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asked for another 
bucket of plain water. He took the 
water and the 
sugar cane juice to the gate of the 
town. He waited 
until the flower-gatherers from the 
palace came 
back from where they had been 
picking flowers 
outside the city wall. Of course 
they were tired and 
thirsty as they came to the gates. 
He gave them a 
glass of plain water to drink first of 
all. After they 
had slaked their thirst, he gave 
them a second glass 
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of sugar-cane juice. The palace 
attendants didn't 
know how to pay the man so they 
gave him each a 
handful of jasmine flowers. The 
man took the flowers 
and sold them for a small profit. 
He had a little 
more money than before. He 
bought more sugarcane 
juice and collected a little more 
rain water, he 
sold all of it to the flower gatherers 
on the second 
day, and got enough money for a 
second round of 
sugar-cane juice 
enough for the 
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people collecting 
firewood. The people with the 
firewood drank 
the sugar-cane juice and each left 
him with a bundle 
of firewood. He sold the firewood 
and got even 
more sugar-cane juice. He kept his 
eyes and ears 
open and noticed that there had 
been a storm in 
the night. In the royal forest there 
were many broken 
branches and tree-trunks on the 
ground. He 
took his sugar-cane juice along to 
the forest. He offered 
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to the forest keeper to be the one to 
clear up 
all the broken branches and the 
forester agreed because 
he would be able to have an easy 
day. He 
therefore offered sugar-cane juice 
to the children 
running and playing nearby and 
the children cut 
and gathered all the broken 
branches together into 
a huge pile. He sold the branches 
as firewood to a 
potter and bought a big barrel. 
Where he had sold 
sugar-cane juice by the bucket 
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before, now he sold 
it by the barrel. He bartered 
sugar-cane juice for 
flowers, firewood and even 
grass-fodder. One day 
a big caravan of traders arrived at 
the gate with 
many hungry horses etc. He told 
the stable boys in 
the palace not to sell their fodder 
to anyone and he 
sold his own fodder at a high price 
to the traders. It 
was not enough and they even took 
the fodder from 
the palace to sell to them at the 
same high price so 
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that everyone got a profit. He 
carried on working 
like this until before long he was 
able to put down 
a deposit on a trading ship. His 
ship kept trading 
until he had amassed a fortune of 
100,000. In the 
end he returned to the old 
millionnaire who had 
been his master and presented him 
with the 100,000 
saying that all of this wealth had 
come from the 
policy of seeing benefit in a dead 
mouse. The 
millionnaire was so impressed that 
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he gave the man 
a fortune of a million and also his 
daughter's hand 
in marriage. 
E.4 Ex. Nakkhatta JAtaka (J.49) 
There was once a bridegroom who 
was due to be 
married the next day. He was 
about to go to the 
wedding reception when a 
fortune-teller came and 
warned him that today was not an 
auspicious day 
for a marriage. The man believed 
the fortune teller 
and decided not to turn up for his 
own wedding. 
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The bride waited and waited and 
then in impatience 
married someone else. The bride 
took all the first 
bridegroom's property in 
compensation for his having 
broken the marriage contract and 
married someone 
else. 
182 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
Blessing One: Not Associating 
with Fools 183 
The Fifth 
Group of Blessings 
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"Becoming a Pillar of 
Society" 
The Fifth Grouping of the 
Blessings of Life is usually 
referred to as 
"Becoming a pillar of society". 
The Group consists of "Being 
Generous" 
(15), "Practising the Dhamma" 
(16), "Looking after your 
extended 
family" (17) and "Working in a 
blameless way"(18). In the 
Fourth 
Grouping, we have learned 
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about harmony in the family life 
(where 
applicable) — doing things like 
recognizing and repaying the 
debt of 
gratitude we have to our parents 
will stimulate our awareness of 
good 
deeds and the harmony of the 
family life will be a foundation 
and a 
springboard to the real 
performance of virtue which we 
are to meet in 
this Fifth Grouping. Until now 
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if we have fulfilled all the 
blessings we 
have learned from 1 - 14 we can 
say that we have done no more 
than 
`break even' in our virtues. We 
have managed to steer clear of 
the minefields 
of everyday life that might 
cripple future efforts to 
accumulate 
merit. Thus in this fifth 
grouping we start to explore the 
virtues where 
we do truly start to give 
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something back to society and 
the world about 
us. We are sufficiently mature 
in our cultivation of good deeds 
to start 
to produce virtue for ourselves 
— first in basic ways (in the 
Fifth Grouping) 
but subsequently in more and 
more advanced ways. The 
fifteenth 
blessing of generosity can be 
regarded the first stepping stone 
on the 
path of actively producing 
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virtues. It will start to make us 
into the sort 
of person who society can trust 
and look up to. It will make us a 
person 
who can be considered a `pillar 
of society'. 
184 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
Blessing Fifteen: Generosity 185 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 Introduction to Blessing 
Fifteen 
Buddhism places great importance 
on generosity 
because it is seen as the origin of 
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wealth. The Law 
of Karma states that "we shall reap 
what we sow" 
and if we provide for the happiness 
of others 
through our generosity, the karmic 
fruit will be that 
we will always be provided for in 
our own happiness 
and convenience. Thus Buddhism 
sees generosity 
less in a material way (benefit for 
the recipient) 
than in its spiritual fruits (benefits 
to the giver). 
A.2 The Importance of Giving 
A.2.1 Generosity is a basic virtue 
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You may ask yourself why, if 
generosity is so 
fundemental, why it is not the first 
blessing. However, 
you must not forget that all the 
previous Blessings 
are necessary preparation for the 
actual performance 
of good deeds and recognizing and 
setting 
a foundation for their accrual. 
From Blessing 
Fifteen onwards, all the content of 
the blessings is 
concerned with real good deeds. 
There are five good 
reasons for choosing generosity as 
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a first priority 
in doing good deeds (Siam Rath 
Edn. 33/2/428): 
I. It is the first step on the 
stairway to heaven: It 
engenders the compassionate way 
of thinking 
characteristic of an angel even 
from the time one 
is still living in the human realm; 
2. It is like provisions that you can 
take with you: 
If you have been generous to 
others in your past, 
then in the future you will be on 
the receiving 
end of generosity. No matter how 
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far your spiritual 
journey may take you, with the 
provisions 
you have stored up for yourself 
through our generosity, 
you will be sure never to fall on 
hard 
times. 
3. It is the direct path to Nirvana: 
It clears the way 
for doing other sorts of virtue with 
ease. To give 
an example, when peasants 
slaughter animals it 
is not that they don't know the 
karmic retribution 
of what they do — it because of 
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force of circumstances 
of their poverty. If you are poor it 
iS 
hard to keep the precepts properly. 
If you are 
poor, the opportunity to sit and 
listen to a sermon 
is hard to find. Even the price of 
the bus to 
the temple is hard to find. If you 
are poor, then 
you have little chance of obtaining 
a good education. 
If you are poor, you won't see the 
point 
of sitting for meditation. If you are 
generous then 
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it will stop you from falling into 
poverty and the 
other sorts of good deed will come 
naturally. 
4. Generosity is a splendid means 
of escaping the 
cycle of rebirth. Anyone who is 
going to escape 
the cycle of rebirth must have faith 
in the performance 
of good deeds. As for the good 
deeds 
for which it is easiest to see the 
fruition in the 
here and now, there is nothing to 
beat generosity. 
5. Generosity purifies the mind: 
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The most direct 
way we can cure ourselves of 
stinginess lurking 
Blessing Fifteen: 
Generosity 
186 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
in the mind is to be generous. The 
more you give, 
the more you rid yourself from 
stinginess in the 
mind and the more and more 
control you gain 
over your desires. 
A.2.2 Generosity makes the world 
go round 
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