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want to listen to and to get down to 
cultivate those 
virtues instead of complaining —
his effort would 
be better spent. 
In this respect the cultivation of 
virtue is like a 
tennis trainee who concentrates 
their attention on 
`technique' rather than results. 
Some tennis players 
make the mistake of worrying 
constantly where 
Blessing 
Twenty-Four: 
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Contentment 
270 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
in the opposite side of the court, 
the ball is going 
to land. However, instead of 
projecting one's anxieties 
over the net, trainers always 
recommend their 
students to concentrate instead on 
how they hit 
the ball. If they hit the ball 
correctly, then the ball 
will go where it is meant to 
whether the player 
worries about it or not! 
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Thus instead of getting caught up 
in expectations 
and comparing ourselves to others, 
we need 
to cultivate a virtue which will 
allow us the acceptance 
and enthusiasm to work on 
ourselves as 
we really are — instead of wasting 
our time daydreaming 
as to how we would like to be. 
That virtue 
is contentment — a key aspect of 
our personality, 
which apart from being important 
for selfdevelopment 
also has a social role in allowing 
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people to pool their strengths 
instead of competing 
with one another. 
A.2 Why it is necessary to know 
where you stand 
A.2.1 Personal Potential 
When cultivating ourselves we 
have a certain 
number of strengths and 
weaknesses — and 
through our cultivation, we hope to 
further the 
strengths and diminish the 
weaknesses. Before we 
can do that, we need to evaluate 
ourselves honestly 
and accurately — we need to 
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accept ourselves 
as we are 
only then will we 
have the pride in 
ourselves to have the 
encouragement to make the 
necessary improvements. 
The strengths and influence which 
people bring 
to bear on improving themselves is 
different from 
person to person — the more 
strengths and influence 
one has, the more one will 
immediately be 
able to improve about oneself, 
others and society. 
If there are limitations to one's 
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strengths, however, 
there will be many things at which 
one will fail in 
one's efforts to change — and 
even to try will cause 
great discouragement to your one's 
career of selfdevelopment. 
To avoid such unnecessary 
discouragement and 
to be realistic about yourself as 
you stand, the Buddha 
taught a total of six characteristics 
which are 
benchmarks forus to `know 
ourselves', comparable 
to a mirror which allows us to look 
deeply at 
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the latent potential within 
ourselves. 
I. Inspiration [saddha]: the degree 
to which you 
believe in what you're doing. 
Believe that the 
good deeds you are doing are 
really having an 
effect; 
2. Self-discipline [sEla]: this is the 
purity with which 
you are able to keep your Precepts; 
3. Experience [bahEsEta]: this is 
the extent of the 
experience you have under your 
belt and also 
how many teachings you have 
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heard and can 
remember; 
4. Generosity [cAga]: this is the 
extent of your own 
generosity and the ability to let go 
of the things 
to which you are attached; 
5. Wisdom [pafifiA]: this is the 
extent of the knowledge, 
common sense and insight you 
possess; 
6. Quick wittedness [patibhAna]: 
the extent of your 
ability to answer questions on your 
toes without 
having the chance to go away and 
prepare 
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beforehand. 
One's health can also be a big 
factor in determining 
one's personal potential to change 
things. 
Try seeing how you measure in 
relation to the following 
virtues — note your strengths and 
your 
shortfalls — accept them, and then 
get down to 
making the necessary 
improvements. Thus contentment 
in the context of personal 
development means 
both accepting the reality of 
yourself and putting 
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in the necessary effort to make an 
improvement. 
A.2.2 Social Potential 
Besides measuring yourself up 
personally against 
these benchmark virtues, when 
working for 
progress in a social context it is 
necessary to know 
your place in society. Sometimes 
to a westerner, having 
a `place in society' might seem to 
imply encouragement 
of segregation of society into 
classes and 
castes — with all their hereditary 
rigidity. When we 
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talk of a `place in society' we 
mean something more 
akin to one's `function' in society 
— and it should 
be hastily added that there is 
nothing per se to hinder 
mobility from one function in 
society to another. A 
realistic appreciation of one's 
'place' or `function' 
in society will prevent one from 
wasting one's efforts 
being pretencious or hankering 
after something 
that one has not yet attained 
instead of 
'putting one's back' into the work 
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needed to imBlessing 
Twenty-Four: Contentment 271 
prove one's lot in society. Even if 
you don't like your 
place in society, you need to start 
by accepting 
where you stand, and in that way 
the enthusiasm 
and willing [chanda] will arise 
which will allow 
you to make a success of whatever 
you doing (it is 
the first of the "Foundations of 
Success /iddhipadaJ, 
already met in Blessing Fourteen, 
§D.2) and thereby 
to achieve success. It is by this 
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success, not by our 
hankering that promotion and 
progress will 
come.Thus contentment in the 
context of social 
progress means both accepting the 
reality of your 
place in society and putting in the 
necessary effort 
to make an improvement. 
B. CONTENTMENT 
B.1 Definitions 
The Pali word from which the 
word `contentment' 
in this blessing is derived, is 
`santuEEhE'which can 
be broken down into the syllables 
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`san-' which 
means `oneself and '-tuEEhE' 
which means `happy'. 
Thus, in its entirety, the word 
means `happiness 
with oneself and one's 
possessions' — in other 
words knowing moderation or 
knowing enough. 
B.2 What Contentment is not 
'Contentment' is a concept widely 
misunderstood. 
Some blame the idea of 
`contentment' for standing 
in the way of economic progress, 
or claim it makes 
people too lazy to change or to 
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improve themselves 
and their situation. They think it 
means being content 
to do nothing or being content to 
remain in 
isolation from others. In fact these 
other concepts 
already have their own words in 
the Pali language 
which are different from the 
`santosa' which we refer 
to by `contentment' for the 
purposes of this Blessing: 
• being contented to do nothing is 
called 
lcosajja' in Pali otherwise 
translated as `laziness'; 
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• being contented to be alone is 
called 
`pavivitta' in Pali, otherwise 
translated as `seclusion'; 
The Buddha never taught his 
disciples to be lazy, 
backsliding or to avoid work — or 
to be inert or 
unresponsive in a way that 
impedes progress and 
prosperity, as is often 
misunderstood. On the contrary, 
this Blessing emphasises that when 
each person 
understands their own strengths 
and weaknesses 
and their place in society 
that 
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contentment 
will arise of its own accord. Such 
contentment 
will ensure that everyone will be 
content with what 
they have, what they receive and 
what is appropriate 
to them — in such a way that the 
tendency to 
fight over luxuries will be reduced 
— and along 
with it, the jealousy and 
mudslinging that is often 
common between those of 
influence in society. 
B.3 Types of contentment 
Being happy with oneself as one 
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stands has three 
different characteristics: 
I. contentment with what you 
already have 
[sakena santosa]: In the words of 
the Lord Buddha 
(Dh.103): 
SalAbhaO nAtimarineyya 
"Never look down on your own 
wealth" 
this might mean being content with 
one's parents, 
one's spouse and children, our 
work or 
one's nationality. Even if there are 
faults with 
these things, it is necessary to 
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cultivate the `pride' 
for them (note: not arrogant pride 
which has already 
been dispensed with since Blessing 
Twenty-three) that will make it 
seem worthwhile 
gradually to make the necessary 
improvements 
— rather than to attempt to solve 
the problem 
by stealing away someone else's 
(spouse, work 
etc.) There are many examples of 
even the humblest 
of shoe-menders working in the 
gutter who 
have taken pride in their work 
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(even though they 
might not have liked it at first) 
until eventually 
managing to build up a prospering 
shoe business 
for themselves. If a person is 
contented with 
something, they tend to progress in 
that thing 
— because contentment, properly 
understood 
gives us the encouragement to 
expend effort on 
the things we come into contact 
with. Thus `contentment' 
in our meaning of the word is 
something 
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