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sue our path of the Manual of Peace, whether in a 
Buddhist context or otherwise, we need to take care to 
make ourselves truly open to alternative approaches to 
intoxicants like alcohol — westerners reading the 
content of this blessing need (perhaps more than for 
other blessings) to have particular conviction in the 
wisdom of `Restraint from drinking intoxicants' to 
adopt standards concerning the consumption of alcohol 
based on the Buddha's teachings rather than the current 
social norms. 
A.2 Why Buddhists consider abstinence from alcohol 
indispensable 
Abstaining from alcohol is a virtue we have already 
encountered several times on our journey through the 
Manual of Peace — as a 'road to ruin' in Blessings Six, 
Seven, Thirteen and Fourteen, as the Fifth Precept in 
Blessing Nine and as a substance which is not to be sold 
for one's livelihood in Blessing Eighteen. The Buddha 
devotes an entire blessing to 'Restraint from Drinking 
Intoxicants' in Blessing Twenty, not simply because of 
the damage alcohol does to one's physical health, but 
because if one doesn't abstain from alcohol definitively 
by this point in the Manual of Peace, one will have no 
chance to upgrade oneself in the direction of Blessing 
Twenty-One (Avoiding recklessness in the Dhamma) 
and beyond. 
If you consider self-discipline based on the Five 
Precepts, you will find that each of the Five Precepts 
are more or less independent from one another —
except for the fifth. If you break the any of the first four 
precepts, normally it will not cause any other of the 
Precepts to be broken. However, if the Fifth Precept is 
ever broken, it subsequently increases the risk of 
breaking all the other four Precepts. When you drink, 
you say more than you mean to, some is true, the rest 
breaks the fourth Precept. If you have some latent 
adulterous tendencies, they will manifest themselves 
when you are drunk. If you have tendencies to steal 
then you will find it hard to keep your hands to yourself 
when you are drunk. If you are normally bad-tempered, 
when you are drunk you will be uninhibited in your 
violence. Alcohol may be the single reason why you 
break all the Precepts. Without alcohol, when our 
conscience is fully-functional, we cannot do anything 
harmful, because we still feel shy of wicked deeds —
especially for our reputation. Thus alcohol is something 
about which we have to be extremely wary. 
For most of us, no matter how bad we may start out, if 
we don't go to the lengths of drinking alcohol, we still 
have the opportunity to change ourselves for the better. 
Supposing someone is a ruffian who likes to pick fights, 
usually such habits will only last for as long as he is a 
teenager. When he is more mature he will stop by 
himself. Thieves who have been stealing since they 
were young, as they grow up will start to think, "Am I 
going to keep on stealing like this until the day I die?" 
Even the Casanovas of the world, as they get older will 
become reflective about their own condition — they 
will become self-conscious about being seen by others 
as a 'dirty old man'. Liars too will eventually become 
bored of lying. However, if any of these four types of 
people are still drinking alcohol as well, they will be 
unable to stop their old ways. The thought of stopping 
might cross their minds, but as soon as they start 
drinking, their behaviour will regress into its old ways. 
The fifth Precept is thus the most crucial. If you ever 
hear anyone boasting that they can keep all the Precepts 
except the last, take their claims with a pinch of salt —
all five of their Precepts are at risk. 
A.3 How alcohol affects the mind 
The problem with alcohol is that it worsens the latent 
weaknesses and unwholesome tendencies that already 
exist in the mind.The Buddha taught that the untrained 
mind tends to have the following four weaknesses: 
I. It is habituated to unwholesomeness: The mind 
will squirm like a fish out of water: being so used to 
negative moods as soon as you start to take the mind 
away from these negative states it will struggle. 
2. It will change continuously: You will tend to 
change your mind about any decision you have made 
3. It will wander: It is hard to keep the mind on a 
single thing 
4. It is hard to pacifr. 
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Under the influence of alcohol, all these bad features 
of the mind have the chance to manifest themselves to 
the full. 
A.4 Drunkenness even without alcohol 
Even if we are sober it is difficult enough to perceive 
the true nature of life and the world around us. The 
Buddha taught that, even if we don't smoke, drink 
alcohol or abuse drugs, we are already drunk the whole 
of the time — especially concerning the following three 
things: 
I. we are drunken concerning our youth (we tend 
to think "I am still young — I can still go out every 
night. I am still beautiful — I can still turn the heads 
of young men") 
2. we are drunken concerning our freedom of dis-
ease. Those who are healthy are wont to think that 
they will be healthy like that forever and that abuse 
of their health doesn't matter. 
3. we are drunken concerning the length of our 
lives. We think that the likes of us doesn't die so 
easily. We tend to think we are still strong and that 
our time has not come — in fact we are fooling 
ourselves. 
The Buddha called such attitudes 'drunkenness'. Even 
without drinking alcohol, people still think like this. If 
we drink alcohol as well, there will be many more 
forms of drunkenness which will be attracted to us as 
the result. 
B. DEFINITIONS 
B. I Definition of 'intoxicants' 
Intoxicants [majjhapAna] in this blessing refer to 
anything absorbable by the body that clouds the mind. 
In general this means alcohol, but it also refers to other 
substances such as addictive drugs. It can mean liquids 
that are drunk or injected or dry substances like tobacco 
that are smoked. 
B.2 Definition of 'drinking' 
The Pali word `saiiiiamos used in relation to alcohol in 
this Blessing usually means 'being careful with regard 
to'. In our context, however, `being careful' of 
intoxicating substances doesn't just mean using these 
things with care, in normal circumstances it means total 
abstention. It is only in excel) 
tional circumstances such as medical use that careful 
use of alcohol may be considered. Some religions 
which prohibit alcohol per se will not even allow their 
followers to use alcohol to clean a wound or to preserve 
a corpse — however, Buddhism allows intoxicants to 
be used for medical purposes (e.g. where alcohol must 
be used to extract the active ingredients of some 
medicines). This excuse should not, however, be 
abused by those who put a teaspoonful of medicine in a 
bottle of alcohol to drink instead of putting a 
teaspoonful of alcohol in a bottle of medicine. 
Similarly, we know that such drugs like opium are 
damaging to smoke, but they may be used for medicinal 
purposes. However to use them for non-medicinal 
purposes is prohibited. This is the only reason why 
`being careful in the use of is used instead of `abstain 
from'. If your sense of discretion is good, and your 
mind is clear, then you will be able to know for 
yourself what is the appropriate use of these substances. 
Thus we abstain completely from the general use of 
these substances and we use these substances with care 
in the case of medicinal use. 
C. DAMAGE FROM DRINKING ALCOHOL 
C.1 Damage arising from drinking alcohol (visible this 
lifetime) 
In brief the Buddha taught (D.iii.182-4) that, even 
without waiting to see what will happen to us as the 
result of drinking alcohol in the next life, the damage 
alcohol does is as follows: 
I. It destroys your wealth: it will start eating into 
your income from the day you start to drink. 
2. It destroys friendship — in the beginning people 
look like they are drinking to be sociable, but at the 
end of the night they may be breaking bottles over 
one another's heads 
3. It destroys your health 
4. It destroys your respectability 
5. It destroys your honour 
6. It destroys your intelligence. 
These are all dangers of alcohol visible in the present 
lifetime. 
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C.2 Damage arising from drinking alcohol (visible 
next lifetime) 
If we take a longer term view, drinking alcohol this 
lifetime stores up countless forms of retribution for 
future lifetimes: 
1. Speech impediments: Some people are born mute, 
and it turns out that such people passed away while 
drunk, while they were so drunk they couldn't say 
anything coherent. Even after a long time in hell, they 
may still not be able to throw off their speech 
impediment. A lesser form of the same retribution is to 
suffer from a stammer, 
2. Madness: Some people are born mad or mentally 
incompetent as a result of having drunk a lot of alcohol 
in their past. The hallucinations experienced when 
drunk become a permanent state of mind in a future 
birth. Some experience paranoia. Lesser forms of the 
same sort of retribution are to lack steadfastness and 
self-confidence or to be gullible. Some people hear 
only a few words of praise from the opposite sex and 
elope with them — or hear a few words of criticism and 
hang themselves. Some are incapable of doing anything 
more than sitting around all day and daydreaming —
'building castles in the air'. 
3. Mental Deficiency: Some are mentally retarded 
having been so drunk in previous existences that they 
were unable to think straight — in a later existence this 
becomes a permanent state of being. 
4. Arising as a Crawling Animal: Even the crawling 
animals like snakes and lizards have drunkenness in 
previous lives as their causes — previously they were 
drunks who had been rehearsing crawling on all fours 
since they were still human. The difference between 
poisonous snakes and non-poisonous snakes is the 
difference between vengeful drunks who create suf-
fering for others and those who get drunk and remain 
benign. 
It is because the long-term effects of drinking are so 
difficult to control that when we come to the task of 
adjusting the quality of the mind, the Buddha had to 
teach us to avoid alcohol repeatedly. 
D. BENEFITS OF NOT DRINKING ALCOHOL 
The Buddha taught that if we don't drink alcohol, it 
will pave the way for the higher blessings ahead on the 
path — with advantages such as: 
• 
knowing events in the past, present and future 
without delay 
• 
mindfulness in all situations (rather than the mind 
wandering continuously) 
• 
non-recklessness 
• 
lack of envious enemies 
• 
respect from others 
happiness 
appreciating the virtue of others [katafilE] 
repaying one's debt of gratitude to others [katavedE] 
generosity 
purity of precepts 
wisdom 
worldly wealth 
heavenly wealth 
the ability to be a true refuge to oneself 
• the wealth of Nirvana Furthermore the purity by 
which we can avoid the Tenfold Path of 
Unwholesomeness will be avoided 
together with the Subtle Defilements of mind. We will 
have less tendency to engage in: 
• 
lies 
• 
malicious gossip 
• 
insults or swearing 
idle chatter 
deviousness 
ill-temperedness 
lack of shame of evil [hiri] 
• 
lack of fear of (the retribution) of evil 
[ottappa] 
• 
wrong view. 
E. 
PRACTICALITY 
OF 
GIVING-UP 
DRINKING 
BEWITLiffikti the harm brought by consuming 
alcohol, if you decide to kick the drink habit, prepare 
yourself for a struggle! It is not so easy to change an 
addiction and you are liable to experience withdrawal 
symptoms. However, for those who dare to train 
themselves in this way, here are a few words of advice 
to help pave the way to your eventual freedom from 
alcohol: 
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I. The first thing you have to do is see through to the 
danger of alcohol. 
2. Once you have seen the danger, you need to make up 
your mind to give up. 
3. The third thing is to avoid contact with anything that 
will remind you of drink any more (such as collections 
of old bottles). Don't allow any of these sort of things 
into your house. 
4. Fourthly, think of your own self-respect. Think of 
the things that will create a sense of conscience for 
yourself. 
5. The fifth thing you need to do is not to associate 
with your drinking friends any more. 
F. ILLUSTRATIVEEXAMPLES 
F.1 Metaphor: Just as one match can burn a town 
down 
Just as a single match can burn down an entire town 
— even a little alcohol can cause a lapse of mindfulness 
that may ruin your whole life. 
F.2 Metaphor: The elephant's trunk 
In one metaphor told by Phramonkolthepmuni 
(1885.1959) — the Great Abbot of Wat Paknam: 
"abstaining from alcohol is the most important single 
Precepts because it ensures the reliability of all the 
other four. For this reason you must strictly abstain 
from all alcohol. If you cannot abstain from alcohol 
then no single one of your Five Precepts is safe. This 
precept prohibits the consumption of any substance 
which causes people to lose their sense of 
responsibility. The enlightened ones never think to 
touch even a drop of such substances and you should 
follow their example too if you really want to keep 
the Precepts. If the substance is one that causes 
heedlessness, you have the intention of consuming it, 
you make the effort to consume it and it goes inside 
your body (e.g. down your throat) then the Fifth 
Precept will be broken. The Buddha compared the 
first four Precepts to the feet of an elephant and the 
Fifth Precept to its trunk. The whole of an elephant's 
quality of life depends on the intactness of its trunk. 
With its trunk it can earn its living and feed itself. 
Without a trunk it cannot stoop down and 
eat grass like a buffalo — because its so tall. It would 
have to endure the difficulty of lying down in order to 
eat. That's why the trunk is important. In the same 
way abstaining from alcohol is the important part of 
the Five Precepts. If you consume substances that 
make you heedless then before you realize it, you will 
break the other four Precepts. 
Thus the Fifth Precept is the important one. This is 
because of greed, hatred and ignorance in the mind, 
ignorance is the most damaging. This is why the 
Fifth Precept is so important. All the benefits of the 
good things in the whole of the Buddhist Canon 
hinge upon our responsibility towards practising 
them. If you are reckless then you will estrange 
yourself from all these good things and furthermore 
do evil things instead. Alcohol and drugs that dull 
the mind causing one to slip into recklessness. Thus 
only when you are able to abstain strictly from all 
such substances will you set yourself upon a 
foundation of non-recklessness." 
F.3 Er. BhagraghaEa JAtaka J.H.43Iff 
Once the banker AnAthapiAlika had a nephew who had 
squandered 40 million by his drinking habits, leaving him 
penniless. The nephew therefore came to AnAthapiAlika's 
home asking for some financial help. The nephew said he 
would use the money to invest in business — to set himself up 
in life. AnAthapiAiika was pleasantly surprised to hear his 
drunken nephew wanted to earn his living. lie gave him 1,000 
and taught him a few tricks of the trade. The nephew thanked 
AnAthapiAlika and wasted no time in going out with his 
friends at spending all the money on booze. 
Later he came back to AnAthapiAlika saying he had 
lost all his money in business due to lack of experience 
and asked for money again. AnAthapiAlika pretended 
he didn't know what was going on and this time gave 
the nephew only 500, again telling him to invest it 
wisely. The shameless nephew spent all 500 on the 
alcohol again. 
For a third time, the nephew returned to ask for more. 
AnAthapiAlika gave him two pieces of coarse cloth 
instead of money, knowing he would 
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be more likely to make an effort to sell it. The nephew 
did sell the cloth but again he spent all he had earned on 
alcohol. 
He came back to AnAthapiAlika for a fourth time with an 
outstretched palm. This time AnAthapiAlika had his 
nephew thrown out into the street. The nephew was 
destitute and lodged at this person's house or that, until 
eventually the nephew died in poverty. 
AnAthapiAlika felt somehow blameworthy for his 
nephew's death. Was there something more he could have 
done? He sought audience from the Buddha telling him the 
whole story. The Buddha said that it was not only this life 
that the nephew had been beyond help. 
In a previous lifetime when the nephew had been given a 
wishing cup, it still couldn't help him. It still couldn't 
satiate his appetite — so it is no surprise that with 
AnAthapiAlika's limited means weren't enough to help 
him. 
The Buddha concluded briefly, but AnAthapiAlika 
invited him to give more detail. The Buddha thus 
revealed the story of the past as follows: 
In the past, when King Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the 
Bodhisattva was born as a millionaire, inheriting a fortune of 
40 million from his father. Ile had only one child — a son. 
The Bodhisattva liked to perform acts of charity regularly, 
giving alms and pursuing other forms of virtues until the end 
of his life. When he passed away the Bodhisattva was reborn 
as Indra, the king of heaven. The only son inherited the 
fortune of 40 million, but instead of investing it in business, he 
had a huge pavilion built — not as a place of worship but as a 
drinking place. 
There he whiled away the time drinking with friends, 
hiring dancers and singers and gave them extravagant 
prizes for their performances. He did the same things 
every day — this and nothing else 
— living a life of drink and recklessness. Eventually his 
wealth was exhausted. He had to sell-up everything he 
owned. He was left destitute, wearing only rags and 
wandering the streets. 
Indra surveyed the world and saw his former son 
destitute — his inheritance squandered on alcohol. 
Out of mercy, Indra appeared to the son saying "Now you 
are in great hardship. I feel sorry for you, so I'm giving 
you this magic pot — take good care of it. Never drop it. If 
it breaks, it will lose its magic powers. It will produce 
whatever you wish for." 
The son accepted the cup and Indra gave him a sermon 
before returning to heaven, re-iterating that he should 
never let the cup break. The son promised to take good 
care of it. "Good,- said Indra, "Because its your last 
chance to liberate yourself from hardship and poverty!" 
As soon as Indra was gone, he made a wish for all types of 
wealth and spent all the wealth on alcohol. lie drank alone or 
in company singing and dancing merrily, holding the wishing 
cup in one hand and a bottle of liquor in other. He felt more 
and more incapable. Ile came to the point where his merit had 
tun out — because the alcohol had uprooted the last of his 
merit. He started to play with the wishing cup for fun, 
throwing it in the air and catching it. Eventually it fell to the 
ground and broke — irreparably. And so he returned to his 
former hardship, with a begging bowl, a burden on society to 
the end of his days." 
"AnAthapiAlika! As it was in the past, so it is now —
this man has not changed his ways." Thus for an 
alcoholic even the gift of a wishing cup is still unable to 
bring happiness or prosperity. From their foolishness 
drinkers even destroy the luck they already have. Even 
though he had had the chance to help himself with a 
magic pot even more powerful than any money, as a 
drunk he could not do anything to help himself. He was 
beyond help. Therefore before helping someone, look to 
see whether they are going to use the money you give 
them to buy alcohol. Sometimes you pay labourers 
more wages — instead of the work they do improving, 
it gets worse because they have more money left at the 
end of the week to spend on drink. Make sure that 
before you help someone, they stop all forms of the Six 
Roads to Ruin, even if they are your own family or 
parents. 
F.4 Ex. Putting your land in a whisky bottle 
There was an old uncle who loved to drink liquor. His 
wife and children warned him again and again 
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but he would not listen. He sold all his land to buy 
liquor. One day the son came home tired from the fields 
and saw his father drinking and thought, "How can I 
teach my father to see through his stupidity?" The boy 
took a goad and beat a buffalo trying to force the 
buffalo into an earthenware pot. 
The father said, "Stop that at once! How can you 
expect to force a buffalo into a tiny jar like that?" 
The boy said, "Father it's no more illogical than what 
you do every day — you have managed to put all of the 
land on this farm in your whisky bottle!" 
Then the father managed to see what his son was 
teaching him — if his son was doing something crazy, 
then he was the crazier of the two of them. 
F.5 EzMahAdhana: a millionnaire reduced to rags 
(Db./tilt129ff) 
In the time of Lord Buddha there was a family of bankers 
who had 80 million to their name. The son was bore with a 
silver spoon in his mouth and his parents loved him so much 
that when they got older they pleaded with him just to live off 
the family inheritance and never to earn his living. They said, 
"You are our only child. Even if you were to spend the money 
all your life, there is so much you would surely never manage 
to use it all up. So just take it easy. It would be much better 
then the stress of earning a living." 
The son didn't like working for a living anyway, so he 
agreed wholeheartedly. He settled down to the onerous 
task of spending his parents' fortune and passed the 
time playing the guitar or singing songs. 
In another nearby town them was a daughter born to 
another bankers' family and her parents loved her so 
much that when they got older they pleaded with her in 
just the same way, just to live off the family inheritance 
and never to earn her living. They said, "You am our 
only child. Even if you were to spend the money all 
your life, them is so much you would surely never 
manage to use it all up — so please take it easy. It 
would be much better then the stress of earning a living. 
You could live nearby us so we won't get lonely in our 
old age." The daughter agreed and whiled away her 
time spend 
ing her parents' fortune. 
When both the daughter and the son came of age, both 
families looked for a worthy partner for their child. They 
found a worthy partner in each other and so their marriage 
was arranged. This couple was amply provided for but they 
had no idea how to manage their wealth. At the time when the 
parents on both sides of the family passed away the couple 
had been left with a total inheritance of 160 million — the 
millionaire boy would seek audience with the king three times 
a day. 
In that town there was a group of drunkards. They would get 
drunk and chatter idly and dream of ways to be able to get free 
drinks their whole life long, because they thought alcohol was the 
greatest drink in the world. One day, they came up with the idea 
of persuading some wealthy person to become an alcoholic like 
themselves — then they would be able to manipulate that 
millionaire's wealth. They did their homework and found out how 
rich the millionaire boy was. They found out that he went for 
royal audience three times a day and what route he took on the 
way back from the palace with his retinue. The next day the 
drunkards waited nearby the millionaire boy's usual route and 
acted like they were having tremendous fun. When they saw the 
millionaire boy they toasted him shouting, "May you live to be a 
hundred years old". The millionaire asked his man-servant (who 
was a drunk himself) what the group was doing. The manservant 
said, "the men are drinking a drink called 'alcohol' (which at that 
time was not well known)". The millionaire asked what alcohol 
was. The man-servant replied, in the manner of alcoholic, "It is 
the most delicious drink in the world. If you were to have just a 
sip of alcohol, you would feel very lively. You will be a new 
person. It'll reduce cholesterol. If you have high blood pressure, it 
will reduce your blood pressure. If you have low blood pressure, 
it will raise your blood pressure. It's good for you in every way." 
The millionaire boy said, "If that is the case, bring 
some alcohol for me to try!" 
He thought he would only have a sip, but the taste was 
so seductive he felt intoxicated. All the drunkards 
gathered around him cheering him on to drink 
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more and that is exactly what he did. He drank more 
and more until he wasn't himself any more. The 
drunkards smirked to themselves. The millionaire boy 
kept on paying for more drinks — drinks for himself 
and drinks for all the other cronies too — because it's 
no fun to drink all alone. You have to have company 
when you arc drinking, so that you can chat and boast 
and tell tall stories. And just getting drunk wasn't 
enough — he would go out buying expensive flower 
garlands and would invite musicians and dancers to 
perform for him and would always reward them with 
lavish prizes. He would do the same thing every day. 
Before long all that was left of his fortune were empty 
treasure chests. The treasurer came to advise the 
millionaire boy that there was not nothing left of his 
fortune of 80 million. The millionaire boy asked 
"Doesn't my wife have some money to her name?' The 
treasurer answered, "Yes sir! She does still have some 
wealth." 
Therefore as soon as the millionaire boy got his hands on 
his wife's fortune he continued his drunken extravagance 
as before, until eventually the fortune was exhausted again. 
Now in order to raise some cash, he was reduced to selling 
all his beautiful estates. To slake his thirst, he sold off his 
orchards, his coach and horses, trinkets around the house 
and eventually the house itself. 
In the beginning they asked the permission of the new 
owner to stay on in their former house. Their handsome 
looks became forlorn. In their old age they were driven 
from the house by the new owners. So they had to wander 
from one house to another looking for refuge. Eventually 
they had to resort to a begging bowl to feed themselves. 
One day the Lord Buddha, with/rtanda as his attendant, 
passed through that town and seeing the husband and 
wife begging for the monks left-overs by the monk's 
refectory, the Buddha smiled to himself. Seeing the 
Buddha smile, /nanda asked the reason. The Buddha 
replied, "/panda! Look at this millionaire son formerly 
rich, but who has squandered 160 million and who 
must now take his wife around begging for a living in 
the city." 
"If this millionaire's son hadn't squandered his 
wealth, but in his youth had invested in business, he 
would be the richest man in the city by now, because he 
has a lot of merit in his past. If he had renounced the 
world in his youth he would have become an arahans. 
If his wife had renounced the world as a nun in her 
youth. She would have become a non-returner 
[anAgAmi]." 
"If this millionaire's son had squandered his wealth only in 
his youth, but in middle age had invested his wealth in 
business, his previous merits would have caused him to 
become the second richest man in the city. If he had 
decided to renounce the world in the middle age he would 
have become a non-returner (anAgAmi), and his wife if 
she had ordained as a nun, would have become a once-re-
turner [sakEdAgAmi)." 
"If this millionaire's son had squandered his wealth in his 
youth and his middle age, but had invested his wealth in 
his old-age, his previous merit would have caused him to 
become the third richest man in the city and if he had 
decided to renounce the world in his old age, he would 
have become a once-returner (sakEdAgAmil. If his wife 
had ordained as a nun, she would have become a 
"stream-enterer (sotApana)." 
"Unfortunately, this couple have completely squandered 
their wealth and have lost their opportunity to cultivate to 
path for Nirvana. ihanda! Foolish people who fail to 
cultivate virtue in their lives, and who fail to earn their 
living when they are young, will become forlorn like an 
aging heron, living in a dried-up pond with no more fish to 
prey upon. They hadn't cultivated virtue in their youth 
— nor earned their living either. In their old age all 
they can do now is reminisce with regret about their 
former wealth like an arrow that falls to earth when its 
momentum has run out. 
Therefore the harm of alcohol apart from it destroying 
the drinker also ruins the lives of the rest of the 
drinker's family, destroys our wealth and security and 
obscures the pathway to Nirvana. This is the 
harmfulness of alcohol — therefore if you have alcohol 
in your possession stop drinking it, pour it away and 
discard the bottles. Make sure your home is alcohol 
free. 
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F.6 a 
Choice of which Precept to break 
There were once a man and a wife who lived near the 
mountains. One day the husband left home and went to 
live in a cave in the mountains to keep the Five 
Precepts. After a while, his wife began to miss him and 
went to him in his cave, threatening to kill herself if he 
continued with the 'Five Precepts nonsense'. The man 
found the threat rather worrisome, so offered to break 
one of the Precepts in order to save the life of his wife. 
The wife brought him a cow, a young woman and a 
bottle of liquor and told him to take his pick of which 
Precept to break. The man thought that to kill the cow 
would be destructive — and equally to rape the young 
woman— so he settled for drinking the liquor because 
it didn't seem to bring harm to anyone else. After one 
sip of the liquor he found it good and drank the whole 
bottle. Inebriated, he killed the cow and raped the 
young girl too. The moral of the story is that abstaining 
from alcohol serves to preserve the intactness of all the 
other four Precepts! 
F.7 a Kumbha JAtaka (1512) 
Long ago before alcohol was produced industrially, it 
occurred by accident far away, deep in a forest in Kasi in 
India. In the forest there was a certain tree with a cleft 
between its branches. Rainwater collected in the cleft. Fruit 
like myrobalans and peppercorns from the surrounding trees 
fell in the water. At the foot of the tree was a rice plant and 
the birds in the forest would collect the rice seeds and perch 
to eat them in the bough of the tree. Some of the seeds fell in 
the water in the cleft of the tree too. The water, the fruit and 
the rice in the tree cleft were warmed by the heat of the sun 
until it fermented into alcohol, changing its colour, taste and 
smell. It became red in colour and the smell attracted birds to 
drink it. The birds drank some of the rotgut without realizing 
its danger 
— they only drank it to slake their thirst, mistaking it 
for water. 
After only a taste the birds fell out of the tree un-
conscious — and the pile of birds under the tree did not 
escape the eye of a forester called Sura who happened 
to be passing by. He taught "that's good luck for me 
today — I don't have to catch birds and set my traps or 
spread my nets!" As he watched the birds 
continued to fall out of the tree one by one. In fact the 
birds were asleep and when then eventually woke up, 
they could fly away as normal. The hunter was curious 
and realized there must be something special up the 
tree. He climbed the tree and found the special liquid in 
the cleft with a tempting aroma. He tasted a little fluid 
— not knowing its dangers however by the time he had 
climbed down the tree he started to feel dizzy, unlike he 
had ever felt before — intoxicated. He picked up some 
of the unconscious birds from the foot of the tree and 
started to roast them on the coals of a bonfire he had 
built, and ate them as an appetizer with cup after cup of 
alcohol from the top of the tree. He felt like dancing 
and singing all by himself in the forest. Then he 
remembered a friend of his called Varuna who had 
become a hermit. He thought, "I ought to share 
discovery with my friend." Thinking this, he took a 
flask of the alcohol for his friend to try. When Sura 
arrived at Varuna's hermitage, he was sitting for 
meditation. Sura tapped on his shoulder, "Hey friend! 
Don't waste your time meditating. Drink this instead —
it's more fun!" You'll feel intoxicated and relaxed." 
Varuna the hermit tasted it and laughed out loud. He felt 
more lively than usual and decided to give up being a 
hermit to see if he could make a living out of selling the 
liquor. Sura led the way back into the forest saying, 
"We'll start by offering some to the king." 
Eventually they brought a sample of alcohol of offer to the 
king. They explained, "Your majesty, we have found the 
most wonderful, the most delicious drink in the world. A 
drink so amazing that you have never before tasted since 
the day you were born — won't your majesty just try a 
sip?" 
The king tasted it and liked it — and ordered more. 
Therefore Sura and Varuna were in and out of the forest 
all day long bringing alcohol from the tree for the king. 
Later the MO got tired of making the journey so often, so 
they contrived a synthetic process to produce the alcohol. 
The produced many barrel of the liquor. They reserved 
some of the liquor for the king but they sold the rest to 
citizens of the kingdom. 
In the beginning the citizens asked what sort of drink it 
was — they replied, "It's a delicious drink and call it 
`Sura' after the discoverer." 
EFTA00286703

The citizens drank more and more. The more they drank, the 
less inclined the felt to work for a living. When they were 
drunk they would sleep all day. When they got sober they 
would drink more because it was so tasty. In the end, the 
whole kingdom went bankrupt — eventually going to rack 
and ruin. Sum and Varuna realized their market had collapsed 
so they moved to another kingdom, namely Benares, where 
the king and the citizens were still unaware of the side-effects. 
They brought Benares to rack and ruin in exactly the save 
way and moved on to the next kingdom, that of Saketa. The 
same thing happened there, so they moved to SAvatthE. 
In that kingdom, King Sabbamitta ordered 500 barrels of 
alcohol without even tasting it However as they were pouring 
the alcohol into the barrels some split over the brim. A cat 
licked some of the spillings out of curiosity. The cat's 
curiosity was not easily abated and eventually it got so drunk 
that it fell down unconscious. It lost all it's cat-like dignity 
when the mice came out and nibbled its whisker and ears. 
Someone discovered the incapacitated cat and reported to the 
king that 'curiosity had killed the cat' — it had be poisoned to 
death by the alcohol. The King had Sura and Varuna up for 
treason and sent them for execution. 
However before their heads were chopped off The cat 
came round and wandered around dizzily. The king 
realized that alcohol was not poisonous and pardoned the 
two alcohol merchants — having preparation made for the 
launch of the new product. 
The impending doom caused Indra, the king of 
heaven's throne to show signs of heat. Indra realized 
that if he did not intervene and this major kingdom got 
addicted to alcohol in the same way as the lesser 
kingdoms before it, alcohol would spread unabated 
throughout the subcontinent... Indra therefore appeared 
to King Sabbamitta in the guise of young Brahmin 
holding a 'gold pot' floating in the air before the throne. 
The king marvelled, "0! Brahmin! — How come you 
can float in the air like that you are surely no ordinary 
being! What is that you have in your hand?" 
The Brahmin replied, "This is a magic pot. In this pot is 
a fluid which is exceptionally delicious. Anyone who 
drinks this fluid will be so drunk they could 
fall head first in a pond, abandon their reason, sing in 
the street, run around naked and encourage their friends 
to do same. They will be shameless, sing raucously, 
walk back and forth all night each friend taking it in 
turn to see the other home. They will fall asleep so 
drunk that they won't even notice if the house is 
burning down around them. Anyone who drinks this 
won't even care about eating dog food off the floor, go 
around clumsily, unsuitably dressed in public, vomiting 
in the street or sleeping face down in their own vomit 
Some have delusions of their own grandeur, or become 
hideously aggressive. Drinking such a fluid can kill 
you, it will consume all your wealth if you drink it. It 
will make you so shameless that you won't think twice 
about insulting your parents, flirting with your 
daughter-in-law, shouting at your in-laws or having an 
affair with the maid. You will be capable of all this if 
you drink this fluid. You will think nothing of harming 
clergy, getting in arguments and fighting. Children will 
have no respect for their elders, adults will squabble, 
chatter aimlessly and tell lies, when they drink this fluid 
— they will forget to do the work they promised. The 
intelligent are reduced to fools. People forget to eat and 
nourish themselves properly, falling asleep in 
inappropriate places — anyone who drinks this fluid is 
like someone who has drunk poison. If your princes 
drink this they will elope with the court dancers. Even 
angels who drink this fluid fall out of heaven and 
become Titans [asEra]. This gold pot contains no 
butter, cheese or honey — it contains the fluid with all 
the side-effects I have been speaking of — does your 
majesty want some?" 
"I certainly wouldn't touch it with a bargepole — let alone 
drink it," said the king and rewarded the Brahmin by 
granting him five estates, with a great deal of other riches. 
The king wanted the Brahmin to be his minister. 
The Brahmin said, "You may keep your wealth and 
estates because I am already king of my own estate in 
heaven. It is out of anxiety that I have come here to 
warn your majesty. I am afraid otherwise that the whole 
subcontinent will come to rack and ruin. May your 
majesty be established in justice. May you practice in 
accordance with the Buddha's teaching so that you too 
may gain heaven at the end of your life!" 
EFTA00286704

Blessing Twenty-One: 
Non-Recklessness in the 
Dhamma 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 Looking a spiritual gift horse in the mouth 
In the previous blessings we have started to set the foundation 
for the cultivation of higher virtues by closing the door 
definitively on any unwholesome behaviours that might 
deviate us from our spiritual quest. We have seen specifically 
the dangers of 'unwholesomeness' and alcohol towards our 
path of cultivation. However, in this grouping there still re-
mains one possible danger for us on our path of cultivation —
that we miss or overlook the opportunities which come our 
way to cultivate ourselves in earnest. Such opportunities are 
precious and few 
— and given our short lifespan, if we miss the golden 
opportunity to work on ourselves, we can never be sure 
if there will be a second chance. 
The irony of self-cultivation is that the impurities in our mind 
may lead us to 'look a gift horse in the mouth'. Because the 
untrained mind is full of weaknesses — it spends the whole 
time mulling unsystematically over thoughts about the world 
— in distinct contrast to the thinking of the Lord Buddha who 
had a systematic way of thinking. We spend our whole time 
drunk with the desires of life (even when we are sober) — our 
thinking is more like a boat cast adrift without a rudder —
than that of someone pursuing a spiritual quest! 
Whenever the mind is without direction it will almost 
always fall under sway of the five forms of sensual 
desire: 
l.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 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 condition 
the Lord Buddha called 'recklessness' and because of 
all the harm such recklessness brings, the Buddha advo-
cated 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 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: 
EFTA00286705

L Time. We cannot afford to overlook the passing of 
time. The Buddha taught that "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 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 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 tran-
sience 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 — 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 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: 
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. 
A3 Three Characteristics of the 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 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 for-
tunate outcomes from their actions [ducarita]: Some 
do their work badly or harmfully but expect 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 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. 
EFTA00286706

virowa
lar
 tilsii;Opea MAC3CE 
KLESSNESS 
of non-recklessness 
tons' means being in control of oneself 
the time, no matter whether one is 
• king or doing overt actions — never 
self slip into complacency, and never 
79portunity to do good deeds pass by 
' 
ou need to be focussed on the things 
Le to do and things which you need to 
ve to be aware and 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 
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 the Dhamma 
could be marked 'non-recklessness' or equally well 
with the words 'freedom from defilements' or 
'Nirvana' 
or 
'arahanthood' 
or 
'freedom 
from 
suffering'. 
TABLE 21.1 
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 
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 
"OvAdapAtimokkha". 
Avoiding evil is further expanded as the following 
three bricks: 
• 
Right Speech [SammA VAcA]; 
• 
Right Action [SammA Kammanta], and; 
• 
Right Livelihood [SammA4Evo]. 
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 Salkappo]. This line 
of bricks all on the same level as the Noble Eightfold 
Path. Beneath the Eightfold Path there is a further 
expansion of detail in each of the three original 
categories, rather like a base to the whole structure. On 
the side of 'Precepts' there is a gradual expansion to 
'Five Precepts', 'Eight Precepts', 'Ten Precepts' and 
'227 Precepts'. Finally it expands to 21,000 items that 
are the content of the Vinaya.The bricks Right Effort, 
Right Mindfulness and Right Meditation are further ex-
panded to a base of 42,000 items which are called the 
Suttanta. The bricks Right View and Right Intention are 
further expanded into 21,000 items known as the 
Abhidhamma. Thus when you see the structure of all 
the teachings, you can see that the Teachings of the 
Buddha originate from 'non-recklessness' and anyone 
who 
does not want to be reckless needs to train themselves 
in Precepts, meditation and wisdom. 
EFTA00286707

We might easily overlook the importance of 'nonrecklessness' at 
this particular point in the thirty-eight blessings because it seems 
like nothing more than a vague instruction to 'be careful'. 'Being 
careful' — we might think— means nothing more than taking a 
torch with us when we go outside in the dark or not going out of 
the house during a storm — or if you are a drunkard, it might 
mean making sure that there is always enough stock of whisky in 
the house! However, when we come to study what 'being careful' 
means according to the Buddhist meaning, we have to make a 
study that has its own individual identity. It is a teaching that is 
particularly deep, not just a teaching that is 'vaguely useful'. It is 
a teaching that is at the heart of Buddhism and even Buddhists, 
even if they have 'known Buddhism' all their lives, might not un-
derstand -non-recklessness if they have never given it due 
consideration. If it was an easy blessing to apprehend, it would 
surely not have been put a S number twenty-one in the sequence of 
thirty eight. 
Another point which reminds us of the importance of 
this teaching is that it is contained in the ParinibbAna 
Sutta which is the last teaching of the Lord Buddha to 
his disciples. In His last days, instead of going back and 
revising any particular teaching from the forty-five 
years of his dispensation, the Buddha talked of 
non-recklessness. He said: 
"0! Monks! Our aggregates have the nature of 
impermanence — therefore all of you must 
arouse `non-recklessness'." 
These were His last words before passing away. 
`Non-recklessness' is therefore sure to be a major issue. 
You cannot afford to overlook it. 
B.3 Definition of non-recklessness in the Dhamma 
Non-recklessness in the Dhamma, refers particularly to 
"being careful" concerning the performance of 
particular "causes" that will lead to the "effects" 
— rather than superstitiously believing that `everything 
will turn out fine' even if we are too lazy to make 
things better. 
B.4 Components of non-recklessness in the Dhamma 
When we apply the cause and effect of non-reck-
lessness to the spiritual path, it points to a total of five 
things we should be particularly 'careful' about: 
I. Being careful to remind ourselves to abstain from 
the three modes of evil action (evil of body, speech and 
mind) the whole of the time. It is like a conscience 
which reminds you not to kill or steal or speak in an 
aggressive way or think about things that are going to 
upset your mind without due cause. 
2. Being careful to remind ourselves to do the three 
modes of good actions (goodness of body, speech and 
mind) the whole of the time. It is like a conscience 
which reminds you to do good deeds at every 
opportunity 
3. Being careful to remind ourselves of the suffering 
of the hell realms that awaits us in the case we do evil. 
We cannot be reckless, because even though we may 
be a good person these days, in our childhood, when 
we didn't know the difference between wholesome and 
unwholesome behaviours, we surely have amassed a 
not insignificant toll of bad karma for ourselves... 
4. Being careful to remind ourselves of the suffering 
that arises from birth, sickness, old age and death. 
Mindfulness reminds us `at our age' we can no longer 
afford to be reckless any more. If we are a child of ten, 
we cannot afford to be reckless because we must study. 
If we are teenagers we cannot afford to be reckless 
because we need to get the skills we need to help our 
parents nun their business. If you are thirty and you are 
still unable to set yourself up in life you cannot afford 
to be reckless. If you are thirty-five or forty, even 
though you have already set yourself up in life, you 
cannot be reckless because you have still not done 
many good deeds in life — the same principle of 
non-recklessness applies throughout our lives. 
5. Being careful to recall our object of meditation the 
whole of the time. Apart from keeping your mind 
focussed on your chosen object of meditation 
throughout your waking hours, this means 
EFTA00286708

the mindfulness to keep your mind free from the 
bias of greed, hatred, delusion and fear the whole 
of the time. These are the virtues maintained 
continuously in the mind by those who are cultivating 
'non-recklessness'. If you regard yourself as someone 
in the face of impending death the whole of the time, it 
will inspire you not to neglect these tasks of 
non-recklessness. Treat each day as if it were your last 
and by this recollection of death, your mind remain 
focussed on the task of self-cultivation. Such an ability 
to focus comes from a mental attribute we call 
'mindfulness' — a virtue discussed in more detail in the 
following section. 
C. MINDFULNESS 
Cl Definition of mindfulness 
Mindfulness is recollection and discernment of good or 
bad, right and wrong, together with the motivation to 
think, speak and act in the proper way without 
forgetting oneself, without distraction and with wise 
reflection — not letting our mind become caught up in 
sensory stimuli than come into contact with us. 
C2 Properties of mindfulness 
The properties of mindfulness can be analyzed as 
follows: 
I. Not allowing the mind to wander: They are at 
work here but their mind is thinking about things on 
the other side of the world. 
2. Not allowing moods and feelings to take over the 
mind: Not like those who smoke opium or maruana 
or even actors who make no effort to control their 
feelings. 
3. Not allowing the mind to elaborate one thought 
after another without end. 
4. Constantly reminding yourself not to forget 
yourself. 
C3 Benefits of mindfulness 
The benefits of mindfulness can be analyzed as fol-
lows: 
I. Mindfulness controls the state of mind to make 
sure our mind remains in the state we require —
keeping only the sorts of things we want to think and 
cutting out the things we 
don't want to think. 
2. Allows the body and mind to be independent. 
Sometimes when we feel ill or in bad shape, our 
body feels heavy and sluggish. This also happens 
when our business is not going so well, or there 
are problems in the family. It is as if the world is 
weighing heavy on our shoulders. However, if we 
have good mindfulness, even though the things 
around us may be challenging they are unable to 
weigh us down it will not 'get through' to your 
state of mind. 
3. Mindfulness will allow our thoughts to enlarge 
outwards without limits. You will see things as they 
really are. You will be able to spread loving 
kindness without limits because you have no 
limiting anxieties. 
4. Mindfulness will allow us to consider things with 
wisdom and follow them up with clarify. Thus 
mindfulness augments wisdom because it will allow 
you to get to the root of every matter. 
5. Will purify allall actions of body, speech and mind 
The Buddha taught that non-recklessness can be 
brought about by the simultaneous cultivation of five 
virtues at all times. See if you possess all of these 
virtues or whether some are missing. Can you manage 
to maintain them continuously all of the time or can 
you only maintain them from time to time. In this way 
we will know the degree of our recklessness 
CA Functions of mindfulness 
The functions of mindfulness can be analyzed as 
follows: 
I. It allows us to be careful of ourselves. It will protect 
us from falling into ways of evil or deterioration — by 
being suspicious of things worthy of suspicion and to 
be careful to protect yourself from dangers. 
Mindfulness is something that has the ability to stay 
with us wherever we are, whatever posture we are in. If 
you go out of the house and there is the sound of distant 
thunder, instead of simply being oblivious, you might 
EFTA00286709

think, "Today it may rain heavily" (suspicious of 
things that deserve it) therefore I'd better take along 
my umbrella" (care to protect yourself from potential 
dangers). If you see a friend of the same age who is 
usually stronger than yourself fall down faint in the 
street, maybe you would instantly think of food 
poisoning and besides helping them, be especially 
careful of the sort of food you eat. 
2. Tells us where to draw the line: when one must 
share activities with those who might a different aim in 
life from our own, to know to what extent one can join 
in with the activity without compromising one's 
spiritual path. 
3. Gives us a timely reminder: To wake us up and get 
us doing useful things with our lives instead of lying 
around all day. 
4. Acts as a catalyst: Stimulates us to huny us up 
instead of allowing us to drag our feet in certain 
situations which require haste — an attribute lacking 
for those who arc already thirty years old but who are 
still playing around in life as if they were teenagers. 
5. Makes us aware of our reponsibilities: It will 
remind us of our responsibilities — to know what and 
should not be done. If you are young and you wear 
lively colours, no-one will criticize your for it, but if 
you are old and you still do the same, your mindfulness 
might remind you about your duty at your particular 
time of life. It will tell you that old people don't belong 
in discotheques any more. 
6. Engenders Thoroughness: Thoroughness relies on 
experience — if you know the sort of mistakes you or 
the employees in your care tend to make, you will be 
more cautious when assessing the quality of work done. 
C5 Metaphors for mindfulness 
There are many metaphors for mindfulness: 
I. Supporting Pillar: The people of old compared 
mindfulness to the main supporting pillar. Wherever 
you put the main pillar, everything around will be firm 
and strong. In the same way wherever there is 
mindfulness, you will always manage to consider issues 
until you get to the bot 
tom of things. (No other virtue can be cultivated 
without awareness). 
2. Doorkeeper: Mindfulness has also been compared to 
a doorkeeper/guard in a large house or palace. A 
doorkeeper will let familiar people pass, but must stop 
strangers. In the same way mindfulness must always 
question as to what to investigate and what to let pass 
by. Whether to adjust or whether to start all over again 
(especially concerning sensory filtering). 
3. Treasurer: Others say that mindfulness is like a 
treasurer who must by fussy. They must make sure that 
the income and outgoings are balanced or else they will 
not let go of the issue. In a hank sometimes they have 
to stay late to midnight if there is an irregularity in the 
accounts — even if it is a profit — because they cannot 
afford to have even the slightest mistake in the 
accounts. Even if the amount of money in question is 
only a small fraction of the extra wages that must be 
paid to all the staff who have to check the accounts. 
4 Ship's Rudder: Mindfulness has also been compared 
to the rudder of a ship which will steer to port or 
starboard. Whether the ship will complete its voyage or 
collide with another object along the way will depend 
on the rudder. Without a rudder a ship will go in circles 
— it uses up all its fuel but gets nowhere. 
D. CULTIVATING NON-RECKLESSNESS IN THE 
BibIddiMstcultivate non-recklessness in the Dhamma, 
one needs to make the cultivation of wholesomeness a 
regular daily activity — without exception or excuses. 
Be generous, keep the Precepts and meditate on a daily 
basis. Any morning when you have not get given alms, 
don't dare to take breakfast. Any day you have no 
intention to keep the Precepts, don't dare to leave the 
house. Any day you haven't done your chanting and 
meditation, don't yet dare to go to bed. If you have the 
opportunity find time for temporary ordination or to 
keep the Precepts at the temple — keep your mind on 
your object of meditation throughout your waking hours 
and remind yourself of impending death in order to 
keep yourself focussed on the priorities of your spiritual 
vocation. 
EFTA00286710

E. ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES 
E./ Proverbs 
AppamAdo amataO padaO 
Non-recklessness is the pathway to immor 
tality. 
PamAdo maccuno padaO 
Recklessness is the pathways to death. Dh. v21 
When 
the 
wise 
remove 
recklessness 
by 
non-recklessness; it is as entering upon the castle of 
wisdom; free of sorrow, they are able to see people; 
still caught up in their stupidity. Those still caught 
up in sorrow, like those standing upon a mountain 
peak. 
E.2 Ex. MakhAdeva JAtaka (J.9) 
Once there was a king called MakhAdeva who ascended 
the throne. On the day of his coronation he summoned his 
barber and said, "From now on my work will be much 
more busy — I will look after the country, but you also 
have your job, to tell me on the day you see the first grey 
hair appearing on my head." 
The bather smiled at such an easy job. One day a few years 
later, the barber saw the first hair on the king's head turn grey. 
When he told him, the king's face turned sheet white. The 
king had all the subjects in the kingdom summoned together 
in an assembly and announced, "Today, after many years of 
ruling this country, the first sign of deterioration has appeared 
on my body. It has therefore come to the time for me to seek 
good deeds for myself. Thus I give up the throne, and my son 
will reign in my place." 
The king then went into the forest and became a hermit. 
That was the Buddha himself in one of his previous 
lifetimes as the Bodhisattva. 
For most people, instead of thinking of impending death 
when their hair turns grey, they are still thinking of hair 
dye. This is more a case of lack of mindfulness. Wouldn't 
it be better to donate the price of the hair dye to a good 
cause? 
(J.i.137ff., also M.ii.74ff.) 
E.3 Es CakkhupAla Thera DhAd.15ff40/32 
There was a monk called CakkhupAla in the time of the 
Buddha. He ordained in his old age. Once he had 
learned the principles of meditation, he went into the 
forest to practice with another thirty monks. Before the 
beginning of the rainy season, the monks had a meeting 
to decide how to practise in keeping with having 
become Buddhist monks. Some monks said they wanted 
to meditate for an hour a day. Others said they would 
learn chanting or read books. CakkhupAla disagreed 
and said that they were all still reckless. He said that 
such practice was no more challenging than the 
household life. He said that for himself, he would 
restrict himself to the three positions of sitting, standing 
and walking to meditate throughout the rainy season. 
He would not lie down even for the fear of death. All 
the other monks agreed with him so they all practiced 
like this for two months. At that time, CakkhupAla's 
eye got an infection. He developed opthalmia and 
needed medicine. He went to see a doctor who gave 
him eye drops. To administer the drops, you needed to 
lie down. Thus CakkhupAla didn't use the medicine 
because he didn't want to break his vow of not lying 
down. He thought at his advancing years, he didn't 
know when death would come. He was more afraid that 
his mind would be blind to the Dhamma than that his 
eyes would be blind to the light. The doctor abandoned 
him. CakkhupAla thought to himself that he no longer 
had any refuge so he sat for meditation with a fervour, 
to try to find a real refuge for himself — the 
DhammakAya inside. On the last day of the rainy 
season, he attained DhammakAya and used the 
DhammakAya to consider the Noble Truths and was 
able to become an arahant, but by that time he was 
already blind. All of the thirty monks were able to 
become arahants. 
Some asked the Buddha why after doing so many good 
deeds CakkhupAla could go blind. CakkhupAla had 
been an optician in a previous life and had a female 
patient who was blind. The girl had made a contract that 
if she got her sight back she would pay him a certain 
amount. When she really recovered her sight, she didn't 
want to pay what she had agreed, so she pretended not to 
have recovered. The doctor wondered how she knew it 
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was him if she could not see. When he found out she 
was just evading payment, in anger he made her a new 
eye medicine with acid, saying that when she used this 
medicine, she would be cured for life. This time the girl 
really did go blind. The karma of that action was to 
plague him in every future lifetime. 
To advocate meditation even to the point of damaging 
one's health might sound extreme. If we were still 
considering the pursuit of virtue in Blessings One to 
Eighteen, perhaps we would consider compromising 
spiritual practice with our worldly needs, however, now 
that we are in the second half of the Manual of Peace 
concerning higher virtue, given that we have the 
knowhow and the opportunity, having come thus far, 
we should strive without compromise in every way that 
we know will bring progress to our practice. 
E.4 Er. Subhadda Them 
148ff, DhA.iii.376ff. 
When the Buddha knew that he was approaching the 
time when he must enter ParinibbAna, he made an 
announcement that anyone with any remaining doubts 
concerning the Dhamma should come and ask their 
questions within three months. Everybody was so sad 
and cried with grief. One monk Subhadda however, did 
not cry, but withdrew into the forest to intensify his own 
practice. He practiced meditation walking, standing and 
sitting — never allowing himself to lie down. He 
trained himself in mindfulness the whole of the time. 
Someone went 
to the Buddha and accused the monk of disrespect 
saying that even though that monk knew the Buddha 
must pass away soon, he had still not come to pay his 
respects. The Buddha summoned the monk in question 
and asked, "Why have you abandoned the 
community?' 
"I considered myself that I have still not attained any 
higher virtue as the result of my practice. If this is how I 
am even when the Buddha is still with us, what will I be 
like when you are gone? Therefore, I am practising to my 
utmost in the hope that the Buddha will be able to help 
with any obstacles that may crop up in the course of my 
practice during this three months." 
The Buddha agreed with the answer and said, "Other 
monks should take this monk as their example. He has 
done correctly and is an exemplar of non-recklessness." 
The monk was able to become an arahant before the 
Buddha entered ParinibbAna — he was the last to 
become enlightened before the passing of the Buddha. 
This might seem like a very high level of practice 
which surely could not apply to us, but even on 
meditation 
retreats, when 
retreatants know for 
themselves that they are close to making a breakthrough 
in their meditation, they would be wrong to waste time 
chattering and joking with their fellows — instead, 
maybe they need more time to themselves, more 
solitude and practice until they can secure progress in 
their meditation and only then to return to being their 
usual gregarious self. 
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The Seventh 
Group of Blessings 
"Instilling oneself with Basic Virtues" 
In the sixth grouping we have already removed the weeds from the 
soil of the mind ready for the sowing of higher virtues. At this point 
in our pursuit of higher virtues we still need to fill and seed the 
ground of our mind before sowing the higher virtues we want to 
cultivate. There is no seed that grows well on stony ground and 
accordingly the first four of the five blessings in this Group, pa-
tience, humility, contentment and gratitude are concerned with sof-
tening up the mind and making it more receptive to the seeds of 
Dhamma to be sown in Blessing Twenty-Six (Regularly listening to 
Dhamma teachings). 
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Blessing Twenty-Two: 
Respect 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 Introduction to Blessing Twenty-two 
In recent years, a new term has become fashionable in 
the vocabulary of management science — that word is 
'knowledge management'. The term refers to 
ameliorating the atmosphere of knowledge sharing in a 
working or educational context. The problem is that 
knowledge in the working enviroment consists of more 
than just academic knowhow. Many of the skills which 
a craftsman can show by example, but can't put into 
words, will be lost on an apprentice if he has a bad 
rapport with his trainer. Discretion especially, can be 
learned only through example — an apprentice needs to 
rely upon his master's experience especially when it 
comes to steering clear of the pitfalls implicit in every 
body of knowledge. Some types of knowledge such as 
acting or singing for entertainment are useful sorts of 
knowledge in themselves, but when entertainers don't 
know where to draw the line, then they may run the risk 
of becoming promiscuous simply because they don't 
know how much is too much in their quest for fame or 
fortune. Some doctors are very skilled in their medical 
skills, but if they are not close to a good exemplar of 
medical ethics (which are often not contained in the 
textbooks) they will end up becoming immoral doctors 
who will find any excuse to do operations because they 
know that the more operations they do, the more money 
they can earn. Without a good rapport with a teacher 
who is a good exemplar, with 
all professions, new practitioners run the risk of de-
generation into the vices of alcohol, prostitution, 
corruption etc. 
Moreover, researchers have found that in many working 
environments where expertise consists of more than just 
academic knowledge, there is often little sharing of 
knowledge between employees, because many bathers arise 
which impede the spreading of good ideas in a workplace. 
Those who should be on the receiving end of knowledge 
waste time 'reinventing the wheel', they don't learn from oth-
ers' mistakes or their own, they have a reduced ability to 
absorb knowledge, learning only overt aspects of knowledge, 
competing with one another instead of co-operating, and not 
giving sufficient time or interest to new ideas to improve their 
work performance. In turn, those who have the knowledge to 
share are often unaware of what the less knowledgable wish 
to know and thus they communicate their ideas ineffectively 
or may be disinclined to share their knowledge at all. 
In the academic situation the same principles apply. For 
all the knowledge a lecturer may have if he is 
confronted day-in-day-out by inconsiderate, fault-
finding students who have no genuine interest in their 
studies eventually he will be tempted to teach only half 
of what he knows. He will take the other half with him 
to the grave. The next generation will know only 50% 
and teach only 25%.Within only a few generations for 
the whole body of knowledge once so well known, will 
completely disappear. 
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Looking for ways to rectify the situation in working and 
educational contexts, the researchers recognized a set of 
behaviours found to act as an antidote to the problems 
mentioned above — behaviours which work as a sort of 
lubricant in the student-teacher relationship — allowing the 
knowledge to flow. Such behaviours include being open, 
having the courage to admit failings, asking if one doesn't 
understand, looking for good points in the people one wishes 
to learn from and in the knowledge itself (rather than finding 
fault) and showing enthusiasm. In a nutshell, these sort of 
behaviours help to transform passive transfer of knowledge 
into an active and enthusiastic search for knowledge. 
Just as in the world of business and education, obstacles 
to the transfer of knowledge need to be overcome, it may 
come as no surprise that the same is all the more true in 
the world of spiritual teaching and learning. Many of the 
behaviours just described which help a student to learn 
actively instead of passively, are just as essential to the 
spiritual learning process. However, far from being a 
new discovery, these behaviours are grouped together 
under an ancient virtue by the name of 'respect'. Respect 
is vitally important to the spiritual learner. In its business 
context, the worst that can happen if respect is lost is the 
bankruptcy of the company — but in the spiritual world 
the stakes are much higher. All of us are familiar with 
the rise and fall of different Empires in the world, 
whether they may be the Roman Empire, the Ancient 
Egyptian civilization or the Aztec Empire to take a few 
examples. All of them are established upon a particular 
vision which unifies a sufficient number of people and is 
of benefit to satisfy the human need to reach out to a 
cause that is larger or greater then their own self interest. 
Civilization can last for only as long as there is still a 
unifying vision to inspire people to share what they 
know with those of the next generation. The civilizations 
of the world prosper or founder depending on the vitality 
of visionary scholarship in their day and age. The Great 
Wall of China and the Pyramids which even today's 
modern technology cannot replicate are concrete proof 
of the knowledge of the ancient ones — but nowa 
days Egypt's empire is but desert, and ruins are all to 
tell us of civilizations past. Empires prosper as the arts 
and scholarship grow, bringing more and more comfort 
to peoples' lives. Peoples' appetites are never satiated 
though, and in the race to personal pleasure man 
becomes less considerate of his fellow man. At this 
point as the market grows for those sort of pleasures 
that make men antisocial — the vices of gambling, 
prostitution, alcoholism and drugs — pleasures of 
which no-one can ever get enough. However, neither 
vice nor materialism per se are reasons for the fall of 
civilizations. It is man's lack of respect for his fellow 
man and especially towards the knowledge he relies 
upon for his wellbeing, that is the critical factor in the 
downfall of bodies of knowledge and their dependent 
civilizations. 
Without respect, whole bodies of knowledge quickly 
die because neither student nor teacher are willing to go 
out of their way to help each another. The death of 
knowledge is the death not just of altruism, but of 
civilization. Thus respect needs to be cherished by all 
who wish to see such a crucial body of knowledge such 
as the way to enlightenment, perpetuated throughout 
our generation and for many generations to come.Thus 
we must ask ourselves how both on the level of the 
individual and the level of civilization how we can 
promote and preserve a learning environment which 
promotes spiritual maturity. 
A.2 Virtue that opens our eyes to the qualities of people 
The key value which we need to develop in order to 
activate our spiritual learning is the ability to look deep 
enough into the personality of others to identify the 
good qualities from which we can learn. To know the 
uses of things, whether it be the healing properties of 
plants or the applications of minerals, is the 
characteristic of a wise man — contrary to those who 
think that nothing is a greater gift to the world than 
themselves. Anyone blind to the usefulness of the 
objects or people around them lose any opportunity to 
benefit from the things around them. Unfortunately, 
without practice we tend not to see others as they really 
are. When we see someone, we tend to be caught up in 
appearances in 
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