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be destroyed. 
Both sides wanted the water for 
their own use 
only and as a result, there was 
much 
and 
hatred on both sides. The quarrel 
that started between 
the farmers soon spread like fire 
and the 
matter was reported to their 
respective rulers. 
Failing to find a compromise, both 
sides prepared 
to go to war. 
The Buddha came to know that his 
relatives on 
both sides of the river were 
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preparing for battle. 
For their wellbeing and happiness 
and to avoid 
unnecessary suffering, he decided 
to stop them. 
All alone, he went and appeared in 
the middle of 
the river. His relatives on seeing 
him, laid aside 
all their weapons and paid homage 
to him. Then, 
the Buddha admonished them, 
asking, `what do 
you think is more precious, 
irrigation water or 
your royal blood?' 
They replied "Our royal blood is 
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more precious" 
"For the sake of some water, 
which is of little 
value, you should not destroy your 
lives which 
are of so much value. Why have 
you taken this 
Blessing Seventeen: Looking After 
One's Extended Family 211 
unwholesome course of action? If I 
had not been 
here today, your blood would have 
been flowing 
like this river by now. You are 
living with hatred, 
but I live free from hatred. You are 
ailing with 
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moral defilements, but I am free 
from moral defilements. 
You are striving to develop 
selfishness 
and enmity, but I don't strive for 
the development 
of selfishness." Both sides then 
became ashamed 
of their foolishness and thus 
bloodshed was 
averted. 
The Buddha was also to help his 
extended family, 
the Sakyans by prohibiting 
ViIElabha from 
massacring them out of anger, as 
many as three 
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times (See Blessing Thirty-Three 
§D.6) 
D.4 Ex. Kukkura JAtaka (J.22) 
Because his carriage straps, left in 
the rain, are 
gnawed by his own dogs, the king 
of Benares orders 
all dogs except his own to be killed 
indiscriminately. 
The Bodhisattva, who was the 
leader 
of the pack of dogs in the 
cemetary, visited the 
king and pointed out to him his 
iniquity, and reveals 
the truth by causing an emetic to 
be administered 
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to the king's own dogs. In this way 
the 
Bodhisattva cared for his 
"extended family" by 
making sure justice was delivered 
to all of his 
kind. Having convinced the king, 
the Bodhisattva 
taught him the The Ten Virtues of 
a King and to 
avoid the Four Forms of Bias. 
Great are the benefactions 
thereafter made to dogs in the 
kingdom. 
D.5 Ex. Buddha tends the sick 
monk himself 
(DhA.i.319ff) 
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Once the Buddha happened to see 
the sorrowful state 
of a certain monk called `Tissa'. 
The monk had been 
meditating diligently until 
becoming afflicted with a 
disease of stinking open sores 
covering his whole body. 
Because of the smell, he had been 
abandoned by his 
fellow monks.The Buddha knew 
that Tissa would soon 
attain Arahanthood, so he 
proceeded to the fire-shed, 
close to the place where the monk 
was staying. There, 
he personally boiled some water, 
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went to the place 
where the monk was lying down, 
and took hold of the 
edge of the couch. It was only then 
that the other monks 
also gathered round him, and as 
instructed by the Buddha, 
they carried him out where he was 
washed and 
bathed.While he was being bathed 
his robes were 
washed and dried. After the bath, 
the monk became 
fresh in body and mind and soon 
developed one-pointedness 
of concentration. Standing at the 
head of the 
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couch, the Buddha told him that 
this body when devoid 
of life would be as useless as a log 
and would be 
laid on the earth. At the conclusion 
of the sermon, Tissa 
attained Arahanthood. Soon after, 
he passed away into 
ParinibbAna.The Buddha then 
directed some bhikkhus 
to cremate his body and enshrine 
his relics in a stEpa. 
Subsequently, the Buddha taught, 
Thikkhus! You do 
not have your mother or father 
here who can tend to 
you. If you do not tend to one 
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another, who will be 
there to tend to you? Tend a sick 
fellow monk as if you 
were tending me.' 
212 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
Blessing Eighteen: Blameless 
Work 213 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 Blessing Eighteen in the 
Sequence of the 
Blessings 
The workplace is somewhere we 
have already been 
familiar with since Blessing 
Fourteen — but last 
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time we visited, we were interested 
in work only 
as a means to earn the salary we 
needed to support 
the close family (as covered in 
Blessings Eleven, 
Twelve and Thirteen). Now we 
have matured a little 
further in the sequence of the 
Blessings, we return 
to our work, not as simply 
something which 
needs to be completed, but to be 
completed well! 
Within the context of this Fifth 
Grouping of Blessings, 
`Becoming a pillar of society', it 
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matters not 
simply that we finish our work, but 
also how well 
we do it and how beneficial it is to 
society too! In this 
Blessing we are to learn about the 
quality and the 
ethicality of the work we do 
important factors 
in being the sort of person others 
in society can look 
up to. 
A.2 Buddhist Economics 
`Economics' is not a term native to 
Buddhism. "Buddhist 
Economics" is a phrase coined by 
E.F. 
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Schumacher — but the concepts 
involved (especially 
Right Livelihood at the mundane 
[lokiya] 
level) are very relevant to 
explaining a second visit 
to the workplace is necessary. Like 
the diligent but 
shoddy and corrupt worker 
tolerated by Blessing 
Fourteen, contemporary western 
economics tries to 
measure social well-being by 
financial transactions 
alone. Western economists try to 
avoid involvement 
of values when considering the 
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`economics' of different 
actions — and their approach is 
thus radically 
different from that of Buddhism. 
To give some 
examples of iniquities in the 
modern economic 
analysis, transactions which are 
considered . . . : 
• Economic non-events: Any work 
which doesn't 
get paid a wage is a non-event to 
an economist 
- so much for voluntary work in 
the 
temple! 
• Economically equal activities.-
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The purchase of a 
bottle of whisky and or a sack of 
rice to feed a 
village of hungry refugees have the 
same economic 
value 
• `Negligible' economic 
by-products: That vices are 
by-products of attending 
night-clubs, rampant 
consumerism the result of 
advertising, 
temptation towards unethical 
business practices 
the result of competition — have 
no place 
in the economic equation. 
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Costs given consideration in the 
Buddhist economic 
equation: To Buddhism, by 
contrast, the economics 
of livelihood has a human face (i.e. 
it acknowledges 
values). Below are listed some of 
the factors 
to be encouraged in the equation of 
Buddhist economics: 
• Physical health and security of 
the population: 
If the public are made ill by 
unethical 
business practices, the medical 
costs it is the 
victims who end up paying the bill 
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through 
Blessing Eighteen: 
Blameless Work 
214 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
their own taxes! When 
consumerism exacerbates 
crimes, guess who has to pay for 
police 
investigations and prosecution of 
the offenders? 
• Spiritual Health: the ravages of 
over-consumption 
and over-production reflect 
unhealthy 
mental processes in the population 
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generated 
by the superficial emotions of 
want, choice 
and material satisfaction —
emotions which 
Buddhism does not encourage; 
• Quality of work: Shoddy work is 
produced 
by shoddy minds. Buddhism 
foresees a working 
environment where workers are 
enthusiastic 
to give their best, because in so 
doing, 
apart from job satisfaction, 
workers will have 
the chance to train and better 
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themselves and 
refine their minds through their 
working experience; 
• Job satisfaction: If workers 
enjoy their work 
and are industrious, productivity 
will be high. 
On the other hand, if they are 
dishonest, disgruntled 
or lazy, this will have a negative 
effect 
on the quality of production and 
the 
amount of productivity. 
• Respect for individual human 
dignity: To be 
ethically sound, economic activity 
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must take 
place in a way that is not harmful 
to the individual, 
• Respect for interpersonal 
human dignity: To 
be ethically sound, economic 
activity must 
take place in a way that does not 
encourage 
one individual to take advantage of 
another; 
• Respect for fair 
economics/human dignity of 
society at large: society or the 
natural environment. 
In other words, economic activity 
should not cause problems for 
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