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Amenable Dhamma is the most 
important, followed 
by amenable personnel, followed 
by amenable 
food supply and an amenable 
location is the 
least important of the four. 
Even though the location may not 
be ideal, but 
the food is plentiful or neither the 
location or the 
food supply are ideal, but the 
inhabitants are amenable, 
they can soon improve the quality 
of the location 
and the food. However, the thing 
that makes 
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the inhabitants amenable is having 
Amenable 
Dhamma it that location. This is 
the reason why 
Amenable Dhamma is the most 
important attribute 
of the four. 
C.4 Amenable Location outside, 
Amenable Location inside 
There are two different types of 
amenable location: 
I. Amenable Surroundings: the 
quality of location 
which is determined by the four 
factors already 
discussed. 
2. Amenable Location within: 
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This is the most important 
influence on the quality of our well 
being 
— i.e. a healthy body and mind —
a body 
74 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
and mind that are in no way 
disabled or infected 
by disease. 
Some people are born with a silver 
spoon in their 
mouths. They are brought up 
properly by their parents, 
but when they grow up, instead of 
feeling 
grateful for all the efforts made by 
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their parents, 
they inflict illness upon themselves 
by turning 
alcaholic. There are a myriad 
diseases that come as 
a result of drinking alcohol. Even 
lying can be the 
source of disease (see Blessing 
Nine, §C.1.4) causing 
your memory to become blurred 
and eventually 
leading to senile dementure as the 
result of the bad 
karma you have accumulated 
throughout the 
course of your life. 
Thus as we have seen from the 
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examples of breaking 
the Precepts of lying or drinking 
alcahol, all of 
the Precepts, if broken, will be the 
source of illness. 
Thus you need to protect your 
internal environment. 
If you pollute the quality of your 
internal environment, 
success will elude you for the rest 
of 
your life and your future lifetimes 
will be even 
worse. Take care of your Precepts 
and they will take 
care of you. 
Now that you know the four 
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factors of an amenable 
location if you are still a child you 
should look 
for a location that is going to be 
amenable to your 
own education. If you are an adult 
then you should 
try to make your location into an 
amenable location, 
wherever you go. As an adult, it 
isn't good enough 
simply to go looking for amenable 
locations, you 
should be working actively to 
improve the quality 
of the environment. 
D. ILLUSTRATIVE 
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EXAMPLES 
D.1 Metaphor: Bonsai Bodhi Tree 
It is said that if you plant a tree in 
fertile soil, it will 
grow until it is many metres in 
diameter. If you take 
the same tree and plant it in a 
flower pot or a barrel, 
it will end up as a root-bound 
bonsai tree instead. 
Even if it is watered and carefully 
tended for 
several generations it will never 
grow higher than 
a few inches. Asked why a 
thousand-year old tree 
reaches only a few inches in 
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height, we come back 
to the conclusion that it has been 
planted in an 
unamenable location. Even though 
it doesn't grow 
tall, it doesn't die. 
D.2 Ex. Establishing Saketu 
(DhA.i.386) 
When King Pasenadi built the new 
city of Saketu 
in the time of the Lord Buddha, he 
sent a letter to 
King BimbAsara to ask for 
permission to move one 
of the patrons from that kingdom 
to live in the new 
city. King BimbasAra sent 
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VisAkhA's father as patron 
to the new city. Before long, the 
patron got all 
the finances of the city properly 
organized and 
Saketu became one of the most 
prosperous citystates 
in India at that time. This goes to 
show that 
an amenable city doesn't just 
consist of buildings 
but it needs the presence of 
amenable neighbours 
such as benefactors and patrons. 
D.3 Ex. Ariya the fisherman 
(DhA.iii.396ff) 
Even though some people in the 
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time of the Lord 
Buddha had no worldly knowledge 
— they were 
completely illiterate and were of 
the lowest trades 
but they had the good fortune to 
be born in an 
amenable location (i.e. in the same 
time and place 
as the Buddha) and because of this 
fact alone, were 
able to attain enlightenment to 
level of a stream 
enterer [sotApana]. 
There was a fisherman 
called"Ariya" (lit. "noble 
one") who lived during the time of 
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the Buddha. As 
a fisherman, he caught and killed 
fish every day. 
One day in meditation, the Buddha 
saw Ariya's 
potential to attain the fruit of 
stream-entry 
[sotApattiphala] and went, with a 
number of other 
monks to where Ariya was fishing. 
Seeing the Buddha 
approaching, Ariya became 
ashamed of his action 
and hid his fishing line. When the 
Buddha arrived, 
while standing in front of the man, 
he asked 
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SAriputta his name. "SAriputta", 
replied 
SAriputta. The Buddha then 
proceeded to ask the 
name of each of the monks and 
overhearing, the 
man wondered whether after 
asking all the monks' 
names, the Buddha would ask his. 
The Buddha 
knew what he was thinking and 
asked the man his 
name. "Ariya" replied the man. In 
fact, the Buddha 
didn't need to be told the man's 
name. The Buddha 
gave Ariya a teaching that anyone 
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who still 
harmed other living beings could 
not be called `noble' 
on account of his actions. He said 
that one's 
nobility comes from not harming 
other living beBlessing 
Four: Living in an Amenable 
Location 75 
ings. Hearing the Buddha's 
teaching, Ariya attained 
stream-entry and from that day 
onwards never 
killed a living being again, having 
transcended the 
very intention to kill — in spite of 
the fact that he 
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was illiterate. He lived in the 
depths of poverty, but 
he had one auspicious advantage in 
his life, and 
that was to live in a time and place 
where there was 
the opportunity to come 
face-to-face with the Lord 
Buddha — and this alone allowed 
him to become 
enlightened to the level of a 
stream-enterer. 
D.4 Ex. Ghosaka's lifetime as a 
dog 
(DhA.i.169, PsA.504ff) 
Another example of a similar 
phenomenon happened 
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in a time before the Lord Buddha. 
At that 
time, the only Buddhas in 
existence were 
paccekabuddhas who although 
enlightened, were 
unable to teach for the benefit of 
the manyfolk. 
These paccekabuddhas came on 
almsround in the city. 
Having collected alms, they would 
return to the 
forest to take their meal. This 
would be his normal 
daily routine. Seeing that the 
paccekabuddha had to 
walk such a long way each day, 
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one of the more 
faithful supporters invited the 
paccekabuddha to 
dwell nearby his own house and 
would bring food 
for the paccekabuddha every for 
every morning and 
midday meal. 
Any day when the householder 
was not free to 
make the offering himself, he 
would send his welltrained 
dog to carry a tiffin set of food to 
offer to 
the paccekabuddha at his place. As 
the dog grew more 
familiar with the paccekabuddha it 
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took a liking to 
Him because the deportment and 
manner of the 
paccekabuddha was so gentle. If 
the dog was at home 
and failed to mind firewood for its 
master it would 
be beaten. However, in the 
dwelling of the 
paccekabuddha it was a different 
story. When the dog 
came close he could listen to the 
chanting of the 
paccekabuddha. There was no risk 
of being beaten 
and the paccekabuddha would 
even divide part of 
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the food to give to the dog as well. 
The dog became 
more and more familiar with the 
gentle manner of 
the paccekabuddha. 
At the end of the rainy season, the 
paccekabuddha 
bid the householder farewell and 
returned to the 
forest. The paccekabuddha made 
his journey by floating 
through the air. The dog watched 
the 
paccekabuddha go with regret and 
howled as loudly 
as it could because there was 
nothing else for it to 
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do. It was a sad farewell for the 
dog who still had 
the paccekabuddha on its mind. 
The dog was so sad 
that as it came to the end of its 
howling, it dropped 
dead. However, as the result of the 
faith of this dog 
in the paccekabuddha and from 
howling at the departure 
of the paccekabuddha, the dog was 
reborn 
immediately as an angel called 
Ghosaka — whose 
duty was to be a spokesman for the 
rest of the angels. 
In the time of the Lord Buddha, 
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Ghosaka was reborn 
in the human realm as Ghosaka the 
Millionnaire and was one of the 
greatest patrons of 
Buddhism. The result of living in 
an amenable location 
and taking the chance to be an 
attendant to a 
paccekabuddha led him to become 
an angel on dying 
from rebirth as a dog and from his 
rebirth as an 
angel to be reborn as an important 
patron of Buddhism. 
D.5 Ex. Monk and Five-Hundred 
Bats (Vagguli 
Vatthu SadS. 81ff.) 
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