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personality through our 
perseverence are certain 
sorts of pre-disposition. Such 
deeply rooted habits 
become like bedrock for the mind. 
Even though we 
might not understand everything 
we hear when we 
listen to the Dhamma, before long, 
we will start to 
build up a vocabulary of technical 
terms associated 
with the Dhamma 
even if we 
are not sure of the 
meaning, we have a familiarity 
with them. Sometimes 
we don't know the meaning of 
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chanting, but 
before long we have a passing 
acquaintance with 
the Pali words. Such 
predispositions will be like 
`capital' that will be a 
downpayment making cultivation 
of good deeds by us easier in 
future in four 
different ways: 
1. Quicker attainment of wisdom: 
in subsequent 
existences one will attain wisdom 
quickly and 
with ease. One will be able to 
recall and apply 
items of Dhamma with ease 
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allowing one to attain 
the path and fruit of Nirvana 
quickly: 
2. Ability to teach: in subsequent 
existences, once 
one has a knowledge of Dhamma, 
it will be easy 
for one to teach it and explain it to 
others; 
3. Recognition of the Dhamma 
message: in subsequent 
existences, even if one cannot 
remember 
items of Dhamma oneself, but 
upon hearing 
Dhamma teaching from others, one 
will be able 
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to attain the path and fruit of 
Nirvana quickly 
— and one's understanding will be 
thorough and 
without any shadow of a doubt. 
Like a person 
who has heard the sound of a drum 
once before 
— even much later, after a journey 
of many miles 
— if they are to hear the sound of 
a drum for the 
second time, they will recognize it 
instantly for 
what it is. It would be hard for 
anyone to persuade 
such a person that what they are 
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listening 
to is not a drum. 
4. Easily re-awakened to the value 
of Dhamma 
teachings: in subsequent 
existences, even if one 
can no longer remember the 
Dhamma one has 
Blessing Twenty-Six: Listening 
Regularly to Dhamma Teachings 
297 
learned, and even if there is no-one 
to teach it, 
but on hearing only a few words of 
advice from 
others, or perhaps even 
overhearing such advice 
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it will bring back one's former 
knowledge of 
Dhamma easily allowing one to 
attain the path 
and fruit of Nirvana with ease. 
Even those who regularly perform 
their Morning 
and Evening Chanting, even 
though they might not 
know the precise meaning of the 
Pali vocabulary 
— it is certainly not a waste of 
time because at the 
very least it will bring peace of 
mind and a familiarity 
with the Pali turns of phrase so that 
in a future 
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existence even just overhearing the 
sound of 
someone else chanting, it will 
attract one to investigate 
more closely and have the 
opportunity to hear 
Dhamma teachings — and having 
heard them, to 
understand them with ease as the 
result of the past 
disposition we have built up for 
ourselves, so that 
we can attain the path and fruit of 
Nirvana with 
ease. 
D. ILLUSTRATIVE 
EXAMPLES 
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D.1 Proverb: Those who see the 
danger in the 
cycle of existence (S.v.94-6) 
"0! You who see the danger in the 
cycles 
of existence [saOsAra], in 
whatsoever era 
the Noble Disciples hear the 
Dhamma, listen 
to the marrow of their bones, listen 
to 
the innermost part of their mind, 
and who 
muster all of their encouragement, 
bending 
their ears to listen in earnest — in 
that 
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era their Five Hindrances will be 
overcome 
and their Seven Factors of 
Enlightenment 
[bojjhaIga] will be brought to 
completion 
through the power of their 
meditation." 
D.2 Ex. CElapanthaka 
DhA.i.239ff 
There was one monk in the time of 
the Lord Buddha 
called CElapanthaka who had 
ordained for 
ten years but was so inert that after 
all that time he 
could not even remember four 
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lines of verse (one 
vagga). His elder brother (already 
an arahant) despaired. 
He thought, "My younger brother 
iS so 
dumb he cannot even remember 
four lines of verse 
so what chance would he have of 
learning the chanting 
or any of the longer suttas of the 
Buddha?" 
CElapanthaka was chased out of 
the temple and 
shunned because he wasn't 
considered worth his 
almsfood. CElapanthaka left the 
temple in despair 
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and met with the Buddha. 
CElapanthaka informed 
the Buddha that he was going to 
disrobe. The Buddha 
asked him, "When you ordained, 
did you ordain 
to offer your life to Buddhism or 
did you ordain 
for the benefit of your big 
brother?" 
CElapanthaka agreed he had 
ordained to offer his 
life for Buddhism so he renewed 
his interest to continue 
with the ordination. The Buddha 
looked back 
into the previous lifetimes of 
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CElapanthaka to see 
what was the problem impeding 
his progress in the 
apprehension of Buddhism. In past 
lives he had 
been very intelligent but he had 
become arrogant 
as the result of his intelligence and 
had regularly 
teased a fellow monk who was not 
so gifted so often 
that the other monk despaired and 
disrobed. 
That evil had made him as stupid 
as his victim in 
every subsequent lifetime. The 
Buddha realized that 
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to memorize any scriptures would 
be fruitless so 
he found another way to teach the 
monk. He taught 
the monk the word `rajoharaAaO' 
(meaning sullied) 
and gave the monk a piece of 
white cloth with 
which to wipe his own head. He 
gave the monk 
the practice of reciting the word 
while at the same 
time wiping his head with the 
cloth. The white cloth 
was blackened by sweat and dirt 
and eventually 
CElapanthaka, seeing that the 
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impurity of his own 
body had sullied the white cloth to 
make it black, 
lost attraction for his own body, 
his mind was able 
to enter the centre of his body and 
attain the 
DhammakAya inside. He became 
an arahant where 
he stood. His elder brother could 
not believe he was 
enlightened until his younger 
brother performed a 
feat of mental power by replicating 
thousands of 
images of himself 
[manomayiddhi]. 
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D.3 Ex. JanasAna Ascetic 
(MahAvaOsa-EEkA 
190ff.) 
In the time of Kassapa Buddha, 
there was a python 
which had dug a burrow just next 
to a cave where 
monks regularly chanted the 
Abhidhamma. The 
monks often chanted the verses 
concerning the 
sense doors [Ayatana] and how 
they should be re298 
A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
strained. The python heard the 
chanting every day 
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but because it was a snake, of 
course it could not 
understand the meaning. It could 
only remember 
the word `Ayatana' and the 
pleasant personality of 
the monk chanting the verses. It 
was these things 
that the snake remembered at the 
last moments of 
its life. Usually animals will only 
think of food, 
mating and fear of death — but 
this snake thought 
only of Dhamma and was reborn 
as an angel. It 
lived in heaven for a hundred 
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years. The ex-snake 
was reborn in about 300 B.C. as 
JanasAna and his 
former familiarity with the 
chanting attracted him 
to ordination, even from teenage. 
He became an ascetic 
who was able to become versed in 
the Vedasi. 
The ascetic also trained in 
meditation and was able 
to make accurate predictions. 
At that time the Queen who would 
be mother to 
the Emperor Asoka conceived. 
Usually when 
women become pregnant, they 
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have morning sickness 
which leads them to have some 
strange compulsions. 
Some would like to eat strange 
things such 
as sand or human blood. Some feel 
compelled to 
shout at the neighbours. For the 
mother of Asoka, 
her compulsion was to have the 
moon and the sun 
at her feet and to eat stars and 
clouds. 
The young ascetic heard the 
strange desires of the 
queen and was able to tell her that 
he child would 
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be no ordinary son. He told her 
that wanting to 
stand on the sun and the moon was 
a sign that her 
son would rule the whole of the 
subcontinent. Wanting 
to eat the stars was a sign that 
Asoka would kill 
some of his own brothers and 
sisters and wanting 
to eat clouds was a sign that he 
would destroy heretic 
sects which got in the way of the 
truth (like the 
clouds which hide the sun). 
The life of Emperor Asoka proved 
all the prophecies 
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of the ascetic to be true, so Asoka 
sent his men 
with a golden palanquin to invite 
the ascetic to the 
palace. However, on the way, the 
ascetic visited 
Vattaniya Hermitage and met with 
an arahant 
Assagutta who taught about the 
sense doors. Just 
hearing the word `Ayatana' woke 
him up to the 
value of Buddhism to the extent 
that he asked to 
ordain at that very moment and 
could become an 
arahant himself in the reign of 
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