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most crude system governing 
morality, such as the 
law, you will find that many 
people disobey it. Even 
though people know perfectly well 
what is right 
and wrong, they still do misdeeds, 
and you might 
argue that if the nature of man is to 
be disinterested 
even in the most basic of morality, 
that it is not man 
that is the measure of morality, but 
it must lie elsewhere. 
Indeed, according to the rationale 
of 
Phramonkolthepmuni, the Great 
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Abbot of Wat 
Paknam: 
"Force needs to be applied to 
improve peoples' 
virtues. The mind is like water 
which tends to 
sink to its own depth. Without 
effort, the mind's 
virtue, like water, will fall to the 
lowest level —
that is the performance of evil 
deeds. If normal 
people are to develop their minds 
to the level 
of the arahant, then efforts need to 
be made. 
The mind has to be brought under 
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control until 
it comes to a standstill. Thus, to 
govern others, 
there need to be rules. There needs 
to be something 
to force people to become better —
and 
there need to be penalties for 
breaking the 
rules." 
If the rules are to be better than 
man himself, to 
make him better, then the question 
arises where 
they should come from. The 
answer to the question 
is different in different ethical 
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systems depending 
on what each takes as its ideal. In 
general, 
you can summarize the origin of 
these rules 
under three headings: 
I. Artificial Morality: artificial 
morality where 
the Law court decides what is right 
or wrong 
and retribution is man-made; 
2. Theistic Morality: where 
decisions about 
what is useful or unuseful 
behaviour are attributed 
to a supreme supernatural being. In 
deified religions such as 
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Christianity or Islam, 
sin originates from displeasure or 
disloyalty 
to the will of this supreme being 
and can also 
be nullified by confession and 
penance to that 
being. Supposing the Creator 
ordered Christians 
always to think of God and never 
to take 
His name in vain — if they were to 
blaspheme 
or use God as a swearword 
because that is 
against God's will, it is a source of 
sin. Because 
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God and not the perpetrator is the 
source of 
the sin, this logic can lead to 
strange beliefs 
such as that sin can be transmitted 
from parents 
to their children. Adam and Eve 
ate the 
forbidden fruit in the Garden of 
Eden and so 
committed the primordial sin. As a 
result of 
that action all subsequent 
generations down 
to the present day all have to suffer 
as the result. 
3. Natural Morality: This does not 
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mean doing 
`whatever comes naturally' ! It 
refers to guidelines 
for morality which are not 
attributed to 
any supernatural source, but which 
are passed 
down from a time when men were 
wiser, more 
insightful, perceptive and shameful 
than in 
the present day. The men did not 
make the 
rules but observed the long term 
consequences 
of the behaviours — thereby 
coming 
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up with recommendations for how 
to behave 
in order not to risk regret at a later 
time. It is 
just like a person who vainly tries 
to wear 
shoes that are two sizes too small 
for them. 
No-one says such behaviour is 
good or bad 
— but the truth is that by wearing 
them, later 
they will suffer from pain as a 
result. Thus, 
natural morality is not a system of 
judgements, 
but a description of the likely 
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consequences 
of behaviours in the long term. 
As we shall see, the Buddhist 
understanding of 
Blessing Nineteen: Abstaining 
from Unwholesomeness 227 
wholesomeness 
andunwholesomeness accords to 
natural morality. 
C. UNWHOLESOMENESS 
The translation of the Pali word 
‘pApa' (which we 
translate glibly as 
`unwholesomeness') in fact has 
very broad scope of meaning. The 
implication of 
the word is one of `malfunction'. If 
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you consider 
any other malfunctioning object 
such as a rundown 
house or a broken-down car or 
rotten food you 
might have a better idea of the 
unpleasant qualities 
of `pApa'. However the important 
malfunctioning 
implied by the term is the 
malfunctioning of 
the mind. When the mind 
malfunctions it takes on 
the unpleasant qualities of cruelty, 
impurity and low 
quality. Anything that detracts 
from the quality of the 
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mind is `unwholesome' for the 
purposes of our understanding 
of the word `pApa'. 
C.1 Origin of `unwholesomeness' 
in Buddhism 
The Buddha taught that sin will not 
arise for those 
who do no unwholesome deeds. 
Unwholesomeness 
will only arise if you do 
unwholesome deeds, as 
we can see from the proverbs: 
Natthi pApaO akubbato 
No unwholesomeness accrues to 
those who 
do no unwholesome deeds 
Dh. v. 124 
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and 
AttanA pakataO pApaO attanA 
saOkilissati, 
attanA akataO pApaO attanA 'va 
visujjhati 
Unwholesomeness accrues 
personally to those 
who do unwholesome deeds. 
Those who do no 
unwholesome deeds remain pure. 
Nd1.32 
If you don't do any unwholesome 
deeds, there will 
be no unwholesome consequences. 
If you do unwholesome 
deeds you will receive 
unwholesome 
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consequences. You don't find that 
one person does 
unwholesome deeds and another 
person receives 
the consequences. If a father eats a 
meal, he will be 
full. His son will be left hungry. It 
is never the case 
that the father eats a meal and his 
son has his appetite 
satisfied thereby! Thus in 
Buddhism unwholesomeness 
arises for a person as a result of the 
unwholesome 
deeds they do. Unwholesomeness 
arises in the mind of that person 
(not in their feet or 
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hands etc.) Unwholesome will 
attach itself to the 
mind of the doer and will stain the 
mind of that 
person making the mind dull and 
clouded. 
Unwholesome for Buddhists is 
produced by action 
of body, speech or mind which 
leads to unwholesomeness 
in the mind. The result of 
practising 
discipline until attaining 
self-discipline is to remove 
oneself from the influence of the 
Tenfold Path 
of Unwholesomeness 
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[akusaladhammapatha] (see 
Blessing Nine §D.2). The Buddha 
analysed unwholesome 
states in a very detailed way, 
because he 
wanted us to be able to keep up 
with the changes 
occurring in our own minds. He 
expected us even 
to be able to recognize 
vengefulness arising in our 
own minds and withdraw from a 
situation before 
it worsens to anger, cruelty or 
aggression. 
C.2 Characteristics of 
Unwholesomeness 
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In fact many of the dynamics of 
unwholesomeness 
are the same as for merit but they 
take their action 
in the opposite way. It is the 
residue of unwholesome 
karma which can be done with 
body, speech 
or mind. They are like poisons for 
the mind where 
merit is a food. Unwholesomeness 
will tend to 
cloud the mind, worsen the quality 
of the mind, it 
can be accumulated, it belongs to 
the person who 
did its originating evil deed, as it 
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gives its fruits it 
will be exhausted, the amount of 
demerit depends 
on the strength of intention, 
amount of effort and 
the amount of ingratitude of the 
originating deed, 
and it will attract misfortune at 
four levels: mind, 
personality, lifestyle and society. 
1. Level of mind: The first level of 
description at 
which unwholesomeness brings 
retribution is 
at the level of the mind. The 
retribution includes 
clouding the mind, decreasing the 
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quality of the mind, bringing 
unease of mind, 
making the mind more unstable, 
making the 
mind less flexible, making the 
mind less radiant, 
decreasing the potential of the 
mind, obstructing 
decision-making, obstructing 
insightful 
analysis of any situation, make 
thinking 
less thorough and comprehensive, 
obstructing 
thought that is noble or deep; 
228 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
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2. Level of Personality: Damage to 
the quality 
of the mind brings about the 
following general 
changes in personality — physical 
awkwardness, 
bringing ignorance, crudeness and 
clumsiness, causing a decay of 
tastes and values, 
deterioration of character and 
personality, 
lack of skill in speech, 
deterioration of behaviour, 
more impatience, less control over 
temper, worsened personal 
appearance, more 
anxieties. 
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3. Level of Lifestyle: 
Unwholesomeness will take 
its effect on our mind and our 
personality 
immediately whenever we perform 
an unwholesome 
action. At the third level, that of 
the lifestyle, however, we cannot 
be sure how 
quickly the damage will be 
manifested because 
our quality of lifetime arises as the 
result 
of both present and past deeds. 
General 
disadvantages include failure, 
condemnation, 
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