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the accusation 
so they change the subject instead. 
11. Those who become suspicious 
of the person 
who advises them [cudito 
codakena apadAne 
na sampAyati] 
12. Those who persecute anyone 
who tries to advise 
them in order to hide their faults 
[makkhE 
hoti paOAsE]: In Buddhism 
monks have to confess 
their faults so that there is nothing 
left secret. 
Suspicion will not arise in a 
community. 
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If faults are kept hidden the 
perpetrator will 
end up with anxious neuroses. 
13. Those who like mudslinging 
[issukE hoti 
maccharE]: or glossing over 
favours received 
from others in order to make 
themselves look 
superior. 
14. Those who are jealous [saEho 
hoti mAyAvE]:this 
extreme form of selfishness makes 
one narrow 
minded to the extent that you are 
unable to receive 
advice from anyone else in case 
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they look 
better than you when you admit 
your faults 
15. Those who are boasting and 
arrogant [thaddho 
hoti atimAnE]: because they feel 
they are already 
superior to others. They bring a 
needle 
to offer the monks and boast about 
it until it 
becomes a crate of needles or 
Cleopatra's Needle. 
16. Someone who has views which 
deviate severely 
from reality [sadiEEhiparAmAsE 
hoti 
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AdhAriagAhEduppatinissaggt]: 
They might 
think, "Our parents ought to be 
thanking us for 
all we have done for them. If it 
wasn't for us, they 
would have died of loneliness in 
their old age" or 
else "Generosity just makes the 
recipients lazy." 
With such thoughts in mind, they 
will not be able 
to benefit from advice all their 
lives — as if the 
compass in their minds has 
malfunctioned. 
Like all of these qualities, all of 
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these are the starting 
point of stubbomess that will make 
us unable 
to correct our weaknesses. 
D. CULTIVATING OPENNESS 
TO CRITICISM 
D.1 Correction of stubborn habits 
for monks 
The Buddha taught that monks 
should improve 
themselves by inviting others 
[pavaraAa] to give 
their criticism, whatever their 
relative rank or status. 
In the rainy season, when Buddhist 
monks stay 
in the same place for three months 
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when travel is 
inconvenient. At the end of the 
rainy season retreat 
(lent) the Buddha made it monastic 
discipline that 
all the monks in the temple should 
meet together 
and make the invitation to one 
another to invite the 
other monks to correct each others 
behaviour out 
of goodwill for one another and for 
the rest of the 
community. The words of the 
ceremony areas follows: 
"If any of you have seen, heard or 
suspected 
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any behaviour of mine that is 
unpleasant in any 
matter, please inform me of such 
err ors out of 
compassion, so that I might realize 
my own 
faults and be more careful of my 
behaviour in 
future." 
Every monk from the abbot of the 
temple to monks 
newly ordained that day must 
participate in the 
ceremony. 
D.2 Correction of stubborn habits 
for laypeople 
If you are not a monk, but a 
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layperson, there are 
nonetheless many ways in which 
you can help to 
make yourself more open to 
criticism: 
I. Reflect on the harm you bring 
to yourself by your 
obstinacy: If you realize that you 
are closing the 
door on useful advice others might 
have for you 
like a paralytic person surrounded 
by useful 
objects, none of which he can 
reach. Even if a 
person is surrounded by the wise 
he can gain 
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nothing from any of them. 
2. Reflect that criticism is hidden 
treasure: Reflect 
upon the Buddhist proverb that `he 
who gives 
us personal advice and criticism is 
he who points 
the way to treasure.' 
3. Train yourself in respect so that 
you try to see 
the good points about others 
instead of the bad 
Blessing Twenty-Eight: Openness 
to Criticism 317 
points. Whatever criticism you 
might receive 
from others, extend a heart of 
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gratitude towards 
them, because the trouble they 
have taken to criticise 
us shows that they have high 
expectations 
of us — think like this even if you 
don't agree 
100% with what they have 
criticised you for —
hear out their criticism instead of 
rushing to answer 
them back or pick a fight with 
them. 
4. Open the opportunity for others 
to criticise you: 
In the same way as monks invite 
others to criticize 
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one another, members of the same 
family 
can invite criticism from one 
another from time 
to time. If children are trained in 
such a way from 
an early age, then they can avoid 
collecting the 
sixteen damaging traits before they 
develop and 
they can avoid the disadvantages 
of stubbornness 
in later life. 
5. Meditate often and regularly: If 
we can train our 
mind to the point of radiance and 
steadfastness, 
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than to hear reasons for things. 
Don't bother giving 
reasons for things which are not 
appreciated 
because it is about as much use as 
playing a flute 
for the benefit of a buffalo; 
2. Those who are stubborn 
because of their views: 
such people prefer not to be 
ordered around —
but rather to be given reasons, 
explanations and 
choices for the things you would 
like them to 
help with. If they are not too 
entrenched in their 
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own views, given a good reason, 
before long they 
will want to comply 
but if their 
views are extremely 
rigid, you will have to let them do 
what 
they insist and be there to give 
compassionate 
advice when they start to realize 
their own 
mistakes.As for the `stubborn by 
view' in fact 
they are already quite clever, but 
only in the limited 
areas they know. They are like a 
frog at the 
bottom of a well that thinks it 
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knows the whole 
of the world because it already 
knows the bottom 
of a well. If you are a boss with 
stubborn 
people if this type working for you 
and even after 
ordering them and teaching them 
they still 
do not respond, you may have to 
punish them 
(e.g. by reducing their salary). 
Failing that you 
might use the punishment of 
shunning them 
known in Buddhist tradition as the 
`BrahmadaMa 
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treatment'. 
Thus now that we know the 
qualities of a person 
sensitive to self-improvement, we 
can examine ourselves 
for these qualities so that if ever 
we receive 
advice or criticism from someone 
else, we will get 
benefit from them: listening 
without criticism in return; 
reflecting on the criticism; 
following the advice; 
getting an appropriate benefit from 
following 
the practice and eventually 
appreciating the goodwill 
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asnroaq Tiloqqms 
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water on a dog. The dog doesn't 
get wet but will 
shake itself until everyone around 
it is wet instead. 
Such a stubborn person will accept 
no advice and 
instead they will turn the criticism 
back on the person 
giving the advice, by answering 
back. 
E. ILLUSTRATIVE 
EXAMPLES 
E.1 Proverb: Criticism like hidden 
treasure 
(Dh. 76) 
NidhEnaO' va pavattAraO yaO 
passe 
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E.2 Metaphor: Frog at the bottom 
of a well 
A stubborn person who doesn't 
open themselves 
to criticism is like a frog living at 
the bottom of a 
well who has never had the chance 
to see the world 
from any other perspective. No 
matter how many 
people might come along and point 
out how much 
better the world is outside the well, 
such words are 
lost on the frog who through his 
lack of experience 
always assumes he knows better. 
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