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or others: Sometimes when 
someone is teaching, 
they are not firmly established in 
the virtues they 
teach — when they see someone 
they don't like 
in the audience, they take the 
opportunity to insult 
that person in the course of their 
teaching 
(bringing yourself into conflict 
with others). Others 
use giving sermons as the 
opportunity to 
boast about themselves (bringing 
yourself into 
conflict with yourself). This is a 
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very important 
distinguishing feature of how the 
teachings of 
Buddhism have always been 
spread — the Buddha 
laid down guidelines for his monks 
so that 
they never teach in a way that 
brings Buddhism 
into conflict with other religions 
— but that 
doesn't mean Buddhism is a 
religion of Vaissezfaire' 
— it means that when teaching, 
one should 
choose one's explanations and 
subject matter 
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with care. 
If you ever hear that someone who 
has all five of 
these qualities who will give a 
sermon, then if you 
can take leave from work, go and 
listen to them 
without delay and without 
worrying what day of 
the week it is. 
B.4 Marks of a Good Listener to 
the Dhamma 
The person who is a good listener 
to the Dhamma 
also should have five qualities 
(MNidA.8): 
I. Doesn't look down on the 
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subject matter: Never 
look down on the subject matter 
being taught 
that it is too basic `for the likes of 
yourself. The 
Buddha taught that each and every 
item of 
Dhamma that he taught has the 
quality that if it 
is practised to the full it can lead to 
enlightenment 
in the end — but some people fail 
to see 
the teachings in sufficient depth 
because they 
Blessing Twenty-Six: Listening 
Regularly to Dhamma Teachings 
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295 
look down on the subject matter 
and thus miss 
the real value. Some people, for 
example, think 
that the First Blessing (not 
associating with fools) 
just means being choosy about 
one's friends —
and conclude that it is too simple 
to waste their 
time with. They have their own 
preconceived 
ideas about what fools are like so 
they don't want 
to waste time hearing a sermon 
about such a subject! 
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But looked at through the eyes of 
the initiated, 
even this single subject practised 
properly 
can allow us to enter upon 
Nirvana! — however 
a person needs to look at the 
teaching sufficiently 
deeply to realize that they must 
also give up associating 
with the fool in themselves — the 
part 
of themselves that is stingy, 
undisciplined and 
too lazy to meditate. Thus don't go 
thinking any 
item of the Dhamma is too simple 
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to bother learning 
or revising. Thus those who 
appreciate 
Dhamma teaching never look 
down on the materials 
they are taught. 
2. Doesn't look down on the level 
of knowledge of 
the teacher: Don't go thinking that 
a monk is 
young, therefore there is probably 
nothing you 
can learn from him. Don't go 
thinking that as an 
older person you have to hear the 
Dhamma from 
and old monk to be a match for 
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your own level 
of experience. It is therefore a 
great mistake to 
look down on the knowledge of a 
Dhamma 
teacher. In order to help remind the 
people not 
to look down on the knowledge of 
a teacher, in 
the olden times, people would hold 
their hands 
in a gesture of prayer throughout 
the sermon 
they were listening to. However in 
the present 
day, you can sit however you like, 
but don't fall 
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asleep or chat with your friends 
during the sermon 
or else that is showing that you are 
looking 
down on the knowledge of the 
teacher. You close 
the door on your own possibility of 
spiritual 
progress. The Buddha warned 
(Dahara Sutta 
S.i.68) that there are four small 
things which you 
should never underestimate the 
importance of: 
1. a small fire: even a small fire 
can grow to burn 
down an entire city 
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2. a small poisonous snake: you 
can die from the 
bite even of a small snake 
3. a young king: some kings have 
reigned since 
they were not yet thirty (e.g. 
Alexander the 
Great) 
4. a young monk: some have 
become arahants 
since the age of seven. 
3. Never look down on yourself: 
Don't go thinking 
that you have no chance of being 
able to understand 
anything as profound as the 
Dhamma. In 
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fact, even the most unlikely of 
people have 
benefitted from Dhamma teachings 
to the degree 
they could become arahants. ( See 
the story of 
CElapanthaka §D.2 below). Some 
people think 
that they have no chance of being 
able to transform 
themselves for the better so they 
give up 
even before they start. They think 
to themselves 
that success in the study of the 
Dhamma may 
take years even for an enthusiastic 
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person 
so 
what hope does a lazy person like 
them have? 
4. Keeping the mind in meditation 
(concentration) 
when listening: Your mind should 
be in meditation 
while listening to sermons 
you 
shouldn't 
distract yourself during a sermon 
by chatting or 
picking your fingernails etc.. The 
better your 
mind is concentrated in meditation 
as you hear 
a talk the more you will understand 
of the subject 
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being taught. In the time of the 
Buddha, 
when He needed to teach a very 
subtle subject, 
he would sit with his eyes closed 
in meditation 
to teach and the listeners would do 
the same in 
order to be able to follow the 
subtleties of his 
teaching. In this way, many people 
were able to 
attain the path and fruit of Nirvana. 
Thus we too, 
should keep a mind of meditation 
when listening 
to Dhamma teachings in keeping 
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with this 
age old Buddhist tradition. 
5. Reflects wisely 
[yonisomanasikAra] on everything 
learned: You should reflect further 
on the 
things you have learned from a 
sermon — turning 
the subject matter over in your 
mind and 
examining it from different angles. 
Such a habit 
will allow you a fast and quick 
mastery of the 
subject matter. 
Thus both the teacher and the 
listener each have five 
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points of practice which they need 
to apply if a sermon 
of the Dhamma is to give its 
maximum benefits. 
296 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
C. OUTCOMES OF 
LISTENING TO THE 
DHAMMA 
C.1 Fruits of listening to the 
Dhamma (A. M.248) 
I. Hearing things never before 
heard [assutaO 
suAAti]: Because a Dhamma 
teacher will always 
put in the effort to find new items 
of Dhamma 
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for the listener (see Blessing Three 
§C.2), if we attend 
a Dhamma sermon, we will almost 
always 
be hearing something we have 
never heard before; 
2. Clarifying things already heard 
[sutaO 
pariyodapeti]: If it happens that the 
subject to 
the sermon is something we have 
already heard 
before, at the very least, it will 
allow us to revise 
and depthen what we already know 
and raise 
our mastery to a new level 
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allowing us to remember 
more; 
3. Dispelling one's doubts 
[kalkhaO vihanati]: If 
after hearing teachings in the past, 
it is still with 
some reluctance that we give up 
old bad habits 
and strive for new better ones, as a 
result of hearing 
a Dhamma sermon, some of that 
doubt and 
reluctance will be dispelled; 
4. Straightening one's views 
[diEEhiO ujuO karoti]: 
In the course of our everyday life 
as we journey 
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in pursuit of virtue, we may come 
up against 
many obstacles from inside and 
outside which 
might conspire to infiltrate our 
thinking with 
`false views' [micchA diEEhE]. 
Such false views if 
left to their own devices can 
eventually lead our 
spiritual cultivation to go in circles 
or else to deviate 
from the objectives we have set 
ourselves. 
One advantage of regularly hearing 
Dhamma 
teachings is that we will be able to 
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identify the 
workings of False View in our 
mind and to uproot 
these, cultivating Right View 
[sammA 
diEEhE] in their place. 
5. Calming the mind and bringing 
happiness 
[cittamassa pasEdati]: Hearing 
Dhamma sermons 
will `wake us up' to the reality of 
life and 
the world, shaking our mind out of 
distraction 
with sensuality, vengeance and 
aggression while 
making clearer to us where our 
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weaknesses lie, 
and to raise up our morale giving 
us the means 
by which to definitively overcome 
those weaknesses 
— ultimately attaining the path 
and fruit 
of Nirvana. 
C.2 Predispositions acquired 
through listening 
to the Dhamma 
By listening to Dhamma sermons, 
even though we 
might not understand everything of 
what we hear, 
something which we will gradually 
acquire in our 
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