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that you start noticing the changing 
state of your 
own body in the direction of 
deterioration. 
When you are a child and you get a 
cold, just by 
taking a nap you can soon recover. 
However, by 
the age of twenty it might take you 
all night before 
you are able to get over your cold. 
By the age of 
thirty, it takes two or three days to 
get over your 
cold. By the age of forty, it takes 
four or five days to 
recover. By the age of fifty, to get 
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over a cold might 
take a week or even two weeks for 
some people. 
By the age of sixty, it might take a 
month to get 
over a cold. By the age of seventy, 
you feel as if you 
have had a cold continuously. By 
the age of eighty, 
if you get a cold, you feel as if you 
are going to die! 
If you remind yourself of death 
often, if you fall in 
love it won't be for long and it 
won't be with too 
much attachment because you will 
always have the 
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feeling that the `Grim Reaper' is 
stalking you wherever 
you are going and that will help to 
put your 
life in perspective. 
However, it is noticeable from this 
particular tale 
that the Bodhisattva, even though 
he had trained 
himself in the recollection of death 
to this degree, 
still was attracted to have a family 
of his own and 
not to remain single. However, if 
his wife were to 
die, he wouldn't waste any time 
grieving. Thus if 
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you practice the recollection of 
death, if you are still 
not in love, you will not be drawn 
into the potential 
sorrow of such a relationship. If 
you are already 
in love then at least you will be 
able to maintain 
your own `personal space'. 
D.5 Ex. PaEAcArA TherE 
(DhA.11.260ff) 
PaEAcArA was the daughter of a 
rich man from 
SAvatthE. She was very beautiful 
and was closely 
guarded from suitors by her 
parents. One day, however, 
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she fell in love with a man-servant 
and eloped 
with him to a village far away 
from SAvatthE. In 
due course she became pregnant. 
As the time for 
giving birth drew near, on several 
occasions she 
asked permission from her 
husband to return to her 
parents in SAvatthE for the birth 
(in accordance with 
the tradition of the time). Her 
husband, however, 
fearing that he would be beaten up 
by her parents, 
discouraged her from going. One 
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day, however, 
while her husband was away, she 
set out alone for 
the home of her parents. Her 
husband managed to 
catch up with her on the way and 
pleaded with her 
Blessing Thirty-Six: 
Sorrowlessness 409 
to return home, but she refused. 
Unfortunately she 
went into labour there and then, 
she gave birth to a 
son in the forest. After the birth of 
her son, she returned 
home with her husband. 
Not long afterwards, she became 
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pregnant again 
and she made the same request to 
her husband as 
before but again was turned down. 
As the time forgiving 
birth to her second child drew near 
again 
she set out for the home of her 
parents in SAvatthE, 
taking her son with her. Her 
husband followed her 
and caught up with her on the way; 
but as it started 
to rain heavily, she went into 
labour again.The husband 
went to look for a suitable place to 
give birth 
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but while he was clearing a little 
patch of land, he 
was bitten by a poisonous snake, 
and died on the 
spot. Meanwhile, while 
PaEAcArA waiting for his 
return, gave birth to her second 
son. In the morning, 
she searched for her husband, but 
found only 
his corpse. Full of grief, and 
blaming herself for the 
death of her husband, she 
continued on her way to 
her parents. 
Because it had rained incessantly 
the whole night, 
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the river was so swollen it was not 
possible for her 
to cross the river carrying both 
sons at once. Thus, 
she left the elder boy on the near 
bank of the river, 
while crossing the river with her 
baby, leaving him 
on the far bank. She then went 
back for the elder 
boy. While she was midstream, a 
hawk hovered 
over the baby thinking it was a 
piece of meat. She 
shouted to frighten away the hawk, 
but all was in 
vain; the hawk carried the baby 
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away. Meanwhile, 
the elder boy heard his mother 
shouting from the 
middle of the river and thought she 
was calling for 
him. He attempted to cross the 
river himself but 
was carried away by the strong 
current. Thus, 
PaEAcArA lost both her sons as 
well as her husband. 
She wept and lamented loudly, `A 
son is carried 
away by a hawk, another son is 
carried away by 
the current, my husband is also 
dead, bitten by a 
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poisonous snake!' Later, she met a 
man from 
SAvatthE and fearfully asked after 
her parents. The 
man replied that due to a violent 
storm in SAvatthE 
the previous night, the house of her 
parents had 
fallen down and that both her 
parents, together with 
her only brother had died, and had 
been cremated. 
On hearing this tragic news, 
PaEAcArA went completely 
mad. She did not even notice that 
her clothes 
had fallen from her and that she 
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was half-naked. 
She went about the streets, 
shouting out, `Woe is 
me!' 
At this time the Buddha was 
preaching at the 
Jetavana monastery, and he saw 
PaEAcArA at a distance; 
so he willed that she should come 
to the congregation. 
The crowd seeing her coming tried 
to 
stop her saying, `Don't let the mad 
woman come 
in.' However, the Buddha told 
them to make way 
for her. When PaEAcArA was 
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close enough to hear 
him, he told her to control her 
mind and to keep 
calm. As she became aware of 
herself, she realised 
that she did not have her skirt on 
and quietly 
crouched down. Someone gave her 
a piece of cloth 
to cover herself. She then told the 
Buddha how she 
had lost her sons, her husband, her 
parents, and 
her only brother. 
The Buddha consoled her, 
TaEAcArA, have no 
fear; you have now come to one 
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who can protect 
you and can really guide you. 
Throughout this 
round of existences, the amount of 
tears you have 
shed on account of the death of 
sons, husbands, 
parents and brothers is 
voluminous.' Then, the Buddha 
expounded to her the Anamatagga 
Sutta 
(S.ii.178ff.),which dealt with 
countless existences, 
and she felt relieved and calmed. 
The Buddha 
added that one should not worry 
too much about 
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those who were gone, but that one 
should purify 
oneself and strive to realise 
NibbAna. On hearing 
this discourse PaEAcArA realised 
the uncertainty and 
futility of existence and attained 
stream-entry. 
PaEAcArA became a bhikkhuAi. 
One day, she was 
cleaning her feet with water from a 
water-pot. As 
she poured the water for the first 
time, it flowed 
only a short distance and 
disappeared; then she 
poured for the second time and the 
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water went a 
little farther, but the water she 
poured for the third 
time went the farthest. As she 
looked at the flow 
and the disappearance of water 
poured out successively 
for three times, she pondered, 
"even so do 
mortals die, either in childhood, in 
middle age or 
in old age". The Buddha, seeing 
her through his 
supernormal powers from the 
Jetavana monastery 
sent forth his radiance and 
exhorted her, TatAcArA, 
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you are now on the right path, and 
you now have 
410 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
the true perception of the 
aggregates [khandha] 
of life. One who does not perceive 
the impermanence, 
unsatisfactoriness and 
insubstantiality of 
the component things is useless 
even if he were 
to live for a hundred years.' Soon 
after, PaEAcArA 
attained Arahanthood and was later 
to be praised 
by the Buddha as the foremost 
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amongst the nuns 
for knowing the Vinaya. 
D.6 Ex. Tigers in the Town 
(traditional) 
Once upon a time, there was an old 
Chinese monk 
who built a temple deep in the 
forest at the top 
of the mountains. The monk had 
stayed inside 
the temple he had built without 
going anywhere 
else for almost the whole of his 
life. One day the 
monk found an orphaned boy in 
the forest. The 
monk brought up the child until he 
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was a teenager. 
Like the monk, the boy had spent 
nearly the 
whole of their life in the temple. 
The only contact 
they had with the outside world 
was when 
they had monks come to visit them 
from other 
temples. All his life, the boy could 
not remember 
having met anyone else but monks. 
One day the monk needed to go on 
some errands 
in the nearby town and he needed 
to take 
the boy along too, to help carry 
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things. Thus on 
the day before they had to make 
the journey, the 
monk gave the boy a warning. He 
warned, "There 
is a type of animal that lives in the 
town that is 
very frightening. The animal looks 
just like you, 
but it has long hair, red cheeks and 
red lips. Such 
animals have strange effeminate 
habits. Whatever 
you do, don't get close to any of 
these animals. 
They are worse than tigers! If you 
don't follow 
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