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the way from the mainstream up to 
the edges. 
4. Long-sighted Knowledge: You 
need to have a 
long-sighted knowledge. You need 
to know how 
things will turn out in the future. 
You need to 
know how one thing leads to 
another. 
D.3 Listening attentively 
You need to listen to remember —
not just sit in the 
lecture picking your fingernails 
and chatting to your 
friends, with no idea what the 
lecture was about at 
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the end; 
D.4 Memorizing knowledge 
learned [vAcAsa-paricitta] 
If you make no effort to memorize 
what you have 
learned, you will never become a 
person `who has 
heard much' (A.v.26). 
Memorization is an implicit 
part of the duty of a monk and it is 
expectedof 
monks by the lay congregation. If 
the knowledge 
stays in the books, it is like having 
money, but having 
lent it all to someone else. If you 
want it back 
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instantly, even though it is yours 
you cannot get it 
back instantly. Even though you 
know which textbook 
you can find a certain piece of 
knowledge in, 
you will go reaching for the book 
one day and find 
that worms have eaten just the 
page you needed. 
D.5 Reflecting on knowledge 
memorized [manasAnupekkhitA] 
You have to digest new knowledge 
in your mind 
and look for causes and effects 
Meditating is the 
mostefficient way of `digesting' 
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new knowledge. 
D.6 Applying knowledge for one's 
own benefit 
(see Blessing Eight) 
D. 7 Applying knowledge for the 
benefit of 
oneself and others 
(See Blessing Eight) 
E. PRACTICAL TIPS FOR 
BECOMING LEARNED 
Here are some practical 
suggestions for budding 
scholars: 
1. Choose only appropriate 
subjects to study which 
will not have negative implications 
for the huBlessing 
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Seven: Artfulness in Knowledge 
109 
man dignity of yourself, others or 
society at 
large; 
2. Dedicate yourself 
studying 
your chosen subject 
to the utmost of your ability; 
3. Always be enthusiastic to learn 
new things; 
4. Study spiritual knowledge 
hand-in-hand with 
worldly knowledge; 
5. Remember what you have 
learned so that it is 
always at your immediate disposal 
F. ILLUSTRATIVE 
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EXAMPLES 
F.1 Metaphor: Lamp lighting the 
path for a long 
journey ahead 
Just as illumination is necessary to 
light the path 
ahead on a long journey, artfulness 
in knowledge 
is the pioneering virtue leading to 
prosperity in life. 
F.2 Ex. Buddha advises a 
brahmin to pay 
respect to Ananda (1.296) 
There was once a brahmin who 
sought the advice 
of the Buddha. He said that it was 
obvious how 
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one could pay respect to the 
Buddha and the 
Salgha, because they were already 
a sort of personality. 
However, the Brahmin didn't 
know how 
to pay respect to the Dhamma 
which seemed more 
abstract.The Buddha replied that if 
you want to pay 
respect to the Dhamma, you should 
pay respect to 
those who are learned in the 
Dhamma. The Brahmin 
asked around to find which of the 
monks was 
the most learned and everyone 
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agreed that/nanda 
was the most learned because more 
than any other 
monk, he had heard the teachings 
of the Lord Buddha. 
Thus the Brahmin went to pay 
respect to 
/nanda above the other monks, 
many of whom 
had more advanced spiritual 
attainments. 
F.3 Ex. MahAsutasoma JAtaka 
(J.537) 
There was a certain Buddha who 
while pursuing 
Perfections as the bodhisattva, was 
born as a king 
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called MahAsutasoma. The king 
was so keen to 
learn new teachings of the 
Dhamma that he would 
invite anyone who had knowledge 
of the Dhamma 
to come and teach him in the 
palace. On one occasion, 
MahAsutasoma was captured by 
an ogre. The 
ogre was going to put him to death. 
On just the day 
the ogre was going to collect him, 
it was also the 
day when he had made an 
appointment with a 
knowledgable Brahmin Nanda to 
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teach some teachings 
left over from the Kassapa 
Buddha. In that day 
and age, there were no living 
teachings to be followed 
any more. There were no monks 
left any 
more. Later even if the king 
offered the prize of a 
heap of gold as tall as the person to 
give the teaching, 
there would still be no-one who 
had any teaching 
to give the king. Even if the king 
offered the 
prize of a heap of diamonds as tall 
as an elephant, 
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still nobody could be found to give 
a teaching to 
the teacher. However, in the time 
of king 
MahAsutasoma, the decay of 
Buddhism was not 
so much that there were no 
teachings left any more. 
The day when the king was to be 
captured, someone 
had accepted an invitation to come 
and give a 
teaching in the palace. On that day, 
out of respect 
for the Dhamma, the king had first 
gone to freshen 
up and change into a new set of 
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clothes in preparation 
for hearing the Dhamma. It was as 
he was 
washing that he was captured. The 
king made a 
deal with the ogre that it could do 
with him as it 
liked, but it should first let him 
listen to the teaching 
of the Dhamma, because he had 
already made 
an appointment with the teacher 
who was coming. 
The king promised the ogre that 
after hearing the 
teaching he would allow it to take 
him away for 
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sacrifice. Even though the people 
of that time didn't 
know about the Precepts, they still 
knew about the 
importance of truthfulness. The 
king was allowed 
to return to the palace where the 
Brahmin was waiting. 
The Brahmin didn't even know 
how to explain 
the Dhamma, all he could do was 
to read out a piece 
of the scriptures. The Brahmin also 
had to wash 
himself before giving the teaching. 
He rinsed his 
hands with perfume before picking 
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up the scriptures. 
He bowed three times to the 
scriptures and 
only then did he open up the 
scriptures in the most 
careful possible way. The subject 
matter of the scriptures 
were the words of a previous 
Buddha. The 
Brahmin could read the words and 
translate them, 
but he didn't know the meaning: 
Associating with the noble ones 
just once, 
One can be protected by that 
contact for 
the rest of one's life. 
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110 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
However, associating with fools 
even 
many times, 
Will fail to protect you for the rest 
of your 
life. 
If you associate with the noble 
ones, 
You should associate with them 
closely, 
Because anyone who can learn the 
virtues 
of a noble one, 
Will know only prosperity and 
never 
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know decay. 
Even a royal chariot that is 
beautifully 
decorated, 
Must eventually deteriorate and 
decay, 
In the same way the body that we 
possess 
Must eventually decay and die. 
However, the Virtue of the Noble 
Ones 
Never goes out of date and never 
decays. 
It is only the Noble Ones together 
Who can know each others' minds. 
The earth and sky are far apart. 
The two sides of the ocean are far 
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apart. 
But they are not so far apart, 
As the behaviour of the nobles and 
that 
of fools. 
Before putting the scriptures away, 
the brahmin 
bowed to them again. Hearing just 
these teachings, 
the king was so moved that he 
cried tears of joy. 
The king asked the brahmin, 
"Usually when you 
read this scripture to other kings, 
how much do they 
give you?" 
The brahmin replied, "They give 
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me a hundred 
for each verse." 
"These verses are not a `hundred a 
verse' but are 
a `thousand a verse" said the king, 
and presented 
the brahmin with five thousand. 
The king remembered the 
appointment he had 
made with the ogre and thought to 
himself, "If I 
were to break my promise, it 
would only make my 
mind dull and guilty and I would 
certainly have 
an unfortunate afterlife destination 
— better that I 
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go to my death with that ogre 
while my mind is 
still radiant from having heard the 
Dhamma." The 
king gave himself up to the ogre. 
The ogre was surprised 
that the king didn't show any sign 
of fearing 
death. It asked the king why he had 
no fear of 
death. When the king told them the 
Dhamma he 
had learned, the ogre was so 
impressed that it asked 
to take refuge in the king as its 
teacher and had no 
more thought about sacrificing 
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him. 
F.4 Ex. Tuccha-Pothila (The 
Blank Scripture 
Monk)(DhA.iiL417-21) 
In the time of the Buddha there 
was an elder monk 
who was so learned in the 
Dhamma teachings that 
he had many disciples of his own. 
Many of his disciples 
had become arahants as the result 
of what he 
had taught 
but he, himself, had 
not achieved anything. 
He had heard a lot of teachings but 
he had 
never showed any interest in 
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