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quest! 
Whenever the mind is without 
direction it will 
almost always fall under sway of 
the five forms of 
sensual desire: 
1 .visual images; 
2.melodious sounds; 
3.tasty food; 
4.perfumes, and; 
5.things soft to the touch. 
All we care about is beautiful 
houses, beautiful 
clothes — our desires are without 
end. When such 
thoughts as these dominate the 
mind, there is no 
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remaining space for our spiritual 
vocation. There 
is only selfishness and even the 
thought to take advantage 
of others. When our thoughts are 
negative, 
negative speech starts to escape 
from our mouths 
and bad action start to manifest 
themselves for the 
rest of the world to see. Even when 
we set our mind 
on doing good things, our good 
intentions become 
discontinuous. Allowing our mind 
to succumb to 
such unsystematic thinking is a 
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condition the Lord 
Buddha called `recklessness' and 
because of all the 
harm such recklessness brings, the 
Buddha advocated 
non-recklessness at every 
opportunity. 
A.2 Things for which we cannot 
afford to be 
reckless 
One might think that there is no 
harm in a little 
`recklessness'  
but the 
opportunity to cultivate 
ourselves spiritually is so precious 
that we cannot 
afford to be reckless about 
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anything leading us in 
the direction of self-improvement. 
Such resources 
upon which our opportunity to 
better ourselves 
depend are in limited quantity 
consider these: 
Blessing Twenty-One: 
Non-Recklessness 
in the Dhamma 
244 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
1. Time. We cannot afford to 
overlook the passing 
of time. The Buddha taught that 
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"he who is not 
reckless will habitually reflect that 
days and 
nights are passing us by, what are 
we doing with 
our lives?" Some people sit and 
gossip all day 
or sit and boast about this or that 
all day or sit 
and look at fashion magazines or 
rehearse dancing. 
We are always competing with 
time. Time 
waits for no man and once it has 
passed it has 
gone. 
2. Youthfulness: We cannot afford 
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to overlook the 
value of the `best years of our life'. 
Some people 
spend their life thinking that they 
will wait until 
retirement before getting religious 
— however, 
in reality, even if you are lucky 
enough to reach 
retirement age, you will lack the 
former health 
and strength necessary for spiritual 
striving. 
3. Health: We cannot afford to 
overlook the value 
of strong health. Some people 
think they will be 
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healthy the whole of their lives —
some even 
abuse their health 
if you see the 
robustness of 
your health in the context of 
spiritual striving, 
you will realize the importance of 
preserving it! 
4. Long-life: We cannot afford to 
overlook the transience 
of human life. Some people think 
that they 
have plenty of time to do good 
deeds — but everyone 
knows someone younger than 
themselves 
who has already passed away 
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couldn't they 
just have easily been us? 
5. The opportunity to train oneself 
in working 
skills: We cannot afford to 
overlook the opportunity 
to train ourselves in working skills. 
Make 
sure that every task that comes 
your way is done 
to the best of your ability. Make it 
your personal 
rule always to do things to the best 
of your ability 
no matter what the situation 
around you. At 
the very least it will build up good 
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habits for 
yourself. 
6. The opportunity to train oneself 
in knowledge: 
We cannot afford to overlook the 
opportunity to 
train ourselves in knowledge. 
When you get 
older, your memory starts to falter. 
If there is anything 
which you need to study and 
memorize 
get it done since you are young. 
You don't need 
to wait until you are in the mood! 
7. The opportunity to further 
oneself spiritually: 
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We cannot afford to overlook the 
opportunity to 
train ourselves spiritually. In a 
single lifetime, 
we can expect only to overcome 
10% of the weaknesses 
in our mind at the most 
and that 
is only 
if we try our hardest. Therefore, 
you can very 
easily make no improvement to 
yourself at all 
or even backslide if you let 
opportunities pass 
you by, to train yourself 
spiritually. 
A.3 Three Characteristics of the 
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reckless 
The usual way in which a person's 
recklessness in 
the Dhamma expresses itself is to 
overlook the importance 
of putting in the appropriate effort 
in order 
to get the hoped-for results. Here 
are some examples 
of the attitudes of those caught up 
in recklessness: 
1. Those who don't do anything 
good but who expect 
good results [kusEta]: Some 
people expend 
no effort when studying but expect 
to pass their 
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examinations. Some do no work 
but expect promotion. 
Some never help anyone else but 
they 
expect to be popular. Some don't 
keep the Precepts 
— they practice neither generosity 
nor 
meditation — and yet they expect 
to attain 
heaven and Nirvana . . . 
2. Those who do only wicked 
things but expect fortunate 
outcomes from their actions 
[ducarita]: 
Some do their work badly or 
harmfully but expect 
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to receive a wage rise. Some spend 
their 
whole time gossiping behind 
others' backs but 
expect everyone to like them. 
3. Those who do negligable 
amounts of good deeds 
but who expect significantly good 
results 
[sithila]: Some do nothing more 
than light sticks 
of incense on the shrine and expect 
an afterlife 
with a heavenly mansion and a 
retinue of thousands. 
Some spend only an hour doing 
serious 
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revision for an exam but expect to 
be the top of 
the class. Some do others a small 
favour like giving 
someone a meal but expect loyalty 
for the 
rest of their lives. 
In conclusion, any of these three 
types of recklessness 
are caused because the doer 
underestimates the 
importance of investing effort in 
doing good deeds. 
Blessing Twenty-One: 
Non-Recklessness in the Dhamma 
245 
B. NON-RECKLESSNESS 
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B.1 Definition of 
non-recklessness 
'Non-recklessness' means being in 
control of oneself 
the whole of the time, no matter 
whether one is 
thinking, speaking or doing overt 
actions — never 
allowing yourself slip into 
complacency, and never 
letting the opportunity to do good 
deeds pass by 
unanswered. You need to be 
focussed on the things 
which you have to do and things 
which you need 
to avoid. You have to be aware and 
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responsible for 
your duties — working in earnest 
with the effort to 
seek for spiritual progress the 
whole of the time. 
Non-recklessness is thus like a 
feeling of responsibility 
towards yourself which you 
maintain the 
whole of the time. It is also like 
being constantly 
`awake' to one's proper priorities. 
B.2 Importance of 
non-recklessness in Dhamma 
as a whole 
We have already mentioned the 
preciousness of 
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opportunities to cultivate oneself 
— and the 
Dhamma, or teaching of the 
Buddha, is the system 
which explains these opportunities 
and how they 
can be benefitted from. Before 
exploring the detail 
of this particular Blessing, let us 
examine the nature 
of the Dhamma, so that we can 
orientate ourselves 
in a non-reckless way towards it. 
The Dhamma can be compared to 
the spire of a 
pagoda. A flag attached to the top 
of the pagoda of 
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the Dhamma could be marked 
`non-recklessness' 
or equally well with the words 
`freedom from defilements' 
or `Nirvana' or `arahanthood' or 
`freedom 
from suffering'. 
If you are ultimately non-reckless, 
then you will 
manage to attain all of these other 
things i.e. an end 
of defilements, an end of suffering, 
Nirvana and 
arahanthood. The pagoda is made 
of 84,000 bricks 
— which are the symbolic number 
of teachings attributed 
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to the Buddha. Just below the flag 
on the 
top, there are three special bricks 
engraved with the 
words `avoid evil' (Precepts), `do 
good' (meditation) 
and `purify the mind' (wisdom). 
These three 
teachings are expansions upon the 
concept of not 
being reckless as mentioned in the 
"OvAdapAEimokkha". 
Avoiding evil is further expanded 
as the following 
three bricks: 
• Right Speech [SammA VAcA]; 
• Right Action [SammA 
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Kammanta], and; 
• Right Livelihood [SammA 
/jEvo]. 
The `meditation' brick is also 
further supported by 
the following three bricks: 
• Right Effort [SammA 
VAyAmo]; 
• Right Mindfulness [SammA 
Sati], and; 
• Right Concentration [SammA 
SamAdhi]. 
Wisdom' has two supporting 
bricks: 
• Right View [SammA DiEEhi], 
and; 
• Right Intention [SammA 
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