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22 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
the blood, bones, muscles and 
organs associated 
with the physical body — even the 
brain, which is 
a physical organ. By mind, we 
mean the knowledge 
and attitudes that constitute our 
consciousness. The 
mind is like "the ghost in the 
machine". The physical 
components of the human being 
are also neutral. 
The difference between a human 
who is uplifting 
and one who is degrading depends 
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not on 
the body, but on the mental 
component. Unfortunately, 
the software of the human mind is 
not preinstalled 
from the factory! When we are 
born we 
are born along with an ignorance 
about all aspects 
of life. From the time we are 
children, we spend 
our life learning in order to fill the 
gap in our knowledge 
— to provide ourselves with the 
knowledge 
we need for life. The path of our 
subsequent destiny 
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depends on the sort of knowledge 
we fill ourselves 
with. We can fill ourselves with 
either: 
• accurate knowledge: positive 
knowledge which 
is creative and uplifting for 
ourselves and others, 
or; 
• inaccurate knowledge: negative 
knowledge (comparable 
to lies to the soul) which is 
harmful to 
ourselves and others. 
Our knowledge increases as a 
result of influences in 
our surroundings. The first and 
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most fundamental 
influence on our learning is the 
sort of people that 
make up our environment. The 
second most important 
influence is the environment in 
general. Together, 
these two influences have the 
potential to instil us with 
Right View about the world 
(effectively our core values 
and assumptions about the world 
and our attitude 
to it). 
The first group (see p.25) which 
concerns the acquisition 
of discretion concerns our 
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understanding of 
what is wrong and what is right. 
Even if someone is 
knowledgable,if their discretion is 
faulty, their future 
is unlikely to be bright. On the 
contrary those with 
good discretion but who lack 
education, at least they 
will not become a burden on 
society. It is the basis of 
Right View [samrnA diEEhi]. 
Simply avoiding associating 
with fools will bring us wealth, 
because we have 
no risk of spoiling our reputation, 
our wisdom is also 
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not at risk and may be improved 
— virtue of all sorts 
will start to flow in our direction. 
This is the result 
even of following the first blessing 
— what more will 
be the benefit of practising all of 
the blessings in their 
entirety. The benefits will be not 
only to ourself, but 
to society and to the world as well. 
The second group (see p.65) 
concerns consolidating 
upon the goodness of the 
discretion you already have 
through the environment which we 
inhabit, from the 
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habits we have built up for 
ourselves in the past and 
by setting a proper aim in life. This 
style of teaching is 
characteristic of the Buddha who 
taught virtue in a 
way that becomes successively 
more complex. 
The third group (p.139) concerns 
how we can make 
a contribution to society by our 
skilfulness, so that 
we ourself do not become a burden 
on society and 
can at the same time be a refuge to 
ourself in terms of 
earning our living. 
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The fourth group (p.139) 
progresses from being able 
to help ourselves to being able to 
help other people as 
well. The first people who we must 
help are those to 
whom we are indebted: our 
parents. If we have new 
people to whom we owe our 
efforts towards virtue, 
such as our children and our 
spouse. Furthermore, 
we have to be able to divide our 
time so that neither 
our responsibilities in the work and 
in the home are 
neglected. 
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The fifth group (p.183) builds on 
the strength of virtue 
we have built up for ourselves in 
the home, expanding 
the scope of our virtue wider into 
societywith 
generosity, public works. If you 
have already got your 
life under control, you will be able 
to do something 
for the benefit of society with 
some sort of efficiency. 
Those who try to help social works 
when they have 
not yet got their own personal 
affairs under control, 
may create disasters rather than 
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helping others. Those 
who want to give advice to others 
but who are unable 
to speak politely, may make 
enemies instead of 
improving the quality of society. 
Higher groups of blessings deal 
with the more 
subtle aspects of training the 
qualities of the mind 
in purity. 
B.4 38 Blessings as an ethical 
system 
We find that the Manual of Peace 
lives up to the demands 
of an ethical system as follows: 
1 Progressive & Sequential: The 
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thirty-eight blessings 
are arranged according to the 
degree of difOrientation 
23 
ficulty in practice: the easier ones 
come before 
the harder ones. The sequence of 
blessings begins 
with external practices, i.e., 
dealing with 
gross social behaviours but 
gradually leading up 
to the more internal and subtle 
ones. Following 
these sets of virtues gives one an 
impression of 
climbing up a flight of stairs 
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leading to salvation. 
If you don't associate with the 
society of 
the fools, then you enhance the 
process of associating 
with the wise. When you are 
dealing with 
the first Blessing, you are creating 
conditions to 
fulfill the second one. One can say 
that at the 
same time you respect those who 
are worthy of 
respect. It starts with number one. 
While you are 
working to develop number one, it 
is already 
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doing the groundwork for number 
two and 
number three — it's progressive. 
One blessing 
conditions the next progressively. 
By doing the 
first Blessing, you are committing 
yourself to 
many subsequent Blessings 
thereby. By associating 
with the wise, it is opening you up 
to many 
good things; you learn from the 
wise, you 
progress — all good things come 
from associating 
with other people. So, by 
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practicing one 
Blessing, it will eventually lead to 
practicing all 
of the Blessings. And by doing 
one, you prepare 
for the other; they are inter-related. 
This logic is 
very beautiful, it leads you 
ownwards step-bystep. 
It allows you to improve, socially 
and spiritually, 
hand in hand with each other. It is 
like a 
self-catalysing process in 
chemistry or a positive 
feedback process in physics. This 
makes salvation 
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via the thirty-eight blessings a kind 
of upward 
spiral, where you move upwards to 
Nirvana, 
the highest goal in Buddhist 
spiritual cultivation, 
starting from the simplest 
blessings, and 
gradually perfecting yourself. 
2 Self-Catalysing: When one kind 
of living blessing 
comes into existence or is 
practiced, it will 
support other kinds of virtues to 
manifest themselves, 
and the manifestation of any one 
blessing 
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will lead to development of the 
next higher 
blessing in the sequence. 
3 Exhaustive: Other mechanisms 
of spiritual values 
can easily be accommodated 
within it. 
4 Holistic: Blessings assume the 
presence of a 
deeper unseen network of causes 
and effects 
which interact together in cycles of 
positive feedback 
for the ethical development of 
society. Blessings 
can be used as a non-subjective 
socio-ethical 
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checklist, that cuts through 
self-centred ness 
that might otherwise lead to 
superficial social 
changes (an individual's 
prosperity, for example, 
being misunderstood as a sign of 
social development) 
because social development that is 
unethical is by this philosophy, a 
contradiction 
in terms. It also provides a holistic 
mirror to view 
one's own personality and 
development. 
5 Multi-level: It covers the full 
spectrum of human 
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relations from the interpersonal, 
through the familial, 
occupational and communal levels 
to the 
social. It offers a holistic 
perspective of a world 
governed by interrelating 
conditions. 
6 Non-discriminatory: This 
philosophy makes no 
distinction between men and 
women, lay practice 
and monastic practice. The set of 
virtues is 
not restricted to a particular sort of 
person or society, 
but it can be treated as the common 
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good 
that is shared in a particular 
community or even 
by the whole of mankind. 
7 Multi-Factorial: The 
Thirty-Eight blessings are 
a means-ends model of ethics. The 
ethics of the 
Blessings escapes the rigid linear 
dimension of 
`means' and 'ends' in favour of a 
multi-factorial 
causality model. The weakness of 
consideration 
in terms of `means' and ends' is 
seen when trying 
to establish definitions in a 
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complex multifactorial 
situation. With the lighting of a 
match, 
for example, can we say that the 
match is the 
means to the production of fire? 
Are not oxygen, 
friction and a striking surface also 
means to the 
production of fire? If the friction is 
not sufficient 
to cause ignition, can it still be 
considered a 
means? Is a match struck in a 
vacuum still a 
means? Is not Oxygen also an end 
for the process 
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