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Delusion is ignorance or 
drunkenness especially 
that which causes us not to know 
the difference 
between what is good or bad for 
our quality of 
mind. It is not an ignorance of 
arithmetic or computers. 
It is an ignorance of the spiritual 
values in 
life which are essential for 
everyone to know — and 
which include the knowledge of 
right and wrong, 
appropriate and inappropriate 
behaviours. It is a 
sort of blindness of the mind. It 
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doesn't depend on 
your level of education or even if 
you can read and 
write — but it depends on your 
attitude to the 
world. Someone who is well 
educated might even 
be more subject to delusion than 
his uneducated 
counterpart because they think 
their graduation 
certificate is a substitute for 
wisdom. In approximate 
order of decreasing seriousness, 
delusion 
comes in the following varieties: 
I. Wrong View [micchA ditthi]: 
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This is the most 
coarse form of delusion. It includes 
the belief that 
good is evil or that evil is good or 
that heaven 
and hell don't exist or that we have 
no debt of 
gratitude to our parents. We have 
already covered 
the importance of discretion since 
the first 
blessing — and as we have seen it 
is the sort of 
delusion that opposes any sort of 
self-development 
in the cycle of existence. Even the 
serious 
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misdeeds [anantariyakamma] such 
as killing 
our own parents, or arahants are 
not so serious 
416 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
as wrong view because some day 
you can escape 
the effects of the karma. However, 
there is 
no light at the end of the tunnel for 
those with 
wrong view; 
2. Delusion [moha]: This is 
delusion which obstructs 
our understanding of the difference 
between 
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right and wrong. 
3. False View of Individuality 
[sakkayadiEEhi]: 
This is the view that you are 
superior to others. 
In fact our individuality is on many 
different levels 
and for as long as our view of 
ourselves extends 
no further than the physical body, 
we will 
be caught up in false view of 
individuality; 
4. Doubt [vicikicchA]: This is 
doubt as to whether 
the law of karma really works or 
not. It is doubt 
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as to whether it is really possible to 
make 
progress in meditation or whether 
it is really 
possible to become enlightened; 
5. Adherence to superstitions 
[sElabbataparAmAsa]: 
This means being caught up in 
superstitious 
rites and rituals (ones without 
reasons). 
Some people believe that eating 
certain foods will 
allow them to gain salvation — for 
others ritual 
bathing in some sacred river, 
fortune tellers, spirit 
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worship or other forms of 
superstition are seen 
as a refuge from suffering. The 
only way to come 
to a real end of such beliefs is to 
attain the 
DhammakAya. Until you manage 
to attain the 
DhammakAya, you will find that 
you will always 
be believing the last thing you 
heard. 
6. Conceit [mAna]: There are three 
ways in which 
people may be conceited about 
themselves: 
1. Assuming themselves to be of 
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make us reckless. 
If we assume ourselves to be 
superior but 
in fact we are just the same as 
them, then it is a 
form of bullying. If we think we 
are superior even 
though we are inferior, then our 
mistake of attitude 
will be even worse. Instead of 
comparing 
ourselves with others, we should 
compare ourselves 
today with how we were yesterday 
or last 
week and look for any 
improvements. 
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7. Absent-mindedness [uddhacca]: 
This is restlessness 
of mind of the sort you experience 
when 
you try to keep your mind on the 
object of meditation, 
but your mind wanders onto every 
other 
subject under the sun. 
8. Ignorance [avijjA]: This is lack 
of true knowledge 
or possession of the wrong sort of 
knowledge in 
a person. This is the lack of 
knowledge about 
the important matters of `where we 
have come 
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from', `why we are here', `when 
we will die' and 
`where we will go when we die'. 
For such knowledge, 
you need to attain the 
DhammakAya to 
get any real answers — not just the 
initial 
DhammakAya, but the 
DhammakAyas of the 
higher Buddhist saints. 
B.3 Conclusion as Fetters 
The subtle defilements can also be 
concluded in the 
form of the Ten Fetters 
[saOyojana] which are 
sequentially uprooted by each of 
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the stages of Buddhist 
sainthood as already discussed in 
Blessing 
Thirty-three (see §C.1, Table 4). 
B.4 Why we can't afford to 
tolerate the subtle 
defilements 
Although the subtle defilements on 
the face of it 
seem harmless, we cannot afford to 
tolerate their 
presence of mind. It is just like a 
spark which can 
cause the whole of a city to bum 
down. The Buddha 
thus taught us to see danger even 
in the smallest 
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things [aAumattesu vajjesu 
bhaya-dassavE]. 
Even though all these mental taints 
might be considered 
minor — no more than `rust' in the 
mind, 
we have to try to get rid of them 
because otherwise 
they will be damaging to us in the 
future. For most 
people, the mental taints are so 
subtle that they feel 
that it doesn't really matter 
whether they are there 
or not. They are like tiny bacteria 
which can cause 
much more serious diseases. Often 
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if we are still 
living the household life with a 
husband or wife 
and children, it is difficult to 
appreciate the danBlessing 
Thirty-Seven: Freedom from 
Subtle Defilements 417 
gers of these taints. However, 
when we leave the 
household life and dedicate 
ourselves to mental 
training, we see that these taints 
cannot be ignored. 
Thus you have to be careful of 
defilements of all 
levels. You cannot afford to 
overlook even the smallest. 
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The best security is to uproot all 
until no further 
remain. 
B.5 Overcoming the Subtle 
defilements 
Most of the ways of overcoming 
the subtle defilements 
have been dealt with in detail in 
the preceding 
Blessings: 
• Greed can be overcome by 
practising contentment 
(see Blessing Twenty-Four) and by 
getting 
life properly in perspective through 
meditation; 
• Stinginess can be overcome by 
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practising generosity 
(see Blessing Fifteen): 
• Sensuality needs to be 
transcended by: contentment 
with one's own spouse, giving up 
frivolous 
behaviour, using funerals to your 
benefit, 
associating with good friends (see 
Blessing Two), 
loving yourself unselfishly (see 
Blessing Thirty-
Six), spreading loving kindness 
limitlessly, staying 
single, keeping the Eight Precepts 
and staying 
celibate (see Blessing Thirty-Two) 
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and persistence 
(see Blessing Twenty-Seven). 
• Anger has different ways of 
overcoming it depending 
on which situation you meet it in: 
if you 
are so angry that you have lost 
control of your 
temper, it is better to withdraw 
amicably and 
come back later, while 
recomposing your 
mindfulness - if you are still in 
control of your 
temper, you should say or do 
nothing harmful 
while thinking clearly through the 
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full range of 
options and outcomes available to 
you for overcoming 
the problem causing your anger —
in 
the meantime, if you are of a 
personality liable 
to anger, you should try to 
cultivate loving kindness, 
train yourself in patience (see 
Blessing 
Twenty-Seven) and try to avoid 
associating with 
angry people (see Blessing One); 
• False View needs to be 
overcome by cultivating 
wisdom, meditating more, 
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overcoming doubts 
while giving Buddhist teachings 
the benefit of 
the doubt. 
• Conceit needs to be overcome 
by being humble 
(see Blessing Twenty-Three), being 
wary of comparing 
yourself with others, checking 
yourself 
for false views, associating with 
good friends (see 
Blessing Two) and avoiding 
flatterers (see Blessing 
One), being thorough in all that 
you do, not 
finding fault with others, 
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cultivating respect (see 
Blessing Twenty-two)and training 
yourself in 
gratitude (see Blessing 
Twenty-Five) since childhood. 
C. ILLUSTRATIVE 
EXAMPLES 
C.1 Metaphor: Droplet of water 
on a lily pad 
Just as a droplet of water skates 
around on a lily 
pad without sticking — for those 
who have attained 
Nirvana, even the subtlest of 
defilements can no 
longer attach to the mind. 
C.2 Ex. Monks overestimate their 
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