EFTA01160176

my advice, you will never get back 
to our temple 
alive. Keep your distance." 
The two of them went into town 
and the town 
was full of the sort of tigers that 
the monk had 
warned him of. The boy looked at 
the `tigers' but 
he didn't find them at all 
frightening. To him they 
looked quite attractive. Whenever 
the monk was 
not watching him, he would stare 
at every `tiger' 
that passed. On the way back to the 
temple, the 
EFTA01163576

boy was not his usual cheerful self, 
but hung his 
head, dragged his feet and would 
hardly speak 
at all. The monk asked him, "Is 
anything 
wrong?". 
The boy replied, "I am thinking 
about tigers". 
The monk thought to himself, 
"Here we go again 
— after bringing up a boy the 
whole of his life in 
seclusion, he is still making the 
same mistake as 
the rest of them!" The boy's mind 
was so dry, that 
EFTA01163577

he could hardly enjoy his life any 
more. This is 
the dryness of mind that we mean 
by `sorrow'. 
Blessing Thirty-Seven: Freedom 
from Subtle Defilements 411 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 Place of Blessing 
Thirty-Seven in the order 
of things 
The subject matter of this blessing 
is in fact a result 
of practising all the previous 
blessings from not associating 
with fools up until the practise of 
the 
Brahmafaring. As a result of 
EFTA01163578

training, the mind becomes 
progressively more refined until 
one can see 
the Four Noble Truths — in the 
same way that the 
Buddha did. Ultimately we must 
work on ourselves 
until there are no remaining 
defilements in the 
mind. Even for the Buddha, it was 
not possible to 
achieve such attainments instantly. 
Even in his final 
lifetime it took six full years. 
Having become 
enlightened, as a result of his 
teaching, others too 
EFTA01163579

were able to come to an end of 
defilements. 
Defilements, like litter, have gross 
and subtle 
forms. Gross litter can be picked 
up and put in a 
trash can — fine litter is more 
difficult to detect. In 
the same way, the defilements of 
the mind have 
subtle forms which can be 
compared to fine dust 
so small that that it cannot even be 
seen with normal 
eyesight. Such defilements are 
equivalent to the 
dust that clings to a mirror, making 
EFTA01163580

it dull — you 
only notice such dust when you 
can clean away 
such dust so that you can see 
clearly in the mirror 
again. 
It is the absence of these subtle 
defilements which 
is the subject matter of this 
blessing. Of course, such 
a state is the result of the practice 
of those who have 
already come to an end of 
defilements — but for 
the benefit of the general reader, 
we take the opportunity 
in this Blessing to examine the 
EFTA01163581

nature of 
the subtle defilements and give 
some possible advice 
for uprooting them. 
A.2 Definitions 
Defilements are like pollutants or 
impurities found 
in the mind which stop the mind 
from working in 
its normal efficient way. They are 
equivalent to bacteria 
or viruses in the body — external 
carriers of 
disease which cause the body the 
suffer from various 
illnesses. The Pali word used to 
refer to this 
EFTA01163582

blessing is `virajab' which literally 
means `stainless', 
`faultless' or `freedom from 
defilements and 
passion'. In the commentaries it is 
used specifically 
to mean freedom from the subtlest 
of defilements. 
Attaining freedom even from such 
subtle defilements 
is beneficial because for as long as 
such subtle 
defilements are still present, the 
mind will lose 
its lustre — the subtle defilements 
will penetrate, 
encapsulate and infiltrate the mind 
EFTA01163583

making the 
mind lose its radiance. The mind 
which is free of 
subtle defilements is indeed free of 
all defilements, 
whether they be gross, medium or 
subtle. All have 
been completely uprooted and no 
longer hold sway 
over the functioning of the mind. 
So definitively 
have the defilements been 
eradicated from the mind 
that they can never grow back. 
Thus the mind is 
pure and chaste and radiant as is 
the case for the 
EFTA01163584

mind of an arahant. 
Blessing 
Thirty-Seven: 
Freedom from 
Subtle Defilements 
412 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
B. DEFILEMENTS 
B.1 Comparison of Different 
Groups 
In all there are three types of 
defilements 
greed, 
hatred and delusion 
each of 
which has its identifying 
characteristics: 
EFTA01163585

putes by forgiveness even if the 
disputes are with 
those who should really be asking 
your forgiveness. 
• Ignorance has the character of 
being very damaging 
and also it takes a long time to 
remedy its 
action. The most frightening thing 
about ignorance 
is that we don't know that we 
don't know. 
It is like a blind man who has lost 
his way. The 
worldly and spiritual retributions 
for ignorance 
are both serious. If one does 
EFTA01163586

something without 
understanding, one will keep on 
making the 
same mistakes without end. 
Ignorance is also the 
root of desire and hatred. It is very 
hard even to 
know where to start dealing with 
ignorance if 
one has not yet attained the 
DhammakAya. Even 
when you have attained the 
DhammakAya, to 
eradicate ignorance still takes a lot 
of effort. Some 
stream-enterers [sotApana] need to 
practice further 
EFTA01163587

for up to seven lifetimes before 
they can get 
completely free of their ignorance. 
B.2 Classification of Defilements 
For each of the three families of 
defilements —
greed, hatred and delusion 
there 
are gross, medium 
and subtle levels of the defilements 
(as illustrated 
in the table on the right): 
This blessing primarily concerns 
the subtle defilements, 
however, by way of comparison, 
we will 
start by describing the grosser 
defilements — moving 
EFTA01163588

through each family of defilements 
in decreasing 
order of seriousness. 
B.2.1 Greed Group [rAga]: 
The group of defilements of greed 
and desire includes 
all defilements which have positive 
attachments 
generating love, passion or desire. 
In approximate 
order of decreasing seriousness, 
greed 
and desire come in the following 
varieties: 
I. Desiring things in a Dishonest 
Way [lobha]: This 
is the desire which if given the 
EFTA01163589

opportunity, 
would cause one to use dishonest 
means to get 
the object of the desire. It is when 
one lets one's 
greed get out of hand to the point it 
starts to 
erode one's better judgement to the 
point one 
would steal or use aggression to 
get someone 
else's possessions. Suppose you 
want to obtain 
something that belongs to someone 
else — by 
Defilement Family Seriousness of 
Duration of 
EFTA01163590

SI M 11 SE Dq o1 
8u!tpkiono Apotuoi 
om oiojoq 
oum 8ITOI p 
aq iIA簋 1  `ausop Buipit8
MI 
E opuu 0AI 14 
OM 0011O ' SP0IT0 0A9E8011 ST! alalj 
JOA000J 01 
18 
E 8uumboi 1 8tu8ptap 
8luoci 1 ou 
Jo 0I)sIJa)0℃Jpq0 0141. SI 14 al/Sdar• 
:pi)op WOW 
℃ 
8uoi 
OA1.1D uo!sniocpouviou81 
pang-pails 0AEJD JO8w/poJ)pH 
pomi-8ucri Tr48!Is amsacypooiD 
a扣uIU a 
'wpmajoa a8 RUIT a FIJI'aj0j 
EFTA01163591

before. As a clear example, think 
how long it 
takes to recover from a broken 
heart — or the 
sorrow described in Blessing 
Thirty-six. The effects 
of desire (in the absence of 
aggression) are 
not particularly damaging either in 
spiritual or 
in worldly ways — with incest and 
theft being 
about the most extreme 
consequences. 
• Hatred and anger are very 
damaging but it 
doesn't take long to recover from 
EFTA01163592

them. However, 
under the sway of hatred, there is 
no end 
to the violence and cruelty one can 
do. One can 
even go as far as to kill one's own 
teacher and 
parents. The worldly retribution 
for violence is 
severe — you can be put in prison 
all your life or 
executed. Spiritual retribution is 
also severe —
especially for the serious actions 
such as killing 
an arahant, or one's parents. The 
grasp of hatred 
EFTA01163593

and anger are usually short-lived, 
however. If 
one is angry, often all that is 
needed is for someone 
to say sorry, and the tension is 
gone. Sometimes 
anger disappears as quickly as it 
comes —
and one cannot even remember 
what one was 
supposed to be angry about. 
Sometimes one cannot 
imagine in retrospect how one 
could have 
done something one did whilst one 
was angry. 
Thus if you have collected up spite 
EFTA01163594

from conflicts 
in your past, be quick to settle 
those dis-
TABLE 37.1: Damage 
Characteristics of 
Different Defilement Groups 
Blessing Thirty-Seven: Freedom 
from Subtle Defilements 413 
Desiring things in a Dishonest 
Way [lobha] 
Open Covetousness 
[abhijjhAvisamalobha] 
Discrete Covetousness 
[abhijjhA] 
Wanting to obtain things by 
unscrupulous earnings 
[pApicchA] 
EFTA01163595