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Dhamma. It was approaching the 
Buddhist Lent, 
so they were having their last drink 
before giving 
up drinking for the duration of the 
Lent. 
The father said, "I'll be going to 
stay in the 
temple to keep the Eight Precepts 
so this alcoBlessing 
Thirty: Regular Discussion of the 
Dhamma 343 
hol will cause me to excrete the 
digestive bacteria 
in my stomach so that I don't get 
too hungry." 
The son replied, "But isn't it evil 
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to excrete 
those poor digestive bacteria?" 
"No, because those bacteria are 
just the cause 
of illnesses in our body — they 
don't count." 
"But I insist — that is really killing 
living creatures!" 
Before long, the discussion of the 
Dhamma has 
been reduced to an argument and 
the father 
chased the son down the road with 
a shotgun! 
344 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
Blessing One: Not Associating 
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with Fools 345 
The Ninth 
Group of Blessings 
"Practice for the 
Eradication of Defilements" 
Having acquired all the theory 
we need in the Blessings up to 
and 
including Group VIII, the 
present Ninth Grouping, entitled 
`practice 
for the eradication of 
defilements' is characterized by 
putting 
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theory into practice 
getting 
down to earnest spiritual 
striving. 
The Grouping consists of: 
• Blessing Thirty-One: The 
Practice of Austerities: Putting 
into 
practice the sensual restraint 
and striving needed to burn up 
the defilements in the mind 
through the practice of gradual 
and intense austerities; 
• Blessing Thirty-Two: The 
Practice of Chastity: Having 
practised 
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austerity until the worst of the 
defilements have been 
uprooted, one must quickly sow 
the seeds of higher virtue in 
the mind before the defilements 
can take root again —
especially 
by extricating the mind from the 
sense-desire that is 
the origin of decay and 
suffering; 
• Blessing Thirty-Three: 
Seeing the Four Noble Truths: 
Cultivating 
our meditation further to the 
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point we can know and 
understand the reality of life 
and the world 
otherwise 
known as attaining the 
DhammakAya; 
• Blessing Thirty-Four: The 
Attainment of Nirvana: Having 
seen the Four Noble Truths, if 
one cultivates meditation 
further, 
bringing the mind to a standstill 
so that it can further 
penetrate at the centre of the 
DhammakAya, the mind will 
become sufficiently refined to 
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enter upon Nirvana 
the 
subtlest 
of defilements gradually falling 
away until there are no 
remaining defilements and 
arahantship can be attained. 
346 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
Striver's Reasoning 
" I should be quick to meditate, 
because time for such 
striving will soon be precious" 
"I should be quick to meditate to 
make up for time 
wasted while work was in hand" 
"I should be quick to meditate, 
because time for such 
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striving will be hard to find en route" 
"I should be quick to meditate to 
make up for time 
wasted en route" 
"I should be quick to meditate while 
I have an amenably 
`light' stomach" 
"I should be quick to meditate while 
all the energy of 
the food in my stomach is readily 
available" 
"I should be quick to meditate before 
it gets worse" 
"I should be quick to meditate before 
there is a relapse" 
Situation 
Knowing there 
is work on its 
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way... 
Having just finished 
their 
work . . . 
Knowing a long 
journey is at 
hand . . . 
Having just 
completed a 
long journey . . . 
Having had 
only a little food 
to eat . . . 
Having had a 
lot to eat . . . 
Being on the 
brink of illness . . 
Having just recovered 
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from 
illness . . . 
Backslider's Reasoning 
"It's not worth meditating because I 
will soon be 
interrupted by work anyway" 
"After all that work, I deserve to rest 
instead of 
meditating" 
"It's not worth meditating because I 
will soon be 
interrupted by the journey anyway" 
"After such a long journey, I deserve 
to rest instead 
of meditating" 
" I can't be expected to meditate on 
an empty stomach!" 
"Don't expect me to meditate 
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immediately after a 
meal!" 
"If I meditate, I might be risk my 
health — so better 
that I sleep instead" 
"If I sit for meditation it might cause 
a relapse —
so better that I sleep instead" 
TABLE 31.1 
Backsliders vs. Strivers' Outlook 
on the World 
Blessing Thirty-One: The Practice 
of Austerities 347 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 The place of Blessing 
Thirty-One in the 
order of things 
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With this Blessing we come to the 
thirty-first step 
on the staircase of Buddhist 
practice. An overview 
of the Manual of Peace reveals that 
the thirty previous 
Blessings have been nothing more 
than 
`groundwork' for the spiritual 
journey ahead —
which requires removing the 
impurities or `defilements' 
from the mind. Thus this Blessing 
is the 
first to deal earnestly with the 
nature of the defilements 
in the mind and continues by 
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advocating 
the austerities — particularly 
sensual restraint 
and striving in meditation — as 
methods of removing 
them. 
B. DEFILEMENTS 
B.1 Defilements in the mind 
If we look at our human being we 
can conclude 
that we are made up of two distinct 
parts: body and 
mind. If you want to be technical 
your can use the 
word `rEpa' for the part that is the 
body as opposed 
to `nAma' for the mind. Although 
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the body might 
look bigger and stronger than the 
mind, in fact, of 
the two, it is the quality of the 
mind which has the 
greatest influence on our lives. 
The human mind is like a dynamic 
energy, which 
is like a sphere which is normally 
about the size of 
the tip of your little finger. The 
mind in its natural 
state takes the form of a clear 
sphere of diamond 
brightness, however, when 
polluted, the sparkling 
mind is reduced to dullness and 
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weakness, lowering 
its potential. 
This pollution is caused by the 
impurities that reside 
in the mind — known by the 
technical term 
`defilements' [kilesa]. Defilements 
are already something 
we have met in many of the 
previous blessings 
— including 5, 7, 16, 19, 20, 21, 
24 and 27 (not 
to be confused with the 
`defilements of action' 
[kammakilesa] which are actually 
just the outward 
manifestations of the real 
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`defilements' in the mind). 
In this blessing, however, we start 
to tackle these 
defilements directly — as we shall 
see, by the practice 
of austerities. 
Defilements in the mind are 
equivalent to the bacteria 
and viruses which infect the body, 
causing illness. 
We may think that the possible 
number of illnesses 
of the body are a lot, but in fact 
they are not 
nearly so numerous as the illnesses 
of the mind. In 
the mind the major infections that 
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destroy the capabilities 
of the mind are things like craving, 
hatred, 
vengefulness, wishing for fame, 
sleepiness, 
wanting people to admire us for 
our beauty — all 
these are signs that the mind is out 
of condition. 
Defilements have gross and subtle 
forms in just 
the same way that litter has both 
gross and refined 
forms. Gross litter can be picked 
up and put in a 
trash can or a waste basket. 
Defilements also have 
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their subtle forms which are rather 
like dust. Such 
defilements are so subtle that they 
cannot be seen 
with normal eyesight. They are 
like the dust that 
clings to a mirror that make it dull 
— if you take a 
Blessing Thirty-One: 
The Practice of 
Austerities 
348 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
cloth, you can clean away such 
dust so that you 
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can see clearly in the mirror again. 
We cannot afford to remain 
ignorant of the nature 
of the defilements to facilitate our 
efficiency in 
ridding ourself from these for 
good. Defilements 
in the mind are like the residue of 
engrained bad 
habits. They are the things which 
cause us to act 
upon our emotions rather than our 
common sense. 
Even though all these mental taints 
might be considered 
minor — no more than `rust' in the 
mind, 
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we have to try to get rid of them 
because otherwise 
they will be damaging to us in the 
future. For most 
people, the mental taints are so 
subtle that they feel 
that it doesn't really matter 
whether they are there 
or not. They are like tiny bacteria 
which can cause 
much more serious diseases. 
Unless we have tried 
meditation, it would be difficult to 
appreciate the 
dangers of these taints. However, 
when we dedicate 
ourselves to mental training, we 
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