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destroyed and we will be left with 
nothing more 
than our own ignorance. 
D.4 Objects not worthy of respect 
Correspondingly, we must be 
careful not to pay respect 
to things not worthy of respect. In 
brief, there 
are four categories of things we 
should avoid idolising 
or paying respect to: 
I. People not worthy of Respect: 
This means not 
idolizing fools, and not supporting 
them or praising 
them — no matter how high in 
rank they 
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might be. 
58 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
2. Objects not worthy of respect: 
This means not 
idolizing pictures, sculptures, 
works, possessions 
or tools of fools. 
3. Objects which lead to 
foolishness: This means 
not idolizing things like pictures of 
models, singers 
or sportsmen who lack virtue or 
advertising 
for "roads to ruin" such as alcohol. 
We shouldn't 
use these sort of things to decorate 
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our homes. 
4. Objects which lead to 
gullability: This means 
not idolizing things which promote 
superstition 
such as "holy trees", "holy 
mountains", "spirit 
houses" etc. 
E. THE PRACTICALITY OF 
PAYING RESPECT 
E.1 Expressing respect with body, 
speech and mind 
Respect can be paid through the 
channels of body, 
speech or mind. 
1. Physical Respect: Physically 
paying respect 
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means the various polite manners 
that we demonstrate 
towards someone in their presence, 
such 
as standing up when they come 
into the room, 
or sitting politely when in front of 
them. Even if 
you are not in their presence, you 
should still 
show physical respect towards 
those worthy of 
virtue even if you are not in their 
presence but 
are in the presence of their 
photograph, their 
sculpted image — such as a 
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Buddha Image or a 
photograph of your teaching 
master. We should 
show our respect by not pointing 
our feet towards 
such an image, and even if we are 
lying 
down to sleep — pointing our head 
towards the 
image instead of our feet; 
2. Verbal Respect: Homage 
through the channel of 
speech includes the speaking, 
chanting or singing 
of praises of one worthy of 
homage, rather 
than gossipping maliciously about 
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them; 
3. Mental Respect: Homage 
through the channel 
of the mind means recollecting the 
teachings of 
one worthy of homage to the 
degree that they 
inspire us. We might recollect 
what that person 
has taught us in the way of good 
deeds. We might 
also consider the good character 
and virtues exemplified 
(but not taught) by that person. 
Both 
of these are homage through the 
channel of the 
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mind; 
E.2 How to Express Respect 
Many people misunderstand 
paying respect as bundling 
together a lotus, candles and 
incense, laying 
it before the object of respect and 
bowing down 
three times. Paying respect in this 
way is not incorrect, 
but it is not the whole story. 
Paying respect 
that is complete in all respects 
must exhibit four 
factors: 
I. Physical token of respect 
[sakkAra]: This refers 
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to a gift which is an expression of 
respect. It is 
something we must prepare in 
advance and 
which is presented during the act 
of paying respect. 
Such a token of respect differs for 
different 
situations and different categories 
of persons 
worthy of respect — for example, 
flowers, incense 
and candles are worthy tokens of 
respect 
for paying respect to the Buddha, 
monks or 
teachers. Clothes or bedclothes 
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might be more 
worthy tokens of respect for your 
parents. Neither 
of these tokens of respect are 
suitable as the 
sort of gift you might take with 
you when visiting 
distinguished persons of social 
standing. Nor 
would they be suitable as the sort 
of gift you 
bring back with you for your 
friends when you 
have been away on holiday. Even 
money can be 
a token of respect. If your teacher 
has been 
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putting in extra hours out of the 
kindness of his 
heart, giving up his time to give 
you tutorials at 
home, giving him money as a gift 
would not be 
out of place, and in this respect 
would be considered 
a token of respect, not a payment. 
Another 
consideration for tokens of respect 
is that 
they should be prepared in 
advance. To leave a 
bucket of cut flowers, no matter 
how big the 
bucket is, in the middle of the main 
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temple 
pavillion would hardly be 
considered an act of 
respect. Any token of respect 
should be prepared 
with care and precision and be 
both clean and 
well organized. 
2. Gesture of respect [vandanA]: 
this refers to gestures 
which express respect such as 
bowing or 
prostration or praise or chanting 
praise. Morning 
and evening chanting can be 
counted as 
vandanA. Even recollection of 
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what one has been 
taught by the wise or one's teacher 
can be 
Blessing Three: Expressing 
Respect to Those Worthy of 
Respect 59 
counted as vandanA. 
3. Attitude of respect [mAnanA]: 
This refers to an 
attitude of respect. Respect 
consists of the stems 
`re' which means again and `spece 
which means 
to re-examine a person (for their 
good points). 
Given that all people except the 
Buddha are 
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made up of a mixture of both good 
and bad then 
we have to look for the good 
points in people. 
Taking these good points, apart 
from noticing 
these good points, part of respect is 
to praise 
them for these good points and use 
them as a 
good example to model ourselves 
upon. 
4. Concern for the object of 
respect [garulcAra]: this 
refers to an attitude of concern 
about the wellbeing 
of the person who is worthy of 
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respect and 
recollection of the good deeds and 
virtues of that 
person. 
All of these four components 
comprise the way of 
paying respect. 
E.3 Consequences of Not Paying 
Respect to 
those worthy of homage 
If those held in high respect do not 
behave in a fitting 
way, many sorts of harm are 
brought on the 
individual, interpersonal and social 
levels. To take 
the clergy as an example, if 
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members of the monastic 
community are undisciplined and 
do not cherish 
their congregation according to the 
advice of 
the Buddha, the harm that will 
come to the congregation 
can be concluded on three levels: 
I. Losing a sense of responsibility 
for their own 
human dignity: If clergy lack 
self-discipline and 
don't fulfil their duties towards 
their congregation 
as prescribed by the Lord Buddha, 
the first 
level of disaster which will happen 
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to them is 
that the congregation will lose 
their sense of responsibility 
for their own human dignity —
this 
loss giving rise (at the minimum) 
to the following 
three undesirable symptoms: 
1. Breakdown of self-discipline: 
Society will degenerate 
to the point where the majority of 
people 
do not keep the Five Precepts and 
do not 
even understand what keeping the 
Precepts 
means. This will increase the 
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incidence of society 
of people taking advantage of each 
other. 
When taking advantage of each 
other becomes 
the the norm, especially for those 
in positions 
of authority, the effects will have 
repurcussions on a national scale 
— therefore, 
citizens must unite in preventing 
those who 
don't respect the Five Precepts 
from being put 
in positions of power; 
2. Those seeking ordination are of 
low quality: Lowquality 
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ordinands burden their preceptors 
with problems — it is hard to train 
them at 
all. If clergy are unable to develop 
purity of 
body, speech and mind, they will 
undermine 
the existing faith of the 
congregation — ultimately 
destroying the religion; 
3. Transcendental attainment 
becomes becomes increasingly 
inaccessible: The highest aim of 
those 
who ordain is to attain Nirvana. 
However, if 
those who ordain are of low 
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quality and are 
difficult to train, there will be a 
continuous 
deterioration in the capability of 
the monastic 
community to the point where they 
will 
no longer be able to reach any sort 
of transcendental 
attainment. When there are no 
religious 
exemplars to look up to, the 
congregation 
will become more and more firmly 
entrenched in False View — more 
and more 
ignorant of Dhamma teachings, 
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self-discipline 
— with some of the most serious 
repurcussions for social chaos; 
2. Losing a sense of responsibility 
for the human 
dignity of others: If clergy lack 
self-discipline and 
don't fulfil the duties towards their 
congregation 
as prescribed by the Lord Buddha, 
the second 
level of disaster which will happen 
to them 
is that the congregation will lose 
their sense of 
responsibility for the human 
dignity of others 
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