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ways serene and pleasing to the eye. 
When told about the patience of Bhaddiya, the Buddha 
said, 'An arahant never loses his temper, he has no 
desire to speak harshly or to think ill of others. He is 
like a mountain of solid rock. As a solid 
rock is not shakeable by wind so also, an arahant is 
unperturbed by scorn or by praise.' Only then did the 
other monks come to know that Bhaddiya had long 
before attained arahantship and was invulnerable to 
worldly vicissitudes. 
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Blessing Thirty-Six: 
Sorrowlessness 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 True love and possessive love 
Second only to wisdom, compassion [karuAA) — or true 
love — is considered one of Buddhism's key virtues. The 
further we can extend our mind, the more broadly and 
impartially we will be able to spread ow love. Compassion 
is not a virtue to make you a narrower or more egoistical 
person. On the contrary, it will lead to a breaking down of 
the barriers between yourself and the rest of the world. For 
°rattans such love comes naturally. 
However, for those who are still unenlightened, the love 
we experience, although called by the same name, is 
possessive in its nature. Possessive love is subject to the 
three Universal Characteristics and cannot last forever. 
It also re-inforces our egoism unlike its enlightened 
equivalent, `compassion'. However, worst of all, 
possessive love has a painful withdrawal symptom 
called `sorrow' — the nature of which we will discover 
later in this blessing. 
Because an arahant has no further possessive love he is 
thus free of sorrow. Thus sorrowlessness is another of 
the four characteristics of an arahant described in Group 
X. In fact 'sorrowlessness' is closely concerned with 
virtues discussed in the immediately preceding Bless-
ings. In Blessing Thirty-three we talked about two types 
of suffering — the inevitable and the miscellaneous 
(largely avoidable). In Blessing Thirty-Five we have 
already been introduced to the vi 
cissitudes of the world: which are all features of life in 
the world which are unavoidable — but to which you 
can make your mind invulnerable by attaining 
arahantship — allowing one to see the desirable and 
undesirable things of the world as subject to the Three 
Universal Characteristics. 
This blessing deals with making oneself invulnerable to 
the second category of suffering which is avoidable —
those that resemble sorrow. As we shall see, 
sorrowlessness is a fruit of attaining arahantship — but 
even though we may not have reached arahantship 
ourselves, it doesn't stop us from drawing some 
conclusions (see 5C. below) for how to reduce potential 
sorrow in our life — even if we cannot completely 
eradicate it. 
A.2 Definitions: Sorrow & Sorrowlessness 
The word 'sorrow' or ssoka' has already been in-
troduced since the Four Noble Truths of Blessing 
Thirty-three. It is a term which refers to the suffering 
state of a mind that is torn by dryness. A mind of sorrow 
is a mind that feels dry and cracked like the earth in a 
land suffering from drought. It is like a leaf that has 
become so dry that it has lost its life and freshness. 
Sorrow arises when someone encounters an undesirable 
situation which makes us feel burned out and helpless. 
The antonym for sorrow, the word `sorrowless' (or in 
the Pali 'asoka') refers to the mind that is not vulnerable 
to sorrow — and is the title for this blessing. 
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B. NATURE OF SORROW 
B./ Cause of Sorrow 
The problem of the untrained mind is that it tends to pick up 
indiscriminately on all the negative emotions of perceptions 
coming to us through the senses. The mind will not stay still 
but will constantly try to find some new perceptual food to 
feed the senses. However whatever sort of thing it senses, it 
will not stay with that thing for long, but will soon be on the 
move searching for something new. If you listen to some 
pleasant music, after only a few minutes you will become 
bored and start looking for something tasty to eat instead. 
Before you have eaten much, you think to yourself that you 
would rather lie down and take a sleep. Before you have been 
asleep for very long, you would rather go outside and take a 
walk. There is never any satisfaction with any particular 
sensation. 
There is only one sort of sensation with which the mind 
never gets bored — and that is when one falls in love 
with someone or something. Such possessive love 
causes the mind to be fixated firmly with no more 
wandering. Once the mind has attached itself to pos-
sessive love it can no longer get itself free. In such a 
state of mind, any day you don't get a glimpse of your 
lover, you feel that you have no appetite. Even to hear 
their voice on the telephone, to see a glimpse of their 
face, or to catch sight of their house can help to satisfy 
you. If they love you in return, the suffering remains 
within the limits of toleration — but what if they don't 
love you in return? Or what if they start out by loving 
you and later change their mind — or love someone 
else — or die? It is at this point that the mind will 
become so dry that it will feel like it will tear in two. 
Now if you hear a love song, you would rather cry. 
Now if someone invites you to go and see a romantic 
movie, you would rather stay at home. From a mind 
that used to be interested in absorbing many different 
stimuli, now it has had such an overload from the 
stimulus of falling in love that it no longer wants to 
absorb any stimuli at all. Thus, sorrow is like a with-
drawal symptom from possessive love — in the words 
of the Buddha: 
Piyatejhayate soko 
Sorrow is caused by things that are dear to us 
DhA.iii.277 
Thus if anyone wants to live sorrowlessly in the world, 
they should avoid absent-mindedly falling in love and 
life will be that much easier. 
Possessive love doesn't just refer to people, but loving 
anything to the point you become attached 
— whether it be your house or your car. Anything that 
has anything to do with love is like a thorn that one day 
will produce sorrow. 
In spite of our common sense, and in full awareness of 
the perils of falling in love — however, circumstances 
sometimes get in the way of our better judgement. 
Many women decide they could better use their time 
devoting their time to their work or to their spiritual 
development, but they cannot stand be labeled an 'old 
maid' by their relatives so half-heartedly go looking for 
love. Some parents want to put an end to their 
responsibility for looking after their children so they 
rush them to get married. 
B.2 The Degree of Sorrow 
With relation to possessive love, Buddha taught: 
"If you love a hundred (of them) you will have 
a hundred measures of suffering; 
If you love 90 you will have 90 measures of suffering; 
If you love 80 you will have 80 measures of suffering; 
If you love 70 you will have 70 measures of suffering; 
If you love 60 you will have 60 measures of suffering; 
If you love 50 you will have 50 measures of suffering; 
If you love 40 you will have 40 measures of suffering; 
If you love 30 you will have 30 measures of suffering; 
If you love 20 you will have 20 measures of suffering; 
If you love 10 you will have 10 measures of suffering; 
If you love 5 you will have 5 measures of suffering; 
If you love 4 - 3 - 2 -I of them, you will have 4 
3 - 2 -1 measure(s) of suffering. If you love noth 
ing and no-one when you will not have suffer 
ing about anything. Such a person will be with 
out suffering and without regrets as to their life. 
In fact the existence of suffering, despair and 
sorrow in the world is only brought about be 
cause of the love we have for physical things. 
When there is no further physical thing that we 
love (be it ow body, people, animals or posses 
sions) there will be no further suffering, despair 
and sorrow. Whosoever can put aside their love 
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for such physical things will attain happiness 
in this world. Those who wish to evade sorrow 
in this world would be better to avoid falling 
in love with the physical things of the world." 
Ud.(verse 176) 
If you want to conclude in more colloquial Ian 
guage: 
The more your possessive love, the more the 
sorrow. The less your possessive love, the less 
the sorrow. If you have no possessive love, 
there will be no sorrow. The more your pos 
sessive love, the more the tears. The end of 
possessive love is the end of tears. 
C PRACTICES FOR MINIMIZING SORROW 
The minds of those who have already attained Nirvana (i.e. 
those who have already attained the DhammakAya Arahant) 
will be insulated from sorrow. For those who have attained the 
DhammakAya Gotrabht, for as long as they can maintain 
their mindfulness, they will not experience sorrow. However, 
even with such a high attainment, such people cannot keep 
their mind in Nirvana twenty-four hours-a-day. There will be 
times when their mindfulness is disturbed and they will be left 
vulnerable to sorrow. It is only the araharit who is sheltered 
from sorrow for the whole of the time. For the anAgAntE, 
sakidAgAmE and sotApana, the protection is not continuous. 
Sorrowlessness lasts for only as long as they can maintain full 
mindfulness. 
Strictly speaking, on the subject of `sorrowlessness' in 
this Blessing, there is not much left to say. It is a result 
that arises as the result of coming to an end of 
defilements. However, for those who are not yet 
amhants, there is still much to be learned from 
sorrowlessness because if we know enough we can 
reduce our vulnerability to sorrow for the things we 
already love and we can avoid exposing ourselves to 
sorrow for the things we do not yet love thereby . If 
you don't yet have transcendental attainment at your 
disposal — not to fear — there are still behavioural and 
attitudinal changes you which you can use to reduce 
your liability to sorrow. 
As mentioned in the introduction, we cannot es 
cape the eight vicissitudes of the world — but sorrow is 
something we can choose to avoid. In fact we could 
choose to walk away at any time but, most people fail 
to make that choice. The thought to cultivate oneself 
towards enlightenment has not even occurred to most 
people. Some are even afraid to practice meditation in 
case their defilements run out. They are afraid they will 
have no love left for anyone in the world any more —
which is rather a misunderstanding of the true meaning 
of love. They pin all their hopes on the happiness of 
marriage, only later to be disappointed. Thus, if you 
want to take the choice to reduce your sorrow, if you 
still love things, you should try to reduce such attach-
ments before you experience the resulting sorrow. What 
can you do though, if your mind still feels the need to 
love things? There are several ways: 
I. Distinguish between possessive love and true love: 
you should cultivate true love while avoiding 
possessive love as much as possible. It is not that 
Buddhists cannot express appreciation for things or 
people they like — but you should not allow your 
attraction for things to err into the possessive form of 
love. The surest way to know that love has started to 
become possessive is that it will tend to disembody 
your mind (especially by causing your mind to be 
drawn further and further away from the centre of your 
body); 
Z Love yourself truly: This is not an invitation to 
egoism — but instead of loving other people, why don't 
you try loving yourself instead? If you love yourself a 
lot, then you have to express your love for yourself. 
The best way to express love for yourself is to put effort 
into doing the maximum of wholesome deeds for 
yourself by: 
Avoid the evil things you have not yet done; 
Give up evil things you have already done; 
Start doing the good things you have not yet 
done, and; continue doing the good things you 
have already started to do; 
3. Meditate regularly: You should also meditate a lot 
and in that way you will be less likely to be caught in 
the sticky glue of passion; 
4. Cultivate self-discipline: By keeping the Five 
Precepts you will be able to protect yourself from 
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antisocial behaviours coming from your possessive 
love. Moreover, if you can keep the Eight Precepts 
you will be able to start to throw off the ties that 
bind you to the stickiness of possessive love at its 
roots. The best sort of protection from such sorrows 
is the life of a monk. Thus if you think you want to 
avoid all sorrow, you should be quick to ordain! 
5. Recollect death and cultivate mindfulness of body: By 
recollecting death and cultivating mindfulness of the deterioration 
of the body, it will gradually reduce the tendency of the mind to 
thirst for sensual stimulation. If you practice the recollection of 
death habitually it will help you in your practice of meditation 
because it will stop your mind becoming distant from your body. 
It will allow you to escape from the trap of the senses. If you am 
in love, then your mind is fixated on something external to the 
body for long periods of time. However, if you recollect death 
habitually, it will release your mind from the attachment to love 
and because you consider the state of yourself, it will teach your 
mind to stay habitually within your body, instead of continually 
being hungry for new sorts of sensual stimuli. Thus if you ask the 
real reason for organizing funerals, in fact it is not the occasion 
for people to get together to cry tears of sorrow 
— but as the occasion for everyone to recollect on 
the implications of death for themselves. Instead of 
being sorry for the deceased, in future we can train 
ourselves to be sorry for ourselves instead. 
With the help of these practices, even though you are 
not yet an arahant, your mind will be better centred 
within the body and less easily enamoured by attraction 
for things that must eventually lead to sorrow. 
D. ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES 
D.1 Metaphor: Monkey-trap 
In the olden days hunters had an ingenious way to catch 
monkeys. They would leave a piece of wood covered in 
glue lying next to a fruit tree. Monkeys eating the fruit 
would accidentally touch the sticky wood and its hand 
would get stuck firmly to the 
wood. Next it would try to pull the wood off using its 
other hand — but the other hand would get stuck to the 
wood as well. Accordingly, it would try to kick its 
hands free with one foot — but its foot would get stuck 
to the wood. Of course, it would try to kick its hands 
free with the other foot — but its other foot would get 
stuck to the wood as well. There was only one more 
thing it could do — to try to bite itself free. It would try 
to bite the wood, but its mouth would get stuck to the 
wood. Finally, it would roll around in a ball on the 
ground and wait for the hunter to come and collect it. 
When talking of falling in love, people are no more 
sensible than birds or monkeys. The expression on the 
face of the trapped monkey and the expression on the 
face of a jilted lover are exactly the same ... 
D.2 Er. Mallika Sutta (S.i. 75) 
Queen Mallika was the favourite queen of King 
Pasenadi of Kosala — and a woman renowned for her 
wisdom. One day the king asked his queen, "Who do 
you love the most in the world?" In his mind he wanted 
the queen to answer, "You of course!" The queen 
answered after a great deal of deliberation, "I have been 
thinking about your question and I observe that all the 
animals in the world love themselves above all others 
— and I think that I am just the same!" 
D.3 
Ex. 
Death 
of 
VisAkhA's 
grandchild 
(DK/1311.278ff) 
VisAkhA had been a stream-enterer [sotApana] since 
the age of seven. As a stream-enterer she had attained 
the DhammakAya and had seen the Four Noble Truths 
in the physical body, but not yet in the angelic body or 
any of the higher ones. Her attainment, as with all 
stream-enterers was to be able to uproot three of the ten 
fetters [saOyojana] in her mind, namely: 
I. False view of self-view [sakkayadiEthi] 
2. Doubt [vicikicchA]: meaning specifically doubt 
concerning the action of the karma. 
3. Belief in Superstition [sElabbata-paramAsa]: 
belief in ritual and superstition. The other seven forms 
of fetters including sensual desire [kAmarAga] in her 
mind had still not been 
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destroyed or uprooted. When VisAkhA was a young 
woman, she married. She had ten sons and ten daughters 
— a total of twenty children in all. Because she had so 
many children, before long she had a lot of grandchildren. 
One day, her favourite granddaughter DattA died. Even as 
a stream-enterer, she forgot herself and went crying to the 
Buddha. 
The Buddha asked, "VisAkhA, you once wished your 
children and grandchildren to fill the whole of 
SAvatthE, didn't you?' 
"That is correct," said VisAkhA. 
"Do you know how many people day each die in the 
town of SAvatthE?" 
"Some days ten people, some days nine, some days eight, 
some days seven, some days six, some days five, some 
days four, some days three, some days two, some days one 
— at least one person dies each day in SAvattht," said 
VisAkhA who had a good general knowledge of her town. 
"When there is a death every day in SAvatthE, it is 
better that you save your tears because otherwise you 
will have someone to cry for every day." With the help 
of the Buddha's reminder, VisAkhA realized that the 
more love you have for all your children, the more tears 
you will have to shed when they die. 
D.4 Er. UrAga JArtaka (1354) 
When the Buddha was still pursuing Perfections as the 
Bodhisattva, he was born as a Brahmin farmer. At that 
time he enjoyed a harmonious family life. He had a young 
son and a young daughter. Later, his household expanded 
with the addition of a son-in-law and a servant. 
One day he was ploughing in a field some distance 
from his home together with his son, who was weeding 
and burning the weeds. The bonfire made a lot of 
smoke — some of which went into the burrow of a 
snake. The snake could not breath so it came out of its 
burrow and bit the son. By the time the father realized, 
his son was already dead from the poison. 
Normally a father would cry at the death of his son, but 
for the Bodhisattva, he saw that there was nothing more 
he could help with, so he continued 
to plough the field. A neighbour passed the Bodhisattva 
on the way to the homestead and the Bodhisattva told 
him to give the message to his wife that she should only 
send one portion of food for the packed lunch that day 
instead of two. When those at home received the 
message, they guessed what had happened. All of them 
came rushing to the field and saw the son lying dead. 
However, like the Bodhisattva, the mother, sister, wife 
and servant did not cry, but helped to cremate the son. 
As they were cremating the corpse, an old Brahmin 
with a radiant complexion appeared from nowhere and 
asked, "Whose body is this you are cremating?" 
"My son's," replied the Bodhisattva. 
"Normally a father must cry at the death of his son —
or at least his mother or sister or wife or servant must 
cry." 
"We have our reasons for not crying," explained the 
Bodhisattva and he continued," because when the life of 
someone's body is expended it is like a snake which must 
slough off an old skin. I see my son as no more than a snake 
shedding its skin. Therefore I have no sorrow. My son will 
have another life ahead of him - if he has been good he will 
have a good birth. If he has done evil he will have an 
unfortunate birth. Even if I were to cry, it would make no 
difference to my son's afterlife destination." The father was 
not crying because he didn't love his son, but because he 
could love him but also let go. 
The mother did not cry either. She said, "When my son 
was born, no-one invited him to come. When he left us, he 
didn't say farewell. He has gone in the same manner that 
he came. When this is the reality, what is the point of 
crying over spilt milk. Even if I were to cry, my son would 
have no way of knowing — because he has already gone 
elsewhere." 
The little sister didn't cry. She said, "If I were to cry it 
would just spoil my looks. It would just make me ill so 
they would have to waste time looking for a doctor. It 
would just make me emaciated for no good reason. It 
would just increase the worries of the rest of the family 
— so why cry? No-one is going to be any happier as 
the result of my crying." 
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The wife said, "There is no more use crying than there is 
use in a child crying for the moon that has set on the 
horizon. Even though we have come together for this 
cremation, it doesn't make any difference to the feelings 
of the deceased because he has already gone wherever he 
must go." 
The servant said, "You cannot pick up the pieces of a 
broken pot and make it what it used to be. In the same 
way, it is no more use crying over a dead body — do we 
think it would bring them back to life again? He has 
already gone wherever he must go." 
Even the servant had a metaphor and an explanation for 
her lack of sorrow — so how could they train 
themselves to think like this? It turned out that 
wherever the brahmin farmer went, he would teach his 
wife and children and even his servant, 
"You should make the recollection of death ha-
bitual. You have to think of death habitually be-
cause death is for sure. Life is not certain. Our 
aggregates are not permanent and they are of a 
nature to decay. Therefore you should never be 
reckless towards the accumulation of merit both by 
day and night. Make recollection of death your 
habit." 
It turned out that on that occasion, the old man who 
had come to ask them the questions was Sakka, the 
king of heaven in disguise. 
In the case of the Brahmin farmer, the whole of the 
family looked upon death without any sorrow because 
they recollected death habitually. The recollection of 
death will have the effect of minimizing the number of 
things in life that will cause us sorrow. If you do your 
morning and evening chanting on a daily basis you will 
remember the words at the end of the evening chanting: 
'We are of a nature to age, we have not gone 
beyond aging; we are of a nature to sicken, we have 
not gone beyond sickening; we are of a nature of a 
nature to die, we have not gone beyond dying;' 
If you do your chanting with true recollection every day 
and sit for meditation too, you will soon find that you 
start noticing the changing state of your own body in 
the direction of deterioration. 
When you are a child and you get a cold, just by taking a nap 
you can soon recover. However, by the age of twenty it might 
take you all night before you are able to get over your cold. 
By the age of thirty, it takes two or three days to get over your 
cold. By the age of forty, it takes four or five days to recover. 
By the age of fifty, to get over a cold might take a week or 
even two weeks for some people. By the age of sixty, it might 
take a month to get over a cold. By the age of seventy, you 
feel as if you have had a cold continuously. By the age of 
eighty, if you get a cold, you feel as if you are going to die! If 
you remind yourself of death often, if you fall in love it won't 
be for long and it won't be with too much attachment because 
you will always have the feeling that the 'Grim Reaper' is 
stalking you wherever you are going and that will help to put 
your life in perspective. 
However, it is noticeable from this particular tale that 
the Bodhisattva, even though he had trained himself in 
the recollection of death to this degree, still was 
attracted to have a family of his own and not to remain 
single. However, if his wife were to die, he wouldn't 
waste any time grieving. Thus if you practice the 
recollection of death, if you are still not in love, you 
will not be drawn into the potential sorrow of such a 
relationship. If you are already in love then at least you 
will be able to maintain your own 'personal space'. 
D.5 EX. PatAcArA TherE (DhA.ii.260ff) 
PaEAcArA was the daughter of a rich man from 
SAvatthE. She was very beautiful and was closely 
guarded from suitors by her parents. One day, however, 
she fell in love with a man-servant and eloped with him 
to a village far away from SAvatthE. In due course she 
became pregnant. As the time for giving birth drew 
near, on several occasions she asked permission from 
her husband to return to her parents in SAvatthE for the 
birth (in accordance with the tradition of the time). Her 
husband, however, fearing that he would be beaten up 
by her parents, discouraged her from going. One day, 
however, while her husband was away, she set out 
alone for the home of her parents. Her husband 
managed to catch up with her on the way and pleaded 
with her 
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to return home, but she refused. Unfortunately she 
went into labour there and then, she gave birth to a son 
in the forest. After the birth of her son, she returned 
home with her husband. 
Not long afterwards, she became pregnant again and she 
made the same request to her husband as before but again was 
turned down. As the time forgiving birth to her second child 
drew near again she set out for the home of her parents in 
SAvatthE, taking her son with her. Iler husband followed her 
and caught up with her on the way; but as it started to rain 
heavily, she went into labour again.The husband went to look 
for a suitable place to give birth but while he was clearing a 
little patch of land, he was bitten by a poisonous snake, and 
died on the spot. Meanwhile, while PaEAcArA waiting for 
his return, gave birth to her second son. In the morning, she 
searched for her husband, but found only his corpse. Full of 
grief, and blaming herself for the death of her husband, she 
continued on her way to her parents. 
Because it had rained incessantly the whole night, the 
river was so swollen it was not possible for her to cross 
the river carrying both sons at once. Thus, she left the 
elder boy on the near bank of the river, while crossing 
the river with her baby, leaving him on the far bank. 
She then went back for the elder boy. While she was 
midstream, a hawk hovered over the baby thinking it 
was a piece of meat. She shouted to frighten away the 
hawk, but all was in vain; the hawk carried the baby 
away. Meanwhile, the elder boy heard his mother 
shouting from the middle of the river and thought she 
was calling for him. He attempted to cross the river 
himself but was carried away by the strong current. 
Thus, PaEAcArA lost both her sons as well as her 
husband. 
She wept and lamented loudly, 'A son is carried away 
by a hawk, another son is carried away by the current, 
my husband is also dead, bitten by a poisonous snake!' 
Later, she met a man from SAvatthE and fearfully 
asked after her parents. The man replied that due to a 
violent storm in SAvatthE the previous night, the house 
of her parents had fallen down and that both her 
parents, together with her only brother had died, and 
had been cremated. On hearing this tragic news, 
PaEAcArA went com 
pletely mad. She did not even notice that her clothes 
had fallen from her and that she was half-naked. She 
went about the streets, shouting out, 'Woe is me!' 
At this time the Buddha was preaching at the Jetavana 
monastery, and he saw PaEAcArA at a distance; so he willed 
that she should come to the congregation. The crowd seeing 
her coming tried to stop her saying, 'Don't let the mad woman 
come in.' However, the Buddha told them to make way for 
her. When PaEAcArA was close enough to hear him, he told 
her to control her mind and to keep calm. As she became 
aware of herself, she realised that she did not have her skirt on 
and quietly crouched down. Someone gave her a piece of 
cloth to cover herself. She then told the Buddha how she had 
lost her sons, her husband, her parents, and her only brother. 
The Buddha consoled her, 'PaEAcArA, have no fear; 
you have now come to one who can protect you and can 
really guide you. Throughout this round of existences, 
the amount of tears you have shed on account of the 
death of sons, husbands, parents and brothers is 
voluminous.' Then, the Buddha expounded to her the 
Anamatagga 
Sutta (S.ii.178ff.),which 
dealt 
with 
countless existences, and she felt relieved and calmed. 
The Buddha added that one should not worry too much 
about those who were gone, but that one should purify 
oneself and strive to realise NibbAna. On hearing this 
discourse PaEAcArA realised the uncertainty and 
futility of existence and attained stream-entry. 
PaEAcArA became a bhikkhuAi. One day, she was 
cleaning her feet with water from a water-pot. As she 
poured the water for the first time, it flowed only a 
short distance and disappeared; then she poured for the 
second time and the water went a little farther, but the 
water she poured for the third time went the farthest. As 
she looked at the flow and the disappearance of water 
poured out successively for three times, she pondered, 
"even so do mortals die, either in childhood, in middle 
age or in old age". The Buddha, seeing her through his 
supernormal powers from the Jetavana monastery sent 
forth his radiance and exhorted her, `PaEAcArA, you 
are now on the right path, and you now have 
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the true perception of the aggregates [khandha] of life. 
One who does not perceive the impermanence, 
unsatisfactoriness and insubstantiality of the component 
things is useless even if he were to live for a hundred 
years.' Soon after, PaEAcArA attained Arahanthood 
and was later to be praised by the Buddha as the 
foremost amongst the nuns for knowing the Vinaya. 
D.6 a 
Tigers in the Town (traditional) 
Once upon a time, there was an old Chinese monk who 
built a temple deep in the forest at the top of the 
mountains. The monk had stayed inside the temple he 
had built without going anywhere else for almost the 
whole of his life. One day the monk found an orphaned 
boy in the forest. The monk brought up the child until 
he was a teenager. Like the monk, the boy had spent 
nearly the whole of their life in the temple. The only 
contact they had with the outside world was when they 
had monks come to visit them from other temples. All 
his life, the boy could not remember having met anyone 
else but monks. 
One day the monk needed to go on some errands in the 
nearby town and he needed to take the boy along too, to 
help carry things. Thus on the day before they had to 
make the journey, the 
monk gave the boy a warning. He warned, "There is a 
type of animal that lives in the town that is very 
frightening. The animal looks just like you, but it has 
long hair, red cheeks and red lips. Such animals have 
strange effeminate habits. Whatever you do, don't get 
close to any of these animals. They are worse than 
tigers! If you don't follow my advice, you will never 
get back to our temple alive. Keep your distance." 
The two of them went into town and the town was full of the 
sort of tigers that the monk had warned him of. The boy 
looked at die 'tigers' but he didn't find them at all frightening. 
To him they looked quite attractive. Whenever the monk was 
not watching him, he would stare at every 'tiger' that passed. 
On the way back to the temple, the boy was not his usual 
cheerful self, but hung his head, dragged his feet and would 
hardly speak at all. The monk asked him, "Is anything 
wrong?". 
The boy replied, "I am thinking about tigers". 
The monk thought to himself, "Here we go again 
— after bringing up a boy the whole of his life in 
seclusion, he is still making the same mistake as the rest 
of them!" The boy's mind was so dry, that he could 
hardly enjoy his life any more. This is the dryness of 
mind that we mean by `sorrow'. 
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Blessing Thirty-Seven: 
Freedom from Subtle 
Defilements 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 Place of Blessing Thirty-Seven in the order of 
things 
The subject matter of this blessing is in fact a result of 
practising all the previous blessings from not associating with 
fools up until the practise of the Brahmafaring. As a result of 
training, the mind becomes progressively more refined until 
one can see the Four Noble Truths — in the same way that the 
Buddha did. Ultimately we must work on ourselves until there 
are no remaining defilements in the mind. Even for the 
Buddha, it was not possible to achieve such attainments 
instantly. Even in his final lifetime it took six full years. 
Having become enlightened, as a result of his teaching, others 
too were able to come to an end of defilements. 
Defilements, like litter, have gross and subtle forms. 
Gross litter can be picked up and put in a trash can —
fine litter is more difficult to detect. In the same way, 
the defilements of the mind have subtle forms which 
can be compared to fine dust so small that that it cannot 
even be seen with normal eyesight. Such defilements 
are equivalent to the dust that clings to a mirror, making 
it dull — you only notice such dust when you can clean 
away such dust so that you can see clearly in the mirror 
again. 
It is the absence of these subtle defilements which is 
the subject matter of this blessing. Of course, such a 
state is the result of the practice of those who have 
already come to an end of defilements — but for the 
benefit of the general reader, we take the opportunity in 
this Blessing to examine the nature of the subtle 
defilements and give some possible advice for 
uprooting them. 
A.2 Definitions 
Defilements are like pollutants or impurities found in 
the mind which stop the mind from working in its 
normal efficient way. They are equivalent to bacteria or 
viruses in the body — external carriers of disease which 
cause the body the suffer from various illnesses. The 
Pali word used to refer to this blessing is 'virajaO' 
which literally means 'stainless', 'faultless' or 'freedom 
from defilements and passion'. In the commentaries it 
is used specifically to mean freedom from the subtlest 
of defilements. Attaining freedom even from such 
subtle defilements is beneficial because for as long as 
such subtle defilements are still present, the mind will 
lose its lustre — the subtle defilements will penetrate, 
encapsulate and infiltrate the mind making the mind 
lose its radiance. The mind which is free of subtle 
defilements is indeed free of all defilements, whether 
they be gross, medium or subtle. All have been 
completely uprooted and no longer hold sway over the 
functioning of the mind. So definitively have the 
defilements been eradicated from the mind that they can 
never grow back. Thus the mind is pure and chaste and 
radiant as is the case for the mind of an arahant. 
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B. DEFILEMENTS 
B.1 Comparison of Different Groups 
In all there are three types of defilements — greed, 
hatred and delusion — each of which has its iden-
tifying characteristics: 
Defilement Family 
Seriousness of 
Potential 
Damage 
Duration of 
Potential 
Damage 
Greed/Desire 
Hatred/Anger 
I noranceiDelusion 
Slight 
Grave 
Grave 
Long-lived 
Short-lived 
Long-lived 
pules by forgiveness even if the disputes are with 
those who should really be asking your forgiveness. 
• Ignorance has the character of being very damaging 
and also it takes a long time to remedy its action. The 
most frightening thing about ignorance is that we don't 
know that we don't know. It is like a blind man who 
has lost his way. The worldly and spiritual retributions 
for ignorance are both serious. If one does something 
without understanding, one will keep on making the 
same mistakes without end. Ignorance is also the root of 
desire and hatred. It is very hard even to know where to 
start dealing with ignorance if one has not yet attained 
in a HAW& ditztriDamage Characteristics of Differen4he DhammakAya. Even when you have attained the 
• 
Desire has therkagelellitftsflEit being very 
DhammakAya, to eradicate ignorance still takes a lot of 
damaging but requiring a long time to recover from its 
effort. Some stream-enterers [sotApana] need to 
negative effects. Once we have made a mistake regarding practice further for up to seven lifetimes before they 
desire, it will be a long time before we can remedy everything get completely free of their ignorance. 
to be as it was before. As a clear example, think how long it 
takes to recover from a broken heart — or the sorrow 
described in Blessing Thirty-sh. The effects of desire (in thg 
absence of aggression) are not particularly damaging eithe 
Classification of Defilements 
spiritual or in worldly ways — with incest and theft being For each of the three families of defilements — greed, 
about the most extreme consequences. 
hatred and delusion — there are gross, medium and 
• 
Hatred and anger are very damaging but it doesnsP btle levels of the defilements (as illustrated in the 
take long to recover from them. However, under the sway Bible on the right): 
hatred, there is no end to the violence and cruelty one can cThis blessing primarily 
One can even go as far as to kill one's own teacher and 
filements, however, by way of comparison, we will 
parents. The worldly retribution for violence is severe — yawl by describing the grosser defilements — moving 
can be put in prison all your life or executed. Spiritual 
through each family of defilements in decreasing order 
retribution is also severe — especially for the serious actioof seriousness. 
such as killing an arahant, or one's parents. The grasp of B.2.1 Greed Group [rAga]: The group of defilements 
hatred and anger are usually short-lived, however. If one 
angry, often all that is needed is for someone to say sorry,moreed and desire includes all defilements which have 
the tension is gone. Sometimes anger disappears as quick] y.aa
ansitive attachments generating love, passion or desire. 
it comes — and one cannot even remember what one was In approximate order of decreasing seriousness, greed 
supposed to be angry about. Sometimes one cannot imaginerifi desire come in the following varieties: 
retrospect how one could have done something one did whilst 
one was angry. Thus if you have collected up spite from con- 
Desiring things in a Dishonest Way [lohha]: 
flicts in your past, be quick to settle those dis 
This is the desire which if given the opportunity, would 
concerns the subtle de-
cause one to use dishonest means to get the object of 
the desire. It is when one lets one's greed get out of 
hand to the point it starts to erode one's better 
judgement to the point one would steal or use 
aggression to get someone else's possessions. Suppose 
you want to obtain something that belongs to someone 
else — by 
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Greed 
Hatred 
Delitsion 
Desiring Kings in a Dishonest 
Way [loblial 
Vengefulness I hyApAdal 
Wrong View imicchA ditthil 
Open Covetousness 
[abhijhAvisrunalobha] Discrete 
Covetousness [abhijjhA] 
Wanting to obtain things by 
unscrupulous earnings 
[pApicchA] Wanting in excess 
of your fair share ImahicchAl 
Lust IkAmarAgal Deviousness 
[mAyA] 
Directed Anger [dose] 
Undirected Anger [kadha] 
Delusion Imohal 
Subtle 
Grasping for the Sensual 
Realms [kAmarAga] Grasping 
for the Form Realms 
[rEparAga] Grasping, for the 
Formless Realms larEparAga l 
Irritability IpAtighal Dislike 
[anti] 
False View of Individuality 
[salckayadiEEhi] Doubt 
[vicikicchA] Adherance to 
Superstitions 
[sElabbatapArAmasa] Conceit 
[mAna] Absent-Mindedness 
[uddhacca] Ignorance lavijjAl 
TABLE 37.2 Henry'. Medium & Subtle Defilements in the Three Defilement 
Groups 
Blessing Thirty-Seven: Freedom from Subtle Defilements 413 
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honest means you could save up to buy it (such a 
vantage of others; 
feeling is not desiring for things in a dishonest 
I 
Lust [kAmarAga]: This is being attracted obses-
way) — however, even if you have a big salary, 
sively to someone or something — like someone who is 
but you think to cheat someone else in order to get 
attracted to someone of the opposite sex (even if he never 
the thing you want, instead of paying for it — such 
mentioned his love to anyone). Some people might ask 
a feeling is desiring things in a dishonest way; 
whether such love is wrong, because it doesn't take advantage 
of anyone else — in fact it may not be harmful to anyone, but 
I 
Open Covetousness [abhijjhAvisamalobha]: This fists a defilement, a subtle one. It is of no harm if the object of 
the desire for something so strong that you can no longer kir r love is not already married — but as we have learned in 
the desire to yourself. You cannot stop yourself from show 
sing Thirty-Six, wherever there is love, tears must follow. 
gEven if you have only ever loved your lawful wedded spouse 
an interest, from staring at the thing you want or even usin 
unscrupulous means to get what you want; 
and have never taken an interest in anyone else, it is still 
2 
Discrete Covetousness [abhijjhA]: This is the desHe wise to harbour this defilement of sensual pleasure in your 
for something which is strong, but not so strong that you mind, because it may cause you problems some time in the 
cannot conceal your interest; 
future; 
3 
Wanting to obtain things by unscrupulous earnags 
Deviousness [mAyA]: This is when you would like 
[pApicchA] this sort of greed doesn't go as far as stealing to get something but you are too embarrassed to ask for it 
things, but means when people use money of uncertain origlicectly — therefore you find an indirect way of obtaining 
to pay for what they desire. They pay using earnings accruedhat you want — like saying, "I guess you don't use this any 
in an unscrupulous way. It is like someone who wants to galore? If you leave it lying around it will probably go rusty!" 
rich and he will do any sort of work to achieve his end — in order that someone gives you something they own but 
even if it means selling drugs or stolen goods or gambling eithich you want. You wouldn't have the courage to ask for 
going into prostitution to earn their living. Besides indirectitch a thing directly. It also includes all the daft things young 
bringing harm to society, of course such desire will detractP0ople do in front of a mirror before they go courting a 
from one's credability; 
boy-/girlfriend; 
4 
Wanting in excess of your fair share [mahicchAP 
Grasping for the Sensual Realms [kAmarAga]: This 
This is when one's greed gets out of hand to the point one is when you still have an attraction for sensual pleasure which 
loses one's consideration for others. It is like someone who'll cause you to be reborn in the sensual sphere; 
takes more than their fair share of food on the table — or a4 
Grasping for the Form Realms [rEparAga]: This is 
member of a group who shares a taxi with them but who when you still have some attraction for the pleasures of the 
refuses to contribute his fair share of the taxi fare at the encf9ffn absorptions. When one meditates to the degree one 
the journey. It is also illustrated by the sort of person who attains the first absorption or higher, one attains happiness 
goes into a business partnership, but who is reluctant to pa 4t 
t: 
for anything extra if he knows that the returns will be sha . 
re
t money cannot buy. Of course, the happiness of complete 
oration from defilements is superior to this — but some 
However, his reluctance soon disappears if the profit ever people who attain such meditation think that it is the ultimate, 
because some people who attain this level can even perform 
comes to him personally! It is not stealing, or income from 
unscrupulous livelihood, but it is still taking ad 
miracles. Therefore they don't try to make 
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any further progress. Their spiritual progress gets 
stuck at this point and they lose sight of their 
long-term goal. However, to have attained form 
absorptions to become deluded by is still far superior 
to attaining nothing at all!; 
10. Grasping for the Formless Realms [arEparAga]: If 
you attain the formless absorptions but you become 
elated by your attainment instead of training yourself 
further then you will be subject to this subtle defilement 
and be unable to make any further progress; 
R2.2 Hatred Group [dosa]: Hatred includes all the 
defilements which react with aversion to unpleasant 
stimuli. It can mean the thoughts or expressions of 
aggression towards others, their possessions or their 
reputation — and includes anger and illwill. In 
approximate order of decreasing seriousness, hatred 
comes in the following varieties: 
L Vengefulness [byApAda]: This is anger, grudges, 
spite or the wish to destroy others that is so strong that 
if you don't succeed in destroying someone today, you 
will make sure you succeed on a future occasion. It is 
like water boiling so violently that it will spit out of the 
container and scald the people nearby; 
2. Directed Anger [dosa]: This is anger itself with the 
thought to kill the object of your anger or burn down 
their house or kick them or insult them or discredit 
them. This is like water at a rolling boil, where you can 
hear the sound of the bubbles breaking; 
3. Undirected Anger [kodha]: This again is anger, but 
not yet with the accompanying thought of how to 
express the anger. It is the sort of anger that comes from 
biting your tongue when you are eating or inadvertantly 
stubbing your toe. You have not yet put the blame on 
anyone — it is just a feeling. This is like the fizz of 
water that is starting to simmer; 
4. Irritability [paEigha]: This is not so serious as anger, 
but it is the feeling of fiction in one's mind when there 
is aversion present. When a mother wants to sit for 
meditation and her daughter has the radio turned up 
loud, she will say, "Can't 
you turn down the volume, I would like to meditate 
now?" When her daughter says, "Why do you have to 
meditate now?" although the mother is not angry, she 
will be irritated by her daughter's lack of co-operation. 
Although irritability per se is of negligible harm, you 
have to overcome it because it has the potential to 
developing into filly-fledged anger; 
5. Dislike [arati]: This is the sort of feeling of awk-
wardness when you have a slight difference in taste 
from another person but you have to share in their 
activities or share the same workplace. Thus you would 
prefer not to share in the same activities as this person. 
If you still have such a feeling, your mind is still under 
the sway of the subtle defilements of the mind. 
B.2.3 Ignorance Group [moha]: Delusion is ignorance 
or drunkenness especially that which causes us not to 
know the difference between what is good or bad for 
our quality of mind. It is not an ignorance of arithmetic 
or computers. It is an ignorance of the spiritual values 
in life which are essential for everyone to know — and 
which include the knowledge of right and wrong, 
appropriate and inappropriate behaviours. It is a sort of 
blindness of the mind. It doesn't depend on your level 
of education or even if you can read and write — but it 
depends on your attitude to the world. Someone who is 
well educated might even be more subject to delusion 
than his uneducated counterpart because they think their 
graduation certificate is a substitute for wisdom. In 
approximate order of decreasing seriousness, delusion 
comes in the following varieties: 
I. Wrong View [micchA diEEhi]: This is the most 
coarse form of delusion. It includes the belief that good 
is evil or that evil is good or that heaven and hell don't 
exist or that we have no debt of gratitude to our parents. 
We have already covered the importance of discretion 
since the first blessing —and as we have seen it is the 
sort of delusion that opposes any sort of self-develop-
ment in the cycle of existence. Even the serious 
misdeeds [anantariyakamma] such as killing our own 
parents, or arahants are not so serious 
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as wrong view because some day you can escape the 
effects of the karma. However, there is no light at 
the end of the tunnel for those with wrong view; 
2. Delusion [moha]: This is delusion which obstructs 
our understanding of the difference between right and 
wrong. 
3. False View of Individuality [sakkayadiEEhi]: This is 
the view that you are superior to others. In fact our 
individuality is on many different levels and for as long 
as our view of ourselves extends no further than the 
physical body, we will be caught up in false view of 
individuality; 
4. Doubt [vicikicchA]: This is doubt as to whether the 
law of karma really works or not. It is doubt as to 
whether it is really possible to make progress in 
meditation or whether it is really possible to become 
enlightened; 
5. Adherence to superstitions 
[sElabbata-
parAmAsa]: This means being caught up in su-
perstitious rites and rituals (ones without reasons). 
Some people believe that eating certain foods will allow 
them to gain salvation — for others ritual bathing in 
some sacred river, fortune tellers, spirit worship or 
other forms of superstition are seen as a refuge from 
suffering. The only way to come to a real end of such 
beliefs is to attain the DhammakAya. Until you manage 
to attain the DhammakAya, you will find that you will 
always be believing the last thing you heard. 
6. Conceit [mAna]: There are three ways in which 
people may be conceited about themselves: 
I. Assuming themselves to be of the same status as 
others 
2. Assuming themselves to be of lower status (in-
feriority complex) 
3. Assuming themselves to be of higher status 
(superiority complex) In fact, all three are wrong. If 
we assume ourselves to be superior to others, and by 
virtue of our skills or experience or behaviour we are 
superior to them, we cut off our opportunity to 
improve ourselves further. It will make us reckless. 
If we assume ourselves to be superior but in fact we 
are just the same as them, then it is a 
form of bullying. If we think we are superior even 
though we are inferior, then our mistake of attitude 
will be even worse. Instead of comparing ourselves 
with others, we should compare ourselves today 
with how we were yesterday or last week and look 
for any improvements. 
7. Absent-mindedness [uddhacca]: This is restlessness 
of mind of the sort you experience when you try to 
keep your mind on the object of meditation, but your 
mind wanders onto every other subject under the sun. 
8. Ignorance [avijjA]: This is lack of true knowledge or 
possession of the wrong sort of knowledge in a person. 
This is the lack of knowledge about the important 
matters of 'where we have come from', 'why we are 
here', 'when we will die' and 'where we will go when 
we die'. For such knowledge, you need to attain the 
DhammakAya to get any real answers — not just the 
initial DhammakAya, but the DhammakAyas of the 
higher Buddhist saints. 
B.3 Conclusion as Fetters 
The subtle defilements can also be concluded in the 
form of the Ten Fetters [saOyojana] which are 
sequentially uprooted by each of the stages of Buddhist 
sainthood as already discussed in Blessing Thirty-three 
(see §C.1, Table 4). 
B.4 Why we can't afford to tolerate the subtle 
defilements 
Although the subtle defilements on the face of it seem 
harmless, we cannot afford to tolerate their presence of 
mind. It is just like a spark which can cause the whole 
of a city to burn down. The Buddha thus taught us to 
see danger even in the smallest things [aAumattesu 
vajjesu bhaya-dassavE]. 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 
othenvise 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. Often if we are still living 
the household life with a husband or wife and children, 
it is difficult to appreciate the clan 
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gers of these taints. However, when we leave the 
household life and dedicate ourselves to mental 
training, we see that these taints cannot be ignored. 
Thus you have to be careful of defilements of all levels. 
You cannot afford to overlook even the smallest. The 
best security is to uproot all — until no further remain. 
B.5 Overcoming the Subtle defilements 
Most of the ways of overcoming the subtle defilements 
have been dealt with in detail in the preceding 
Blessings: 
CI Metaphor: Droplet of water on a lily pad 
• 
Greed can be overcome by practising contentmentlust as a droplet of water skates around on a lily pad 
(see Blessing Twenty-Four) and by getting life properly in without sticking — for those who have attained 
perspective through meditation; 
Nirvana, even the subtlest of defilements can no longer 
Stinginess can be overcome by practising genero-a6tifach to the mind. 
(see Blessing Fifteen): 
Sensuality needs to be transcended by: contentme2 Ex Monks 
with one's own spouse, giving up frivolous behaviour, usiiPhAjit 
funerals to your benefit, accociating with good friends (see In the time of the Buddha there was a group of monks 
Blessing Two), loving yourself unselfishly (see Blessing who had been practising in isolation in the forest, 
Thirty-Six), spreading loving kindness limitlessly, staying keeping their Precepts strictly and practising hard. They 
single, keeping the Eight Precepts and staying celibate (seehad been practising for so long that they became 
Blessing Thirty-Two) and persistence (see Blessing 
convinced that they had already overcome all the 
Twenty-Seven). 
defilements in the mind. They thought they had no 
• 
Anger has different ways of overcoming it de- 
remaining greed, hatred or delusion. All the monks felt 
pending on which situation you meet it in: if you are so angftlfilled and left their practice in the forest to return to 
that you have lost control of your temper, it is better to 
the temple. They planned to visit the Buddha. The Bud-
withdraw amicably and come back later, while recomposinaha knew through his meditation that this group of 
your mindfulness — if you am still in control of your temPftionks had overestimated their attainment and in fact 
you should say or do nothing harmful while thinking clearl
d still not reached an end of defilements! The Buddha 
through the full range of options and outcomes available t°told /panda to wait for the monks at the gate of the 
you for overcoming the problem causing your anger — in %%pie and tell them to go to stay in the cemetery 
meantime, if you are of a personality liable to anger, you instead of coming to see the Buddha immediately. In 
should try to cultivate loving kindness, train yourself in 
the cemetery there was the corpse of a beautiful woman 
patience (see Blessing Twenty-Seven) and try to avoid 
who had just recently died. When the monks saw the 
associating with angry people (see Blessing Clue); 
• 
corpse of the woman they would be attracted by her 
False View needs to be overcome by cultivating 
wisdom, meditating more, overcoming doubts while giving (former) beauty. The monks would then know that there
Buddhist teachings the benefit of the doubt. 
were still subtle defilements remaining in their minds 
Conceit needs to be overcome by being humble and they would know that they needed to practice 
further. In this case, without the right circumstances to 
magnify the subtle defilements into a recognizable 
emotion, the small defilements in the minds of these 
monks had remained hidden without them realizing it. 
(see Blessing Twenty-Three), being wary of com-
paring yourself with others, checking yourself for 
false views, associating with good friends (see 
Blessing Two) and avoiding flatterers (see Blessing 
One), being thorough in all that you do, not finding 
fault with others, cultivating respect (see Blessing 
Twenty-two)and training yourself in gratitude (see 
Blessing Twenty-Five) since childhood. 
C. ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES 
overestimate their attainment 
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C.3 Er. The Revenge of the KAOE Ogress 
(DhA.i.37ff) 
Once there was a householder whose wife was barren. Being 
unable to bear a child and afraid that she would be mistreated 
by her husband or her mother-in-law, with the best of 
intentions she arranged for her husband to marry a second 
woman. In spite of her original goodwill, on two occasions, as 
soon as she knew the second wife was pregnant, the barren 
wife gave the other food mixed with miscarriage-inducing 
drugs. When it came to the woman's third attempt, she wife 
kept the pregnancy secret. Ilowever, when the barren wife 
came to know about it, again she caused an abortion. Even-
tually the second wife died in childbirth. Before her death, the 
unfortunate woman was filled with hatred and vowed 
vengeance on the barren wife and her future offspring. Thus 
the feud started. 
Next lifetime, the second wife was born as a villager 
near SAvatthE. She kept a hen (the barren wife of the 
previous existence) and every time it laid an egg, the 
woman would destroy it. The hen became very angry 
and as a result, it was reborn as a cat and the woman 
was reborn as a hen in the same house. The cat ate up 
the eggs of the hen. In their next existence, the hen 
became a leopard and the cat became a deer. The 
leopard ate up the deer as well as its offspring. Thus 
their feud continued for several existences. 
When it came to the time of the Buddha, one of them 
was born as a woman and the other as an ogress 
[yakkhiAE]. On one occasion, the woman was 
returning from the house of her parents to her own 
house near SAvatthE accompanied by her husband and 
young son. While they were resting by a roadside pond, 
her husband left her to bathe himself. During his 
absence, the woman was approached by the ogress in 
human guise. Despite, the ogress's transmutation, the 
woman still recognised her — and fled with her child 
straight to the monastery where the Buddha was 
expounding the Dhamma. She put her child at the 
Buddha's feet. The ogress, in hot pursuit of the woman, 
was unable to enter the monastery. Nonetheless, the 
Buddha summoned the ogress to his presence. He 
admonished both of them for their long and bitter feud, 
'If you 
two had not come to me today, your enmity would have 
continued endlessly. Enmity cannot be appeased by 
enmity; it can only be appeased (other by 
loving-kindness.' Reflecting on the admonition, both 
realised the futility of their hatred, admitted their 
mistakes and resolved to help each other mutually from 
that day on instead of continuing with their senseless 
feud. 
C.4 a KAma JArtaka(J.467) 
There was once a king who had two sons. When the 
king passed away, the older prince did not want to take 
the throne. He renounced the throne to his younger 
brother and went to live as a regular citizen in the 
border country. The action of the older prince looked 
like renunciation, but in fact, the prince had not yet 
overcome his desires. A local millionaire knew that the 
ex-prince would not be very gifted at earning a living, 
so he helped by supporting him in every way. The 
millionnaire had his conditions. He told the ex-prince to 
tell his little brother not to collect taxes in their area, so 
that the millionnaire could use these funds to support 
the ex-prince instead. The ex-prince did as he was ad-
vised and the king exempted them from taxation. 
Everyone was happy, but the defilements in the mind of 
the prince gradually became more powerful. The 
neighbouring provinces got jealous and asked to be 
exempted from paying taxes in the same way. As the 
special incomes of the ex-prince increased, his greed 
became insatiable. He wanted to go back to being the 
king again. His younger brother would not agree at 
first, but later allowed him to return as king. The king 
had done many good deeds in the past and Indra the 
king of the gods wanted to teach him a lesson, to put 
him back on the correct path of life. Indra appeared to 
the king in human guise and told the king, "There are 
another three domains greater than the ones you have 
which you have not conquered."Before the king could 
ask, Indra disappeared. The king became dissatisfied 
with what he had. He wanted to invade border ter-
ritories and conquered three neighbouring provinces. 
The king was so impassioned to acquire the three 
domains he had never seen that he became ill just 
thinking about them day and night. No doctor 
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could cure the king of his illness. 
At that time, the Bodhisattva had just finished his 
studies and volunteered to cure the king. He found out 
what the cause of the illness was and healed the king 
without medicine, but by using questions to make the 
king regain his mindfulness. The Bodhisattva knew the 
king had one kingdom but wanted govern another throe 
— a total of four. He asked, "When your majesty sleeps 
does your maj 
esty sleep in four beds?" 
"No, only one!" replied the king. 
"When your majesty eats does your majesty fill your 
stomach four times?" 
"No, to be hill just one meal at atime is enough!" 
"Then why does your majesty want to rule four 
kingdoms when you already have a kingdom of your 
own?' 
The king was miraculously cured of his illness. 
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Blessing Thirty-Eight: 
The Blissful Mind 
A. THE DIFFICULTY OFFINDING BLISS IN 
LIFE 
A. I The Darkness of Unknowing 
Besides being the last blessing of the series, the subject 
matter of this Blessing is the SUMMUM bonum of the whole 
of The Manual of Peace — like the sense of relief of a 
traveller who has reached his destination safely or like a 
mariner who has reached the far shore. It is a relief 
because all along our journey, we have been amidst 
dangers which have constantly threatened the chances of 
reaching our destination. 
Especially, for as long as the night is dark, in the absence of 
light, we have no idea how many dangers surround us. 
Because we don't know, we fear. Even a familiar place like 
our own bedroom can become a frightening place as soon as 
the lights go out. However, if we have a little light to throw 
on the situation — whether it be literal light like that of a 
torch or a spotlight, or more profoundly the inner brightness 
that arises as the result of meditation — the darkness of 
unknowing will be chased away. The dangers that lurk in the 
darkness will be vanquished at the same time. In a word, 
wherever there is darkness, there is also danger — wherever 
there is illumination there is safety. 
Our mind also has a darkness inside. It is darkness that 
has been with us for innumerable lifetimes 
— it is a darkness that blocks our ability to answer the 
eternal questions, such as: "Why were we were born", 
"where have we come from?" or "What is 
the meaning of life?" or "When we die where do we 
go?" Because we have no solutions to the fundemental 
questions that give meaning to life, the assumptions on 
which we base our life are no more than guesswork. 
Sometimes we guess correctly, sometimes not. 
Tragically, the errors we make only serve to worsen the 
darkness — and we continue to be haunted by the 
dangers that lurk there. 
It makes no difference how influentual you are in 
worldly ways. Even if you are the most powerful king, 
emperor or millionaire in the world, it doesn't help you 
to escape from the inner ignorance of the eternal 
questions of life, and so you cannot evade the fears that 
lurk in the darkness of life. 
A.2 Dangers lurking inthe darkness 
We can divide all the sorts of dangers we encounter in 
life into two main categories (note the similarity here 
with the categories of suffering mentioned in Blessing 
Thirty-three [Os. I]): 
L Built-in Dangers: Everyone without exception 
co-exists with dangers since the day they are born 
— dangers which no-one can avoid sooner or later 
meeting — and even the fear of meeting them can 
cripple our efforts to cultivate good deeds in our 
lives — these dangers corresponding to: 
the danger of birth [jAti-bhaya]; 
the danger of old-age [jarA-bhaya] 
the danger of illness [byAdhi-bhaya]; 
the danger of death [maraAa-bhaya]. 
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2. External Dthegellifiltrapreerdiactfietivirmpaginv 
reality - which is why we refer to them as the third 
we sttNislittqtsefti124/410 itheatifitiOiAri.salid us in the 
shackle ...; 
%%lira that wtheffitifiaittthceemlitegtillintyvipme.ftencaik the shackle of ignorance [avijjAyoga]: This is the 
dangatqffigfif[.twkritiyhtaiiAAa]; 
imprisonment in one's own delusion — delusion that 
• 3 
pegilligtilkiiiiViteiaigefiqffittirgititiltilitiSrelittfprevents one from realizing the Sadhamma (truth 
baftthltaphottAitithaSeibakefrEllad neighbours; 
necessary for attaining enlightenment). One's ignorance 
• 
natural disasters e.g. flooding, earthquakes, 
is the result of a deficit on internal illumination — not 
volcanos or forest fire; 
being able to see the path to self-liberation. Thus 
• 
evil retribution i.e. when the retribution of evilignorance is counted as the fourth of the shackles. 
deeds we have done in our past eventually catches up with 
us. 
A.3 The Four Shackles 
The reason why we find ourselves surrounded on every 
side by suffering and why we cannot break free of 
these, being born only to die, life after life, is because 
we are shackled by bonds or shackles [yoga] (D.iii.230, 
A.ii.10) which imprison us in the three realms of 
existence. These bonds are not physical but act by 
limiting the access to the wisdom in our minds. These 
bonds are four in number: 
I. the shackle of sensual-indulgence [kAmayoga]: For 
as long as we are still partial to hearing beautiful music, 
tasting delicious food, wearing well-cut clothes, seeing 
beautiful images, touching soft things, having an 
attractive spouse or filling our house with possessions, 
this shackle will tightly bind us, ensuring that we never 
stray from the sensual sphere (check) in our future 
lives; 
1. the shackle of attachment to the absorptions 
[bhavayoga]: This shackle may occur when we 
become attached to our mental attainments at the 
level of the form- and formless-absorptions. As soon 
as a person breaks free of the shackle of sensual 
indulgence, they will usually be ensnared by this one 
instead. If one dies while still caught in this shackle, 
instead of being able to go to Nirvana at death, one 
will be reborn in the Brahma-world; 
3. the shackle of views [diEEhiyoga]: This is being 
entrenched in one's own erroneous views — such as 
believing that one has no debt of gratitude to one's 
parents, believing in the non-reality of this world and 
the next or believing one can escape suffering by doing 
rites and rituals — such views only add to the darkness 
in the mind, obscuring 
B. BLISS 
'Bliss', the subject of this final blessing is the sense of 
relief and liberation in the mind which arises when one 
has, through the acquisition of wisdom (internal light) 
surrounded the influence of all dangers and fetters 
previously mentioned. 
B.1 Definitions 
The quality of mind described by the Pali word 
'IchemaO' from which this Blessing takes its name, is 
translated as 'blissful'. The meaning of this word goes 
deeper than simply happiness, however— with two 
characteristics which explain the arising of such bliss: 
I. invulnerability to danger: for those who have 
attained complete enlightenment, all four forms of 
shackles mentioned above have been cracked open. The 
mind is thus free — with no further limitation, 
encroachment or awkwardness. No further danger can 
interfere with the mind — through the virtue of having 
one's mind permanently immersed in the eternal bliss 
of Nirvana; 
2. endowment with knowledge: a second way of 
understanding the bliss of the mind found in this 
blessing is that the mind has gained knowledge so 
far-reaching that no further form of delusion can 
obscure one's wisdom. This special wisdom coming to 
one as a result of enlightenment can be summarized in 
several different ways. 
B.1 Knowledge accessible to the blissful mind 
B.1.] 
The 
Threefold Supraknowledge [tevijjAil 
(D.iii.220, A.v.211)
The Threefold Supraknowledge is insightful wisdom 
acquired during the final stages of enlightenment and 
includes the following three sorts of knowledge: 
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