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has suffering 
as its result. When he said that the 
crown is 
sweet, he meant that we get a 
strange, twisted 
satisfaction out of expressing our 
anger to others 
or losing our temper. 
After hearing only these few 
words, 
BhAradavAja was impressed. He 
was impressed 
that the Buddha was not angry in 
response to 
his anger. He had prepared his 
sword to chop 
the Buddha to pieces at the first 
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unwelcome 
Blessing Six: Setting Oneself up 
Properly in Life 99 
word, but instead of hearing 
anything to irritate 
him further, the Brahmin had been 
impressed 
by every one of the Buddha's 
reasoning. He 
threw away his sword and invited 
the Buddha 
to teach him further. In the end, he 
was motivated 
to practise the Dhamma further 
and ended 
up ordaining as a monk. 
Killing your anger is one way of 
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setting yourself 
up in life. To ordain as the result of 
a teaching 
is to set yourself up in faith, in the 
Precepts, 
in Wisdom or in Meditation. It was 
in this intense 
way that BhAradavAj a set himself 
up in 
life, and before long could practice 
until attaining 
arahantship 
100 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
The Third 
Group of Blessings 
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"Setting Oneself up in Life" 
The third group of the blessings 
of life is often referred to as 
"making 
yourself useful". This doesn't 
just refer to making oneself a 
citizen 
who can contribute something 
positive to society, it means 
being 
able to be of independent means 
— to earn one's own living 
without having to rely on 
outsiders for help. The principle 
of "being 
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a refuge to yourself' is one very 
important to Buddhism 
not 
just a virtue to oneself in 
spiritual ways but in worldly 
ways as 
well. Not burdening oneself on 
society is seen not only as the 
basis 
of self-confidence, but also as a 
positive virtue to be 
encouraged. 
Earning one's living requires 
both knowledge and skills 
(found in 
Blessings Seven and Eight 
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respectively) but as usual to 
earn one's 
living in an unscrupulous way 
to the detriment of others is not 
acceptable. 
Sociable application of our 
knowledge and skills is taught 
in action and word respectively 
in Blessings Nine and Ten 
respectively 
to make sure that we don't 
make ourselves self-sufficient at 
society's expense. This 
foundation of lack of worry 
concerning one's 
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daily bread will serve as a 
foundation for a harmonious 
family life 
and public works to be found in 
subsequent Groups of the 
Blessings. 
All of the previous six 
Blessings we have studied, have 
concerned 
the adjustment of our quality of 
mind. The first few Blessings 
have concerned protecting our 
mind from damage and finding 
the most basic virtue of 
discretion with which to instil 
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the mind. 
In the sixth blessing we already 
set our sights on the aim in life 
we 
require — now in the third 
grouping we start to walk 
toward that 
goal. 
102 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
The Learned The Wise 
much knowledge maybe not much 
knowledge 
maybe not much virtue much virtue 
maybe do not apply knowledge to 
do good deeds use what knowledge 
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they have to do good deeds 
must have good memory not 
necessary to have good memory 
must be educated irrespective of 
literacy or education 
no guarantee that they will not will 
not make a mess of his life 
make a mess out of their life 
TABLE 7.1 COMPARISON OF 
QUALITIES FOR THE 
LEARNED & THE WISE 
Blessing Seven: Artfulness in 
Knowledge 103 
A. INTRODUCTION 
In fact the subject matter of the 
seventh Blessing 
also concerns our mind but it deals 
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with the way 
we can find knowledge to instil in 
the mind. 
Knowledge has many implications 
both for our 
own life and for the quality of life 
in society. Without 
worldly knowledge we could not 
set ourselves 
up in life by earning our own 
living. Without spiritual 
knowledge, we would leave the 
thirst of the 
unanswered spiritual questions in 
life unquenched. 
For society, knowledgeable people 
contribute to 
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the quality and standard of living 
in general. If 
students are demotivated or 
inefficient in their efforts 
to study, the repurcussions can 
bring damage 
to the whole educational sector and 
the youth 
in particular. Incidence of 
gang-fighting between 
schools, student drug-addiction 
and `hanging out' 
on the street in search of trouble 
are all signs of 
social problems originating in an 
incapacity to 
study properly. Even the 
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depreciation of the 
credability of the teaching 
profession has something 
to do with an inability to inspire 
children to 
enjoy learning. The problem is not 
entirely to be 
blamed on schools however 
as 
we have seen in 
preceding blessings, a negative 
parental role 
model or a bad home environment 
can damage a 
child's character so severely, even 
before starting 
school — to an extent that the best 
of teachers can 
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do nothing to rectify the situation. 
A.1 Problems & risks facing 
students in general 
The ideal student is someone who 
never tires of 
learning new things either about 
worldly or spiritual 
matters. It is not enough just to be 
curious —
to learn in depth, a student needs to 
have a real 
respect for the knowledge they are 
learning. 
The reality of student life is that 
there are many 
things to interfere with the 
students' enthusiasm 
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to learn. The student's 
disillusionment can be summarized 
into three different groups: loss of 
sense 
of responsibility towards their own 
sense of human 
dignity; loss of sense of 
responsibility towards 
the sense human dignity of others, 
and; loss of 
sense of responsibility towards a 
fair economy: 
I. Loss of responsibility towards 
own sense of human 
dignity may lead to: 
1. Early Signs of False View: Not 
bothering to 
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keep the Five Precepts, ignorance 
of the Five 
Precepts or even going so far as to 
protest 
against the keeping of the Five 
Precepts —
as a result of the example or 
persuasion of 
teachers; 
2. Expression of the Defilements of 
Action: Taking 
the lives or being cruel to people 
or animals, 
stealing, committing adultery or 
sexual intercourse 
outside marriage and telling lies. 
3. Loss of `aim in life': leading to a 
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general lack 
of motivation to study or develop 
oneself and 
consequent lack of preparation to 
learn new 
skills, fit into society or work for a 
living. 
Blessing Seven: 
Artfulness 
in Knowledge 
104 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
2. Loss of responsibility towards 
the sense of human 
dignity of others: if teachers or 
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lecturers fail 
to inspire the students by their 
example of ethical 
living, students will have no 
feeling of responsibility 
towards the human dignity of 
others or 
of society in general. Consequently 
they may: 
1. Profit from natural resources at 
the expense of the 
environment: if the students are 
only interested 
in the short-term gains of a 
particular item of 
knowledge, but fail to consider or 
be taught 
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about the long-term consequences 
(e.g They 
may pull up trees to facilitate 
access by profitable 
farm machinery, but in so doing 
cause 
erosion of the top soil) 
2. Always put the blame on others: 
This is a very 
basic form of bias often arising as 
a result of 
never having been praised by their 
teacher or 
lecturer. Never having seen their 
teacher 
praise the good points of others, 
they assume 
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that picking on others' faults is 
normal and 
they are the only infallible person 
in the 
world. 
3. Persuades friends to be 
delinquent: For the convenience 
of keeping company with those of 
similar habits as themselves, 
disillusioned students 
persuade their friends to participate 
in 
various forms of delinquent 
behaviour such 
as truancy or "doing drugs". 
3. Loss of responsibility towards 
the sense of economic 
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fairness: If teachers fail to instil 
self-discipline 
in their students, the students will 
have no 
sense of responsibility towards a 
fair economy, 
specifically by: 
1. Unwholesome Livelihood: like 
selling drugs, 
petty theft, telephone prostitution 
or gambling; 
2. Addiction to the Six `Roads to 
Ruin '; 
3. Worshipping Money: When 
money becomes the 
most important thing, it is unlikely 
that a person 
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