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doorways to the mind. 
The six entrances are: 
1. Eyes 
2. Ears 
3. Nose 
4. Tongue 
5. Our skin 
6. Our mind 
Supposing there is a walled city 
with six gates — if 
ever the gateman is caught 
unawares, robbers or 
enemies can gain access to the 
house or the city by 
any of the six entrances —
subsequently wreaking 
havoc inside that city. The sense 
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doors of the mind 
are comparable to those city gates. 
If our 
mindfulness is ever caught 
unawares, damaging 
sensory information can find its 
way into our mind. 
If such damaging things can gain 
entry to the mind 
they will stir up the mind causing 
the defilements 
already there to create trouble for 
us. The Buddha 
went further to compare the 
sense-doors to lowly 
animals: 
I. The eyes are like a snake: the 
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eyes are always 
tempted to look at secret things; 
2. The ears are like a crocodile: in 
just the same way 
that the crocodile loves cool water, 
the ears are 
always tempted to hear the flattery 
or flowery 
speech of others; 
3. The nose is like a caged bird: in 
just the same 
way that a caged bird will never 
stay still in its 
struggle to escape, the nose will 
always be obsessed 
to find the source of any pleasant 
smell it 
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detects; 
4. The tongue is like a mad dog: it 
is always frothing 
with saliva at the mouth — if ever 
it has a 
moment free it will fulfill itself by 
gossiping 
about the neighbours (even though 
the gossipper 
knows how angry they would get if 
anyone gossiped 
about them!) 
5. The body is like a fox: like a fox 
it likes to find a 
warm and comfortable place to rest 
or to take 
the weight off its feet. 
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6. The mind is like a monkey: it is 
never still, but 
must find something to think about 
the whole 
of the time. Even if you try to train 
your mind to 
think of a crystal ball or a Buddha 
image the 
whole of time, it will think of 
castles in the air 
and every other possible thing 
under the sun. 
Thus each of the sense doors has 
its own damaging 
tendencies in the absence of 
sensual restraint. This 
is why the Buddha didn't have a 
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via our tastebuds, sensations via 
our skin or inner 
experience via our mind, we must 
not become 
attached to the source of those 
sensations 
(in a positive or a negative way)" 
— if we see an 
attractive lady we must not react 
with the 
thought, "How beautiful she is!" If 
you see someone 
who is repulsive you must not 
react with 
the though, "How repulsive that 
person is!" If 
you are caught unawares thinking 
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such a 
thought, the thought will stir up 
defilements latent 
in the mind. 
2. Non-attachment to the 
perception in part 
[anubyanjana]: You might see an 
attractive 
woman and think to yourself, 
"Overall, this 
woman is not very attractive but . . 
. how beautiful 
her lips are — like Cupid's!" or 
"Overall, this 
woman is not very attractive but . . 
. look at her 
little twinkling eyes!" Even such 
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an attachment 
Blessing Thirty-One: The Practice 
of Austerities 353 
can lead us to make serious 
mistakes. People recognize, 
that such-and-such a man is 
completely 
irresponsible and all his habits are 
despicable but 
. . . his gaze is so mesmerizing that 
they marry 
him for the rest of their lives! In 
the opposite 
sense even the sight of a part of an 
object might 
cause us irritation and anger. 
D.3 Restraint of the Senses paves 
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the way to 
liberation 
It is all very well knowing the 
advantages of sensual 
restraint, but what if every woman 
you look at is 
beautiful? You have to develop 
conscience (as already 
mentioned in Blessing Nineteen 
§D.3) — and the possibility 
of what might happen to us if we 
make a 
mistake with our senses. It is a way 
of building up 
shame of evil [hiri] and fear of the 
consequences of 
evil [ottappa]. The Buddha taught 
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(Hiri Sutta A.iv.99) 
that training ourselves in 
conscience will lead eventually 
to liberation in the same way that 
if the heartwood 
of a tree is not rotten, it will 
protect the bark, 
and branches from rot too. More 
specifically, if we 
can manage to train ourselves 
inconscience [hiriottappa], 
restraint of the senses [indriya 
saOvara] 
will be the natural consequence. If 
we are going to 
look at people, we look at them to 
find out what good 
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virtues they possess that we might 
learn from. We 
don't go looking for the physical 
beauty of others or 
any other superficial quality. If you 
keep on training 
yourself in this way it will make 
your self-discipline 
[sEla] steadfast. You will be able 
to upgrade your level 
of Precepts. From not being able to 
keep the Five 
Precepts properly you will be able 
to upgrade to 
keeping the Five Precepts 
properly, but not yet the 
Eight. If you continue to train 
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yourself in restraint of 
the senses, before long you will be 
able to keep the 
Eight Precepts properly too. They 
will establish 
themselves almost automatically. 
Once our Precepts 
are properly kept, Right 
Concentration [sammA 
samAdhi] will arise of its own 
accord. If you find in 
the present day that your 
meditation doesn't seem 
to be making much progress, then 
examine the purity 
of your Precepts. If the purity of 
your Precepts 
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leaves something to be desired, 
they pay more attention 
to the restraint of the sense doors. 
Sometimes 
when you sit for meditation, 
images of beautiful celebrities 
or whisky bottles will arise in the 
mind —
these are signs that your restraint 
of the senses needs 
improvement. If you can develop 
your restraint of 
the senses sufficiently, your 
Precepts will be pure, 
meditation will arise and 
brightness will arise inside 
to the degree you can start to see 
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the mind and the 
defilements in the mind, so that 
you can start to work 
directly on the purification of the 
mind by the qualities 
of seeing things as they really are 
[yathAbhEtariAAadassana] 
in 
the same way as a 
medical worker can identify the 
vectors of illness in 
the body with his microscope —
starting at first with 
only lenses of low-power, but 
gradually acquiring 
medium-power, high-power, 
oil-emulsion and eventually 
an electron microscope until none 
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of the vectors 
of illness have anywhere left to 
hide and they 
can be destroyed. In the same way, 
as the sublety of 
our concentration increases, it will 
give way to dispassion 
with sensuality [nibbitA], release 
[virAga] 
and eventually the seeing and 
knowing of liberation 
[vimuttifiAAadassana] (Kimatthiya 
Sutta A.v. 1) 
E. STRIVING IN 
MEDITATION 
By this time in the study of the 
Manual of Peace, by 
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Blessing Thirty-One we are sure to 
be able to tell 
what is right and what is wrong. 
We know that the 
practice of austerity is good, but 
we may be prone 
to giving up too easily instead of 
seeing our practice 
through to its conclusion. We think 
of keeping 
Eight Precepts for the whole of the 
three months of 
the rainy season. After the third 
day, when you feel 
hungry in the evening, you start to 
think to yourself, 
"I have kept the Eight Precepts for 
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three days 
already — and that is already a lot 
of merit . . . 
maybe I will keep Eight Precepts 
again at the end 
of the rainy season . . . seven days 
altogether . . . 
and that is plenty of merit for me." 
For such a person, 
the ability to strive is only weakly 
developed. 
E.1 Four types of effort (A.11.15, 
16, 74) 
Properly developed striving has 
four components: 
1. not doing evils which you never 
did before 
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whereas the attitude 
of a striver will lead him to take 
every chance to 
further his meditation (see Table 
31.1 p.346). If you 
use any or all of the backslider's 
reasoning for not 
meditating, you will be perfectly 
able to sleep all 
year round and never do any 
meditation again. The 
same goes for people who cannot 
meditate in the 
summer because it is too hot. They 
cannot meditate 
in the winter because it is too cold. 
In the seasons 
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