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In the course 
of the quarrel, one cock boasted 
that whoever ate 
his flesh would be king, his skin 
commander in 
chief or chief queen and his bones, 
royal treasurer 
or king's chaplain. The man killed 
the cock 
and his wife cooked it, then taking 
it with them, 
they went to the river to bathe. 
They left the meat 
and rice on the bank, but as they 
bathed, the pot 
holding the food was blown into 
the river. It 
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Blessing Five: Having Done Good 
Deeds in One's Past 89 
floated downstream where it was 
picked up by 
the elephant-trainer. The 
bodhisattva saw everything 
with his divine-eye and visited the 
trainer 
at meal-time. There he was offered 
the meat and 
divided it, giving the flesh to the 
trainer, the skin 
to his wife and keeping the bones 
to himself. 
Three days later, the city was 
beseiged by enemies. 
The king asked the trainer to don 
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royal 
robes and mount the elephant, 
while he himself 
fought in the ranks. There the king 
was killed by 
an arrow and the trainer, having 
won the battle, 
was made king, his wife being 
queen and the ascetic 
his chaplain. The story was told in 
reference 
to a brahmin who tried to steal 
AnAthapiAlika's 
good fortune [ski]. He perceived 
that the good 
fortune was embodied in a white 
cock for which 
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he begged. AnAthapiAlika gave it 
to him, but 
the good fortune left the cock and 
settled in a 
jewel. He asked for that also, but 
the good fortune 
went into a club. The club was also 
asked 
for, and AnAthapiAlika giving it, 
asked the 
brahmin to take it and be gone. 
However, the 
good fortune now settled on 
AnAthapiAiika' s 
wife. The brahmin thereby 
admitted defeat and 
confessed his intentions to 
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AnAthapiAIika who 
told the story to the Buddha. 
90 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
Blessing Six: Setting Oneself up 
Properly in Life 91 
A. INTRODUCTION 
Al. Place of Blessing Six in the 
order of things 
This sixth blessing is the last of the 
second grouping 
of blessings concerned with 
"turning towards 
virtue". It builds upon what has 
gone before with 
the "nurture" of Blessing Four and 
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the "nature" of 
Blessing Five 
bringing spiritual 
development to 
a point where the third grouping 
"making oneself 
useful" can start to become 
meaningful. 
A2. Objectives of the Sixth 
Blessing 
Studying this Blessing can be 
considered to have 
fulfilled its true purpose if after 
reading it, the 
reader feels: 
1. inspired to stand on their own 
two feet: that is, 
to promise themselves that this 
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lifetime they will 
never again lower themselves to 
relying on anyone 
else as their refuge — no longer 
using others 
as crutches for their own 
weaknesses. The 
people of old used to say `Even a 
bird builds its 
own nest — even a mouse digs its 
own hole —
so who is a man not to stand on his 
own two 
feet? It is not fitting always to be 
leaning on others, 
borrowing from them or living in 
someone 
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else's house. Otherwise one is no 
better than a 
sparrow living in the rafters of 
someone else's 
house. If you are the sort of person 
who is not 
ashamed of being dependent but 
who is on the 
other hand proud that there are 
always others 
who wants to help them, it will 
probably be a 
long time before you realize the 
reality of the 
world. It's no problem if you 
happen to live in 
your big sister's house, but what 
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happens if one 
day her husband has a 
disagreement with you 
and wants you out of the house? 
You will find it 
hard to speak up in your own 
defense. Even if 
you have a disagreement with their 
children or 
grandchildren or friends, you 
would never dare 
to say anything to contradict them 
because you 
depend on their parents or 
grandparents for the 
roof over our head. You end up 
being someone 
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who will not even dare to stand up 
for yourself 
— therefore, if at all possible, try 
to avoid depending 
on others — try to be 
self-sufficient. No 
matter whether you are male or 
female, you have 
to try to be independent. If you are 
put in the 
position where you are abused as a 
dependent, 
you have no choice but to put up 
with it. When 
you have put up with it until such 
abuse becomes 
engrained in your mind, you can 
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no longer think 
of anything meritorious any more. 
All you can 
think of is getting your revenge. 
Better then, to 
build up your own standard of 
living by becoming 
self-sufficient in your earnings. 
2. inspired never to provaricate 
about accruing 
merit henceforth. 
If after studying this Blessing the 
reader gains anything 
more in addition to these two 
advantages, it 
can be considered as a profit. For 
anyone to understand 
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about the importance of being your 
own ref-
Blessing Six: 
Setting oneself up 
properly in life 
92 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
uge and to see the value of 
accruing merit, you need 
a foundation of experience, and 
that foundation is 
specifically one's aim in life. 
A3. Definition: Setting oneself up 
properly in life 
Setting yourself up in the proper 
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way refers to setting 
up both of the inseparable parts of 
our being 
— setting up our body and setting 
up our mind. As 
the mind governs the setting up of 
the body, to set 
ourselves up in life means setting 
up our mind correctly. 
Setting up yourself means setting 
up your 
mind. If your mind can be properly 
set up, then the 
body will follow suit. For example 
if your mind is 
overcome with laziness, the body 
will be overcome 
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by laziness too, lying around in a 
post-prandial 
sleaze. If the mind has a clear idea 
about what it is 
aiming for in spiritual 
development, then the body 
will comply with the mind's 
ambitions. Thus to set 
yourself up properly in life, you 
must set up your 
mind properly, and that means 
specifically making 
up your mind to pursue a pathway 
of self-perfection. 
A4. Aim in life helps us set 
priorities, overcome obstacles 
Did you ever feel that you would 
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like to achieve 
more from life but you never seem 
to have to the 
time 
or you never seem to get 
round to doing 
them? Sometimes you have so 
many great plans in 
mind, but when you come round to 
doing them, 
there is always something else to 
help others with. 
There is always something else 
more urgent or 
seemingly more important? Do 
you find yourself 
exhausted at the end of the day 
with no strength 
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left to do your meditation? All of 
us know that 
meditation makes a significant 
difference to the 
quality of our minds, but even 
though we know it, 
it is sometimes difficult to find the 
time to meditate 
each day. 
Part of the reason for this is that 
our priorities 
and aims in life are not clear. 
Sometimes there are 
urgent things in life which are 
urgent but not important, 
like a ringing telephone or 
interruptions 
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and they can upset the whole pace 
of our lives. They 
can be the things that make us 
unable to organize 
our time as we would like to. 
Sometimes these interruptions 
are really unavoidable, but usually, 
it 
is because we give them too much 
importance and 
put them too high on our list of 
priorities that they 
rob us of our time — the reason in 
turn, why we 
are unable to set our priorities as 
we mean to, is 
because we lack a clear 
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perspective of our own priorities. 
With meditation, we are dealing 
with a practice 
and a tradition, which has lifelong 
consequences 
for us. Therefore, for the practice 
of meditation 
and for the setting of 
complimentary priorities 
in life, we cannot afford to 
overlook a clear perspective 
of our own lives. We call such an 
overview 
our `aim in life'. If as meditators, 
we have a clear 
aim in life, as intelligent human 
beings, we will be 
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want to be a soccer champion. Aim 
in life seems to 
be different for different people, 
however, if you 
look at the deeper nature of all 
people, ultimately 
all people aim improve 
themselves. Some people 
want to improve themselves to the 
utmost by purifying 
their mind within the space of their 
lifetime 
to a point where they can enter 
upon Nirvana. Others 
might not be in so much of a hurry 
— but it 
doesn't mean that their spiritual 
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