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Blessing Fourteen: Not Leaving 
One's Work Undone 179 
something that can be hurried. If it 
is to take a 
fixed length of time, then you have 
to put up 
with waiting. However, if it is 
something that 
can be done more quickly then it 
can be hurried 
so that you have more time to 
speak to others. 
2. wrong technique: An example 
of doing things 
by the wrong technique is trying to 
work individually 
when the task requires teamwork 
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or dividing 
up your time wrongly spending too 
long 
doing any one question in an 
examination paper 
— the result is that you run out of 
motivation 
to do the work at all. 
3. never getting started: There are 
many reasons 
why people prevaricate instead of 
starting to do 
things. One reason is those wait for 
the auspicious 
time by studying horoscopes. 
Meditators 
however, are those who take their 
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destiny in their 
own hands and don't wait for 
astrologers to organize 
their lives for them. Any time 
when you 
get round to doing good deeds, 
then the simple 
act of getting down to doing it will 
be auspicious 
itself. If you want to know whether 
it is the auspicious 
time to do something or not, don't 
waste 
money to see a fortune teller but 
instead use your 
powers of observation and 
experience to see 
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whether you are ready and 
prepared to do the 
task in hand. If by common sense 
you have discerned 
that you are ready to do something, 
there 
is a good chance that getting 
started will yield 
success. 
4. not genuine in one's efforts: 
Not being genuine 
in one's efforts means getting 
one's priorities 
wrong. Instead of realizing how 
important your 
work is, you neglect it in favour of 
something 
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more trivial. Common distractions 
that get in the 
way of our work are as follows: 
• eating. The way to cure such a 
habit is to go 
on a meditation retreat where you 
must eat 
food all mixed up together or eat 
only one 
meal a day. 
• sleeping. To train yourself to 
sleep no more 
than you need to you have to train 
yourself 
from an early age. 
• alcohol: because they are more 
interested in 
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consuming alcahol or other 
intoxicants that 
dull the mind. To overcome such a 
tendency 
you need to abstain from 
consuming these 
substances. 
• courting lovers: Some do no 
work because 
they are more interested in 
boy/girlfriends 
and spend all day looking in their 
diary. . . 
• entertainment: some take their 
leisure time 
more seriously than their time at 
work to the 
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neglect of earning their living. 
• gambling: because they are 
more interested 
in gambling — they have no time 
for working 
and burn up all their savings. 
• bad friends: modelling oneself 
on bad friends 
who neglect their work will make 
us more 
lazy 
• laziness: when people become 
lazy they have 
excuses for everything excuses —
where work 
is concerned if it is not too hot it is 
too cold, if 
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it is not too early it is too late. 
• incompatible working hours: 
This is not the 
same as being more interested in 
sleeping but 
leads to failure in work because 
they work at 
a time which doesn't fit in with 
other people. 
D. STRATEGIES FOR 
NON-PROVARICATION 
D.1 Those who are successful in 
work 
Thus if you want to be successful 
in whatever you 
do you must: 
1. Do it at the right time 
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2. Do it in the appropriate way 
3. Get round to doing it 
4. Do it enthusiastically and 
conscientiously 
The signs of someone who will be 
successful in their 
work are as follows: 
I. Approaching work in the 
appropriate way 
[paEirEpalcArE]. You must have 
learned from 
Mangala 7 and 8 before you can 
achieve this. 
When you are new to work you 
have to learn 
from your errors. You need to be 
observant 
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and patient to obtain this 
characteristic. 
2. Loving work and challenges to 
one's ability 
[dhuravA]. Not to look down on 
work of any 
sort. 
3. Keenness and quickness in 
work and enthusiastic, 
lively & active [uEEAtA]. If you 
do find 
180 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
that you are lethargic then maybe 
you should 
take up sport. 
(/Oavaka Sutta S.i.214) 
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D.2 Recipe for success in worldly 
& spiritual work 
Success in one's work will be 
attained more easily, 
whether it be worldly or spiritual 
work, if one is 
able to put into practice the 
following four principles 
called the "Four Foundations of 
Success" 
[iddhipada] applicable to all types 
of work, worldly 
or spiritual. Practising towards 
success comes in 
four stages: 
1. initial motivation [chanda]: 
With work you 
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need the willingness to get down 
and do the 
work. Without this, you will never 
get down 
to doing it. For spiritual practice it 
is also important 
to try to find the initial motivation 
to 
cultivate yourself. Don't wait for 
the mood to 
work or cultivate yourself to 
accidentally happen 
— look for ways to create the right 
mood! 
It means looking forward to the 
practice of 
meditation. Sitting down to 
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meditate like a 
mercenery or even forcing yourself 
to do the 
practice will never give you the 
results for 
which you are seeking. 
2. initial application [viriya]: The 
next thing 
which you require is actually to get 
down to 
work in the proper way 
starting 
as you 
mean to go on. This often means 
achieving 
an optimal balance between 
productivity and 
enjoyment (mindfulness and 
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comfort for 
meditation). 
3. sustained application [citta]: 
Starting out well 
is not enough however, and you 
have to be 
able to keep up the good work if 
you are to 
succeed. You need to be consistent 
about your 
work or spiritual practice 
meditation setting 
aside time for both each day —
and not giving 
in to exceptions and excuses. For 
work you 
need to keep going until you bring 
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the task to 
completion, for meditation you 
need to cultivate 
mindfulness until it is something 
you can 
maintain twenty-four hours-a-day. 
4. retrospective analysis 
[vEmaOsA]: you need 
to back over your work and give 
yourself 
feedback looking for ever better 
and more efficient 
ways to do the same task in the 
future. 
In spiritual practice you need to be 
observant. 
You need regularly to examine 
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your own 
performance remedying your 
weaknesses as 
quickly as possible so that they no 
longer impede 
your worldly and spiritual 
progress. If 
you experience success, you 
should remember 
the reasons for your success so that 
you 
can apply it on future occasions. 
D.iii.221, Vbh.216 
If you can follow these four simple 
principles in 
your professional and spiritual 
work, success is only 
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just around the corner. 
E. ILLUSTRATIVE TALES 
E.1 Metaphor: Those who are 
patient... 
Those who work without interest 
whether it is hot 
or cold, persevering like the 
toughest of grass, dedicating 
their manly strength to their 
business, will 
not fall away from happiness. 
E.2 Metaphor: Just as dung 
accumulates on a 
pig's tail 
The nature of dung on the tail of a 
pig is to accumulate 
with the passing of the days 
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making it increasingly 
difficult for the pig to find 
happiness in 
its daily life. The work a person 
leaves unfinished 
is of the nature to impede their 
prosperity. A person's 
value is proportional to the work 
they complete. 
The work they leave undone 
detracts from 
their value. 
E.3 Ex. CuOakaseEEhE JAtaka 
(14) 
There was once a millionnaire and 
his servant who 
were travelling in a cart in the 
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middle of India. The 
millionnaire saw a dead mouse at 
the side of the 
road and pointed it out to his 
servant saying `if 
someone had proper principles of 
working as a 
salesman even with such a dead 
mouse as this he 
could set himself up in life.' The 
servant immediately 
got down from the cart and 
allowed the 
millionnaire to go home alone. He 
picked up the 
mouse and because he knew a lot 
of people in the 
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area, he selected a house where he 
knew someone 
with compassion who kept cats 
was living and took 
the mouse there. He knew that 
compassionate people 
won't kill mice but at the same 
time the cat has 
Blessing Fourteen: Not Leaving 
One's Work Undone 181 
to have something to eat every 
day. He sold the 
mouse to the householder for a few 
cents. He used 
the few cents to buy some 
sugar-cane juice from 
the people crushing the cane. He 
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