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the market, right 
from early in the year. The son 
didn't believe me at 
first so he made his order a little 
late. Only the first 
order had been ahead of the 
competitor. For the 
second and third lots, there had 
been sales competition 
from other companies. The son 
should have 
had a profit of 100 million this 
year, but because he 
didn't believe me, he could only 
manage a profit of 
60 million. We have lost 40 
million we could have 
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had." 
The minister expressed his 
condolences and entered 
his office and that day, could 
hardly get any 
work done, because of his musing 
about the ways 
278 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
of the world — a beggar who is 
happy all day with 
a five dollar bill and a banker who 
cannot sleep 
because he only got a profit of 
sixty million. He sat 
and wondered whether even if he 
managed to 
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achieve miracles as the minister of 
commerce 
whether anyone would be happier 
as the result. 
F.3 Ex. AsitAbhu JAtaka (J.234) 
There was a prince in the time of 
the Buddha who 
already had a wife, but he wasn't 
content with her. 
If his father wasn't vigilant he 
would mess around 
with the maids in the royal court. 
One day the king 
discovered his son's evil ways so 
he banished him 
into the forest. If it had been 
anyone else he would 
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have had them executed. 
The prince escaped into the forest 
with his wife 
and the two of them lived in a 
hovel. Instead of 
realizing the peril of 
non-contentment with one's 
own spouse, one day the prince 
saw some female 
kinnarees in the forest so he left 
his wife in the hovel 
and ran after the kinnarees trying 
to catch one as a 
wife. The wife despaired and went 
to a hermit in 
the forest, asking him to teach her 
how to meditate. 
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With the determination and lack of 
attachments 
in the world, before long the wife 
was able to meditate 
so well she was able to float in the 
air and flew 
away from the forest leaving the 
prince to his ignorance. 
The prince couldn't catch any 
kinnarees 
When he returned to the hovel, 
even his old wife 
hadn't waited for him. So he sat in 
his hovel and 
cried like a drowned and helpless 
rat. 
Even today, there are people with 
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the same tendency. 
You ask them if they would like a 
wife. They 
think having a wife would satisfy 
them. But when 
married if they could have another 
mistress or two, 
they would certainly feel that it 
would add a little 
more spice to life — and if they 
had four or five 
mistresses — the more the merrier. 
They are not 
content with what they receive. 
Even if you were 
to give them a mountain of gold 
they would not be 
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content. 
F.4 Ex. Kumbhaghosaka 
DhA.i.321ff. 
In the time of the Lord Buddha, 
there was an 
outbreak of an infectious disease. 
In the home 
of a millionaire, the two parents 
decided they 
were too old to escape the 
infection, but they 
told their son to run away as far as 
he could to 
save his own life. Before the son 
went, the father 
pointed out where all the family 
treasure 
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was buried. The son cried to think 
that he had 
to leave his parents to die, but all 
the same he 
fled despite being only 12-13 years 
of age at that 
time. In ten years time he returned 
to his hometown. 
The disease had long subsided. He 
thought of digging up the treasure, 
but he decided 
that it was not yet appropriate for 
him to 
obtain a fortune. He thought that if 
anyone saw 
him with a fortune, they would 
think that he 
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had stolen it, so he might be caught 
by the police. 
He also reflected that he had 
nowhere to 
store the fortune even if he did get 
it — because 
he still had no house of his own 
so to have 
the fortune would put his own life 
at risk. 
Therefore he waited and took a job 
working 
as a guard in the house of a 
wealthy family, 
ringing the bell to tell the family 
the time of 
day. One day King BimbasAra 
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heard the sound 
of the man ringing the bell in the 
morning and 
could tell at once that the person 
ringing the 
bell was no ordinary person but a 
rich man. The 
king sent a courtier to see the man 
and she came 
back to the king to report that the 
guard ringing 
the bell was no rich man, but just a 
guard 
employed in a rich household. The 
king would 
not believe her therefore the 
courtier found 
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ways of finding out the 
background of the man 
until she found out that he was the 
owner of a 
fortune. 
King BimbasAra thus summoned 
the man curious 
to find out why he lived like a poor 
man 
even though he was heir to a 
treasure. The man 
told the king the reason why he 
was waiting 
for the appropriate time to take 
advantage of 
his fortune. The king told him that 
the time had 
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now come to dig up the treasure. 
The young 
man dug up his fortune and the 
king made him 
the treasurer of the kingdom as the 
result of his 
wisdom and patience in the use of 
his savings. 
The wisdom of this man has a 
useful message 
especially for ladies who are 
tempted to wear 
expensive jewelry beyond their 
means and even 
for ladies who dress provocatively. 
Blessing Twenty-Four: 
Contentment 279 
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F.5 Ex. Palicuposatha JAtaka 
(J.490) 
There was once a hermit that had a 
pet bear. One 
day the bear was bored of the food 
it was given so 
it decided to go into the town to 
look for delicacies 
to eat. The bear disappeared into 
town, but before 
it could get its paws on anything to 
eat, the town 
dwellers chased the bear away 
with arrows and 
spears. The bear returned covered 
in blood to the 
dwelling of the hermit and had no 
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more discontent. 
The bear learned from its hard 
lesson, and decided 
to take the Eight Precepts and 
would no 
longer take an evening meal even 
if the hermit offered 
it food at that time. When the 
hermit asked 
why the bear didn't accept food, 
the bear said it 
had decided to keep Eight Precepts 
to learn to be 
content with the food it was given. 
The same JAtaka told the story of 
a past life of 
Devadatta when he was born as a 
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greedy fox. The 
fox found the carcass of an 
elephant recently died 
and licked its lips. It made its way 
inside the body 
of the elephant through one of the 
openings and 
started to eat the soft inner organs 
of the elephant. 
When the fox was full it fell asleep 
where it lay, inside 
the elephant, for a day or two. In 
the sun, the 
carcass of the elephant started to 
dry out and the 
bodily openings all closed trapping 
the fox inside. 
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The fox was trapped there for 
seven days until the 
fox was thin. Only then did it rain 
and when the 
bodily openings loosened, the fox 
was able to escape 
with its life, but it was so shocked 
by the whole 
experience that it wanted to 
overcome its attachment 
to food and so kept the Eight 
Precepts from 
that day forth., , 
F.6 Ex. SuvaAAahaOsa 
JAtaka(J.136) 
There was a greedy bhikkhuAi 
who was the origin 
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for the Vinaya rule for bhikkhuAis 
not being 
allowed to eat garlic. The 
bhikkhuAi called 
TulAnandA loved to eat garlic and 
one day she 
became acquainted with a garlic 
farmer. The farmer 
thought that a bhikkhuAi should 
know moderation 
in eating so he pointed to the garlic 
field saying, 
whenever you want any garlic, just 
go to the field 
caretaker and tell him I gave you 
permission to help 
yourself. The bhikkhuAi picked 
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cartloads of garlic 
and the neighbours gossipped and 
spread it about
that the bhikkhuAi was shameless. 
The farmer 
himself didn't know what to say. 
The news reached the Buddha so 
the Buddha 
made the simple rule that 
bhikkhuAis may no 
longer eat garlic. The Buddha 
looked at the past 
lives of the bhikkhuAi and caused 
pictures of those 
previous lives to manifest 
themselves for the 
bhikkhuAi and others to see. 
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TulAnandA had been a female 
Brahmin with a 
husband and a daughter. The 
Brahmin died but 
because of not understanding the 
working of merit 
had done both good and bad deeds. 
The Brahmin 
was born as a golden goose. The 
goose was able to 
recognize his former wife and 
daughter in their 
poverty and shed its golden 
feathers for them to 
ameliorate their poverty, feather by 
feather. In that 
lifetime, TulAnandA had also been 
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greedy. She 
wanted more than just a few 
feathers and a few days 
later plucked the goose bare and 
shut the goose 
away in a coop. From that day 
forth, the goose could 
no longer produce golden feathers. 
With its new 
conventional plumage the goose 
flew away and did 
not return. The mother and 
daughter thus returned 
to poverty and starvation. 
A clear message from such stories 
is that if you 
are going to help someone, you 
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