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Truths, and is ever mindful is the one who 
is truly versed in the Dhamma." 
E.4 Ex. Verafija Sulfa (A.iv.172) 
The brahmin Veraftja once visited the Buddha at 
NaOerupicumanda and asked the Buddha a series of 
questions. 
First he asked, "It is said that the Buddha pays no 
respect to aged brahmins?" 
The Buddha replies that he has not seen a brahmin in 
the whole world to whom such respect is due from him. 
"It is said that the you are tasteless?" 
"In fact that they say I am tasteless is correct because 
the Buddha has relinquished attachment in the sense 
perceptions of eye, ear, nose, mouth and body — but 
that is not the reason for your asking?" 
"It is said that the you are without wealth?" 
"What they say is true, because the Buddha has 
relinquished the sense perceptions of eye, ear, nose, mouth 
and body which lead to attachments to wealth — but that 
is not the reason for your asking?" 
"It is said that the you are inactive?" 
"What they say is true, because the Buddha exhorts his 
disciples not to do anything which is evil with body, 
speech or mind — but that is not the reason for your 
asking?" 
"It is said that the you are a nihilist?" 
"What they say is true, because the Buddha advocates 
the anihilation of greed, hatred and delusion from the 
mind — but that is not the reason for your asking?" 
"It is said that the you arefid/ of hatred?" 
"What they say is true, because the Buddha advocates 
the hatred of evil action of body, speech and mind —
but that is not the reason for your asking?" 
"It is said that the you are a terminator?" 
"What they say is true, because the Buddha advocates the 
termination of greed, hatred and delusion and he teaches 
the Dhamma for the termination of all forms of evil and 
unwholesomeness — but that is not the reason for your 
asking?' 
"It is said that you are an incinerator?" 
"What they say is true, because the Buddha advocates 
the burning up of the unwholesome states 
of body, speech and mind — but that is not the rea 
son for your asking?" 
"It is said that you will not be born any more?" 
"What they say is true, because the Buddha will never 
again enter the womb or take future birth. Just like 
amongst 8, 10 or 12 eggs are incubated by a mother hen, 
wouldn't it be true to call the first of those chickens to use 
its beak or its claw to break through the shell the eldest of 
the batch?
"It is true he should be called the oldest, because he 
emerges before all the others." 
"In the same way, of all the beings of the world 
encapsulated in their shell of ignorance [avijjA) the 
Buddha has been the first to break through that shell 
because of cultivating the recollection of previous 
lifetimes [pubbenivAsAnussatillAAa], knowing the arising 
and falling of others according to their karma 
[cutEpapAtakAAa) and knowing an end to defilements 
[AsavakIchayafikka]. 
Only after this explanation did Veraftja realize the 
answer to his original question and appreciating the 
uniqueness of the Buddha in his world and took refuge 
in the Triple Gem as a Buddhist layman for the rest of 
his life. 
E.5 Er. BAvart & his disciples (SN 976-1148) 
There was once a Brahmin ascetic teacher who lived on 
the banks of a river in DaldchiAApatha and who had many 
students. He heard praise of the Buddha and decided to 
send his students to interrogate the Buddha with questions 
to see if his claim to Buddhahood was justified. 
They followed the Buddha to RAjagaha, and meeting him, 
satisfied themselves that he bore all the thirty-two marks 
of a Great Man. Then each in turn asked one or more 
questions (to a total of thirty-jive different question!) — 
Ajita: What is the reason why living beings are 
enshrouded in unknowing? 
Buddha: The enshrouding of ignorance is reason for 
their unknowing. Because of their craving and 
recklessness no wisdom is available to them. Thus I 
teach that craving smothers living beings in attachment 
and suffering is the consequent harm brought. 
Ajita: What is the thing to prevent the craving that 
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runs like water through our perceptions? What can 
release us from craving? 
Buddha: Mindfulness is what can prevent and protect 
one from craving while wisdom is what allows one 
release. 
Ajita: And what can cause the extinguishing of body 
and mind components [nAma-rEpa]? 
Buddha: If the consciousness (mind) has already 
attained extinction, the bodily component will also be 
brought to extinction. 
Ajita: What characterises those who have already seen 
the Dhamma (attained enlightenment)? 
Buddha: They have no further attachment for sense 
pleasure, their mind remains unclouded and knowing all 
mental phenomena they are mindful in all postures. 
Tissamett9ya: Who can be said to be contented? 
Buddha: I call those who are not caught up in sense 
pleasure .. . those who follow the Brahma-faring, who are 
restrained as to the senses, who have no further craving, 
who are mindful in all postures who are of Right View and 
who have uprooted the defilements from the mind, those 
who are contented. 
PuAAaka: What is the reason why large numbers of 
people worship deities with sacrifices? 
Buddha: The reason is that their aging interferes with 
them achieving what they wish. 
PuAAaka: Is it possible through properly practising 
sacrifices to overcome birth and aging? 
Buddha: Those who perform sacrifices are motivated 
by material gain. I say that whoever is so motivated 
cannot be released from the cycle of rebirth. 
PuAAaka: If those performing sacrifices cannot obtain 
release from the cycle of rebirth, then who can? 
Buddha: Those who can attain release must be those who 
have no further craving in their mind, who have seen the 
Dhamma by which their mind is peaceful, pure, without 
unwholesome behaviour to cloud the mind, like a snuffed 
candle, without further defilements or craving. 
MettagE: What causes all the suffering in the world? 
Buddha: Suffering has karma and defilements as its 
cause [upadhi]. The more the cause is fulfilled, 
the more suffering there will be — thus fools by 
fulfilling the cause come across suffering often. 
However, knowing the cause, one should avoid 
fulfilling it. 
MettagE: How can one endowed with wisdom cross the 
ocean of birth, aging and sorrow? 
Buddha: All my teachings are those you must put into 
practice by yourself, within the very body of yours — it 
cannot be attained by asking other people — and that is to 
mindfully overcome the craving that traps you in this 
world  
MettagE: Which dhamma does the Buddha rejoice in 
as the highest? 
Buddha: The Buddha rejoices in any teaching which 
reduces absent-mindedness in the beginning, middle or 
ending 
— 
which 
leads 
to 
mindfulness 
and 
non-recklessness to know and relinquish attachment to all 
that is 'mine' in order to transcend the suffering of birth, 
aging and sorrow. 
MettagE: Just as the Buddha must have overcome 
suffering and doubtlessly have taught your disciples to 
do the same — may I be accepted as one of your 
disciples? 
Buddha: He who is the true Brahmin has (not only) 
thoroughly studied the Three Vedas (but), has no further 
defilements or anxieties, has no further attachment in the 
sensual plane — has crossed the ocean of suffering with 
no remaining suffering — that is who I say is liberated 
from birth and aging. 
Dhotaka: In the human or deva-world is their any 
brahmin perfectly free of concerns? 
Buddha: Those who know the supreme Dhamma, 
having overcome doubt, have crossed the ocean of 
defilement. 
Dhotaka: What is the device to extinguish the de-
filements? 
Buddha: The device which you can see for yourself, 
and which you don't need to enquire from others, is the 
mindfulness to overcome the craving that attaches the 
mind to this world. 
Dhotaka: I delight in the Buddha's explanation of how 
to overcome defilements... 
Buddha: Once knowing that craving of the high, middle 
or low level traps beings in the world, entertain no 
further craving. 
UpasEva: I find that I have no perceptable mental 
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state. What mental state can I rely upon to bring me to 
liberation from this ocean? 
Buddha: You should take the absorption of the Sphere of 
Nothingness [Akilicafilayatana-jhAna] as the object of 
your meditation to cross the ocean, relinquishing 
sense-pleasure, overcoming doubt and seeing the end of 
craving be day and by night. 
UpasEva: Do those who cultivate the Sphere of 
Nothingness as their object of meditation ever know 
fading out of that state? 
Buddha: Them is no fading out from the state of the 
Sphere of Nothingness. 
UpasEva: If a person were to pass away while in the 
state of meditation on the Sphere of Nothingness would 
they stay in that realm or would their consciousness 
enter upon Nirvana? 
Buddha: Just as a flame which blows out in the wind gives 
no indication of the direction in which it has gone, those 
who have gone beyond the body and mind constituents 
(nAma-rEpa] will extinguish with no further trace without 
further birth. 
UpasEva: Has that person really been extinguished or 
are they simply disembodied or do they become eternal 
beyond danger? 
Buddha: Those who enter upon ParinibbAna have no 
further defilements to cause them to be born, they will 
take no further birth. 
Nanda: If a sage [munE] exists in the world is he one 
endowed with the absorptions [jhAna] or is it the way 
he earns his living that makes him a sage? 
Buddha: One is not called a sage because of what one has 
seen, heard or known. I say that he who frees himself from 
defilements, who has no further defilements, who is no 
longer concerned by craving can be referred to as a 'sage'. 
Nanda: A large number of ascetics and brahmins claim to 
have become pure by what they have seen or heard, by 
their discipline, torment or methodology — do some of 
them really manage to overcome birth and aging? 
Buddha: I say that those ascetics and brahmins cannot 
overcome birth and aging by such practices. Nanda: If 
these brahmins and ascetics cannot overcome birth and 
aging, who in the human or devaworld can? 
Buddha: I do not say that is the case for all 
brahmins and ascetics are trapped in birth and aging, 
but I say that only those brahmins and ascetics who can 
relinquish attachment to mental state accompanying all 
what they have seen or heard, their discipline, torment 
or methodology, knowing the harmfulness of craving to 
the extent that they have no further defilement, can 
overcome birth and aging. 
Hemaka: In the past I have been distracted by teachers 
who have speculated about events of the future or the past. 
All that they have done is simply lip-service to true 
practice. I take no delight in their teachings — what I 
would really like to know is the thing that allows one to 
overcome craving? 
Buddha: Whosoever knows that Nirvana is what can reduce 
craving and contentment with pleasureable perceptions, 
that it is not impermanent, and knowing this has 
mindfulness, who sees the Dhamma and has extinguished 
the defilements, will overcome the craving which leads to 
attachment to this world. 
Todeyya: How is the liberation of a person who has 
transcended the sensual, who has no more craving and 
who has overcome all doubt? 
Buddha: The liberation of such a person will be 
unalterable. 
Todeyya: Has such a person really overcome craving, 
possessed of true wisdom — or have they just altered 
their wisdom to change the perception of craving or 
Right View in the mind? 
Buddha: That person really has no further craving and 
has achieved true wisdom — it is not just wisdom to 
change the perception of craving. 
Kappa: What virtue can be a refuge to those amidst the 
suffering of aging and death in the same way that an 
island can be refuge to someone cast adrift in a sea of 
terrifying waves? 
Buddha: Nirvana, which is free of defilements and 
concerns, free of craving and attachments, which is 
beyond aging and death is as an island refuge. Those 
who know Nirvana can be said to be endowed with 
mindfulness, have seen the Dhamma, extinguished the 
defilements and are longer under the power of the 
MAras, and no longer walk the path of the MAras. 
JatukaAAE: As one who has overcome defile-
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merits and sensuality, may I know what is the virtue 
that allows one to overcome birth and aging in this very 
life? 
Buddha: If you can put an end to obsession with sensual 
pleasure, seeing the end of sense indulgence and concern 
with attachments, craving and views no longer ingrained 
in your mind, putting an end to any concern you ever had 
in your mind — not entertaining such concerns at heart, 
your mind will be tranquil and the defilements which 
allow the MAra of death power over you will no longer 
exist. 
BhadrAvudha: What virtue can be of use to those who 
have come from afar to hear the Dhamma of the 
Buddha? 
Buddha: Those people should remove craving from 
themselves completely, because wherever craving causes 
people to attach to things or to the world the MAras will 
be able to interfere — knowing and seeing how beings 
become entrapped in the cycle (of existence), monks 
should cultivate mindfulness and not attach or have 
concern for anything in the world. 
Udaya: What is the liberating virtue to be known which 
can destroy ignorance and un-enlightenedness? 
Buddha: I say that the virtue to overcome the Five 
Hindrances, equanimity and mindfulness are the pure 
virtues which lead to liberation and destroying of 
ignorance. 
Udaya: What binds one to the world — what is the 
release from the world — and relinquishing what is 
Nirvana attained? 
Buddha: Distractedness binds one to the world. The 
world can be escaped by mindfulness. By relinquishing 
craving is Nirvana attained. 
Udaya: What sort of mindfulness leads to the ex-
tinguishing of consciousness? 
Buddha: When one is not distracted by the inner and 
outer feelings [vedanA], together with mindfulness can 
the consciousness be extinguished. 
PosAla: How should a person who has already clearly 
attained the form (absorptions) seeing inside and 
outside that nothing remains (attaining the Sphere of 
Nothingness) practise further? 
Buddha: He should investigate further in the phe 
nomena arising together with that state of mind to attain 
the full absorption, in order to bring the Brahma-faring 
to completion. 
MokharAja: How does the Buddha see the world 
(including the Brahma-world and dews-world) that 
death cannot see it? 
Buddha: The world must be seen with mindfulness, 
seeing the world as empty for death to be escaped. 
Pilgiya: I am old and afflicted by loss of strength, 
wrinkled skin, poor eyesight and hardness of hearing 
— what is the device for overcoming birth and aging in 
this very life? 
Buddha: Having seen that others are reckless, suffering 
by their attachment to beauty — you must not be 
reckless nor attached to beauty in order to take no 
further birth. 
Pilgiya: I have never known any of the ten directions 
— may the Buddha inform me of the virtue for release 
from birth and aging in this very life. 
Buddha: Having seen how living beings are caught up in 
craving and their consequent suffering — assailed on all 
sides by aging — you should not be reckless, relinquishing 
craving in order to take no further birth. 
At the end of the discussion, all BAvarE's disciples and 
the 16,000 followers who they had gathered during 
their journey became arahants, except for Pilgiya who 
became a non-returner [anagAmi] because he was 
thinking of BAvarE as the Buddha preached. Pilgiya 
took leave of the Buddha and returned to BAvarE to 
whom he recounted these events. At the end of his 
recital, the Buddha appeared before them in a ray of 
glory and preached to them. Pilgiya thereupon became 
an arahant and BAvarE a non-returner. 
E6 a 
How not to conduct a Dhamma Discussion! 
There were once a father and a son who were having a 
drink while they discussed the Dhamma. It was 
approaching the Buddhist Lent, so they were having 
their last drink before giving up drinking for the 
duration of the Lent. 
The father said, "I'll be going to stay in the temple to 
keep the Eight Precepts so this alto 
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hol will cause me to excrete the digestive bacteria in 
my stomach so that I don't get too hungry?' 
The son replied, "But isn't it evil to excrete those poor 
digestive bacteria?' 
"No, because those bacteria are just the cause 
of illnesses in our body — they don't count." 
"But I insist — that is really killing living creatures!" 
Before long, the discussion of the Dhamma has been 
reduced to an argument and the father chased the son 
down the road with a shotgun! 
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The Ninth 
Group of Blessings 
"Practice for the Eradication of Defilements" 
Having acquired all the theory we need in the Blessings up to and 
including Group VIII, the present Ninth Grouping, entitled 'prac-
tice for the eradication of defilements' is characterized by putting 
theory into practice — getting down to earnest spiritual striving. 
The Grouping consists of: 
• Blessing Thirty-One: The Practice of Austerities: Putting into 
practice the sensual restraint and striving needed to burn up 
the defilements in the mind through the practice of gradual 
and intense austerities; 
• Blessing Thirty-Two: The Practice of Chastity: Having prac-
tised austerity until the worst of the defilements have been 
uprooted, one must quickly sow the seeds of higher virtue in 
the mind before the defilements can take root again — espe-
cially by extricating the mind from the sense-desire that is 
the origin of decay and suffering; 
• Blessing Thirty-Three: Seeing the Four Noble Truths: Culti-
vating our meditation further to the point we can know and 
understand the reality of life and the world — otherwise 
known as attaining the Dhammakaya; 
• Blessing Thirty-Four• The Attainment of Nirvana: Having 
seen the Four Noble Truths, if one cultivates meditation fur-
ther, bringing the mind to a standstill so that it can further 
penetrate at the centre of the Dhammakaya, the mind will 
become sufficiently refined to enter upon Nirvana — the sub-
tlest of defilements gradually falling away until there are no 
remaining defilements and arahantship can be attained. 
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TABLE 31.1 Backsliders vs. Strivers' Outlook on the World 
Situation 
Backslider's Reasoning 
Striver's Reasoning 
Knowing there is 
"It's not worth meditating because I will soon be 
" I should be quick to meditate, because time for such 
work on its 
interrupted by work anyway" "After all that work, I 
striving will soon be precious" "I should be quick to 
way... Having 
deserve to rest instead of meditating" "it's not worth 
meditate to make up for time wasted while work was in 
just finished their 
meditating because I will soon be interrupted by the 
hand" "I should be quick to meditate, because time for 
work ... 
journey anyway" "After such a long journey, I deserve 
such striving will be hard to find en route " I should be 
Knowing a long 
to rest instead of meditating"' I can't be expected to 
quick to meditate to make up for time wasted en route" "I 
journey is at 
meditate on an empty stomach!" "Don't expect me to 
should be quick to meditate while I have an amenably 
hand ... Having 
meditate immediately after a meal!" "If I meditate, I 
'light' stomach" "I should be quick to meditate while all 
just completed a 
might be risk my health — so better that I sleep 
the energy of the food in my stomach is readily available" 
long journey ... 
instead" 
"I should be quick to meditate before it gets worse" 
Having had only 
a little food to 
cat ... Having 
had a lot to eat .. 
. Being on the 
brink of illness .. 
Having just re-
covered from 
illness ... 
"If I sit for meditation it might cause a relapse — so 
better that I sleep instead-
"I should be quick to meditate before there is a relapse" 
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Blessing Thirty-One: The 
Practice of Austerities 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 The place of Blessing Thirty-One in the order of 
things 
With this Blessing we come to the thirty-first step on 
the staircase of Buddhist practice. An overview of the 
Manual of Peace reveals that the thirty previous 
Blessings have been nothing more than 'groundwork' 
for the spiritual journey ahead — which requires 
removing the impurities or 'defilements' from the mind. 
Thus this Blessing is the first to deal earnestly with the 
nature of the defilements in the mind and continues by 
advocating the austerities — particularly sensual 
restraint and striving in meditation — as methods of 
removing them. 
B. DEFILEMENTS 
B.I Defilements in the mind 
If we look at our human being we can conclude that we 
are made up of two distinct parts: body and mind. If 
you want to be technical your can use the word 'rEpa' 
for the part that is the body as opposed to 'nAma' for 
the mind. Although the body might look bigger and 
stronger than the mind, in fact, of the two, it is the 
quality of the mind which has the greatest influence on 
our lives. 
The human mind is like a dynamic energy, which is 
like a sphere which is normally about the size of the tip 
of your little finger. The mind in its natural state takes 
the form of a clear sphere of diamond brightness, 
however, when polluted, the sparkling 
mind is reduced to dullness and weakness, lowering its 
potential. 
This pollution is caused by the impurities that reside in the 
mind — known by the technical term 'defilements' [kilesa]. 
Defilements are already something we have met in many of 
the previous blessings — including 5, 7, 16, 19, 20, 21, 24 
and 27 (not to be confused with the 'defilements of action' 
[kammakilesa] which are actually just the outward 
manifestations of the real 'defilements' in the mind). In this 
blessing, however, we start to tackle these defilements 
directly — as we shall see, by the practice of austerities. 
Defilements in the mind are equivalent to the bacteria 
and viruses which infect the body, causing illness. We 
may think that the possible number of illnesses of the 
body are a lot, but in fact they are not nearly so 
numerous as the illnesses of the mind. In the mind the 
major infections that destroy the capabilities of the 
mind are things like craving, hatred, vengefulness, 
wishing for fame, sleepiness, wanting people to admire 
us for our beauty — all these are signs that the mind is 
out of condition. 
Defilements have gross and subtle forms in just the 
same way that litter has both gross and refined forms. 
Gross litter can be picked up and put in a trash can or a 
waste basket. Defilements also have their subtle forms 
which are rather like dust. Such defilements are so 
subtle that they cannot be seen with normal eyesight. 
They are like the dust that clings to a mirror that make 
it dull — if you take a 
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cloth, you can clean away such dust so that you can see 
clearly in the mirror again. 
We cannot afford to remain ignorant of the nature of the 
defilements to facilitate our efficiency in ridding ourself from 
these for good. Defilements in the mind am like the residue of 
engrained bad habits. They are the things which cause us to act 
upon our emotions rather than our common sense. Even though 
all these mental taints might be considered minor — no more than 
'rust' in the mind, we have to try to get rid of them because 
otherwise they will be damaging to us in the future. For most 
people, the mental taints are so subtle that they feel that it doesn't 
really matter whether they are there or not. They are like tiny 
bacteria which can cause much more serious diseases. Unless we 
have tried meditation, it would be difficult to appreciate the 
dangers of these taints. However, when we dedicate ourselves to 
mental training, we sec that these taints cannot be ignored. 
Although defilements may be small, abstract and hidden away in 
the deepest recesses of our minds, they cannot fail to have dire 
effects on our everyday lives. In individual work defilements can 
create problems in the the way we make decisions especially 
when we succumb to bias. When we work with others, 
defilements in the mind become even more evident when they 
cause discord between those supposed to be working as a team. 
Defilements originate as a sort of residue from bad 
habits. Statistically speaking, the more we have done 
something in the past, the more we will be likely to do 
it in the future. If all we have done in the past are good 
and virtuous things, then that would be our good luck. 
However, for most of us there are bad habits. The more 
we do them, the more the chance that we will do them 
again. If we quit any of these habits, we feel a lot of 
resistance. Although we may not see the source of such 
resistance at its root, we can know that this is the action 
of defilements. 
B.2 Principles for removing defilements 
Such an understanding of the nature and the location 
of the defilements is vital to a correct understanding of 
how to eradicate them. Some ascetic re 
ligions believe that defilements are located in the body 
— therefore they try to wash away their sins by 
washing themselves in a sacred river like the Ganges 
(e.g. SaigArava Brahmin [S.i.182111])— as already 
mentioned in the purification practices of Blessing 
Sixteen (§A2). Even some ill-informed Buddhists try to 
find material solutions to immaterial problems. They 
think that if their prospective husband is habitually 
bad-tempered, they can cure the problem before their 
marriage by washing him with holy water. 
Misunderstanding of the nature of defilements has 
given rise to many strange religious rituals in the world. 
People even link their heads together with a sacred 
thread at their marriage ceremony with the belief that it 
will keep them together for the rest of their lives. They 
can only tie themselves together — but they will never 
be able to tie their hearts and minds together for life! 
The Buddha used principles for removing defilements 
of fighting the fire of defilements with the fire of aus-
terity. The purpose of austerity is directly to burn up of 
the defilements of the mind. 
8.3 Difficulty in removing the defilements 
If our body is ill, doctors have to find the bacteria or 
viruses that have infected us. In medical science they 
use all sorts of technologies to study the infections in 
the mind. They use microscopes to identify the 
infection, study the properties of the infection and put a 
name to it. For the mind, it is the same process. We 
have to identify the defilement we wish to remove, 
catch the defilement and put a name to it — however, 
there are three problems concerning removing 
defilements from the mind: 
I. Defilements are hard to see: The problem with 
destroying defilements in the mind is that defilements 
are even smaller that the mind itself. Most people 
cannot even see their own mind, let alone the 
defilements that exist in the mind. 
2. We take our defilements for granted: Our mind is so 
used to being bathed in defilements that it is hard even 
to notice the effect they are having on us. We feel that 
they are like a legitimate part of our personality. It is 
like a person with athlete's foot who half enjoys having 
an itch to scratch. The Buddha taught that we are as 
used 
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to our own defilements as a fish is used to water. A fish 
without water will surely die. If anyone attempts to 
take a fish out of water it will struggle with all its might 
to get back into the water again. In the same way, 
people are used to defilements, they will go to great 
lengths to preserve them. 
3. The way to remove defilements is elusive: It wasn't 
for the Buddha arising in the world, we wouldn't know 
how to cope with defilements in the mind. Even though 
some religions know that defilements exist in the mind, 
they know that the mind takes defilements for granted, 
but they don't have any idea how to overcome those de-
filements. They know they are lazy but they don't have 
any idea what to do about it. They know they shouldn't 
covet their neighbour's wife, but they cannot get her off 
their mind. All they think is, "Why does it have to 
happen to me?" What they lack are the techniques of 
practising austerity taught by the Lord Buddha which 
are the subject of this Blessing. 
C. AUSTERITY 
Cl Definition 
The word used for `practising austerity' in the Pali is 
'taps' which literally means to make something hot. It 
can mean to roast, to boil, to grill or to smoke 
— anything that bums or heats something. It is not the 
same as 'tapas' — better known as a small savoury dish to 
befound in Spanish bars — although it readers may find 
this a good saidemetnoirel If you can burn out the 
defilements all that will be left is the unblemished mind. 
Such a pure mind is wise, not liable to anger etc. etc. It is 
like heating up crude ore to extract the pure metal that can 
be used for something useful. 
Such austerities should not be confused with the 
self-mortification practices of Brahminism tried and 
rejected by the Buddha before his enlightenment. 
Although these practices are also sometimes called 
'taps', their objective is different — to weaken the 
body to the point of feeling no more sense-desire — in 
contrast to Buddhist `taps' which aim to uproot the 
defilements in the mind. 
C2 Categories of Austerities 
There are two sorts of austerity: 
1. Gradual Removal of Defilements [sallekha]: The 
Buddha taught a total of forty-four defilements in the 
Sallekha Sutta (M.i.40ff.) together with the gradual 
virtuous behaviours needed to uproot each of them. The 
sallekho are gradual solutions and this is the content of 
almost every heading of Dhamma in the Buddhist 
scriptures. Thus, for example: 
• 
if you know you are a very greedy person, then 
you can change yourself gradually by practising 
generosity. If you practice every day in the end the 
tendency to crave others' possessions will gradually 
disappear. 
• 
if you are a particularly hot-tempered person, you 
should make sure you spread loving-kindness on a daily 
basis, before we go to bed. 
• 
if you know you covet a new woman every day or 
if the whole of the female world looks beautiful to us, you 
should try to keep the Eight Precepts. Going without a 
meal in the evening will start to undercut the power of 
your desires little by little. Giving up wearing make-up and 
jewelry will help to diminish your tendencies also. The 
power of your sensual desires will gradually be reduced. 
• 
if you are forgetful then gradually train yourself 
in mindfulness. 
2. Intensive Removal of Defilements [dhutalgaj: There is 
another son of removal of defilements which is more 
intense... This set of teachings is a radical way of overcoming 
bad habits accumulated over the course of many years. The 
Buddha categorized the root bad habits of people into four 
major categories: habits concerning dress, habits concerning 
food, habits concerning 
accommodation and 
habits 
concerning laziness. There are thirteen different forms of 
dhutalga practice and they address these four major types of 
bad habit. 
C.3 Thirteen forms of Intense Austerity (Vism.59-83) 
Overcoming the wish to be choosy about clothes 
[cEvara-paEisaOyuttaj 
1. Rag-robe wearer's Practice [paOsukElikalga] 
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Wearing only robes made from rags retrieved from a 
dust heap or from a charnel ground (§I ). 
2. Triple-robe wearer's Practice [tectvarikaigaj Usually just 
three robes arc allowed for monks to use, that is the upper robe 
(uttarasankaOj, the outer robe isalghatiffq and the waistcloth 
IantaravasakaN. These three robes arc supposed to be adequate 
to keep monks warm even in the coldest of weather. In later times 
there have been trends to allow monks to have additional 
accessory cloths such as girdles, belts and a vest to absorb sweat 
in hot climates. Usually monks will have a change of robes to a 
maximum of three, to allow one set to be washed when the other 
is being worn. However, if you practice dhutalga, only three 
robes am allowed. This practice puts an end to the desire to be 
choosy about your clothes. You have to be very careful about 
where and how you sit or else you will soil your robes and have 
to go to the inconvenience of washing them again. Thus such a 
practice makes you sec the value of the robes you have while at 
the same time training you in mindfulness (§2). 
Overcoming slavery to one's appetite [piAlapAta-
paEisaOyutta]: If you are the sort of person who cannot 
control your eating it is hard to make progress in 
meditation. If you eat too much you will be sleepy. 
With too much protein perhaps you will be subject to 
sensual temptations. If you cannot restrain your appetite 
for food it is unlikely that you will ever be able to 
overcome your appetite for sexual temptations. The 
Buddha wanted monks to avoid becoming slave to their 
appetites and even without following dhutalga practice 
monks are not allowed to eat between midday and the 
dawn of the next morning, even if food is offered. There 
are thus several ways in which monks can train them-
selves to become less controlled by their appetite: 
I. Almsfood-eater's Practice [piAtapAtikalga] Eating 
only food that has been received on almsround. If 
anyone offers food to you on a plate you cannot accept 
it. You accept only as much as is given. If anyone 
makes something especially for you, you cannot accept 
it. Even if 
some other food offered is better than that in your 
bowl, you cannot accept it (§3). 
2. House-to-house seeker's Practice [sapadAna-
cArikalga] For this practice you are only allowed to go 
for almsround along prescribed routes. You may not go 
on almsround to places where you think you might get 
better food. You cannot just go down a street where 
you know plenty of rich people live who might give 
you appetizing food (§41). 
3. One meal eater's practice [ekAsanikalga] If hou-
seholders aren't satisfied with their breakfast, they can 
make up for it at lunch time. If they are not satisfied 
with their lunch they can make up for it with an extra 
large evening meal. They eat so much that they have to 
sleep all afternoon and gradually regurgitate the food 
little by little like a cow chewing the cud. For monks 
however, with only two meals a day, they have to train 
themselves to be content with whatever they receive. 
Even so, on two meals a day, some monks can still not 
help but be interested in food, and may overeat, 
becoming sleepy as the result. Therefore some monks 
prefer to take only one meal per day (§5). 
4. Bowl-eater's practice [pattapiAlikalga] This practice 
entails eating all your food mixed up together. This is 
particularly suitable for those addicted to tasty food. In 
a single bowl all the food will be mixed up, no matter 
whether it be rice, chocolate powder, fish soup or 
whatever. By the time the fourth or fifth contribution is 
added to the bowl, the contents will resemble pig-swill. 
Eating your food in this way will help to remind you 
what the purpose of eating is — to give you strength to 
carry on doing good deeds, not just for the sheer 
enjoyment of eating (§6). 
5. Late-serving refuser's practice [IchalupacchA-
bhattikalga] This practice entails not accepting further 
offerings of food once you have already started eating 
(§7)-
Overcoming Attachment to Luxury Accommoda-
tion [senAsana-paEisaOyutta] 
I. Forest-dweller's practice [Aratiikaiga] This 
practice entails living only in shelters in the for 
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est and never using accommodation in the town 
2. Tree-root dweller's practice [rukkhamElikaiga] This 
practice entails living only in the forest at the roots of 
trees without any building for shelter. Such a person 
will stay under a tent or a mosquito net — nothing 
more (§9). 
3. Open-air dweller's practice [abbholcAsikaiga] This 
practice entails living out in the open, not even using 
the trees for shelter. It serves radically to reduce your 
attachment to comfort, luxury and fulfillment of sense 
desire (§10). 
4 Charnel-ground-dweller's practice [sosAnikaiga] 
This practice entails living only in a graveyard where 
corpses have been laid to rest without coffins. The 
sound of mice running in and out of corpses and the 
sound of wind escaping from corpses as they dry•out 
will soon put an end to sexual obsessions and delusions 
of grandeur (§11). 
5. Any-bed-user's practice [yathAsantatikalga] This 
practice entails taking your shelter wherever you are put 
by your host. Even those who stay under a camping 
umbrella or mosquito net are sometimes choosy about 
where they stay — staying near the kitchen if they like 
the smell of food or near the toilet if they think they are 
going to have to visit often. If someone is extremely 
choosy, maybe they should try staying in the open air 
instead (§I2) (see (510) above). 
Overcoming Laziness [viriya-paEisaOyutta] 
I. Sitter's practice [nesajjikalga] This practice entails 
avoiding lying down. Usually when one stays on a 
dhutaiga retreat, one is there to meditate anyway. If you 
keep this sort of dhutalga practice you must restrict the 
position of your body to standing, walking or sitting 
down. In the time of the Buddha, monks would keep 
this ascetic practice for the duration of the rainy season. 
It works well for a group only when everybody in the 
group is at the same high level of advancement in 
meditation. It should only be done when you can 
meditate well enough to overcome sleepiness (§I3). 
C.4 Necessary virtues for practising austerity 
In general, practice of any Dhamma practice is the 
practice of austerities at the level of `sallekhal (above), 
however, for the practice of intense austerities, it is 
normal to practice under'residential' circumstances 
(i.e. to join a 'dhutaiga camp'). When you practice 
austerities, you have to do so while applying the 
following virtues: 
1. Patience: (see Blessing Twenty-Seven) 
Z Must keep the Precepts strictly according to your 
personal status: If you arc a householder, Five Precepts 
is no longer sufficient. You have to keep the Eight 
Precepts at the least. Some people might like to keep 
Ten Precepts like a novice. If you are a novice you must 
keep your Ten Precepts strictly. If you are a monk you 
must keep your 227 Precepts strictly. 
3. Keep Sabbath Self-Discipline juposathakammap 
You must revise your Precepts regularly in the same 
way as monks revise their Precepts by taking part in 
the pAEimokkha recitation ceremony every two 
weeks; 
4. You must study the Teachings of the Buddha: You 
need to alternate your activities with the learning and 
memorizing of the scriptures by Dhamma sermons or 
readings and daily chanting. 
5. Practise austerities to the best of your ability: 
Some healthy people might keep all thirteen of the 
dhutalga rules at once, but it is more normal just to 
keep two or three of the rules at a time; 
6. Restraint of the senses; 
7. Striving in meditation 
Sometimes the 'sallekha' practices might seem to 
overlap with the practices already mentioned in the 
preceding Blessings. Sometimes for a person who still 
leads the household life and who must hold down a job, 
some of the dhutaiga practices will not be at all 
compatible with everyday life on a daily basis. 
However — if one knows what the practices entail, one 
can look for opportunities to pursue them on a 
sabbatical basis — perhaps during free weekends or 
during the long summer holidays. Of these seven 
virtues, the first five have already been 
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discussed in the forgoing Blessings. As for practice in 
everyday life, we find that far from being strangers to 
everyday life, the twin practices of restraint of the 
senses and striving to meditate are perfectly amenable 
even to the householder. The following sections give 
further explanation of these sixth and seventh virtues of 
the practitioner of austerity —
i.e. restraint of the senses [indriya saOvara](see §D. 
below) and striving [viriya] (see section E. below). 
D. RESTRAINT OF THE SENSES 
Al The Six Sense-doors 
All of us have six channels by which we can improve 
or damage the quality of our minds and lives. They are 
like six entrances or doorways to the mind. The six 
entrances are: 
I. Eyes 
2. Ears 
3. Nose 
4. Tongue 
5. Our skin 
6. Our mind Supposing there is a walled city with six 
gates — if ever the gateman is caught unawares, 
robbers or enemies can gain access to the house or 
the city by any of the six entrances — subsequently 
wreaking havoc inside that city. The sense doors of 
the mind are comparable to those city gates. If our 
mindfulness is ever caught unawares, damaging 
sensory information can find its way into our mind. 
If such damaging things can gain entry to the mind 
they will stir up the mind causing the defilements 
already there to create trouble for us. The Buddha 
went further to compare the sense-doors to lowly 
animals: 
L The eyes are like a snake: the eyes are always 
tempted to look at secret things; 
1. The ears are like a crocodile: in just the same way 
that the crocodile loves cool water, the ears are always 
tempted to hear the flattery or flowery speech of others; 
3. The nose is like a caged bird: in just the same way 
that a caged bird will never stay still in its struggle to 
escape, the nose will always be obsessed to find the 
source of any pleasant smell it detects; 
4 The tongue is like a mad dog: it is always frothing 
with saliva at the mouth — if ever it has a moment free 
it will fulfill itself by gossiping about the neighbours 
(even though the gossipper knows how angry they 
would get if anyone gossiped about them!) 
5. The body is like a fox: like a fox it likes to find a 
warm and comfortable place to rest or to take the 
weight off its feet. 
6. The mind is like a monkey: it is never still, but must 
find something to think about the whole of the time. 
Even if you try to train your mind to think of a crystal 
ball or a Buddha image the whole of time, it will think 
of castles in the air and every other possible thing under 
the sun. 
Thus each of the sense doors has its own damaging 
tendencies in the absence of sensual restraint. This is 
why the Buddha didn't have a word of praise for the 
sense-doors! 
D.2 Attachment neither in whole nor in part 
The key to overcoming the vulnerability of the senses is 
to cultivate sensual restraint. When we talk of 
restraining the senses, the Buddha taught us to practice 
as follows: 
I. Non-attachment to the perception in whole 
[nimitta]: "When we receive images via our eyes, 
sounds via our ears, smells via our noses, tastes via our 
tastebuds, sensations via our skin or inner experience 
via our mind, we must not become attached to the 
source of those sensations (in a positive or a negative 
way)" — if we see an attractive lady we must not react 
with the thought, "How beautiful she is!" If you see 
someone who is repulsive you must not react with the 
though, "How repulsive that person is!" If you are 
caught unawares thinking such a thought, the thought 
will stir up defilements latent in the mind. 
2. Non-attachment to the perception in part 
[artubyalijana]: You might see an attractive woman and 
think to yourself, "Overall, this woman is not very 
attractive but ... how beautiful her lips are — like 
Cupid's!" or "Overall, this woman is not very attractive 
but ... look at her little twinkling eyes!" Even such an 
attachment 
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can lead us to make serious mistakes. People rec-
ognize, that such-and-such a man is completely 
irresponsible and all his habits are despicable but .. . 
his gaze is so mesmerizing that they marry him for 
the rest of their lives! In the opposite sense even the 
sight of a part of an object might cause us irritation 
and anger. 
D.3 Restraint of the Senses paves the way to liberation 
It is all very well knowing the advantages of sensual 
restraint, but what if every woman you look at is 
beautiful? You have to develop conscience (as already 
mentioned in Blessing Nineteen §D.3)— and the pos-
sibility of what might happen to us if we make a 
mistake with our senses. It is a way of building up 
shame of evil [hail] and fear of the consequences of evil 
[ottappa]. The Buddha taught (Hiri Sutta A.iv.99) that 
training ourselves in conscience will lead eventually to 
liberation in the same way that if the heartwood of a 
tree is not rotten, it will protect the bark, and branches 
from rot too. More specifically, if we can manage to 
train ourselves inconscience [hiriottappa], restraint of 
the senses [indriya saOvara] will be the natural 
consequence. If we are going to look at people, we look 
at them to find out what good virtues they possess that 
we might learn from. We don't go looking for the 
physical beauty of others or any other superficial 
quality. If you keep on training yourself in this way it 
will make your self-discipline [sEla] steadfast. You will 
be able to upgrade your level of Precepts. From not 
being able to keep the Five Precepts properly you will 
be able to upgrade to keeping the Five Precepts 
properly, but not yet the Eight. If you continue to train 
yourself in restraint of the senses, before long you will 
be able to keep the Eight Precepts properly too. They 
will establish themselves almost automatically. Once 
our Precepts are properly kept, Right Concentration 
[sammA samAdhi] will arise of its own accord. If you 
find in the present day that your meditation doesn't 
seem to be making much progress, then examine the 
purity of your Precepts. If the purity of your Precepts 
leaves something to be desired, they pay more attention 
to the restraint of the sense doors. Sometimes when you 
sit for meditation, images of beautiful ce 
lebrities or whisky bottles will arise in the mind — these 
are signs that your restraint of the senses needs 
improvement. If you can develop your restraint of the 
senses sufficiently, your Precepts will be pure, 
meditation will arise and brightness will arise inside to 
the degree you can start to see the mind and the 
defilements in the mind, so that you can start to work 
directly on the purification of the mind by the qualities 
of seeing things as they really are 
[yathAbhEtafiAAadassana] — in the same way as a 
medical worker can identify the vectors of illness in the 
body with his microscope — starting at first with only 
lenses of low-power, but gradually acquiring 
medium-power, high-power, oil-emulsion and eventually 
an electron microscope until none of the vectors of 
illness have anywhere left to hide and they can be 
destroyed. In the same way, as the sublety of our 
concentration increases, it will give way to dispassion 
with sensuality [nibbitA], release [virAga] and 
eventually the seeing and knowing of liberation 
[vimuttifiAAadassana] (Kimatthiya Sutta A.v. I) 
E. STRIVING IN MEDITATION 
By this time in the study of the Manual of Peace, by 
Blessing Thirty-One we are sure to be able to tell what 
is right and what is wrong. We know that the practice 
of austerity is good, but we may be prone to giving up 
too easily instead of seeing our practice through to its 
conclusion. We think of keeping Eight Precepts for the 
whole of the three months of the rainy season. After the 
third day, when you feel hungry in the evening, you 
start to think to yourself, "I have kept the Eight 
Precepts for three days already — and that is already a 
lot of merit .. . maybe I will keep Eight Precepts again 
at the end of the rainy season . .. seven days altogether 
. and that is plenty of merit for me." For such a 
son, the ability to strive is only weakly developed. 
E.1 Four types of effort (A.iL 15, 16, 74) 
Properly developed striving has four components: 
I. not doing evils which you never did before 
[sat5varapadhAna]; 
2. overcoming evil habits you already possess 
[pahAnapadhAna]; 
3. doing good deeds you never did before [bhA-
vanApadhAna], and; 
per-
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4. maintaining the good habits you already possess 
[anurakkhApadhAna]. 
E.2 Overcoming excuses for backsliding (8) 
A backslider's attitude to the world always gives him 
an excuse not to meditate, whereas the attitude of a 
striver will lead him to take every chance to further his 
meditation (see Table 31.1 p.346). If you use any or all 
of the backslider's reasoning for not meditating, you 
will be perfectly able to sleep all year round and never 
do any meditation again. The same goes for people who 
cannot meditate in the summer because it is too hot. 
They cannot meditate in the winter because it is too 
cold. In the seasons when the climate's just right, they 
regret not using the favourable temperatures to get 
some hard-earned rest. Such excuses are not hard to 
find. However, in the practice of austerity, even in eve-
ryday life, we should not resort to the lazy excuses 
above, but instead try to transform that reasoning into 
the reasoning of a striver. 
F. ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES 
F. / Er. Loma-kassapa JAiaka (J.433) 
Many aeons ago the Bodhisattva was born as a hermit 
called Loma-Kassapa. The hermit trained himself in 
austerities and asceticism together with meditation 
(pre-Buddhist). He focused his mind on things outside 
the body and was able to attain the absorptions [jhAna]. 
However his attainments in meditation were still not 
very steadfast. His mind was not perfectly at a 
standstill. Even so, the more he practiced meditation, 
the more he managed to attain supranormal powers. He 
could fly through the air at will. Indra the king of 
heaven observed how powerful Loma-Kassapa was 
becoming and realized that before long a mere 'human' 
would soon be becoming more powerful than any of the 
angels including himself. Indra felt jealous and didn't 
want Loma-Kassapa to increase his mental powers to 
the degree that he would outshine the angels of heaven. 
He looked for a way to destroy the magical powers of 
Loma-Kassapa and found 
I. The word Indra is a rank or title rather than a personal name which 
denotes the most powerful angel in TavatiOsa heaven. The angel 
occupying this rank will change from time to time as angels arc 
reborn again to the human realm. 
that in the town of Senates, there was a princess so beautiful that 
she would be bound to distract Loma-Kassapa from his practice. 
Thus India went to the king of Bemires and told him that if he 
wanted to rule the world he would have to make a special animal 
sacrifice and the only person who could do that was 
Loma-Kassapa. Indra told the king that Loma-Kassapa would be 
too afraid to kill an animal for sacrifice because it would be too 
obvious a way of giving in to temptation. However, if the king 
war to lure Loma-Kassapa using the princess, before long 
Loma-Kassapa would be fooled into doing the sacrifice. The king 
of Bemires agreed to do the sacrifice and immediately sent his 
daughter to tempt the hermit. Unfortunately the hermit lacked 
restraint of the senses. As soon as he started thinking about the 
beauty of the princess he became slave to his latent sensual 
desires. His meditational powers disappeared instantly. He could 
no longer fly in the air. Now he had to walk — and he started to 
follow the princess along the road back towards Benares. 
It came to the day of the sacrifice and he was still 
wearing the clothes of an ascetic — he felt nothing 
about the fact that he was going to have to kill an 
animal for sacrifice, because sensual desire had 
overcome him. However, the people of Benares 
complained and protested asking how a hermit could 
ever do such a thing. All the animals of the town 
howled and screamed at the same time. Someone said 
the words, 
"The sun has strength, the moon has strength, 
monks and ascetics have strength, the ocean 
coast has its strength, but none of these forms 
of strength can rival that of a temptress." 
On this occasion the complaints and the sound of the 
animals brought mindfulness back to Loma-Kassapa. 
He threw away his sword and shame and fear of evil 
and the consequences of evil [hiri-ortappa] returned to 
him. He restrained his senses again. His Precepts 
became intact again and his ability to meditate 
returned. He was able to float and fly in the air again. 
He flew up into the air and taught to all of the 
assembled people to learn from his mistake — to 
practice restraint of the senses for themselves too 
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— so that the people of the world would not be slaves 
to their senses. Once Loma-Kassapa had give his 
warning, he flew away back to the forest again. 
F.2 Ex. MudulakkhaAa JAtaka (166) 
In previous lifetimes when the Buddha was still pursuing 
perfections as the bodhisattva, he renounced the world in 
order to liberate himself from the world of sense-desire. 
Practising meditation in the Great Forest, before long, through 
earnest practice, he was able to attain psychic powers through 
his meditation. Because the hermit could fly through the air by 
his mental powers, he would always do so instead of walking. 
On one occasion in search of supplementary minerals, he 
travelled through the air to Benares for alms and while there 
stayed in the royal park. The king of Benares was pleased 
with the hermit's demenour and persuaded him to live 
permanently in the royal park. Sixteen years passed and the 
king, leaving the city to quell a border rising, left Queen 
MudulakkhaAa in the care of the ascetic. 
The hermit was slightly inconsiderate of his sponsor —
and would visit the palace for alms at his own 
convenience. Any day he was particularly hungry, he 
would go earlier to the palace. On days he was not so 
hungry, he would go later. Thus the queen would 
prepare food each day, but would never know when the 
ascetic would come to collect alms. On the fateful day, 
the ascetic had still not come for alms at the appointed 
hour, so the queen, tired of waiting went about her toilet 
and laid down to relax while waiting for his arrival. The 
ascetic finished his meditation and flew unannounced 
through the air at high speed, to the palace for his alms 
— not entering by the door, but through the open 
window! The queen had very little warning, hearing 
nothing but the sudden sound of the wind whistling 
through the ascetic's bark clothing as he flew. Getting 
quickly up from her couch, the queen's clothes slipped 
from her body, revealing her nakedness to the ascetic. 
It was never the intention of the queen to lead her 
respected ascetic into temptation — however, it was too 
late for the ascetic whose mind had already been 
imprinted with her image — all man 
ner of desires long hidden away in his mind overflowed 
— the hermit fell instantly in love with her, 
consequently losing all his iddhi powers. As he had 
flown to the palace in the morning, he returned to his 
dwelling on foot... Meanwhile the queen was upset to 
think she had unwittingly contributed to the 
undermining of her hermit's austerities. 
Seven days later the king returned, he found the ascetic 
disconsolate and unable to eat — on learning the reason, and 
out of respect for the hermit, without hesitation agreed to 
offer him the queen in marriage. The reason why the king 
could deal so amenably with the hermit was that he was sure 
that the hermit's condition was the result of his mistakes or 
carelessness and not because of any wicked intention in the 
hermit's mind. Hearing the king's equitable words, the hermit 
recovered instantly from all his apparent illness. Secretly, 
however, he asked the queen, to think of some device by 
which she might save the ascetic's holiness. 
Together the ascetic and the queen left the palace and went to 
a derelict house given to them by the king which had 
previously been used as a lavatory. The queen made the 
ascetic clean the house (knowing full well that dealing with 
loathesomeness lasubhasannA] is a ready antedote to sense 
desire). Funhermore, she made him fetch water and do a 
hundred other chores. Having pushed him to the very limits of 
his physical ability — the queen shook him by the shoulders 
and shouted: 
"And still you don't wake up to the fact you are a 
monastic? Is this how an ascetic who must be and 
example of relinquishing sense-pleasure for the rest of 
the world should behave? 
The ascetic then realized his folly and hastened back to 
the king, surrendering the queen with the words: 
"Before obtaining the beautiful Queen MudulakkhaAa 
she was the only thing in the world I desired. But once 
having obtained her for myself, the desire for other 
things has increased without end." 
With these words, the hermit was able to recover his 
mental powers.Taking his leave, the hermit flew back 
through the air to the Himavanta forest where 
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he cultivated the `divine abidings' [brahma-vihAra] for 
the rest of his life and on passing away was reborn in 
the Brahma world. 
F.3 Et Buddha's vow under the Bodhi Tree 
The Buddha himself was an example to us the ideal 
attitude to striving. On the morning before he sat for 
meditation for his enlightenment, he received milk-rice 
from SujAtA and a seat of perfumed grass 
under the Malta Bodhi Tree. The Buddha sat for 
meditation under the Bodhi Tree and made the vow, 
"For however long it take for me to attain enlight-
enment as a fully enlightened Buddha, even if my body 
should shrivel and die leaving only skin, sinew and 
bone, I will not leave this meditation seat." 
TABLE 32.1 Correlation ofinner experience to sphere of mental experience 
siihere of mind 
I 
subjective experience 
L 
0 
K I 
Y 
A 
B 
li 
U 
M I 
sensual 
Physical Body: Of course, everybody reading this book has a physical body (although after reading 
Blessing Twelve you now appreciate how difficult this has been to achieve!), but the inner experience 
that is central to the existence of the human body is a sphere of light at the centre of the mind that is 
bright and clear like a shining star — and which in the DhammakAya tradition is called the 'initial path' 
[paEhama magga]. This is equivalent to the first form-absorption in its precursory form. If you want to 
check the qualities of your experience with those in the TintI:aka you will find that indeed you have the 
qualities of initial application of mind fvitakkab continued application of mind IvicAral, joy [phi], hap-
piness Isukhal and one-pointedness [ekaggatA]. The defilements associated with the physical human 
body comprise covetousness labhinhAl, vengefulness [byApAdal and False View [micchA di toil]. 
When the mind is sufficiently pure to be released from these three defilements, the mind will attain the 
Angelic Body. 
Angelic Body: This form is an inner body similar to the subtle human body but more refined and 
beautiful. This level is equivalent to the second form-absorption. The defilements associated with the 
Angelic Body are greed Ilobha], hatred [(fata] and delusion [mak]. When the mind is sufficiently pure 
to be released from these three defilements. the mind will attain the Form-Brahma Body. 
form 
Form-Brahma Body: This form is an inner body similar to the angelic body but more refined and 
beautiful. This is equivalent to the Third Absorption.The defilements associated with the Brah rnA Body 
arc grasping [rAgal, hatred [doss] and delusion [moha]. When the mind is sufficiently pure to be 
released from these three defilements, the mind will attain the Formless Brahma Body. 
formless 
Formless-Brahma Body: This form is an inner body similar to the Brahma form but more refined and 
beautiful. This is equivalent to the fourth absorption.The defilements associated with the Formless 
Brahma Body arc subtle desire IkAmarAga Anusaya], annoyance [pAtighA Anusaya] and subtle 
ignorance (avijjA Anusaya]. When the mind is sufficiently pure to be released from these three 
defilements. the mind will attain the first Dhamma Body PhammakAya riotrabhEl. 
I. 
Initial Body of Enlightenment: This is an inner body of the form of a crystal clear initial 
body of enlightenment inside oneself. The first Body of Enlightenment stands at the thresh-
old between the mundane ['oho] and the transcendental Ilokuliara] worlds and is called 
'DhammalcAya CiotrabliE'. There arc still some subtle defilements left in the mind called 
tellers' IsaDyojanal — but these will be dealt with by cultivating the four remaining bodies of enlightenment — stream-enterer 
ismApanaj, once-returner [sakidagAmi), non-
returner (anagamij and arahant (detail is given in Blessing Thirty-Three). 
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Blessing Thirty-Two: 
Practising the 
Brahma-Faring 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.l The place of Blessing Thirty-Two in the order of 
things 
As far back as Blessing Six (§B.) we learned about levels of 
aim in life — indeed, earlier blessings were adequate for 
exclusively material aim in life but moving into the 
material/spiritual or exclusively spiritual ways of life, we 
need to depthen our understanding of spiritual practice to 
serve our higher aim in life. At the time of studying Blessing 
Six several complex facets of Buddhist cosmology and at-
tainment were left unexplained — and now, as we near the 
end of the Manual of Peace with striving towards liberation, it 
is necessary to explain some of these concepts before going 
further — concepts which include the Buddhist world system, 
mental attainments and the transcendental. 
In Blessing Thirty-One we studied about austerities as a 
way of burning up defilements in the mind. However, 
once you have burned up your defilements that is not 
the end of the story. It is like farmers in the rainy 
season who have pulled out and burned-up the weeds in 
the field. As soon as the weeds are gone and all that is 
left is the fertile soil, you have to be quick to plough. 
As soon as the rain falls, you have to be quick to sow 
your crops. If you are slow to sow your crops you will 
find that the weeds will grow up again worse than 
before. You will have wasted your time completely. 
With the removal of defilements from the mind, it is the 
same principle. Once you have practiced 
the austerities, as soon as you find that your mind starts 
to become detached from sensual indulgence and 
laziness, you must be quick to upgrade your mind 
towards the transcendental attainments. If you are slow 
or too lazy, your old bad habits will come back worse 
than before. Moreover, if our level of attainment were 
accidentally to reach transcendental attainment, if our 
way of life were not sufficiently pure, it would not be 
able to support it. 
A.2 Definition: the Brahma-faring 
The Pali word used to refer to this blessing is 
`brahmacariya'. This word is sometimes translated as 
'brahma-faring'or 'holy-life' — or sometimes, more 
mundanely as, 'celibacy' or 'chastity'. In fact this word 
has a broader a spectrum of meaning (as we shall see in 
§E. below). In the sense of practice, it means 
'conducting yourself like a god (Brahma).' And how 
does a god conduct himself? A god conducts himself 
strictly in accordance with the practices of Buddhism to 
elevate the state of mind until there are no further 
defilements remaining there. Thus the rationale of this 
Blessing is for us to elevate our state of mind and 
behaviour to the level of the Brahma faring for our 
ultimate liberation. 
B. LEVELS OF 
MIND 
vs. 
REALMS OF 
EXISTENCE 
B.I Levels of mind 
Quality of mind is dependent on the degree to which the 
mind is unified, purified or made free of thought. If the 
meditator can overcome the Five 
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Hindrances, (see Blessing Nineteen §D.2.2.) the mind 
can become unified at the level of the first 
form-absorption [rEpa-jhAna] a mental state which is 
qualitatively different from anything it has previously 
known. Cultivation of the mind further will lead to the 
second, third and fourth form-absorptions. The next 
stage of progress of the mind is to make a qualitative 
leap to the formless-absorptions [arEpajhAna]. 
According to Buddhism, all of the states of mind 
mentioned so far are considered no better than 
'mundane'. However, anyone who cultivates their mind 
beyond the formless absorptions can elevate the mind 
to a condition so pure that it is 'transcendental'. As for 
the meaning of 'form', 'formless', 'mundane' and 
'transcendental' — and their relationship to liberation, 
what follows is an examination of each in more detail. 
B.1.1 The Three Planes of Mind [bhEmi] The quality 
of our mind can be summarized down to four different 
levels: 
L the sensual plane of mind [kAmavacarabhEmi]: this 
is the plane to which most people's minds are still 
attached to the temptation of sensual pleasures. Such 
people are still affected by the Five Hindrances. 
2. the form' plane of mind [rEpavacarabhEmi]: this is 
the plane of those whose minds are still attached to 
absorptions at the form plane [rEpajhAna]. With their 
eyes open or closed they will perceive a bright sphere at 
the centre of their body the whole of the time as clearly 
as seen with the eye. If you are really at this plane, the 
mind will be in this state of brightness the whole of the 
time and the mind will have no remaining interest in the 
sensual pleasures of a married life. You will see such 
things as no more entertaining than child's play; 
3. The formless plane of the mind [arEpavacara-
bhEmi]: this is the plane of the mind where the mind is 
still attached to the absorptions at the formless level 
[arEpa-jhAna]. You will be able to perceive the inner 
body of the formless Brahma level at the centre of your 
body the whole of the time. If you have such a level of 
attainment you will have intense brightness in 
side the whole of time and it is no problem if you 
want to sit for meditation uninterrupted for seven 
days and seven nights without a break. There is 
hardly any need to sleep any more — only 15 or 20 
minutes per day is enough. The brightness inside 
keeps the mind refreshed the whole of the time. 
4. The supramundane plane of the mind [lokuttara-
bhEmi] This is a plane of mind is beyond the reach of 
worldly viscissitudes. At its most advanced it includes 
the level of mind of an arahant who has come to an end 
of defilements. 
From the time of the birth of Prince Siddhartha to the time 
when he left the palace to start his ascetic practices, even lie 
was still trapped in the sensual level of mind with his royal 
family and consorts and a palace for each of the three seasons. 
Once he practiced to the point where he could attain the first 
absorptions [r4ajhAna] — e.g. at the age of seven under the 
black plum tree — he elevated his mind to the level of form. 
When he studied with /tiara and Udaka he could further raise 
the level of his mind to the level of the formless. At the age of 
35 he could attain enlightenment his mind entered upon the 
level of the transcendental. Ile attained all of these levels 
without leaving the human realm 
— his mind was elevated not his body. 
B.L2 Subdivisions within the Three Planes of Mind 
Within the three planes there are subcategories of 
experience — and we experience these in meditation in 
the form of inner bodies of experience (see Table 32.1 
p.356). 
B.2 Parallels between level of mind and realms of 
existence 
Many students of Buddhism, especially those who have 
practised meditation find no difficulty in understanding 
how different levels can exist in states of mind —
however, understanding the Ml variety of realms of 
existence is less easy. With the naked eye, the only two 
forms of existence we can see are the human and the 
animal realms — are we succumbing to gullability to 
accept that Buddhist cosmology consists of not two 
forms of existence but thirty-one? 
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Indeed, some refuse to believe in the existence of 
anything they cannot immediately see. They consider as 
gullable anyone who believes in anything without 
material proof. They maintain that if invisible realms 
are real, they should be immediately demonstrable to 
the naked eye. On the contrary, such skeptics find no 
difficulty in believing in the existence of Japan or the 
existence of microscopic particles even though they 
have no direct experience of either. Such skeptics 
would say, if you want to prove the existence of Japan 
— you need to make the journey there. If you want to 
prove the existence of microscopic particles, you have 
to have a microscope at your disposal — so even 
skeptics have their conditions! — i.e.: 
You need to have the appropriate vehicle or 
equipment at your disposal; 
• 
You need to know the route to get there. 
• You need to have enough resources in pocket. Well! 
Meditators can also have their conditions! If you want 
to prove the existence of invisible realms, 
you need to fulfil the following three conditions for 
reaching them, i.e. 
• 
your mind needs to be sufficiently stable to 
observe them 
• 
you need to know the pathway by which you 
can arrive at there 
you need to have sufficient merit to get you to 
there At the very least, to see the invisible realms for 
yourself, you have to allow the defilements to precipi-
tate out of your mind first. When defilements start to 
precipitate out, the mind will be left bright and clear. 
This is the brightness that we use to illuminate the path 
ahead and we will start to have the possibility to see 
those 'invisible' realms for ourselves. 
R2.1 The Destination of the Dead: The evidence 
Fortunately it is not only ancient and scriptural evi-
dence we have for realms of existence beyond the 
normal limits of our senses. The testimony of those 
who have had a Near Death Experience (NDE) —
recorded as numbering between 8-13 million peo 
pie in 1998 in the U.S. alone — shows differences in 
the nature of destination of those who have had NDE's. 
Some people report a destination that is pleasant, others 
report a destination that is deeply frightening. In 
summary of some of the differences: 
Heaven-Like Cases 
Hell-Like Cases 
Friendly beings 
Lifeless or threatening appa-
ritions 
Beautiful, lovely environ- 
ments 
Barren or ugly expanse 
Conversations and dialogue 
Threats, screams, silence 
Total acceptance and an OM- 
whelming sensation of love 
Danger and the possibility of 
violence and/or torture 
A feeling of warmth and a 
sense of heaven 
A feeling of cold (or of tern-
peraturc extremes), and a 
sense of hell 
B.2.2 Equivalence between Planes of Mind and 
spriggglidthicktegorization of Near Death Experiences 
There is a correspondence between states of mind (which 
are transitory within a given life) and state of existence 
(which we inhabit the whole of our lives). What we do 
habitually leads to our habitual state of mind and our 
habitual state of mind will lead to our next state of 
existence. 
Asked why people who die have different destinations 
after death, there is always a temptation to require some 
higher `force' to spur people 'where they deserve'—
however, in reality, people's habitual state of mind is 
already ample reason to explain afterlife destinations. 
Consider a bee and a dungfly in a bottle. When you 
open the lid of the bottle, the two insects escape. At 
first they fly along in unison, but before long they part 
— the bee heads for a patch of flowers it can smell 
inthe distance, whereas the dung-fly heads for the dung 
heap. Asked by whose power the insects have chosen to 
go their separate ways — the answer is through the 
force of habit. Like attracts like — the bee has been 
used to flowers all its life, so is attracted to flowers. The 
dungfly has been used to dung all its life, so is attracted 
to dung heaps. Any creator god with the duty to 'put' 
them 'where they deserve' is decidedly redundant. 
Of course there are sometimes discrepencies between 
habitual state of mind and afterlife destina-
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