1. Merit will attract success:We will be successful 
whatever we turn our hand to. 
2. Merit will bring us praise: You will be praised 
(at least by the wise); 
3. Merit is like a protective armour: which protects 
us from dangers and misfortunes like a guard-
ian angel. 
4. Merit can lead us to attainment allow you to 
make continuous progress in your meditation. 
5. Merit brings us the things that we wish for: Merit 
acts like a wish-fulfilling gem. 
Another thing which makes the results of merit dif-
ficult to understand at the level of the personality 
is that apart from the general benefits, there are also 
differences in the way the outcome of merit mani-
fests itself, rather like different 'flavours' associated 
with the ways by which merit has been perforrned. 
D.3.1 Examples of Merit Outcomes 
D.3.1.1 Generosity and Kalyanamittata 
The benefits that merit brings to different people 
differs according to the differences the merits they 
have performed. To take a good example — that 
of generosity, the likely results of the merits they 
have done are as follows: 
1. Those who make lonely donations without en-
couraging their friends will be born rich in fu-
ture lives, but won't have many friends. They 
will have to look hard to find anyone to give 
them their friendship or even understand 
them; 
2. Those who make donations themselves and 
encourage others to join them in making merit 
too will be born rich in future lifetimes and 
will have plenty of friends; 
3. Those who don't make donations, but they 
encourage their friends to make donations 
will have plenty of rich friends, but they will 
be poor themselves. If any of your friends are 
in need, you will be able to tell them how to 
solve their problems instantly — but if you 
are in need you can do nothing to help your-
self; 
4. Those who don't make donations and don't 
encourage others to make donations either 
have a begging bowl waiting for them in their 
next life. They will have no friends either. 
D.3.1.2 Long life: Long life versus short life 
Some people are long-lived because in previous 
lives they avoided killing or harming animals. 
Long life is useful because it allows one plenty of 
time to perform good deeds. 
D.3.1.3 Illness: Freedom from illness versus 
sickliness 
Some people are always in good health. They 
seem invulnerable to disease and hardly even 
know their doctor. Again good health is the re-
sult of having not been cruel to animals in previ-
ous lifetimes. 
D.3.1.4 Complexion: Radiant versus dull 
complexion 
Some people never seem to lose their temper. 
They seem to be happy the whole of the time. 
Such people have a radiant complexion. By con-
trast, those who are moody and whose faces are 
always in a frown will have a dull and rough com-
plexion like that of a frog, however many lifetimes 
they are born. Thus if you know yourself to be 
moody by nature, then try to improve your char-
acter as soon as you can — try doing the chant-
ing and meditation before you go to bed each day. 
If you are angry with anybody in particulac, try 
to find a way to forgive them and spread loving-
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kindness towards them. If you are angry with 
anybody, don't let the anger last overnight. It's 
bad enough to be angry all day — don't let it last 
to the next morning. 
D.3.1.5 Powers Powerful versus powerless 
Some people are born to rule. Wherever they go 
others treat them with the utmost respect because 
in the past they have always been quick to ex-
press their congratulations [mudita] whenever 
they have seen anyone else achieving success 
andgiven them their support. As for those who 
are born powerless and cowering, the real reason 
for this is because of their jealous habits in previ-
ous lifetimes. Even if they are born king, they will 
be king of a mere vassal state or if they are born 
queen, they will be no more than a secondary 
consort. If you have the luck to receive a gift it 
will be second hand! 
D.3.1.6 Riches: Rich versus poor 
Some are born with a silver spoon in their mouth. 
Some are born into a wealthy family. Others fami-
lies are poor but start to prosper as soon as they 
are conceived so that by the time they are born, 
their family is already rich. Others' families are 
poor but they start to prosper as soon as the baby 
is born. Such occurrences can only happen to 
someone who has been generous in his previous 
lifetimes. Whatever one chooses to do, it will 
make one rich. By contrast, if one has lived by 
robbery in previous lifetimes then this lifetime, 
they will have a begging bowl waiting for them. 
D.3.1.7 Social Standing: High a low social standing 
Some people are born with high social standing 
— such as being born king or a member of the 
royal family or as member of a house of high 
standing. By contrast, some are born a beggar's 
son. They are on the lowest rung of the social lad-
der. The Lord Buddha taught that those who are 
humble and respectful of the virtuous will be born 
in a family of high social standing. If in this life-
time you pay respect of high virtue and listen to 
their teachings, you will be born in a family of 
high social standing next lifetime and others will 
have the chance to pay respect to you. The rea-
son why some people are born with low social 
standing is that they have lacked humility and 
reverence in their dealings with the virtuous in 
their previous lifetimes and have been stubborn 
and unyielding instead. 
D.3.1.8 Intelligence: Intelligent v.s ignorant 
Some people are born clever. As soon as they have 
the chance to study, all it takes is a single lesson 
and they are able to stand up and teach in the 
teacher's place. For others, the teacher teaches 
them the same thing two or three times and still 
they can make no sense of it. They have to rely 
on their friends to explain it to them outside les-
son time. Even after so much trouble, they have 
only a superficial grasp of what they have learned. 
They will have to read through the lesson another 
ten times if they are to understand it as well as 
their peers. 
D.4 Level of Society 
This is the next level at which merit takes its effect. 
The result of having done only good deeds all our 
life together with the good deeds or merit accumu-
lated over course of a long time will certainly bring 
peace, happiness, harmony, justice, progress and 
prosperity to themselves and the people around 
them. This happens especially as the result of the 
collective merit accrued by the majority of people 
in society. Merit takes its effect instantly at the level 
of the mind (if we are observant enough to notice 
it), however the time the effects take to filter suc-
cessively though to the levels of personality, life-
style and society take proportionally longer. 
CONSIDERATIONS 
El. Speed of Merit Taking Effect 
All we have talked about are basically the princi-
pal forces. In fact, as with the dynamics of the karma 
which we studied in the previous lesson, all are to 
some extent modified by supplementary factors or 
concomitants, especially with reference to the speed 
with which they give their fruits. The degree to 
which meritorious deeds will give their benefits in 
our lifestyle depends on four factors which wecall 
the Four Accomplishments or Catalysts Isama-
pattii. 
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The Accomplishments are the factors favourable 
to the ripening of good karma just like catalysts 
which facilitate a chemical reaction— there are four 
of these in all: 
1. Catalytic Circumstances Igatisampatti] and 
means that you are born in favourable circum-
stances or amenable surroundings in terms of a 
place to live, a birthplace or a neighbourhood 
which will affect us for the better. To give an ex-
ample suppose you are born as someone who is 
not particularly clever, but fortunately for you, 
you are born amidst catalytic circumstances —
born in a prospering community with a good 
standard of education available to everyone. 
Thus with the application of a little effort in your 
studies, you can make up for your lack of innate 
cleverness with cleverness learned from your 
surroundings — the clear result of the catalytic 
circumstances.Those in possession of such 
circumstancses make it easier for themselves to 
further their good deeds during their life — and 
this is one way by which merit is self-catalytic. 
2. Catalytic Gift of Wellbeing [upadhisampattil 
These refer to the characteristics of one's physi-
cal and personal makeup that facilitate the aris-
ing of good karma. Examples of such "gifts" 
might be a golden voice which makes everybody 
want to listen to what you have to say (no mat-
ter whether it be good or bad!), a good singing 
voice (that sounds good even if you cry!), a beau-
tiful or handsome physique (which can make 
you Miss Universe without having to do any-
thing more than be born and grow up!) Some-
one who is gifted in this way, but who instead of 
sitting on his laurels, continues to do good deeds 
all his life will find that good deeds give their 
results instantly, before their very eyes. 
3. Catalytic Timing [kalasampatti] To be at the 
right place at the right time in the same way that 
we talked about the era of a world cycle when 
people are born. In an era where people value 
virtue manifest themselves right from the time 
you are born. You will associate with the wise 
right from your childhood. You need never come 
under the influence of fools. Throughout your 
life, no matter whether you are generous, keep 
the Precepts, meditate or do chanting, you will 
hear only words of encouragement from the peo-
ple around you, making it easy for us to excel at 
any of these practices. Thus the results of one's 
meritorious action will be much quicker to see. 
4. Catalytic Discretion [payoyasampatti]. To be 
born with good discretion and more importantly, 
the moral fibre to keep to one's principles and 
apply one's discretion to one's lifestyle will fa-
cilitate the ripening of good karma. This cata-
lyst is centred on the ability to teach yourself to 
improve in all aspects will make you a born 
leader never having to wait for others to per-
suade you or force you to do beneficial things. 
Besides being able to discriminate between right 
and wrong, good and bad you will be able to 
put your ethics into practice. Such a personal 
endowment will quicken the speed with which 
you see the fruits of your meritorious actions at 
the level of the lifestyle. 
In conclusion, performing merits will give the frui-
tion of good deeds instantly at the level of the mind 
and the personality. There is no need to waitfor the 
afterlife for these things. However, at the level of 
the lifestyle, you may have to wait much longer if 
you have accrued only a small amount of merit in 
your past. However, for those who have a lot of 
merit in their past lives, they will see the fruition of 
merits very quickly in the present lifetime. Thus 
those who are still skeptical about whether doing 
good deeds will really bring benefits to us at the 
level of our lifestyle, should study the mechanism 
of catalysts and inhibitors to the fruition of good 
karma as outlined in this section. 
.E2. Why is care needed in the study of merit? 
Merit is difficult to understand because the effects 
of merit thatwe can see are the result of com-
pounded causes. Some of the good luck or good 
coincidences that we see come from the merit we 
have stored up for ourselves from long ago. Some 
of the good luck will come from the acts of merit 
which we have done recently and which remain in 
mind. Thus we need to have an understanding of 
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merit otherwise, looking at the outcomes we might 
come to the misunderstood conclusion that good 
deeds don't give rise to merit and might give up 
too easily. The other aspect is to understand cor-
rectly how to do the sort of good deeds that accrue 
merit otherwise, again, we might come to the con-
clusion that our efforts to do good deeds have noth-
ing but a disastrous effect on our future. 
Some people have such a strong conviction in 
merit that they think that merit and demerit is the 
only valuable way of evaluating actions in the 
world. However, such a narrow view can lead to 
some shortcomings of understanding. To take merit 
seriously, can inspire you to do good deeds, avoid 
evil and purify the mind. However, as one of the 
main characteristics of merit is that it accrues ex-
clusively to the doer of a good deed, it tends to make 
Buddhists disinterested in what the people around 
them are doing. They may become interested only 
in their own personal destiny without thinking to 
try and upgrade the state of society or show con-
cern for the destinies of those around them. Thus, 
the benefit of understanding merit is to make the 
best of our present to ensure a brightfiture. 
E3. Overcoming shyness to accrue Merit 
It is obvious from the examination of our present 
circumstances that we are living in a time when the 
circumstances of society are not very catalytic 
anymore. Because of the difficulty in discerning the 
fruits of meritorious action, the majority of people 
in the world today: 
1. don't know the importance of merit; 
2. know the importance of merit but don't know 
how to go about accruing it; 
3. know how to accrue merit, but because they have 
not made merit making an implicit part of their 
lives, they are not particularly motivated to ac-
cumulate merit. 
Some people want to do meritorious deeds, but are 
too shy. Some people know that it is good to bow 
down in respect to one's parents, but because they 
didn't make bowing to their parents part of their 
everyday life since they were children, by the time 
they are old enough to realize they are too shy to 
start something new. 
The important thing to overcome the shyness we 
might feel in accruing the merit in our lives is to 
make it a part of our daily routine so that we don't 
lose touch with merit or become unfamiliar. In this 
respect there are three important pieces of advice 
for the practitioner coined as mottos for those at-
tending Wat Phra Dhammakaya: 
1. Any morning wizen you have not given alms, you 
shouldn't allow yourself to take breakfast: You 
should get up in time to give alms to the monks 
on their almsround at dawn every day. If there 
is no monk on almsround you can always col-
lect up small donations on a daily basis in a 
piggy-bank and offer them at the temple the next 
time you go. If you can manage to achieve this, 
you will avoid poverty in the long-term. Even if 
you are not particulary well off in the present 
lifetime, you can be assured that if you give alms 
every day, eventually you will put an end to the 
hardship of financial insecurity. 
2. Any day when you don't intend to keep the Pre-
cepts you shouldn't dare to leave the house: Once 
you have taken the precepts, you should revise 
the intention to keep them every day for the Five 
Precepts. At the very least you will always be 
within the protection of the Five Precepts — like 
an armour of morality. This merit is the second 
major investment we have to make in our life to 
ensure our enduring wellbeing. 
3. Any evening when you haven't done your chant-
ing and meditation, don't dare to go to bed: If 
you can manage to do your chanting and medi-
tation every day, no matter how tired you are, 
you will be like the warrior who is ever ready 
for battle, with his sword already sharpened by 
his side. 
If you start today and train yourself in all three of 
these ways, you will be like a soldier ready for bat-
tle with strength, a supply of provisions, a suit of 
armour and a weapon already sharp and ready for 
battle. However many times you go to war, you will 
be victorious every time. If you start living a life-
style by which you accrue merit today, you will start 
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to get the benefits today. There's no need to wait for 
next lifetime before starting your good deeds be-
cause whether you will have the chance to do good 
deeds or not in your next life is dictated by the 
amount of good deeds you do in this lifetime. Thus 
start doing good deeds today, this very hour, at this 
very second. 
In addition to the merit you cultivate as a matter 
of course in your everyday life, you should look 
for opportunities to increase your store of merit on 
special occasions such as offering sanghadana (of-
fering a meal to the monastic community), go for a 
longer meditation retreat, ordain temporarily for 
the course of the rainy season. Don't go thinking 
that you already have plenty of merit stored up from 
your past. You may be wrong. If you really had a 
lot of merit in your past, you would be able to sit 
comfortably for the whole of the hour long medita-
tion session. If you still feel uncomfortable when 
you meditate or feel that you have to change pos-
ture, that is the sign that you still have room for 
improvement in the merit you have stored up for 
yourself. You need to use the precious life of yours 
to rectify your faults and weaknesses — and the 
best way to do this is to do as many good deeds as 
you can. Otherwise the hunger of the mind will go 
on unabated 
F. ILLUSTRA1 
EX1N1I'LLS 
Fl. Metaphor: Merit in the Past - Pedigree 
The nature of the differences is not the same as the 
pot-bound bonsai of the previous Blessing. It is not 
caused by the environment— the difference lies 
within the person himself —it is a personal attribute 
which differs in strength from one person to an-
other. Compare a wild strawberry with a domestic 
breed of strawberry. You can water and fertilize a 
wild strawberry all you like, but in the end it will 
only produce a lot of leaves and a few tiny bitter 
fruits. By contrast, a domestic strain, even if ne-
glected will produce numerous and succulent fruits. 
The difference is factor which belongs to the plant 
itself. With plants it is the pedigree, but with peo-
ple it is the residue of the behaviours they have built 
up for themselves in the past — not a reputation 
because that needs a third party to remember it —
it is something they build up inside them whether 
they have witnesses for their behaviour or not. 
F2. Metaphor: Merit - Food for the Mind 
All dynamic things in the world have fuel on which 
they feed. Fire burns on brushwood. A tree needs 
food, but the food that nourishes it is sucked up 
through the roots. The body bums on physical food. 
To get the food we need for our body we must find 
ourselves a job or a career. A light bulb bums on 
electric current. Sometimes the energy is stored up 
in the object itself at a previous time (like the bulb 
of a daffodil or a car battery), sometimes the en-
ergy is used as it is obtained. All of these things 
must be provided with the fuel they need or else 
one day if the energy they have stored is exhausted, 
they will become useless or even die. 
All of these objects have their own food or fuel to 
nourish them, but as meditators, the object we are 
most interested in is the mind. The mind too, must 
have a food which can fuel its efficient activity, but 
what could possibly function as a sort of energy 
which the mind could store or use? 
Indeed, the personal residue we are talking about 
has the special quality of being like food which 
nourishes the mind—so that the mind can, to itsfull 
potential attract good opportunities and things on 
all four levels of success mentioned above. If mind 
is well fed it has repurcussions for all the other lev-
els too — sooner or later. 
F3. Er. Ski Jataka(J.284) 
The bodhisattva was once an ascetic and had an 
elephant trainer as a patron. A stick-gatherer, 
sleeping at night in the hermitage, heard two 
roosting cocks abusing each other. In the course 
of the quarrel, one cock boasted that whoever ate 
his flesh would be king, his skin commander in 
chief or chief queen and his bones, royal treas-
urer or king's chaplain. The man killed the cock 
and his wife cooked it, then taking it with them, 
they went to the river to bathe. They left the meat 
and rice on the bank, but as they bathed, the pot 
holding the food was blown into the river. It 
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floated downstream where it was picked up by 
the elephant-trainer. The bodhisattva saw every-
thing with his divine-eye and visited the trainer 
at meal-time. There he was offered the meat and 
divided it, giving the flesh to the trainer, the skin 
to his wife and keeping the bones to himself. 
Three days later, the city was beseiged by en-
emies. The king asked the trainer to don royal 
robes and mount the elephant, while he himself 
fought in the ranks. There the king was killed by 
an arrow and the trainer, having won the battle, 
was made king, his wife being queen and the as-
cetic his chaplain. The story was told in reference 
to a brahmin who tried to steal Anithapioclika's 
good fortune [sing. He perceived that the good 
fortune was embodied in a white cock for which 
he begged. Anithapirmlilca gave it to him, but 
the good fortune left the cock and settled in a 
jewel. He asked for that also, but the good for-
tune went into a club. The club was also asked 
for, and Anathapioilika giving it, asked the 
brahmin to take it and be gone. However, the 
good fortune now settled on Anathapirmlika's 
wife. The brahmin thereby admitted defeat and 
confessed his intentions to Anithapirmlika who 
told the story to the Buddha. 
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Blessing Six: 
Setting oneself'up 
properly in life 
A. INTRODMA ION 
A1. Place of Blessing Six in the order of things 
This sixth blessing is the last of the second group-
ing of blessings concerned with "turning towards 
virtue". It builds upon what has gone before with 
the "nurture" of Blessing Four and the "nature" of 
Blessing Five —bringing spiritual development to 
a point where the third grouping "making oneself 
useful" can start to become meaningful. 
AZ Objectives of the Sixth Blessing 
Studying this Blessing can be considered to have 
fulfilled its true purpose if after reading it, the 
reader feels: 
1. inspired to stand on their own two feet: that is, 
to promise themselves that this lifetime they will 
never again lower themselves to relying on any-
one else as their refuge — no longer using oth-
ers as crutches for their own weaknesses. The 
people of old used to say 'Even a bird builds its 
own nest — even a mouse digs its own hole —
so who is a man not to stand on his own two 
feet? It is not fitting always to be leaning on oth-
ers, borrowing from them or living in someone 
else's house. Otherwise one is no better than a 
sparrow living in the rafters of someone else's 
house. If you are the sort of person who is not 
ashamed of being dependent but who is on the 
other hand proud that there are always others 
who wants to help them, it will probably be a 
long time before you realize the reality of the 
world. It's no problem if you happen to live in 
your big sister's house, but what happens if one 
day her husband has a disagreement with you 
and wants you out of the house? You will find it 
hard to speak up in your own defense. Even if 
you have a disagreement with their children or 
grandchildren or friends, you would never dare 
to say anything to contradict them because you 
depend on their parents or grandparents for the 
roof over our head. You end up being someone 
who will not even dare to stand up for yourself 
— therefore, if at all possible, try to avoid de-
pending on others — try to be self-sufficient. No 
matter whether you are male or female, you have 
to try to be independent. If you are put in the 
position where you are abused as a dependent, 
you have no choice but to put up with it. When 
you have put up with it until such abuse becomes 
engrained in your mind, you can no longer think 
of anything meritorious any more. All you can 
think of is getting your revenge. Better then, to 
build up your own standard of living by becom-
ing self-sufficient in your earnings. 
2. inspired never to provaricate about accruing 
merit henceforth. 
If after studying this Blessing the reader gains any-
thing more in addition to these two advantages, it 
can be considered as a profit. For anyone to under-
stand about the importance of being your own ref-
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uge and to see the value of accruing merit, you need 
a foundation of experience, and that foundation is 
specifically one's aim in life. 
A3. Definition: Setting oneself up properly in life 
Setting yourself up in the proper way refers to set-
ting up both of the inseparable parts of our being 
— setting up our body and setting up our mind. As 
the mind governs the setting up of the body, to set 
ourselves up in life means setting up our mind cor-
rectly. Setting up yourself means setting up your 
mind. If your mind can be properly set up, then the 
body will follow suit. For example if your mind is 
overcome with laziness, the body will be overcome 
by laziness too, lying around in a post-prandial 
sleaze. If the mind has a clear idea about what it is 
aiming for in spiritual development, then the body 
will comply with the mind's ambitions. Thus to set 
yourself up properly in life, you must set up your 
mind properly, and that means specifically making 
up your mind to pursue a pathway of self-perfec-
tion. 
A4. Aim in life helps us set priorities, overcome obstacles 
Did you ever feel that you would like to achieve 
more from life but you never seem to have to the 
time — or you never seem to get round to doing 
them? Sometimes you have so many great plans in 
mind, but when you come round to doing them, 
there is always something else to help others with. 
There is always something else more urgent or 
seemingly more important? Do you find yourself 
exhausted at the end of the day with no strength 
left to do your meditation? All of us know that 
meditation makes a significant difference to the 
quality of our minds, but even though we know it, 
it is sometimes difficult to find the time to meditate 
each day. 
Part of the reason for this is that our priorities 
and aims in life are not clear. Sometimes there are 
urgent things in life which are urgent but not im-
portant, like a ringing telephone or interruptions 
and they can upset the whole pace of our lives. They 
can be the things that make us unable to organize 
our time as we would like to. Sometimes these in-
terruptions are really unavoidable, but usually, it 
is because we give them too much importance and 
put them too high on our list of priorities that they 
rob us of our time — the reason in turn, why we 
are unable to set our priorities as we mean to, is 
because we lack a clear perspective of our own pri-
orities. With meditation, we are dealing with a prac-
tice and a tradition, which has lifelong conse-
quences for us. Therefore, for the practice of medi-
tation and for the setting of complimentary priori-
ties in life, we cannot afford to overlook a clear per-
spective of our own lives. We call such an overview 
our 'aim in life'. If as meditators, we have a dear 
aim in life, as intelligent human beings, we will be 
able to use our wisdom to lead our own lives ac-
cording to our principles. If we have no principles 
and no direction, more often than not, instead of 
leading our lives, our lives tend to lead us! 
A.5. Everyone has an aim in life 
Life seems to vary in its perceived value fromperson 
to person. Some people have had the ambition since 
primary school to become a millionaire. Some have 
always wanted to become primeminister. Some 
want to be a soccer champion. Aim in life seems to 
be different for different people, however, if you 
look at the deeper nature of all people, ultimately 
all people aim improve themselves. Some people 
want to improve themselves to the utmost by puri-
fying their mind within the space of their lifetime 
to a point where they can enter upon Nirvana. Oth-
ers might not be in so much of a hurry — but it 
doesn't mean that their spiritual path will not pass 
the same way some day. 
A6. Virtues for creating purpose in everyday life 
Anyone who wishes to create and maintain focus 
and purpose in their life needs to train themselves 
in the following five virtues called 'core virtues' 
Isaradhamma] by the Lord Buddha: 
2. Faith or Confidence IsaddhaI: This means be-
lieving in the appropriate things. It means train-
ing yourself to be reasonable — not to be gulli-
ble. The difference between being faithful and 
being gullible is that the latter has no reason for 
their confidence. Thus wisdom is always an im-
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portant component of faith. From the Buddhist 
point of view, the basis of faith is: 
1. the existence of the Buddha 
2. the working of the Law of Karma — that do-
ing good deeds really gives rise to good re-
sults (with the proviso of doing those good 
deeds properly, sufficiently and not in excess) 
3. that the result of one's good or bad karma will 
follow one until it gives its retribution. 
2. The Precepts [silo]: You must keep the minimum 
of Five Precepts (for more explanation see Blessing 
Nine). 
3. Having heard much IbahusutaJ: be specific, this 
means being diligent in the acquisition of knowl-
edge both spiritual and worldly by listening to 
many teachings. 
4. Being a person of self-sacrifice icago]: This 
means being able to sacrifice and let go both of 
material possessions (given to others) and also 
to let go of our grudges and bad temper by for-
giving others 
5. Training Oneself in Meditation IsamadhiJ: We 
need to train ourselves in meditation if we are to 
have any chance of attaining wisdom. Wisdom 
is the most essential element in having a well-
planned aim in life and being able to keep our-
selves to it. If the mind is trained in meditation 
it will have the determination to remain un-
scathed in the face of temptations to "lower our 
sights" and settle for less ambitious aims in life. 
B. I HMI; LEVELS OF AIM IN LIFE 
1. Exclusively Materialistic Aim In Life: Every-
body comes into the world with nothing, but 
everyone has the same basic needs for survival 
whether it be the food on their plates, the clothes 
on their backs, the roof over their head or the 
medicine they need to keep them healthy in times 
of illness. If any one of these things are lacking 
from people's lives, they cannot survive. Man 
can only go for a single day without water. He 
can only go for seven days without food. Thus it 
is only natural that the very least that people 
should aim for in their lives is to fulfill these ba-
sic physical needs. If their aim in life is any lower 
that this they cannot survive. Of course some 
people want more that this. Some people are not 
satisfied with the basics of survival. They want 
to be millionaires, they want luxury, they want 
the freedom in life to choose what they buy. In 
fact however much you want, whether it is just 
to fulfill their physical needs or to satisfy their 
physical wants, their aim in life is only quite short 
term. It is based on immediate rewards. They 
think of no further requirement of life beyond 
death. In their youth they seek experience, in 
their middle age they amass wealth. Towards the 
end of their lives they try to find an heir for their 
wealth. Thus we call such aims in life "earthly" 
because they extend no further than this world 
and this existence. Those who entertain only such 
an aim in life will usually (but not always —
some people cut corners) want to earn their liv-
ing in an honest way, by earning, saving, using 
their earnings in a responsible way and entrust-
ing honest people to look after common wealth. 
2. Spiritual/Material Aim In Life: At the same time 
in the world, there are those who recognize that 
they must fulfill the physical needs of the body, 
but their aim in life runs deeper than that. They 
recognize that they need to earn their living, but 
earning that living is only a means to an end. 
They recognize that there exists not only a physi-
cal hunger, but the hunger of the spirit or the 
mind too. They realize that if the mind is left 
hungry it will tempt them to do things they don't 
want them to do. They need to find time in their 
lives to reach for a higher spiritual dimension. 
3. Exclusively Spiritual Aim In Life: Last of all in 
the world there are those who realize the hun-
ger of the body and the mind — the body for 
physical needs and the mind in its hunger for a 
higher spiritual dimension to life. For such a 
group of people the sensitivity towards the hun-
ger in the mind is so great that they find that 
they have the vocation to deal with source of the 
hunger at its root. So great is the intensity of their 
calling that they will see the need to devote them-
selves full time to the pursuit of spirituality. To 
purify themselves completely so that hunger 
may be completely extinguished. They have the 
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time to devote to spiritual study without having 
to compromise their time in order to earn a liv-
ing. They will spend their time learning the spir-
itual way and teaching it to the best of their abil-
ity so intensively that the life of the householder 
and the family no longer holds any attraction for 
them. We call such an aim in life ultimate be-
cause is seeks to come to an end of all further 
suffering and to help others to do the same. 
Bl. Exclusively Materialistic 
Setting yourself up in a proper way for those with an exdu-
sively materialistic aim in life consists of two components: 
1. avoiding evil 
2. standing on your own two feet 
The Buddha's short teaching of the way to set your-
self up in the proper way is probably too short for 
the reader to know how to practice it so we have to 
expand a little further on the subject matter 
B1.1 Avoiding Evil 
Avoiding evil means specifically to avoid the six 'roads 
to ruin' rapayamuklictj. We must avoid them in or-
der to avoid falling into any of the unfortunate realms 
in future existences. 'Ruin' Iapayal here means 'low-
down', 'dirty', 'decaying' and 'lacking prosperity. The 
word 'road' [mukha] means 'path', 'front' or 'face'. 
There are six different types of 'roads to ruin': 
1. Drinking alcohol or taking intoxicating drugs: 
like opium or heroin; 
2. Nightlife: such as frequenting brothels; 
3. Frequenting shows: that have content that is 
romantic or frivolous; 
4. Gambling: and lotteries 
5. Associating with evil companions 
6. Being too lazy to work 
We will not go into further detail of these'roads to 
ruin' here. In some places only four 'roads to ruin' 
are referred to instead of six as mentioned already 
in Blessing One (§E.3) as the sort of thing that fools 
like to persuade you to do. 
B1.2 Standing on you own two feet 
In the time of the Buddha, there was someone who 
asked the way to set himself up in life. The four 
practices he taught are sometimes called the four 
chambers of the millionaire's heart. They are the 
prerequisite virtues for accruing benefit in the 
present life (in Pali the ditthadhammikattha-
payojana). For revision take a look back at Bless-
ing Two (§C4.1). In conclusion, anyone who is dili-
gent in acquisition of wealth, in stewardship of their 
earnings, who associates only with good friends 
and who uses their earnings to support themselves 
in a modest way will before long achieve riches. 
All of this hard work will only be of benefit to us in 
the present lifetime however. If you also want ben-
efits in future lifetime, you need to know how to 
accrue merit too. 
B2. Material/Spirituablim 
Setting yourself up in a proper way for those with 
a spiritual/material aim in life consists of three com-
ponents: 
1. avoiding evil 
2. standing on your own two feet 
3. cultivating virtuous speech and action 
Avoiding evil and standing on your own two feet 
are the same as for those with the exclusively ma-
terialistic aim in life. However, on this level we have 
the addition of virtuous speech and action. This 
means immersing our mind fully in meritorious 
speech and action. The way this is achieved is to 
practice the Ten or the Three Major Ways to Accrue 
Merit Ipufifialariyavatthu] already discussed in 
Blessing Five (§C2). The guiding principles for ac-
cruing merit are the prerequisite virtues to accru-
ing benefit in future lives Isampayikattha-
payojanct]. For revision take a look back at Bless-
ing Two (§C4.2) and Blessing Four (§B4.6). 
B2.1 Warnings about prevarication 
On the subject of setting oneself up in life, there are 
several common misconceptions which you ought 
to avoid: 
1. Don't wait until you are old before getting spir-
itual: You should devote yourself to spiritual 
practice starting from the time when you are still 
young and healthy. In fact even to start temple-
going from the time you are twenty is still too 
late. If you start temple-going from the age of 
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five or six, like RAhula in the time of the Bud-
dha, it is your advantage. You should start study-
ing the spiritual side of yourself early in life so 
that you don't make grave moral errors. How 
many of us spend many years drinking alcohol 
and damaging our minds before we realize what 
we are doing to ourselves? You can bypass the 
problem completely if you attend the temple 
from your youth. 
2. Don't prevaricate about setting yourself up in 
life: You should work hard to make yourself self-
sufficient in life at the earliest possible opportu-
nity — anyone who is still a parasite living in 
someone else's house should be quick to make 
yourself independent. 
3. Don't prevaricate about paying off your debts: 
Don't let your debts be something you carry with 
you to your next life! The interest on loans that 
span into the afterlife are too high to be worth 
risking slow repayment. Thus pay off your debts 
and make sure that you don't put yourself in debt 
any more. You should build up your own finan-
cial reserves before making an investment, not 
rely on borrowing from others or from the bank. 
If you die before you have paid back your loan, 
next lifetime you will have that debt hanging 
round your neck like a dead albatross. Suppose 
you borrow a dollar but die before you can pay 
it back — supposing you are an angel for a thou-
sand years — just think what the compound in-
terest will add up to during that time! You might 
never manage to pay it back. 
4. Don't prevaricate about improving on your bad 
habits: If you know anything about yourself is a 
bad habit, give up doing it immediately. Check 
your own behaviour as a regular part of your 
practice and improve on yourself instead of wast-
ing time finding fault with others. 
5. Be careful of bad deeds in the guise of good ones: 
When you have done a good deed, don't go wish-
ing for things that are irresponsible. 
B3. Exclusively spiritual 
Even the Bodhisattva himself needed an aim in life 
when pursuing perfections in preparation for Bud-
dhahood. Thus it comes as no surprise that on the 
exclusively spiritual level of aim in life, it is still 
important to have an aim in life, in order to waste 
no time in pursuing the goal of purifying the mind 
to a point where it can enter upon Nirvana. On this 
level, even material convenience is sacrificed in or-
der fully to cultivate spiritual development. 
B3.1 Human Realm as the crossroads of existence 
The clearer one's aim in life, the more clearly one 
will understand the preciousness of human life —
and that we cannot afford to waste a moment. Even 
if you look around your house, of which you pride 
yourself as being the owner, if you count the 
number of fleas, mosquitos, ants and mice, you will 
realize that you are in the minority — even though 
it's your house! This is intended to give you an ink-
ling of how rare it is to be born human and what a 
precious opportunity our human lifespan is in forg-
ing our destiny. In our human company there are 
basically four sorts of pathway of human destiny 
forged during a lifespan (AXLES): 
1. Out of the darkness into the darkness: Born with 
all the disadvantages of nature and nurture, they 
did what came naturally and made a worse mess 
out of their lives; 
2. Out of the darkness into the light: In spite of 
ample disadvantages of nature and nurture, they 
struggled against hardship until being able to 
make some sort of success out of their lives; 
3. Out of the light into the darkness: In spite of all 
the advantages of nature and nurture, they be-
came complacent and made a mess out of their 
lives. 
4. Out of the light into the light: Avoiding the trap 
of complacency, they built on the advantages of 
nature and nurture they brought into the world, 
storing up a yet brighter future for themselves. 
The human realm is like a crossroads where des-
tiny can be transformed for the better or for the 
worse. For sure, transforming one's destiny for the 
better means going against the tide. Spiritual culti-
vation is often hard in the beginning, but pays off 
in the long-term — something that may not be im-
mediately obvious to someone who sees everything 
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in the short-term. Therefore a proper aim in life is 
vital for anyone navigating the human crossroads 
who wants to make a success in forging a brighter 
destiny. 
B3.2 Prerequisites for fulfilling the Highest Aim in Life 
In a Buddhist context, fulfilment of Highest Aim in 
Life, the fruition of all levels of cultivation is to 
purify the mind completely or to enter upon Nir-
vana. In order to fulfil this goal six conditions must 
be fulfilled— without these six prerequisites, all our 
effort in setting an aim in life will be in vain. These 
six prerequisites are: 
1. You have to have been born in an amenable loca-
tion i.e. Blessing Four 
2. You must have done good deeds until used to 
them i.e. Blessing Five 
4 - 6. The Four Accomplishments already met as 
catalysts determining the speed with which merit 
can take its effect as described in Blessing Five 
These six factors go together as a set of conditions 
known as the Six Catalysts or Accomplishments: 
1. Catalytic Circumstances Igatisanzapati] 
2. Catalytic Timing Ikalasampattil 
3. Catalytic Location Ipadesasampattil 
4. Catalytic Family [kulasampatti] 
5. Catalytic State of Well-being [upaclhisampatti] 
6. Catalytic View [ditthisampata] 
If you find that you are hampered in setting your-
self up in life in the way you would wish, perhaps 
you have to consolidate Blessing Four and Bless-
ing Five to contribute sufficient Accomplishments 
to your spiritual quest to give you the 'escape ve-
locity' you need to forge your destiny to the full! 
C. ILLUS1 HA LIVE EXAMPLES 
C.1 Metaphor: Boat must have a rudder 
If the ship that must struggle to make way in 
the ocean waves is to reach the far shore, its cap-
tain must have a clear destination in mind and 
keep the ship firmly on course, not allowing the 
ship to drift — no less important is an aim in 
life to those wishing to achieve success and 
profit in their lives. 
C.2 Metaphor: The one-eyed sea turtle 
(S. v.455) 
The Lord Buddha taught that the birth of some-
one as a human is as rare as the chance of a blind 
turtle in the ocean which surfaces for air once a 
century popping its head through the middle of 
the only flower garland which happens to be 
floating in the sea. The chance of a being which 
is a denizen of hell, an animal, a ghost or a de-
mon attaining human birth is even slighter 
still.Therefore having obtained yourself a hu-
man birth make sure you make the best of your 
life. 
C.3 Metaphor: Saving for the Future 
Just as a wise merchant must keep aside someof 
his money for investment in the future, the wise 
man must keep aside some of his time for the 
practices that will allow him to renew his merit 
for future lifetimes. Just as the wise farmer keeps 
aside some of his rice crop for next year's sow-
ing, the wise man will take the opportunity 
while his old merit is still giving its fruit, to ac-
crue new merit for use in future existences. 
C.4 Ex.: The Retribution of Kapila Bhikkhu 
DhA.iv.37ff. 
In the time of the Lord Buddha named Kassapa, 
there was a gang of five hundred thieves who 
were bringing misery to the whole of the king-
dom. The householders, together with the po-
lice and the army thus hunted down the gang 
and when the thieves saw that they could no 
longer defend themselves, they escaped into the 
forest. The vengeful householders did not give 
up chase and so the thieves went deeper and 
deeper into the forest until they came to a clear-
ing in the heart of the forest. There they met a 
monk, and seeing the monk, they started to see 
the error of their ways. They were receptive to 
what the monk had to say, and the monk taught 
them that they must keep the Precepts even if it 
cost them their lives. In any case, if they were to 
be caught, no-one would spare their lives be-
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cause they had already murdered so many peo-
ple. The thieves took the Five Precepts and 
didn't try to escape any more. They concentrated 
all their attention on keeping the Precepts pure. 
They would not hurt even a mosquito or a leech. 
Even if the soldiers were to catch up with them 
and attack them with swords and knives, they 
swore not to put up a fight. 
Before long, the soldiers discovered the thieves 
and attacked. The thieves kept their word and 
put up no resistance — they were so devoted to 
keeping their Precepts pure. All five hundred 
thieves were executed, but through the power 
of keeping the Precepts to the degree they would 
sacrifice their lives, their bad deeds didn't have 
the chance to catch up with them. They were 
born instantly as angels. The evil of their past 
did not disappear, however, but was waiting for 
the opportunity to give its retribution. 
When they were reborn from the celestial 
world into the human realm, the influence of the 
killing they had done in the past still affected 
them. All five hundred were born as fishermen 
in the same village. However, even though their 
livelihood was to kill fish, through the power of 
their good deeds in the past, they all still had 
faith in Buddhism. Even so, the fishermen con-
tinued to collect demerit as a result of their ha-
bitual killing. 
One day a group of fishermen caught a giant, 
golden-coloured fish — as big as a boat. No-one 
had ever seen such a fish in their lives. They cap-
tured the fish and took it to offer to King 
Pasenadi of Kosala — who in turn took the fish 
to the Buddha. As soon as the fish opened its 
mouth, a foul smell spread all around the 
Jetavana monastery. The king then asked the 
Buddha why such a beautiful fish should have 
such a foul smell. 
The Enlightened One then revealed that in one 
of his past existences, the fish had been a learned 
bhikkhu named Kapila during the time of 
Kassapa Buddha. Because of his deep knowl-
edge of the Dhamma, he had gained much fame 
and honour. He also became very conceited and 
looked down upon the other bhikkhus. When the 
other bhikkhus pointed out to him what was 
proper or not proper, he invariably retorted, 
'How much do you know?' implying that he 
knew much more than those bhikkhus. In the 
course of time, most of the bhikkhus avoided him. 
On one occasion,the bhikkhus did not join him 
when he was reciting the Fundamental Precepts 
for the bhikkhus (i.e., the Patimokkha). Observ-
ing that the bhikkhus remained silent, Kapila 
said, 'There is no such thing as Sutta, 
Abhidhamma or Vinaya. It makes no difference 
whether you listen to the Pitimokkha or not' 
and left the congregation. He had taught the 
Dhamma to others in a way that was biased in 
the monk's self interest — in a way that made 
his teaching deviate from the truth. His misrep-
resentation of the Dhamma was thus perpetu-
ated amongst his followers. 
There were many others including his teacher 
and arahants who had warned that monk of the 
danger of his misrepresentation of the Dhamma 
— however he would not listen. He insulted 
them in return for their advice. As a result he 
developed False View and when he passed away, 
these False Views dragged him down into the 
Unfortunate Realms for a long time. Only then 
could he be born as a fish. The Precepts of a 
monk gave their fruit as the beautiful golden 
appearance of the fish but the retribution from 
insulting arahants and his teacher gave him his 
stinking mouth. Hearing the previous karma of 
the fish, the five-hundred fishermen considered 
all the evil deeds they had done as a result of 
their livelihood since their youth. They realized 
that their time in hell would certainly be no less 
than the fate of the fish they had caught — so 
they decided collectively all to become monks 
and to devote themselves to Dhamma practice. 
From the power of having sacrificed their lives 
for their Precepts in a previous existence — i.e. 
having set themselves up properly in life — be-
fore long they could all become arahants and 
were no longer subject to the retribution of the 
evil karma of their past. 
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C.5 Ex. Akkosaka Bharadvaja Vatthu 
DhA.iv.16111. 
In the time of the Buddha there was a Brahmin 
couple. The husband called Bharadavitja was 
very strict in his Brahmin observances. He had 
never shown any interest in Buddhism. By con-
trast, his wife was a person with no further 
doubt in Buddhism because she had heard one 
of the teaching of the Buddha and had become 
enlightened as a stream-enterer as the result. 
One day the husband wanted to hold a feast 
for all the most high standing Brahmins — wor-
shipped as 'arahants' in their religion. Thus the 
husband and wife started their elaborate prepa-
rations for the feast, but when it came close to 
the 'big day', because it was the habit of the wife 
always to exclaim 'Buddhor whenever some-
thing surprised her, her husband appealed to her 
on the day of the feast not to mention anything 
about Buddhism or to say anything in praise of 
the Triple Gem. The wife said, "My mind is uni-
fied with the Dhamma, therefore whatever I say 
will also be Dhamma — there is nothing you can 
do to stop my mind from being that way!" 
"And what about if I take a sword and cut you 
into small pieces — will that help you to edu-
cate your mind?" 
"Even if you were to make mincemeat of me," 
said the wife, "I could not help myself from hav-
ing the Dhamma as my refuge!" 
The husband didn't know what more to say 
— so they got on with the work of providing 
the feast. Everything went well until the wife 
slipped over on a pile of spilled rice. She ex-
claimed, "Namo tassabhagavato arahato 
samma sambuddh-assa!" 
Everyone present heard the wife's exclama-
tion. The assembled Brahmins were angered by 
what they heard. When they had received the 
invitation, they understood that the wife had re-
spect for them. Now they had found out that she 
respected not them but the Buddha. They were 
specially angry because they were opposed to 
everything the Buddha did. Those who had fin-
ished their meal immediately stood up and 
shouted insults at the couple. Those who had 
not finished eating overturned every plate of 
food on the table. They stamped their feet and 
walked out on the couple. 
The husband was so angry he didn't know 
what to say. He couldn't do anything to punish 
his wife — so he thought to take out his anger 
on his wife's teacher — the Buddha himself. He 
buckled on his sword and turned in the direc-
tion of Jetavana monastery with the intention to 
put an end to the Buddha and his teachings. The 
husband walked straight up to the Buddha with-
out paying respect and in his anger shouted the 
rhetorical question at the Buddha, "Do you 
know what a man has to kill in order to get a 
good night's sleep...?" 
The Brahmin thought that putting an end to 
the Buddha was the only way he could save face 
and sleep soundly that night. Without waiting 
for an answer, the Brahmin continued, "... and 
what a man has to kill to cure his sorrow? ...". 
And still without waiting for an answer, the 
Brahmin asked the Buddha, ". . . and so what 
form of killing would you support?" 
The Buddha knew what was on the mind of 
the Brahmin and coolly answered the first ques-
tion with the words, "A man must kill his anger 
in order to get a good night's sleep. If you don't 
kill your anger, you will do things that you re-
gret later, being put in prison or punished — but 
if you kill your anger, you don't need to undergo 
the sorrowful consequences of your angry 
deeds. The Noble Ones praise the killing of an-
ger — whose root is poison and whose crown is 
sweet." 
When the Buddha said that the root of anger 
is poisonous, he meant that anger has suffering 
as its result. When he said that the crown is 
sweet, he meant that we get a strange, twisted 
satisfaction out of expressing our anger to oth-
ers or losing our temper. 
After hearing only these few words, 
Bhirradavitja was impressed. He was impressed 
that the Buddha was not angry in response to 
his anger. He had prepared his sword to chop 
the Buddha to pieces at the first unwelcome 
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word, but instead of hearing anything to irritate 
him further, the Brahmin had been impressed 
by every one of the Buddha's reasoning. He 
threw away his sword and invited the Buddha 
to teach him further. In the end, he was moti-
vated to practise the Dhamma further and ended 
up ordaining as a monk. 
Killing your anger is one way of setting your-
self up in life. To ordain as the result of a teach-
ing is to set yourself up in faith, in the Precepts, 
in Wisdom or in Meditation. It was in this in-
tense way that Bhirradavaja set himself up in 
life, and before long could practice until attain-
ing arahantship 
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