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the donkey singly, together or lead 
the donkey, they 
get criticized — what can they do? 
They found a 
rope and tied the donkey so that it 
hung on the pole 
by its feet. The father took one end 
of the pole and 
the son the other and they went on 
their way. They 
passed through the fifth village and 
all the villagers 
exclaimed, "This father and son 
must be mad. 
What could be the reason they 
have bought a donkey 
to carry around like that. Wouldn't 
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it be better 
just to walk empty-handed?" This 
story only goes 
to show that if you want to find 
something to criticize, 
you can always find something. 
However, unfortunately, 
those who spend their whole time 
criticizing 
others are very numerous in the 
world. The 
moral of the story is that you 
cannot rely on others' 
criticism to tell you the truth of a 
situation — you 
must have principles which are 
tried and tested to 
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use as a rule of thumb. 
E.2 Ex. SerivA JAtaka (J.3) 
The bodhisattva was once a 
hawker of Seriva and 
was called SerivA. Once, in the 
company of a greedy 
merchant of the same name, he 
crossed the TelavAha 
and entered Andhapura. In that city 
was a family who 
had fallen on hard times, the sole 
survivors being a 
girl and her grandmother. The 
greedy merchant went 
to their house with his wares. The 
girl begged her 
grandmother to buy a trinket, and 
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suggested that 
they should give the hawker the 
golden bowl from 
which they ate. The bowl was a 
valuable heirloom, 
but it had lost its lustre and the 
woman didn't know 
its value. The hawker was called in 
and shown the 
bowl. He scratched it with a needle 
and knew it was 
solid gold, but wishing to have it 
for nothing, he 
bluffed saying it was not worth 
half a farthing — so 
he threw it aside and left. Later, 
the bodhisattva came 
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to the same street and was offered 
the same bowl. 
He told them the truth, gave them 
all the money he 
had and his stock too, leaving only 
eight pieces of 
money for himself. These he gave 
to the boatman and 
boarded the boat to cross the river. 
Meanwhile, the 
greedy merchant went again to the 
old woman's 
house, hoping to get the bowl in 
exchange for a few 
trinkets. When he heard what had 
happened, he lost 
command of himself, and throwing 
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down all he had, 
ran down to the river to find the 
bodhisattva's boat 
in mid-stream. He shouted to the 
boatman to return, 
but the bodhisattva urged him on. 
The merchant, realizing 
what he had lost through his greed, 
was so 
upset that his heart burst and he 
fell down dead. 
Blessing Eighteen: Blameless 
Work 221 
E.3 Ex. SEci JAtaka (J.387) 
The bodhisattva was once a very 
clever smith 
of Kasi, but was very poor. The 
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principal royal 
smith had a beautiful daughter and 
the 
bodhisattva, wishing to win her, 
made a needle 
so delicate that could pierce anvils 
and float on 
water. For this needle, he made 
seven sheaths. 
He then went to the village of the 
head smith, 
stood outside the house and sang 
the praises of 
the needle. The smith's daughter, 
who was fanning 
her father, told the bodhisattva to 
go elsewhere 
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as no-one in that village wanted 
needles. 
The bodhisattva answered that his 
were no ordinary 
needles and the head-smith asked 
him 
to show them. The bodhisattva 
suggested that 
all the smiths be summoned and in 
their presence, 
he gave the needle-tube to the 
head-smith. 
He thought it was the needle itself, 
because he 
could find no end or tip. The tube 
was handed 
back to the bodhisattva who took 
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out the first 
sheath. In this way the seven 
sheaths were removed 
and when the needle was at last 
revealed, 
he made it pierce an anvil and float 
on water. 
The whole assembly was filled 
with envy and 
admiration and the head-smith 
gave his daughter 
to the bodhisattva. 
222 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
Blessing Eighteen: Blameless 
Work 223 
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The Sixth 
Group of Blessings 
"Preparation of Mind" 
The first eighteen blessings 
form the first half of the 
MaIgala Sutta. 
They are all concerned with 
transforming our lives. It is only 
upon 
the foundation of security in life 
achieved in the first half of the 
Blessings of Life, that one can 
go on, in the second half of the 
Sutta 
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to cultivate purity of mind in 
earnest by following Blessings 
nineteen 
to thirty-eight. When we come 
to the start of the sixth grouping 
we are concerned with the 
preparation of the mind. 
224 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
Blessing Nineteen: Abstaining 
from Unwholesomeness 225 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 Introduction to the 
Nineteenth Blessing 
The mind is fickle and easily 
influenced. A person 
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who is virtuous today can easily 
relapse into 
bad behaviour tomorrow if his 
mind has not been 
cultivated to the point of 
steadfastness. When you 
realize the weakness of the mind it 
immediately 
implies that we have work to do in 
the constant 
upgrading of the mind towards 
something better. 
If you really want to be sure that 
you will 
never do unwholesome deeds 
again, then at the 
least you have to attain 
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enlightenment at the level 
of `stream-enterer' [sotApana]. For 
those who still 
fall short of this initial degree of 
enlightenment 
— although you can always praise 
and encourage 
their good intentions — you can 
never entirely 
trust the working of the remaining 
defilements 
in their mind. 
Cultivating virtue can be compared 
to climbing 
a tree. Trees have no branches at 
the lowest 
level. The lowest branches are 
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several metres 
above the ground. Therefore if you 
want to start 
climbing a tree you have to shinny 
up the trunk 
before you can sit to rest on the 
lowest branch. If 
you don't make it to the first 
branch, whenever 
you get tired you will slide back 
down to the bottom 
of the tree again. Only if you are 
on the first 
branch can you be sure you will 
not backslide and 
can you be sure that you have a 
chance of eating 
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the fruit from the tree. In the same 
way, in the 
pursuit of virtue, no matter how 
many years you 
have been cultivating good deeds, 
if you have still 
not managed to attain the body of 
enlightenment 
(DhammakAya) inside yourself, 
you cannot be 
assured that one day, if you are 
short of encouragement 
you will not fall back to your old 
unwholesome 
ways. 
For most people in the world, 
unfortunately it 
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is much easier to do unwholesome 
(wicked) 
things rather than wholesome 
(good) ones. To do 
unwholesome deeds is like going 
with the flow 
— but in fact is is the tide of 
defilements in the 
mind. Instead of being ourselves, 
we become like 
a puppet to the defilements or 
demons [mAra] in 
our minds — in the beginning it 
might seem easy, 
but in the long-term suffering and 
regret is the 
path to which it leads. By 
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comparison to do good 
deeds is like travelling against the 
flow — it needs 
much more patience and precision 
to go against 
the tide of temptation and 
defilement in one's 
mind. However, although it may 
seem more difficult 
in the beginning, in the long term, 
it has 
true happiness as its destination. 
Thus to gain the steadfastness of 
mind and resist 
the temptation of slipping into the 
convenience 
of unwholesome ways, we have to 
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study 
Blessing Nineteen concerning the 
avoidance of 
all unwholesomeness. It is the first 
step in adjusting 
our quality of mind. Adjustments 
to quality 
of mind will continue in a way that 
becomes 
increasingly refined all the way to 
Blessing 
Thirty-Eight. 
Blessing Nineteen: 
Abstaining from 
Unwholesomeness 
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226 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
B. MORAL APPROACHES TO 
UNWHOLESOMENESS 
When comparing different systems 
of ethics, usually 
you will not find much 
disagreement in the discussion 
of what constitutes a good deed —
however, 
when you come to the morality of 
avoiding evil, 
suddenly there is a lot more 
controversy. 
People like to do what they feel 
comes naturally 
and if you look at man to try to 
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find out what appears 
to be the natural state of man you 
will come 
across a lot of surprises. If you 
were to describe what 
ought to happen to a rock when 
you drop it, it falls 
to the ground every time, so it is 
easy to make up a 
rule. However, if you try to make 
up a rule to describe 
what man ought to do in any 
situation, even 
if you expect the best of intentions 
from man, you 
will often be disappointed. Even if 
you take the 
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