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People may be as unaware of the 
qualities of virtues 
as they are unaware of the 
spiciness of a chili 
pepper. If you go to a western 
country and a European 
asks what Thai chili is like, you 
might try 
making a comparison or showing 
him an example. 
They might ask, "Is it hot?" Of 
course you must 
agree that it is `hot'. If they ask 
how hot it is, of 
course you could answer that it is 
"as hot as chili 
peppers" 
however you run the 
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risk of being accused 
of not trying very hard to explain 
— but it's 
hard to know what to use for a 
comparison, for 
someone of limited experience. He 
might ask, "Is it 
hot like ginger?" or "Is it hot like 
onions?" or "Is it 
hot like peppercorns?" or "Is it hot 
like mustard?" 
There is only one way of 
explaining — ask him to 
open his mouth and shut his eyes 
and put a little 
Thai chili in his mouth. Within 
five minutes he will 
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have a swollen mouth and tongue 
and his cheeks 
look as if they are on fire. Now it's 
your turn to ask, 
"What is it hot like?" He will say 
for himself, "Hot 
like red hot charcoal!" 
D.8 Ex. The turtle and the fish 
People need to understand things 
based on their 
previous experience. If one tries to 
understand 
something new in terms of 
experience in which 
one is lacking, the results might be 
the same as 
a found in the following story: 
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Once upon a time, there were a 
turtle and a 
fish who were good friends. The 
fish was confined 
to the water, but the turtle was 
amphibious 
and could travel in the water or on 
the land 
at will. When the turtle returned 
from its travels 
on the land it would tell the fish 
about all it 
had seen. At first the fish was not 
very interested, 
but after hearing the stories about 
the 
land, day in day out, it became 
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more and more 
fascinated. 
The fish asked, "When you say 
that birds fly, 
do you mean like a frog?" Well, 
everybody 
knows the difference between a 
hopping frog 
330 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
and the flight of a bird — but the 
turtle was unable 
to make the fish understand the 
difference. 
"And when you say that elephants 
are large and 
have tusks, are the tusks the same 
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as the whiskers 
of a prawn?" Again, the turtle was 
unable to 
make the fish understand the 
difference. 
"And when you say that trees have 
trunks, 
branches and twigs with leaves are 
they the 
same as seaweed?" The turtle was 
unable to 
make the fish understand the 
difference. However 
many questions the fish asked, the 
turtle 
was unable to explain. 
Finally the turtle realized that there 
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is a condition 
for being able to explain things to 
another 
person — both people must share 
common experience 
to be able to communicate. 
Without such 
common experience, the speaker 
may as well be 
speaking to himself! 
Blessing Thirty: Regular 
Discussion of the Dhamma 331 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 The place of Blessing Thirty 
in the order 
of things 
Many people can talk all day and 
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all night about 
outings or holidays, but if they had 
to talk even for 
five minutes on a subject of the 
Dhamma, they 
would certainly die! Discussing the 
Dhamma is no 
easy skill — even the Buddha 
himself spent many 
lifetimes perfecting speaking and 
listening before 
he could move on to discussion of 
the Dhamma. 
Dhamma discussion is a challenge 
because it is the 
culmination of almost all of the 
Blessings already 
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mentioned: 
• Blessing Seven: Having heard 
much:. Dhamma 
discussion requires participants to 
be good listeners. 
We have to be able to build up the 
ability 
to listen to others first before we 
can expect them 
to listen to us; 
• Blessing Ten: Artful Speech: 
Those in the discussion 
must be artful speakers on the 
subject of 
Dhamma. They must not just say 
what others 
want to hear by complimenting 
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and praising 
them. Although someone might 
speak seven languages, 
but they can hardly be considered 
an 
artful speaker if they are always 
causing fights 
by the things they say; 
• Blessing Twenty-Two: Respect: 
Those in the discussion 
must be respectful. Everything in 
the 
world has good and bad points. 
You should 
choose the constructive aspect of 
things to talk 
about. 
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• Blessing Twenty-Three: 
Humility: Those in the 
discussion must be humble — not 
looking down 
on others or their opinions; 
• Blessing Twenty-Six: Having 
regularly listened 
to the Dhamma: They must have 
heard many 
Dhamma Talks — with an 
understanding built 
by reflecting on what they have 
learned, and by 
discussing and questioning the 
Dhamma. Of 
course, it is an acquired taste to 
want to listen to 
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the Dhamma rather than listening 
to something 
else like music — which can be 
explained by two 
reasons: 
1. It's hard to concentrate on 
something abstract like 
the Dhamma: we are used to 
focussing on more 
material or sensually-stimulating 
subjects; 
2. It's hard to open up one's mind 
to the Dhamma: 
Supposing the monk talks about 
Precepts, the 
listener knows that their Precepts 
are not very 
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well kept, therefore to be reminded 
of their bad 
habits is always painful. It's hard 
to want to 
listen to someone talk about the 
faults about 
your personality. It is all very 
entertaining to 
listen to a sermon about `fools' (as 
in the first 
Blessing) for as long as someone 
else is the subject 
of the sermon, but as soon as we 
realize 
that we also share some 
characteristics of a fool, 
the sermon becomes less 
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pleasurable to listen 
to. It is like touching an open 
wound. This is 
why people like sitting right at the 
back of the 
lecture hall when listening to 
Dhamma teachings 
— to try to protect their `comfort 
zone'. 
Blessing Thirty: 
Regular Discussion 
of the Dhamma 
332 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
• Blessing Twenty-Seven: 
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Patience: Those in a discussion 
need to be patient. The sort of 
patience 
you will need the most of is 
`patience in the face 
of conflict' when differences of 
opinion arise; 
• Blessing Twenty-Eight: 
Openness to Criticism: 
Those in the discussion must be 
open to criticism. 
You will know why you need to 
have patience 
when in the course of a discussion, 
you 
receive your first item of personal 
criticism. 
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Sometimes during the course of a 
discussion, the 
others will test our patience first to 
see just how 
much criticism we are able to 
accept. If someone 
deserves some heavy criticism, 
they will start by 
receiving minor criticisms first, 
such as "When 
you are listening to sermons, you 
shouldn't sit 
and wriggle because it shows lack 
of respect towards 
the Dhamma," and gradually get 
heavier 
for example: "When you are 
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listening to sermons, 
you shouldn't let your mind 
wander to think 
about other matters like your own 
home, because 
it shows lack of respect towards 
the Dhamma." 
Thus you can see that discussing 
the Dhamma is 
no easy matter. If it were easy, it 
would have been 
one of the first units of the Manual 
of Peace. However, 
we find that it has been placed at 
the thirtieth 
step of the path of Buddhist 
practice. Thus don't 
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go organizing a discussion if you 
don't know what 
you are doing or else you might 
end up with a discussion 
of things that are not artful. 
Dhamma discussion 
is even more demanding than just 
listening 
to a Dhamma-talk — because 
discussion means 
we must learn to listen and respond 
at the same 
time. Similarly, it is easier just to 
talk and have people 
listen to you than to have the 
patience to listen 
to other people talk. 
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A.2 The objectives of Blessing 
Thirty 
The objectives of this blessing are: 
1. to discuss the Dhamma in a 
way that benefits 
oneself and others; for those who 
are capable of 
discussing and sharing their 
knowledge, a large 
merit awaits because in the words 
of the Buddha 
`sabbadAnab dhammadAnaO 
jinAti' 
(the gift of Dhamma excels all 
gifts) 
Dh.354 
2. to discuss the Dhamma in a 
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way that does not 
detract from the value of the 
Dhamma; This 
needs to be mentioned because 
discussing 
Dhamma in an inappropriate or 
distorted way 
may curtail the life of the Dhamma 
in living 
memory 
"0! Monks! Those monks who 
claim (various 
sorts of) monastic transgressions 
are not 
monastic transgressions, and those 
who 
claim as monastic transgressions 
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