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more than guesswork. Sometimes 
we guess correctly, 
sometimes not. Tragically, the 
errors we make 
only serve to worsen the darkness 
— and we continue 
to be haunted by the dangers that 
lurk there. 
It makes no difference how 
influentual you are 
in worldly ways. Even if you are 
the most powerful 
king, emperor or millionaire in the 
world, it 
doesn't help you to escape from 
the inner ignorance 
of the eternal questions of life, and 
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so you cannot 
evade the fears that lurk in the 
darkness of life. 
A.2 Dangers lurking inthe 
darkness 
We can divide all the sorts of 
dangers we encounter 
in life into two main categories 
(note the similarity 
here with the categories of 
suffering mentioned 
in Blessing Thirty-three VB.1]): 
I. Built-in Dangers: Everyone 
without exception 
co-exists with dangers since the 
day they are born 
— dangers which no-one can 
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avoid sooner or 
later meeting 
and even the fear 
of meeting 
them can cripple our efforts to 
cultivate good 
deeds in our lives 
these dangers 
corresponding 
to: 
• the danger of birth [jAti-bhaya]; 
• the danger of old-age 
[jarA-bhaya] 
• the danger of illness 
[byAdhi-bhaya]; 
• the danger of death 
[maraAa-bhaya]. 
Blessing Thirty-Eight: 
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The Blissful Mind 
422 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
2. External Dangers: Apart from 
the built in dangers, 
we still have to endure the dangers 
around 
us in the world that we confront in 
our everyday 
lives. The dangers might come 
from: 
• people: e.g. fools, false friends, 
malevolent husbands, 
exploitative wives or bad 
neighbours; 
• natural disasters e.g. flooding, 
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earthquakes, 
volcanos or forest fire; 
• evil retribution i.e. when the 
retribution of evil 
deeds we have done in our past 
eventually 
catches up with us. 
A.3 The Four Shackles 
The reason why we find ourselves 
surrounded on 
every side by suffering and why 
we cannot break 
free of these, being born only to 
die, life after life, is 
because we are shackled by bonds 
or shackles [yoga] 
(D.iii.230, A.ii.10) which imprison 
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us in the three 
realms of existence. These bonds 
are not physical 
but act by limiting the access to the 
wisdom in our 
minds. These bonds are four in 
number: 
I. the shackle of 
sensual-indulgence [kAmayoga]: 
For as long as we are still partial to 
hearing beautiful 
music, tasting delicious food, 
wearing wellcut 
clothes, seeing beautiful images, 
touching soft 
things, having an attractive spouse 
or filling our 
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house with possessions, this 
shackle will tightly 
bind us, ensuring that we never 
stray from the 
sensual sphere (check) in our 
future lives; 
2. the shackle of attachment to the 
absorptions 
[bhavayoga]: This shackle may 
occur when we 
become attached to our mental 
attainments at the 
level of the form- and 
formless-absorptions. As 
soon as a person breaks free of the 
shackle of sensual 
indulgence, they will usually be 
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ensnared by 
this one instead. If one dies while 
still caught in 
this shackle, instead of being able 
to go to Nirvana 
at death, one will be reborn in the 
Brahmaworld; 
3. the shackle of views 
[diEEhiyoga]: This is being 
entrenched in one's own erroneous 
views - such 
as believing that one has no debt of 
gratitude to 
one's parents, believing in the 
non-reality of this 
world and the next or believing 
one can escape 
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suffering by doing rites and rituals 
— such views 
only add to the darkness in the 
mind, obscuring 
reality — which is why we refer to 
them as the 
third shackle . . .; 
4. the shackle of ignorance 
[avijjAyoga]: This is the 
imprisonment in one's own 
delusion — delusion 
that prevents one from realizing 
the Sadhamma 
(truth necessary for attaining 
enlightenment). 
One's ignorance is the result of a 
deficit on internal 
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illumination 
not being able to 
see the path 
to self-liberation. Thus ignorance 
is counted as the 
fourth of the shackles. 
B. BLISS 
'Bliss', the subject of this final 
blessing is the sense 
of relief and liberation in the mind 
which arises 
when one has, through the 
acquisition of wisdom 
(internal light) surrounded the 
influence of all dangers 
and fetters previously mentioned. 
B.1 Definitions 
The quality of mind described by 
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the Pali word 
`khemaO' from which this 
Blessing takes its name, 
is translated as `blissful'. The 
meaning of this word 
goes deeper than simply happiness, 
however—
with two characteristics which 
explain the arising 
of such bliss: 
1. invulnerability to danger: for 
those who have 
attained complete enlightenment, 
all four forms 
of shackles mentioned above have 
been cracked 
open. The mind is thus free 
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with no further 
limitation, encroachment or 
awkwardness. No 
further danger can interfere with 
the mind —
through the virtue of having one's 
mind permanently 
immersed in the eternal bliss of 
Nirvana; 
2. endowment with knowledge: a 
second way of 
understanding the bliss of the mind 
found in this 
blessing is that the mind has 
gained knowledge 
so far-reaching that no further 
form of delusion 
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can obscure one's wisdom. This 
special wisdom 
coming to one as a result of 
enlightenment can 
be summarized in several different 
ways. 
B.2 Knowledge accessible to the 
blissful mind 
B.2.1 The Threefold 
Supraknowledge ItevijjA] 
(D.iii.220, A.v.211) 
The Threefold Supraknowledge is 
insightful wisdom 
acquired during the final stages of 
enlightenment 
and includes the following three 
sorts of knowledge: 
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Blessing Thirty-Eight: The Blissful 
Mind 423 
1. the ability to recollect one's 
own previous 
existences 
[pubbenivasanussatiriAAa]; 
2. the ability to recollect the 
previous existences 
of others [cutEpapAtanAAa]; 
3. the knowledge of an utter end 
to all defilements 
[AsavakkhayafiAAa] 
B.2.2 The Sixfold Mental Powers 
[abhiririA] 
(D.iii. 281, A.iii.280) 
The sixfold mental powers are 
another way of describing 
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the by-products of the wisdom of 
the enlightened: 
I. magical powers [iddhividhA]: 
the ability 
to perform certain miracles to do 
with 
changing the nature of objects 
such as 
floating in the air, transmuting the 
body, 
enlarging or shrinking oneself or 
making 
oneself invisible; 
2. supranormal audition 
[dibbasota]: being 
able to hear sounds not audible to 
others 
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3. reading the minds of others 
[cetopariyafiAAa]: 
knowing what others are thinking; 
4. the ability to recollect one's 
own previous 
existences 
[pubbenivasanussatifiAAa]; 
5. the ability to recollect the 
previous existences 
of others [cutEpapAtanAAa]; 
6. the knowledge of an utter end 
to all defilements 
[AsavakkhayanAAa] 
For the sixfold mental powers, the 
first five are 
worldly [lokiya] accomplishments, 
the sixth alone 
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being transcendental [lokuttara] 
this last being 
something that can only be 
achieved by one's own 
efforts and which is impossible to 
replicate or know 
from listening to others' 
experiences. Reaching this 
level in one's practice, one will 
know for oneself. 
B.2.3 The Fourfold Analytical 
Insights [paEisambhidA] 
(A.11.160) 
These are mental abilities 
concerned with the teaching 
of Dhamma to others. They are 
attained by those 
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who have reached an end of 
defilements: 
I. analytic insight into 
consequences 
[atthapaEisambhidA]: 
the masterful wisdom allowing 
one to enlarge upon any subject of 
the Dhamma; 
2. analytic insight into causes 
[dhammapaEisambhidA]: 
the masterful wisdom allowing 
one to summarize any subject of 
the 
Dhamma without losing the core 
meaning; 
3. analytic insight into language 
[niruttipaEisambhidA]: 
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masterful insight into language 
allowing one to know the meaning 
of all forms of human and animal 
communication; 
4. analytic insight into wit 
[patibhAAapatisambhidA]: 
the gift of quick-wittedness in 
expounding the Dhamma allowing 
one to 
`think on one's feet' and answer 
questions 
`on the spot'; 
C. BORN TO PURSUE 
PERFECTION 
All these sets of supranormal 
knowledge are fruits 
which may accrue to a greater or 
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lesser extent to 
those earnest in their Dhamma 
practice. It is for 
this reason that all of us should try 
to put all thirtyeight 
blessings into practice — if we 
practise truly, 
before long we will avail ourselves 
of true knowledge 
of the core of Buddhism and have 
a knowledge 
of the supranormal in the footsteps 
of the 
Buddha and all the arahants. 
If we practice more and more, we 
will start to 
understand for ourselves the 
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