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when the climateis just right, they 
regret not 
using the favourable temperatures 
to get some 
hard-earned rest. Such excuses are 
not hard to find. 
However, in the practice of 
austerity, even in everyday 
life, we should not resort to the 
lazy excuses 
above, but instead try to transform 
that reasoning 
into the reasoning of a striver. 
F. ILLUSTRATIVE 
EXAMPLES 
F.1 Ex. Loma-kassapa JAtaka 
(.1.433) 
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Many aeons ago the Bodhisattva 
was born as a hermit 
called Loma-Kassapa. The hermit 
trained himself 
in austerities and asceticism 
together with meditation 
(pre-Buddhist). He focused his 
mind on 
things outside the body and was 
able to attain the 
absorptions [jhAna]. However his 
attainments in 
meditation were still not very 
steadfast. His mind 
was not perfectly at a standstill. 
Even so, the more 
he practiced meditation, the more 
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he managed to 
attain supranormal powers. He 
could fly through 
the air at will. Indral the king of 
heaven observed 
how powerful Loma-Kassapa was 
becoming and 
realized that before long a mere 
`human' would 
soon be becoming more powerful 
than any of the 
angels including himself. Indra felt 
jealous and 
didn't want Loma-Kassapa to 
increase his mental 
powers to the degree that he would 
outshine the 
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angels of heaven. He looked for a 
way to destroy 
the magical powers of 
Loma-Kassapa and found 
that in the town of Benares, there 
was a princess so 
beautiful that she would be bound 
to distract Loma-
Kassapa from his practice. Thus 
Indra went to the 
king of Benares and told him that 
if he wanted to 
rule the world he would have to 
make a special 
animal sacrifice and the only 
person who could do 
that was Loma-Kassapa. Indra told 
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the king that 
Loma-Kassapa would be too afraid 
to kill an animal 
for sacrifice because it would be 
too obvious a 
way of giving in to temptation. 
However, if the king 
were to lure Loma-Kassapa using 
the princess, before 
long Loma-Kassapa would be 
fooled into doing 
the sacrifice. The king of Benares 
agreed to do 
the sacrifice and immediately sent 
his daughter to 
tempt the hermit. Unfortunately 
the hermit lacked 
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restraint of the senses. As soon as 
he started thinking 
about the beauty of the princess he 
became slave 
to his latent sensual desires. His 
meditational powers 
disappeared instantly. He could no 
longer fly 
in the air. Now he had to walk —
and he started to 
follow the princess along the road 
back towards 
Benares. 
It came to the day of the sacrifice 
and he was still 
wearing the clothes of an ascetic 
— he felt nothing 
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about the fact that he was going to 
have to kill an 
animal for sacrifice, because 
sensual desire had 
overcome him. However, the 
people of Benares 
complained and protested asking 
how a hermit 
could ever do such a thing. All the 
animals of the 
town howled and screamed at the 
same time. Someone 
said the words, 
"The sun has strength, the moon 
has strength, 
monks and ascetics have strength, 
the ocean 
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coast has its strength, but none of 
these forms 
of strength can rival that of a 
temptress." 
On this occasion the complaints 
and the sound of 
the animals brought mindfulness 
back to Loma-
Kassapa. He threw away his sword 
and shame and 
fear of evil and the consequences 
of evil [hiri-ottappa] 
returned to him. He restrained his 
senses again. His 
Precepts became intact again and 
his ability to meditate 
returned. He was able to float and 
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fly in the air 
again. He flew up into the air and 
taught to all of 
the assembled people to learn from 
his mistake —
to practice restraint of the senses 
for themselves too 
1. The word Indra is a rank or title 
rather than a personal name 
which denotes the most powerful 
angel in TavatiOsa heaven. 
The angel occupying this rank will 
change from time to time as 
angels are reborn again to the human 
realm. 
Blessing Thirty-One: The Practice 
of Austerities 355 
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- so that the people of the world 
would not be 
slaves to their senses. Once 
Loma-Kassapa had give 
his warning, he flew away back to 
the forest again. 
F.2 Ex. MudulakkhaAa JAtaka 
(J.66) 
In previous lifetimes when the 
Buddha was still 
pursuing perfections as the 
bodhisattva, he renounced 
the world in order to liberate 
himself from 
the world of sense-desire. 
Practising meditation in 
the Great Forest, before long, 
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through earnest practice, 
he was able to attain psychic 
powers through 
his meditation. Because the hermit 
could fly 
through the air by his mental 
powers, he would 
always do so instead of walking. 
On one occasion 
in search of supplementary 
minerals, he travelled 
through the air to Benares for alms 
and while there 
stayed in the royal park. The king 
of Benares was 
pleased with the hermit's 
demenour and persuaded 
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him to live permanently in the 
royal park. Sixteen 
years passed and the king, leaving 
the city to quell 
a border rising, left Queen 
MudulakkhaAa in the 
care of the ascetic. 
The hermit was slightly 
inconsiderate of his sponsor 
— and would visit the palace for 
alms at his 
own convenience. Any day he was 
particularly 
hungry, he would go earlier to the 
palace. On days 
he was not so hungry, he would go 
later. Thus the 
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queen would prepare food each 
day, but would 
never know when the ascetic 
would come to collect 
alms. On the fateful day, the 
ascetic had still 
not come for alms at the appointed 
hour, so the 
queen, tired of waiting went about 
her toilet and 
laid down to relax while waiting 
for his arrival. The 
ascetic finished his meditation and 
flew unannounced 
through the air at high speed, to the 
palace 
for his alms 
not entering by the 
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door, but 
through the open window! The 
queen had very little 
warning, hearing nothing but the 
sudden sound 
of the wind whistling through the 
ascetic's bark 
clothing as he flew. Getting 
quickly up from her 
couch, the queen's clothes slipped 
from her body, 
revealing her nakedness to the 
ascetic. 
It was never the intention of the 
queen to lead 
her respected ascetic into 
temptation — however, 
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it was too late for the ascetic 
whose mind had already 
been imprinted with her image —
all manner 
of desires long hidden away in his 
mind overflowed 
— the hermit fell instantly in love 
with her, 
consequently losing all his iddhi 
powers. As he had 
flown to the palace in the morning, 
he returned to 
his dwelling on foot... Meanwhile 
the queen was 
upset to think she had unwittingly 
contributed to 
the undermining of her hermit's 
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austerities. 
Seven days later the king returned, 
he found the 
ascetic disconsolate and unable to 
eat — on learning 
the reason, and out of respect for 
the hermit, 
without hesitation agreed to offer 
him the queen in 
marriage. The reason why the king 
could deal so 
amenably with the hermit was that 
he was sure that 
the hermit's condition was the 
result of his mistakes 
or carelessness and not because of 
any wicked intention 
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in the hermit's mind. Hearing the 
king's 
equitable words, the hermit 
recovered instantly 
from all his apparent illness. 
Secretly, however, he 
asked the queen, to think of some 
device by which 
she might save the ascetic's 
holiness. 
Together the ascetic and the queen 
left the palace 
and went to a derelict house given 
to them by the 
king which had previously been 
used as a lavatory. 
The queen made the ascetic clean 
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the house (knowing 
full well that dealing with 
loathesomeness 
[asubhasaririA] is a ready antedote 
to sense desire). 
Furthermore, she made him fetch 
water and do a 
hundred other chores. Having 
pushed him to the 
very limits of his physical ability 
— the queen shook 
him by the shoulders and shouted: 
"And still you don't wake up to the 
fact you are a 
monastic? Is this how an ascetic 
who must be and 
example of relinquishing 
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sense-pleasure for the rest 
of the world should behave? 
The ascetic then realized his folly 
and hastened 
back to the king, surrendering the 
queen with the 
words: 
"Before obtaining the beautiful 
Queen MudulakkhaAa 
she was the only thing in the world 
I 
desired. But once having obtained 
her for myself, 
the desire for other things has 
increased without 
end." 
With these words, the hermit was 
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able to recover 
his mental powers.Taking his 
leave, the hermit flew 
back through the air to the 
Himavanta forest where 
356 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
he cultivated the `divine abidings' 
[brahma-vihAra] 
for the rest of his life and on 
passing away was reborn 
in the Brahma world. 
F.3 Ex. Buddha's vow under the 
Bodhi Tree 
The Buddha himself was an 
example to us the ideal 
attitude to striving. On the morning 
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