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you might never have a clear mind 
to 
think seriously about your life. 
They said that 
anyone who has sexual relations 
on their birthday 
will be someone who will never 
know success 
in their lives. If a child is born as 
the result, 
it will be the sort of child who 
doesn't appreciate 
its debt of gratitude to its parents 
— because 
the parents haven't ever taken any 
trouble to appreciate 
with gratitude the preciousness of 
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attaining 
human birth. If you can build up 
your 
Eight Precepts, you will already be 
keeping 
Eight Precepts for four days of the 
week (or three 
days of the week if both husband 
and wife were 
born on the same day). Another 
approach might 
be to keep the Eight Precepts 
throughout the 
rainy season. 
• Following the Eightfold Path 
[ariyamagga]: This 
will be discussed in more detail in 
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Blessing 
Thirty-Three. 
• Following all available 
teachings [sAsanadhamma]: 
This means following all Buddhist 
teachings available. It is like an 
amalgamation 
of all the practices already 
mentioned. 
At all levels of the brahma-faring, 
the Precepts are always 
present. At the lower level, it is the 
Five Precepts, 
at the mid-level it is the Eight 
Precepts and at the High 
level, it will be Eight Precepts or 
227 Precepts. 
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Thus if you are going to practice at 
this high level, 
you should start by performing 
dhutaIga practice as 
mentioned in the previous 
Blessing. Once you have 
completed your dhutaIga 
practice,you shouldn't just 
go home and go back to bed! You 
need to further your 
practice by practising generosity 
every day, keeping 
the Precepts at a level appropriate 
to your marital status 
and train yourself in meditation for 
the rest of your 
life. You should seek to train 
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yourself in every virtue 
that exists in the world and this is 
the true meaning of 
chastity. 
Blessing Thirty-Two: Practising 
the Brahma-Faring 367 
D.3 Possibilities for practising 
celibacy 
I. Temporary or Permanent 
Ordination: There has 
long been the tradition in Thailand 
that every 
man should ordain as a monk at 
some time in 
their life. Usually at the age of 
twenty, young men 
will ordain for one month, two 
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months or three 
months. Some ordain for the rest 
of their lives. 
2. Ordaining as Nuns: Although 
there are no female 
monksl, it is possible to ordain as 
a nun 
who keeps the Eight Precepts for a 
temporary 
period or permanently. 
3. Staying celibate in your 
everyday life: It is possible 
to keep the Eight Precepts while 
earning 
your living in the proper way. All 
that is needed 
is to ignore those who would 
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persuade you to do 
otherwise. Never forget that they 
are persuading 
you to turn yourself into a dog 
chewing a 
dry bone! There is nothing 
dishonourable about 
being an old maid. The people of 
old said that to 
remain unmarried is like to retain 
your freedom 
like a bird that flies free in the 
open sky. Once 
married, you are no longer a bird 
but more like 
a pet dog that has been put on a 
chain at home. 
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Thus, if anyone tries to chat you up 
or to pinch 
your bottom, you can tell them 
where to go. 
4. Staying celibate once your 
eldest child gets married 
(or the first child in family gets 
married): 
there is an old tradition amongst 
the country 
people of Thailand that as soon as 
the oldest child 
in a family gets married, the 
parents must keep 
chastity (at low/mid/high level) 
from that time 
onwards. 
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5. Staying celibate once you are 
widowed: Instead 
of thinking to remarry once your 
old spouse had 
died, you should start to think of 
your long term 
benefits and keep the Eight 
Precepts for the rest 
of your life. 
D.4 Practical knowledge about 
ordination 
It is a Buddhist tradition for all 
young men to ordain 
temporarily as monks at the age of 
twenty as 
a way of self-training in chastity. 
In practicality, 
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however, many hesitate to take the 
opportunity to 
ordain because of unfamiliarity 
with the requirements. 
Accordingly, please find some 
hints and information 
about ordination below: 
• Age at ordination: Those who 
ordain between 
the age of 15 to 20 will ordain as 
`novices' (who 
keep the Ten Precepts). Those who 
ordain at the 
age of 20 upwards usually take full 
ordination 
as monks (who keep 227 Precepts). 
The latter is 
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the superior form of ordination 
but one should 
not provaricate about ordaining 
early in life because 
limitations of health may make 
ordination 
at a later age difficult. Also it is 
hard to teach an 
old dog new tricks and those 
ordaining late in 
life are notoriously hard to instil 
with new virtues; 
• Period of ordination: It is usual 
to ordain for the 
whole of one rainy season (three 
months) — or 
to ordain in the university summer 
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vacation for 
one or two months. One might 
otherwise take 
ordination when it is convenient to 
take leave 
from work or taking lifelong 
ordination is also 
possible. Ordination should not be 
for less than 
one month, however because it 
does not allow 
sufficient time for the study of the 
Dhamma; 
• Choosing a place of ordination: 
The amount we 
learn while ordained is entirely 
dependent on 
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the quality of the training given by 
a temple or 
institute. You should choose a 
place of ordination 
which emphasises strictness in 
Dhamma 
education and monastic discipline. 
At a good 
place of ordination, the preceptor 
will take direct 
and intimate responsibility for 
training the 
monks he ordains — giving an 
abundance of 
teachings and criticism to his 
students. This is in 
contrast to places which leave new 
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monks to do 
whatever they like after their 
ordination. In some 
places, from the day of ordination 
to the day of 
disrobing, the ordinand doesn't get 
to converse 
a word of Dhamma with his 
preceptor. Really, 
what we are seeking from our 
ordination is to 
maximise the opportunity to be 
trained at the 
hands of our preceptor — don't go 
thinking that 
the magic of ordination comes 
from wearing saffron 
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robes!  
it is the training that 
counts; 
• Monastic Discipline: We should 
think to ourselves 
that it is monastic discipline that 
sets us 
apart from household life. Without 
monastic dis-
1. in orthodox or Theravaada 
Buddhism cipline, we are no more 
than a householder with 
368 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
a shaven head and saffron robes. 
To masquerade 
as a monk is no better than to steal 
from the 
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faithful — therefore, once 
ordained we must be 
strict in keeping the monastic 
discipline otherwise 
we will regret it at a later date; 
• Meditation Practice: Once 
ordained, one should 
consecrate one's time entirely to 
studying the 
Dhamma and meditating rather 
than chattering 
idly or looking for amusement; 
• Helping Society: When 
ordaining for three 
months, one should give first 
priority to training 
and benefitting oneself - if there 
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are opportunities 
to help with humanitarian or social 
work 
while ordained — it is a good 
opportunity, but 
one should not become so involved 
with this that 
one diminishes the time available 
for meditation 
and Dhamma study. Welfare work 
doesn't require 
us to be ordained to do it — we 
can always 
do it later after our disrobing. The 
true way to 
help society as a monk is to teach 
Dhamma for 
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others' benefit — however as a 
newly ordained 
monk, our knowledge will not yet 
be enough to 
teach others — all we can do for 
society is to conduct 
ourselves well, go on almsround in 
an orderly 
fashion, concentrating on making 
our behaviour 
worthy of faith — to be a good 
exemplar 
of the monastic discipline and 
knowing 
sense-restraint. 
E. ILLUSTRATIVE 
EXAMPLES 
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E.1 Ex. MahA Kassapa 
(AA.L92ff, SA.iL135ff, 
ThagA.u.134ff, Ap.11.578ff, 
Ap.L33ff) 
There once was a young brahmin 
called Pipli. When 
he was young, he was very 
handsome, but was not 
interested in the married life. He 
was interested only 
in the study ofthe Dhamma. His 
father was a wealthy 
man and was worried that he 
would have no-one to 
look after the family fortune when 
he was gone. His 
father was so anxious to see his 
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son married that he 
went looking for suitors himself. 
Eventually, the father 
found another daughter of a 
millionaire who lived 
in a distant town. It happened that 
the daughter like 
Pipli was disinterested by the 
subject of marriage. The 
parents of this young girl were the 
same as Pipli's 
parents — they were afraid that 
she would be an `old 
maid'. As soon as they heard that 
Pipli was to be a 
suitor, they were quick to give her 
hand in marriage. 
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