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path will not pass 
the same way some day. 
A6. Virtues for creating purpose 
in everyday life 
Anyone who wishes to create and 
maintain focus 
and purpose in their life needs to 
train themselves 
in the following five virtues called 
`core virtues' 
[sAradhamma] by the Lord 
Buddha: 
I. Faith or Confidence [saddha]: 
This means believing 
in the appropriate things. It means 
training 
yourself to be reasonable 
not to 
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be gullible. 
The difference between being 
faithful and 
being gullible is that the latter has 
no reason for 
their confidence. Thus wisdom is 
always an imBlessing 
Six: Setting Oneself up Properly in 
Life 93 
portant component of faith. From 
the Buddhist 
point of view, the basis of faith is: 
1. the existence of the Buddha 
2. the working of the Law of 
Karma — that doing 
good deeds really gives rise to 
good results 
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(with the proviso of doing those 
good 
deeds properly, sufficiently and 
not in excess) 
3. that the result of one's good or 
bad karma will 
follow one until it gives its 
retribution. 
2. The Precepts [sEla]: You must 
keep the minimum 
of Five Precepts (for more 
explanation see Blessing 
Nine). 
3. Having heard much 
[bahEsEta]: be specific, this 
means being diligent in the 
acquisition of knowledge 
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both spiritual and worldly by 
listening to 
many teachings. 
4. Being a person of self-sacrifice 
[cAga]: This 
means being able to sacrifice and 
let go both of 
material possessions (given to 
others) and also 
to let go of our grudges and bad 
temper by forgiving 
others 
5. Training Oneself in Meditation 
[samAdhi]: We 
need to train ourselves in 
meditation if we are to 
have any chance of attaining 
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wisdom. Wisdom 
is the most essential element in 
having a wellplanned 
aim in life and being able to keep 
ourselves 
to it. If the mind is trained in 
meditation 
it will have the determination to 
remain unscathed 
in the face of temptations to "lower 
our 
sights" and settle for less 
ambitious aims in life. 
B. THREE LEVELS OF AIM IN 
LIFE 
1. Exclusively Materialistic Aim 
In Life: Everybody 
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comes into the world with nothing, 
but 
everyone has the same basic needs 
for survival 
whether it be the food on their 
plates, the clothes 
on their backs, the roof over their 
head or the 
medicine they need to keep them 
healthy in times 
of illness. If any one of these 
things are lacking 
from people's lives, they cannot 
survive. Man 
can only go for a single day 
without water. He 
can only go for seven days without 
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food. Thus it 
is only natural that the very least 
that people 
should aim for in their lives is to 
fulfill these basic 
physical needs. If their aim in life 
is any lower 
that this they cannot survive. Of 
course some 
people want more that this. Some 
people are not 
satisfied with the basics of 
survival. They want 
to be millionaires, they want 
luxury, they want 
the freedom in life to choose what 
they buy. In 
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fact however much you want, 
whether it is just 
to fulfill their physical needs or to 
satisfy their 
physical wants, their aim in life is 
only quite short 
term. It is based on immediate 
rewards. They 
think of no further requirement of 
life beyond 
death. In their youth they seek 
experience, in 
their middle age they amass 
wealth. Towards the 
end of their lives they try to find an 
heir for their 
wealth. Thus we call such aims in 
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life "earthly" 
because they extend no further 
than this world 
and this existence. Those who 
entertain only such 
an aim in life will usually (but not 
always —
some people cut corners) want to 
earn their living 
in an honest way, by earning, 
saving, using 
their earnings in a responsible way 
and entrusting 
honest people to look after 
common wealth. 
2. Spiritual/Material Aim In Life: 
At the same time 
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in the world, there are those who 
recognize that 
they must fulfill the physical needs 
of the body, 
but their aim in life runs deeper 
than that. They 
recognize that they need to earn 
their living, but 
earning that living is only a means 
to an end. 
They recognize that there exists 
not only a physical 
hunger, but the hunger of the spirit 
or the 
mind too. They realize that if the 
mind is left 
hungry it will tempt them to do 
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things they don't 
want them to do. They need to find 
time in their 
lives to reach for a higher spiritual 
dimension. 
3. Exclusively Spiritual Aim In 
Life: Last of all in 
the world there are those who 
realize the hunger 
of the body and the mind — the 
body for 
physical needs and the mind in its 
hunger for a 
higher spiritual dimension to life. 
For such a 
group of people the sensitivity 
towards the hunger 
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in the mind is so great that they 
find that 
they have the vocation to deal with 
source of the 
hunger at its root. So great is the 
intensity of their 
calling that they will see the need 
to devote themselves 
full time to the pursuit of 
spirituality. To 
purify themselves completely so 
that hunger 
may be completely extinguished. 
They have the 
94 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
time to devote to spiritual study 
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without having 
to compromise their time in order 
to earn a living. 
They will spend their time learning 
the spiritual 
way and teaching it to the best of 
their ability 
so intensively that the life of the 
householder 
and the family no longer holds any 
attraction for 
them. We call such an aim in life 
ultimate because 
is seeks to come to an end of all 
further 
suffering and to help others to do 
the same. 
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Bl. Exclusively Materialistic 
Setting yourself up in a proper way 
for those with an exclusively 
materialistic aim in life consists of 
two components: 
1. avoiding evil 
2. standing on your own two feet 
The Buddha's short teaching of the 
way to set yourself 
up in the proper way is probably 
too short for 
the reader to know how to practice 
it so we have to 
expand a little further on the 
subject matter 
B1.1 Avoiding Evil 
Avoiding evil means specifically 
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to avoid the six `roads 
to ruin' [apAyamukha]. We must 
avoid them in order 
to avoid falling into any of the 
unfortunate realms 
in future existences. `Ruin' 
[apAya] here means `lowdown', 
`dirty', `decaying' and `lacking 
prosperity'. The 
word `road' [mukha] means 'path', 
`front' or `face'. 
There are six different types of 
`roads to ruin': 
I. Drinking alcohol or taking 
intoxicating drugs: 
like opium or heroin; 
2. Nightlife: such as frequenting 
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brothels; 
3. Frequenting shows: that have 
content that is 
romantic or frivolous; 
4. Gambling: and lotteries 
5. Associating with evil 
companions 
6. Being too lazy to work 
We will not go into further detail 
of these'roads to 
ruin' here. In some places only 
four `roads to ruin' 
are referred to instead of six as 
mentioned already 
in Blessing One (srE.3) as the sort 
of thing that fools 
like to persuade you to do. 
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B1.2 Standing on you own two 
feet 
In the time of the Buddha, there 
was someone who 
asked the way to set himself up in 
life. The four 
practices he taught are sometimes 
called the four 
chambers of the millionaire's 
heart. They are the 
prerequisite virtues for accruing 
benefit in the 
present life (in Pali the 
diEEhadhammikatthapayojana). 
For revision take a look back at 
Blessing 
Two (sCC4.1). In conclusion, 
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anyone who is diligent 
in acquisition of wealth, in 
stewardship of their 
earnings, who associates only with 
good friends 
and who uses their earnings to 
support themselves 
in a modest way will before long 
achieve riches. 
All of this hard work will only be 
of benefit to us in 
the present lifetime however. If 
you also want benefits 
in future lifetime, you need to 
know how to 
accrue merit too. 
B2. Material/SpiritualAim 
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Setting yourself up in a proper way 
for those with 
a spiritual/material aim in life 
consists of three components: 
1. avoiding evil 
2. standing on your own two feet 
3. cultivating virtuous speech and 
action 
Avoiding evil and standing on 
your own two feet 
are the same as for those with the 
exclusively materialistic 
aim in life. However, on this level 
we have 
the addition of virtuous speech and 
action. This 
means immersing our mind fully in 
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meritorious 
speech and action. The way this is 
achieved is to 
practice the Ten or the Three 
Major Ways to Accrue 
Merit [pufniakiriyavatthu] already 
discussed in 
Blessing Five (K2). The guiding 
principles for accruing 
merit are the prerequisite virtues to 
accruing 
benefit in future lives 
[sampayikatthapayojana]. 
For revision take a look back at 
Blessing 
Two (K4.2) and Blessing Four 
(84.6). 
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