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how to protect 
ourselves from them. As we shall 
see, we first 
need to be able to recognize fools 
- if we can recognize 
them, we can more easily protect 
ourselves 
from their influence. 
30 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
E. RECOGNIZING FOOLS 
E.1 You cannot tell a fool by 
external appearances 
When identifying whether 
someone is a fool or not, 
we cannot base our judgement on 
external appearances 
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we must base our judgement on 
internal 
features. The things we should 
avoid basing our 
judgement on include gender, age, 
lineage, nationality, 
connections, knowledge, job or 
wealth. Although 
fools are characterized by their 
habitually 
evil actions of their body, speech 
and mind, because 
all of these three come from within 
they might not 
be obvious to us, especially if we 
are still at a stage 
in our spiritual maturation when 
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our discretion is 
still inaccurate. Appearances, 
gender, age, lineage, 
nationality, connections, 
knowledge, job and wealth 
are only indirectly connected with 
the quality of 
the mind. When we want to 
identify a fool, we need 
to look for behaviours that betray 
their underlying 
quality of mind. The sort of 
behaviours that are most 
clearly identifiable are those that 
come out in the 
context of our interaction and 
friendship with them. 
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E.2 How to Tell a Fool 
We are not mind readers who can 
observe how others 
think. All we can observe are the 
things which 
others express openly — that is 
others' words and 
actions. Even fools have chinks in 
their armour 
which will be revealed as we 
interact with them —
in fact there are five in all: 
I. They like to persuade others to 
do evil things: 
Not only does a fool persuade 
others to do evil. 
He will also exemplify those evil 
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deeds for others 
to follow. He might skip work on 
the slightest 
trivial pretext and persuade his 
colleagues to 
do the same. 
2. They like to inteifere with 
things that are none 
of their business: A cleaner has 
the duty simply 
to keep the office clean, but if 
instead of doing 
her duty, she leaves her work 
undone and spends 
her time rummaging in the 
wastepaper baskets 
for trade secrets, already you 
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should be suspicious 
that she is a fool. A student has the 
duty to 
study, but if instead of studying 
their subject they 
waste their time on protests against 
the government 
— then again they might be a fool 
masquerading 
as intelligentia. 
3. They like anything that is 
improper: Fools have 
a dislike for anything that is right 
and proper. 
They like playing with fire. They 
like taking 
drugs. They like gambling. They 
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like fighting 
fish. They like the opportunity to 
put a spanner 
in the works. You can be sure that 
anything they 
like has someone on the receiving 
end of their 
suffering. Even if they take the 
chance to ordain 
as a monk, they will end up being 
the one to 
cause a schism in the order. Their 
predicament 
is the same as the one illustrated in 
the ancient 
tale of the angel and the worm. 
(See §G.1 below) 
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4. They get angry even when 
spoken to decently: 
Suppose a mother warns her 
daughter to dress 
modestly before leaving the house 
in case the 
neighbours gossip. The daughter 
might reply angrily 
that this is how modern people 
dress. Her 
mother gave her a perfectly 
reasonable piece of 
advice but her own daughter 
answers back with 
the verbal equivalent of a slap in 
the face. Suppose 
a father advises his son that he 
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should be 
revising instead of going on 
outings so close to 
his examinations. "How can you 
say that?" 
might shouts the boy. "Didn't you 
go for outings 
when you were younger?" Often 
the other 
person knows that they are in the 
wrong, but 
when they are found out and their 
fault is discovered, 
they lose their temper — the mark 
of a 
fool. A fool is like a person 
covered in open 
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wounds. If he bumps into 
something even only 
lightly, it hurts. For a fool, his 
mind is covered in 
wounds, and when confronted with 
the truth, it 
hurts. Sometimes even just a 
glance is enough to 
provoke him to aggression. 
5. They refuse to comply with 
rules and regulations: 
Fools heeds neither the laws of the 
country 
nor the local customs. If you meet 
someone 
who refuses to comply with the 
regulations, you 
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can be 99% sure that you are 
dealing with a fool. 
If it wasn't for the law, there 
would be a lot more 
opportunity for fools to express 
themselves 
through the performing of evil 
deeds. The law 
forces fools to have to express 
themselves less 
freely or in secret. The law will 
thus obscure from 
the public eye the real nature of a 
fool's mind. It 
is for this reason that we have to 
notice the marks 
Blessing One: Not Associating 
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with Fools 31 
of a fool from the first four sorts of 
behaviour 
mentioned above. 
If you come across any of these 
five features, then 
it should already be ringing 
warning bells in your 
head. 
E.3 The sixteen ways a fool might 
treat you 
Some people who may appear on 
the surface to be 
friendly, might be fools 
masqueradingas friends. 
The Lord Buddha called such 
people false friends 
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[mittapatirEpaka] and categorized 
them into four 
types each with four characteristics 
— giving a total 
of sixteen forms of behavioural 
characteristics 
to look for. With friends like these, 
who needs enemies? 
1. The Mercenary [afilladatthuhara] 
2. The Man of Empty Promises 
[vacEparama] 
3. The Flatterer [anuppiyabhAAE] 
4. The One who Leads you down 
the Road to 
Ruin [apAyasahAya] 
1. a mercenary is one who: 
1. tries to appropriate your 
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possessions; 
2. sacrifices little in the hope of 
gaining much; 
3. helps others only when 
threatened by the 
same danger; 
4. only makes friends to serve his 
own interest; 
2. a man of empty promises who: 
1. tells you how sad he is not to 
have been able 
to share with you something that 
has already 
run out; 
2. promises to share with you 
things they don't 
yet have; 
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3. tries to win your favour with 
empty promises; 
4. has excuses every time called 
upon to help; 
3. a flatterer who: 
1. toadies to your evil-doing, 
2. toadies to your doing of good; 
3. sings praises to your face; 
4. gossips about you behind your 
back. 
4. leads you down the road to ruin 
by: 
1. being your loyal drinking 
companion; 
2. being at your side when you 
roam the streets 
at unseemly hours; 
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3. frequenting games and shows 
with you; 
4. joining you at the gambling 
table. 
Such behaviours illustrate sixteen 
ways in which a 
fool will unwittingly reveal his 
lack of responsibility. 
Besides leading us to ruin, such 
people lead society 
unfalteringly in the direction of 
deterioration 
in a way which is hard to remedy. 
If you come across 
any of these sixteen features, then 
it should already 
be ringing warning bells in your 
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head. 
F. AVOIDING THE 
INFLUENCE OF FOOLS 
F.1 Putting fools in quarantine 
In the words of the old Thai 
proverb: 
"Always keep a safe distance 
give a hound 
an armslength, give a monkey six 
feet but for a 
fool a hundred thousand miles may 
not be 
enough." 
Just as mentioned earlier, when a 
person has such 
a dangerously contagious disease 
as faulty discretion, 
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we have no alternative but to 
isolate them. 
However, as we shall see it is not 
physical distance 
which we use to isolate a fool — it 
is more on the 
level of interaction. We have to be 
careful getting 
to familiar with them — that is 
effectively how we 
keep "psychological distance". 
F.2 Association Defined 
When we talk of associating with 
others, what are 
the limits of our definition? In fact 
there are seven 
different ways in which it is 
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possible to associate 
with others: 
I. Meeting up with fools. This can 
be called associating 
with fools but it is only association 
in its 
most rudimentary form. Of course 
such association 
might not lead to anything. After 
all it is just 
our visiting them and their visiting 
us. We may 
not even particularly enjoy each 
others company. 
2. Getting closer. This is once you 
start getting more 
familiar with the fools you meet up 
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with, start 
lending things to one another, 
talking on subjects 
of common interest, and following 
common 
pastimes. 
3. Feeling a liking for one 
another. This is once you 
32 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
start to get more familiar, you start 
to believe that 
you have common tastes. You start 
to believe that 
you yourself like anything that 
they like. 
4. Respecting them. After a while, 
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