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realized he 
would die if he didn't get to taste 
such food. He 
pushed his way to the front of the 
crowd and begged 
the millionaire for a taste of the 
food. The millionaire 
refused, saying "If I give you a 
taste, the rest will be 
wanting one too." Instead the 
wood-cutter offered 
three-years of his work in the 
service of the 
millionnaire in order to earn a taste 
of such food, and 
the millionnaire agreed. 
At the fulfilment of three year's 
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labour,the woodcutter 
(in the meantime nicknamed 
Bhattabhatika —
"the one who labours for a meal"), 
was sitting at the 
table about to tuck in to the 
delicacies he had earned 
for himself. At that moment a 
paccekabuddha passed 
into view on almsround. Seeing the 
paccekabuddha, the 
woodcutter hesitated thinking: 
"that I have had to work three 
years for this meal 
must be because I am lacking in 
merit to find myself 
subject to such poverty. If I eat this 
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meal myself 
it will only sustain me for a day, 
but if I offer it to the 
paccekabuddha, it will sustain me 
for many lifetimes." 
The woodcutter offered a large 
portion of the food to 
the paccekabuddha who then 
closed the lid of his bowl. 
The woodcutter appealed to the 
paccekabuddha to receive 
more food saying: "don't just help 
me for this 
lifetime — help me in the next 
lifetime too!" The 
paccekabuddha removed the lid of 
his bowl and the 
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wood-cutter put all the remaining 
food into the bowl, 
while making the wish, "may this 
merit bring me happiness 
and success in every lifetime, may 
I know some 
part of the wisdom of this 
paccekabuddha". The 
paccekabuddha gave his blessing 
to the effect that the 
wood-cutter's every wish should 
be fulfilled. 
The onlookers for the 
wood-cutter's meal were inspired 
by the wood-cutter's generosity 
and how he 
had given something that was so 
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hard to give. They 
applauded him so loudly that the 
millionaire came 
out to see what all the noise was 
about. He too was 
inspired by the wood-cutter's 
example and shared so 
much wealth with him that he too 
was to attain the 
status of millionnaire. 
He performed charitable works to 
the end of his 
days and was reborn as Sukha who 
ordained as a 
novice under SAriputta at the age 
of seven and very 
quickly attained arahantship. This 
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is an example of 
"giving things of better quality 
than you would use 
yourself' [dAnasAmE]. 
Blessing Sixteen: Dhamma 
Practice 197 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 Purification in Buddhism 
On our path of self-development 
via the Manual of 
Peace there are many reasons on 
many levels of description 
why to purify oneself is attractive. 
• On a personal level: it would be 
a rare person 
who isn't proud of the many 
strengths they consider 
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they have in their character —
purification 
can be the way in which one builds 
and improves 
the strengths already in one's 
character. At the 
same time, if one knows oneself to 
have certain 
weaknesses of character, by 
purification, one can 
overcome these weaknesses. 
• On an interpersonal level: by 
purifying ourselves 
of weaknesses and building on our 
strengths we 
can become the sort of person who 
others feel 
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privileged to consider as a friend 
• On a social level: purifying 
oneself can contribute 
to overcoming the weaknesses and 
inequalities 
that are often so obvious in our 
modern society 
by being one less person who is 
prone to 
corruption, nepotism and fraud, 
while displaying 
the sort of compassion which 
makes our society 
a more pleasant place to live. 
In Buddhism, according to the Law 
of Karma, we must 
receive the retribution of the good 
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and bad actions that 
we do. (Usually) the only way in 
which karmic retribution 
becomes defunct is by giving its 
fruit. However, rather 
than just sitting and waiting for 
one's karma to run out, 
the Buddha suggested two ways to 
purify oneself: 
• dilution of old bad karma with 
large quantities 
of new good karma: Supposing 
you compare the 
negative things in our past to a 
spoonful of salt 
and you compare the positive 
things in life to a 
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container of water. Supposing you 
put the spoonful 
of salt in a glass of water 
if you 
taste the 
water it will still have the salty 
taste. If you put 
the same amount of salt in a bucket 
of water you 
will find that the water still tastes 
salty but less 
so. But what if you put a spoonful 
of salt in a 
huge water tank? Now even if you 
taste the water, 
you will no longer be able to detect 
the salty 
taste — even though the salt is still 
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there. In the 
same way although we may have 
things we have 
done in the past which we regret, 
we can start 
afresh in our lives by doing so 
many positive 
things in our life that the old 
negative things 
become insignificant. 
• direct uprooting of the old bad 
karma through 
meditation: This method is 
described in the 
higher blessings of "Austerity" 
(31) and "Chastity" 
(32). 
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In this blessing we consider pure 
living at the level 
of the householder 
leaving 
purification at the 
more intense monastic level to 
later blessings. 
A.2 Buddhist Purification 
compared to that of 
other religions 
In its approach to purification, 
Buddhism is rather 
unique when compared to other 
religions. In Christianity 
(esp. Catholicism), if a Christian 
breaks a 
commandment, he will go to 
confession with a 
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Blessing Sixteen: 
Dhamma Practice 
198 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
priest in church. In that way, he 
can absolve his sins. 
Although confession has an 
important role in Buddhism 
too (primarily monastic) from the 
point of 
view of declaring one's intention 
to renew one's 
effort to overcome evil deeds after 
having broken a 
precept — it is not seen as a way 
of overcoming the 
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consequences of the evil done. 
Supposing Mr. A 
punches Mr. B in the street and 
subsequently confesses 
it to someone he respects, 
Buddhists would 
see this as helping Mr. A to feel 
better about it, and 
to avoid repeating his behaviour —
but it doesn't 
help Mr. B. feel any better about 
his swollen nose! 
  i.e. the consequences, even on a 
superficial level, 
do not go away because of the 
confession. 
In Hinduism, there is also a way of 
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purification 
— bathing in the River Ganges on 
full-moon days. 
Hindus believe they can rinse 
away their sins with 
river water. If sin were really 
washable, then presumably 
it is a sort of bodily dirt, rather like 
dried 
sweat? 
The Buddha however, 
concentrated on the residue 
of evil deeds left as defilements in 
the mind. He 
said that you can wash your mouth 
out a hundred 
times a day, but it doesn't get rid 
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of the evil effects 
of the bad speech that comes from 
your mouth.You 
can wash yourself in the river a 
hundred times per 
day, but it doesn't get rid of the 
effects of the evil 
bodily acts which you have done. 
This blessing 
deals with the Buddhist approach 
to mind purification 
— specifically by the technique of 
"dilution". 
A.3 Definition: Practising 
Dhamma 
The Pali word we use for Dhamma 
Practice is 
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"dhammacariya". This word is the 
compound of two 
words — `dhamma' and `cariya'. 
`Dhamma' is a word 
which has anything up to forty 
different meanings, 
but for our purposes in the study of 
Buddhism it 
means `correctness', `goodness', 
`purity' or `what 
the Buddha taught'. Sometimes 
'dhamma' means 
`phenomena' — which is a neutral 
term applied to 
positive and negative things — for 
example, aging, 
sickness and death are all 
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Vhammas'. In English we 
capitalize Dhamma when it is 
meaning goodness, 
purity or the Teaching of the 
Buddha and leave it 
with a small `d.' when it refers just 
to phenomena 
or mental phenomena. The word 
`cariya' means 
`conduct' — therefore, 
`Dhammacariya' means the 
`practice of good deeds' or `correct 
practice'.The sort 
of deeds that are good or correct 
are described in 
more detail below — however, to 
give practical 
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principles for the purposes of this 
blessing, we can 
say that it is that the sort of deeds 
and conduct 
which comply with this blessing 
are those which 
promote our sense of responsibility 
for human dignity 
on three levels: 
• the personal level 
• the interpersonal level 
• the level of society and the 
economy 
In this particular blessing we will 
concentrate 
mainly on the first two levels of 
description — not 
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because the social level is 
irrelevant, but because 
we will deal with it in more detail 
in Blessing Eighteen 
(Blameless Work) and Blessing 
Nineteen on not 
consuming the things that lead to 
economic unfairness. 
The Dhamma Practice of this 
achieves two goals: 
• protecting yourself from the 
effects of the evil 
we have done in our past (= 
practice for purity) 
• furthering our good deeds (= 
pure practice) 
A.4 Dhamma Practice in the 
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