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living. As soon as she realised this, 
her attitude towards 
her dead son changed; she was no 
longer 
attached to the dead body of her 
son and she realised 
how simply the Buddha had taught 
her a most 
important lesson: that everything 
that is born must 
eventually die. 
She did a funeral for her dead son 
and told the 
Buddha that she could find no 
family where death 
had not occurred. Then the Buddha 
said,"GotamE, 
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you should not think that you are 
the only one who 
has lost a son. As you have now 
realised, death 
comes to all beings. Before their 
desires are satiated 
death takes them away." 
Perceiving the fleeting nature and 
impermanency 
of life, KisA GotamE decided to 
renounce the 
worldly life. 
She then requested the Enlightened 
One to admit 
her to the Order of Nuns. 
Accordingly, the Buddha 
sent her to the community of nuns 
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and directed 
that she be admitted. 
She was a very hardworking nun 
and was always 
mindful and conscientious of her 
religious duties, 
and strove diligently for her 
spiritual development 
to purify her mind of all mental 
defilements. 
One night, she lit some oil lamps. 
Having lit them, 
she went and sat down a short 
distance away. As 
she observed the flames, her mind 
focussed and she 
noticed that while some flared up 
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some others flickered 
out. With her mind concentrating 
on the flames 
as the object of meditation, she 
meditated as follows, 
`Even as it is with these flames, so 
also is it 
384 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
with living beings in this world: 
Some flare up, while 
others flicker out; only those who 
have attained Nirvana 
are no more seen.' 
Through his supernormal power, 
the Buddha saw 
that KisA GotamE was ripe for 
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enlightenment. He 
sent forth his radiance and 
exhorted her to continue 
meditating on the impermanent 
nature of all conditioned 
things. The Buddha also 
commented, 
"Though one should live a hundred 
years without 
perceiving the Deathless State 
(Nirvana), yet better 
indeed, is a single day's life of one 
who perceives 
the Deathless State.' 
At the conclusion of the discourse, 
KisA GotamE 
attained Arahanthood. 
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Blessing Thirty-Four: The 
Attainment of Nirvana 385 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 Place of Blessing Thirty-four 
in the order of 
things 
Nirvana is the ultimate state of 
existence and the 
highest state of mind a person can 
attain. It is something 
which makes Buddhism unique 
amongst the 
world religions. Not only to attain 
Nirvana, but 
even to understand the concept of 
Nirvana is a challenge 
because it requires a steadfast 
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understanding 
of almost all of the preceding 
Blessings studied 
in groupings Eight and Nine: 
• Blessing Twenty-nine: The 
Sight of a true monk: 
Those with a mundane level of 
knowledge tend 
to form an understanding about the 
new things 
they encounter, in terms of the 
experiences they 
already have. If a new thing has an 
added dimension, 
it is hard for them to understand it 
in 
terms of their previous experience. 
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It is like trying 
to describe the colours of a garden 
to someone 
who has been blind since birth. 
This is why 
in Blessing Twenty-Nine we had 
to see a true 
monk to alert us to the existence of 
the transcendental 
— as with the tale of the turtle and 
the 
fish! (B1.29 §D.8) Understanding 
the qualitative 
differences between teachings for 
practice and 
higher philosophy learned in 
Blessing Twentynine 
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is particularly important when 
studying 
Nirvana. 
• Blessing Thirty: Regular 
Discussion of the 
Dhamma: Since the thirtieth 
blessing it has become 
harder and harder to explain the 
virtues 
under examination in material 
terms. Especially 
when enumerating guidelines for 
the discussion 
of Dhamma we discovered that we 
should not 
immediately reject items of 
Dhamma we don't 
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immediately understand (see Bl. 
Thirty §C.1). The 
right attitude is to use the principle 
of `live and 
let live' when confronted by 
differences in Buddhist 
doctrine. Being `democratic' in 
Buddhism 
is to support any skilful means 
[kusala upAya] 
that encourages people to do 
wholesome deeds 
that conform to those propounded 
by Buddhism 
— whether it be practising the 
Noble Eightfold 
Path, the Three Trainings, the Six 
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Directions, the 
Three Modes of Merit-Making or 
avoiding the 
roads to ruin [apAyamukha]. We 
should give 
support and encouragement to 
anyone who is 
inspired to practise these skilful 
means rather 
than creating conflicts over points 
of philosophy 
which might serve only to dissuade 
them from 
continuing with their practice. 
Even though different 
schools might differ in opinion 
concerning 
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the higher philosophy by referring 
to different 
parts of the scriptures, or have 
differences of 
interpretation, surely we would be 
better to 
`agree to disagree' on these 
subjects rather than 
to let these differences divide us? 
All spiritual 
cultivators are rather like 
long-distance travellers 
in the cycle of rebirth 
[vallasaOsAra]. Even 
though we might differ as to the 
expectations of 
what we expect our destination to 
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be like, we 
can still share the same path of 
progress together 
Blessing Thirty-Four: 
The Attainment 
of Nirvana 
386 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
and help each other along the way! 
As long as 
we stay with the Middle Way of 
practice, we can 
continue to make progress, and one 
day when 
we reach our destination, we will 
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each be able to 
see the nature of our destination 
for ourselves 
without any need to differ in our 
opinions any 
more. If on the contrary we fight 
amongst ourselves 
over differences of opinion on the 
way, or 
we walk the way separately, it 
does nothing but 
waste valuable journey time. 
Moreover, if we 
refuse to walk the path at all, or 
backslide on the 
path by refusing to keep the 
Precepts or meditate, 
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spending all our time arguing 
about the 
characteristics of higher teachings, 
for sure, we 
will never arrive at our destination! 
• Blessing Thirty-two: Practising 
the Brahma-faring: 
The equivalence of states of mind 
[bhEmi] 
and realms of existence [bhava] 
discovered in 
Blessing Thirty-two holds true also 
in the present 
blessing. We will find in the 
present blessing that 
just as angelic states of mind have 
their equivalent 
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realm of existence 
liberated 
states of mind 
represented by the Arahant body of 
enlightenment 
[dhammakAya] have their own 
equivalent 
state of being which is called 
Nirvana. 
• Blessing Thirty-three: Seeing 
the Four Noble 
Truths: the Noble Truths have to 
be seen with the 
eye of the DhammakAya because 
they cannot be 
seen with the human eye. If the 
Noble Truths could 
be seen with the naked eye, surely 
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undertakers 
would come to and end of 
defilements before anyone 
else — because they see dead 
people every day! 
On the contrary, we are surrounded 
by birth, old 
age, sickness and death every day 
of our lives, but 
we fail to see the Noble Truths! 
Indeed, not even 
the angels, Brahmas or 
formless-Brahmas can see 
the Noble Truths, unless they 
practice meditation 
to the degree they can attain the 
DhammakAya. 
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The reason why DhammakAya can 
see the Noble 
Truths while the mundane inner 
bodies can't, is 
because the DhammakAya no 
longer has any admixture 
of defilements in the mind — this 
is why 
its aggregates are called 
Dhamma-aggregates 
[dhamma-khandha]. Only with 
such a pure body can 
one clearly see the Four Noble 
Truths. 
The previous blessing was not the 
last, however, 
because simply to see the Four 
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Noble Truths is not 
enough. You have to remove the 
defilements from 
all the bodies that are still defiled 
so that they are 
as pure as the DhammakAya —
something which 
is not easily realized. To attain the 
DhammakAya 
is only like someone who has 
succeeded in their 
education up to the level of passing 
their entrance 
examinations to get into university. 
Managing to 
pass your entrance exam doesn't 
mean that you will 
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go on to get your university 
degree. There are plenty 
of people who drop out at in their 
first year, their 
second year or even in their third 
year. It is the same 
for your practice of meditation. If 
you are able to 
attain the DhammakAya but don't 
continue to pursue 
your practice, you will slip back 
into your old 
ignorant ways. You have to 
practice further, until 
you cannot only see the Four 
Noble Truths, but become 
unified with them. This is why we 
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