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Many of the householders had seen the Lord Buddha before, 
but they had never been inspired by Flint. But that day the 
sight of the Lord Buddha was so impressive that many of the 
householders were inspired to faith. Those who were only 
slightly faithful put their hands together in a gesture of prayer. 
Those who were more inspired raised their hands in a gesture 
of prayer and offered words in praise of the Lord Buddha. 
Those whose faith was even greater prepared food to offer 
into the Buddha's bowl and followed him around to see what 
would happen to the flowers. 
The Buddha's almsround took him all over the city and 
eventually brought Him to the front of the palace. The 
king heard the news and came to give alms himself. Then 
the king invited the Buddha to take his breakfast in the 
palace. 
As the Buddha was taking his meal, the ceiling of 
flowers remained above Him — while the Buddha gave 
His blessing and until he returned to Jetavana Temple. 
As He entered the temple the flowers fell down in a pile 
at the temple gate. This only added to the faith of the 
followers and even Sumana thought,"If the king is to 
execute me for failing in my duty, it has certainly been 
worth it!" 
By contrast, Sumana's wife thought the opposite. Shc 
wondered how her husband could have been so 
incredibly stupid. If he had given the flowers to the 
king at least he would have got money in return. By 
giving the flowers to the Buddha, he got no money in 
return. All he got was faith and how was that going to 
feed his hungry children? And if the king were 
disatisfied about not getting his flowers and decides to 
execute Sumana and decide to execute his wife and 
children too, they'd all suffer because of his stupidity. 
And if the king seized Sumana's belongings, he would 
just take Sumana's possessions — he would take the 
possessions of everybody in the household. She didn't 
want that to happen. The wife went straight to the king 
and disowned all responsibility for her husband's ac-
tions. She demanded divorce from her husband there 
and then, and swore before the king that if her husband 
was to suffer for his actions let him suffer alone. The 
king asked her if she was sure of 
what she was doing. The wife asserted that she was 
quite sure of her actions. 
Instead of being angry with Sumana, the king felt 
intrigued and inspired by the flower-man's example and 
decided to give Sumana a prize for his virtues. In the end 
Sumana received the prize alone because his former wife 
had already disowned him. 
When the story reached the ears of the Lord Buddha, the 
Venerable Atanda asked the Lord Buddha about the fruits of 
Sumana's faith on that occasion. The Lord Buddha taught that 
with a strength of faith that someone is prepared to lay down 
his life, such as that of Sumana, faith is very deeply rooted in 
someone's mind, making the mind of Sumana very radiant 
and that for at least a hundred-thousand aeons [kappa]. 
However many rebirths Sumana took, he would be born in 
only the human and the heaven realms. Ile would never be 
born in the neither realms of hell, animals, hungry-ghosts or 
asEras. After the appropriate length of time, Sumana would 
become enlightened as a paccekabuddha. 
Thus from the power of faith in the Buddha,the 
resulting brightness and clarity of mind will stay with 
one throughout the course of many lifetimes. One's 
discretion will be impeccable and because one's 
judgement is sound, one will be a wise one in every 
lifetime. This is the fruit of paying respect to those 
worthy of respect — radiance of mind, which 
ultimately will lead to Right View in every lifetime. 
DhA.ii.40ff. 
F.3 a 
SudhApiAlaya helps build pagoda 
Another illustratory tale is that of Ven. SudApiAliya 
Thera. When he became enlightened as an arahant he 
recollected his previous lives to see how he had come 
to attain arahantship and meditating to recollect his 
previous lives he discovered that he had made an 
offering of only a handful of lime. 
SudApiAliya Thera was born in the era of one of the 
previous Buddhas, at the time when that Buddha had 
already entered Parinirvana. The people of the country 
were building a cellya in which to inter the relics of that 
Buddha. SudApiAliya Thera was a man of faith despite 
his poverty, he thought, 
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"I have relied on the Teachings and virtue of the Lord 
Buddha all along. Now that the people are all building a 
cetiya as a memorial to the generations of the future to 
take the same opportunity as the Lord Buddha to do 
good deeds all their life. It is only fitting that I should 
make some contribution to the building of the cetiya on 
this occasion." 
With this thought in mind, SudApiAtiyaThera felt strong 
faith in the Buddha and wanted to take a part in paying 
homage to the Lord Buddha along with the other people. 
As a pauper, he had no possessions to give as an offering. 
He went and bought a handful of lime and took this lime 
as his contribution to the building of the cetiya. But on this 
occasion, although the contribution was small, but his faith 
profound. 
The fruit of SudApiAliya Thera's faith made his mind so 
radiant that from that lifetime onwards to his final rebirth, 
he was born only in the human and the heaven realms. He 
never descended into hell throughout 94 aeons and 
attained arahantship in his final lifetime. 
In the opposite respect if we cultivate anger or 
vengefulness for 94 aeons this will lead us to do no end of 
hateful acts and the resulting extra interest of bad karma 
will ensure that you never get born in the human realm 
again. 
Ap.i.133 
F.4 Ex. KosAtakE pays homage at pagoda 
Another example is that of KosAtakE. Her name means 
`loofah'. There are many species of loofah. Some can 
be eaten. Some are inedible and have to be thrown 
away. At the time when the Lord Buddha had already 
passed away and his disciples were organizing a grand 
cremation, King AjAtasattu enshrined the relics of the 
Lord Buddha in a cetiya and when the ceremony was 
over, there was a festival. At that time there was a 
woman who was pitifully poor who had had faith in the 
Lord Buddha since the time when he was alive. When 
the people of the country were holding their festival to 
celebrate the completion of the new cetiya, this woman 
wanted to join in the celebration by honouring the 
cetiya with flowers.The woman wasn't discerning 
enough to buy beautiful flowers like the rest of the 
people. She went and collected four loofahs from the 
edge of the forest — golden yellow in colour. These 
loofahs were priceless — because no•one would pay 
good money for something inedible. She took the four 
such fruits and set off in the direction of the cetiya with 
the full intention to offer them in homage to the Lord 
Buddha. 
She was in such a rush that she didn't look where she was 
going, so fixed was her mind on making her offering at the 
ceajn. In her path were a cow and calf. The cow saw the 
determination of the woman and misunderstood that she 
wanted to harm her calf and responded by goring the woman 
to death, before she could reach the ceajn. Even so, even 
though the woman never reached the cetiya, her mind had 
such a determination to accomplish her good deed that with 
the collated potential of a mind with shame and fear of evil, 
virtue and the wisdom to appreciate the good deeds of the 
Lord Buddha, meant that as she was gored to death she was 
reborn immediately as an angel — her clothes became 
immediately refined as angelic raiment of the same golden 
colour as the loofah and the angelic mansion that arose as the 
result of her merit was also the colour of the loofah. 
Indra, the king of heaven saw the new arrival in heaven and 
asked what merit she had performed to cause the arising of a 
golden coloured mansion. The angel smiled shyly and replied 
that she had done only something very insignificant — just 
taking four loofahs to pay respect to the cetiya containing the 
relics of the Lord Buddha but she had been gored to death by 
a cow on the way and regretted not having reached her goal or 
else the golden col-our of her raiment and the mansion would 
surely have been even more striking than this! 
On hearing this, Indra exclaimed,"Paying respect to the 
Lord Buddha with a mind of faith, even though He has 
already entered parinibbAna in no way lessens the fruits 
of good karma. Whether the Lord Buddha is alive or 
passed away gives fruits of merits equally." 
For this reason, even though we have been born in a 
time after the Lord Buddha has already passed 
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away, it should in no way lessen our diligence in 
paying respect to the Lord Buddha. 
PEtavimAnavatthu, Vv.iv.9, VvA.200ff. 
F.5 Er. PalicapApA pays homage with resentment 
There is one more illustratory example — that of 
PaficapApA. This name means `five types of evil' and 
is the name give to this particular woman by her father. 
The reason for such an inauspicious name was that the 
child was born defective with knarled hands, lame feet, 
a squint mouth, squint eyes and a crooked nose. None 
of her bodily organs were in symettry. Her hands went 
one way and her feet went another. Although the child 
was repulsively ugly, she had one attractive point —
her skin was soft like that of an angel. Because of her 
one good point, PaficapApA was to become the queen 
of the country late life. When she was in the royal 
palace as one of the royal consorts, her skin was so soft 
that the king forgot all the other women the palace. The 
other consorts were so jealous that they framed her so 
that the king had to float her away on a raft 
downstream. But as soon as she reached the next 
kingdom, all it took was one touch for the king there to 
take her as his queen. Everybody was so astonished that 
a woman so physically deformed could come to be the 
queen of two kingdoms that someone asked the Lord 
Buddha how this could come to be. 
The Lord Buddha looked back at her previous life 
times and discovered that the woman had made an 
offering to a paccekahuddha but the offering was made 
out of anger. On that day, the woman was shoring up the 
wall of her house with mud. A paccekabuddha also 
needed mud to build his kuti and seeing that the woman 
had more than enough mud came bowl in hand to ask 
for some of the mud. The woman was reluctant to give 
away any of her mud, but gave the paccekabuddha some 
anyway. Out of anger, she threw a clod of mud into the 
paccekabuddha's bowl. At the time she was scowling, 
with her eyebrows knitted together, her feet stamping 
the ground and shaking a fist at the paccekahuddha. The 
result of her reluctant gooddeed in future rebirths was 
that her stamping feet were lame, the hand which threw 
the mud was knarled and her scowling face was 
deformed beyond recognition. The good part of her 
deed, the generosity, still gave its fruit — because the 
mud which built the kuti which helped shelter the 
paccekabuddha from the rain gave her angelic 
complexion. But this could not diminish the bad part of 
the deed that was not being polite to those worthy of 
respect. 
J.v.440ff., KuAala lAtaka (3.536) 
Thus in conclusion, not paying respect to those worthy 
of respect, or not having faith in those who ought to 
inspire faith clouds the mind and the extension of this 
ultimately to become a fool. 
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The Second 
Group of Blessings 
"Turning towards wholesomeness" 
It is rare to find a system of spiritual wisdom that has environmen-
tal considerations built into its metaphysics. The possible 
exception is the Chinese Feng Shut" system which probably has its 
roots in Buddhism anyway. In science by contrast, them is always a 
great debate in developmental biology about the relative influence 
of the genetic component and the formative experience — the so-
called 'nature v. nurture' debate. For science, of course it is mostly 
considerations of the development of physical features like a col-
our, or a size which might have an influence in the 'survival of the 
fittest', but for spiritual wisdom, we are more interested in the de-
velopment of spiritual maturity. However, no less than with sci-
ence the Blessings of Life recognize that there is influence both by 
our internal dispositions (nature) and our environmental influences 
(nurture). The fourth blessing on "amenable location" is the first 
blessing of the second grouping of blessings which deals with "turn-
ing towards wholesome discretion". If we have practised the first 
three blessings successfully, we will already have" turned our back 
on negative discretion". In this set of three blessings, the first (Bless-
ing Four) deals with "nurture" influences of the environment on 
the development of our discretion. The second (Blessing Five) deals 
with the "nature" influences on the development of our discretion 
and the sixth deals with having a clear aim or purpose in one's life. 
All three together are necessary if we want to set ourselves on the 
path of development of spiritual maturity. Thus, in Buddhism, it is 
acknowledged that the environment must be good if people are to 
become good. If the environment lacks virtue, it will hinder peo-
ples' spiritual growth. 
1 
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TABLE 4.1 AMENABLE LOCATION ON DIFFERENT LEVELS OF DESCRIPTION
AMENABLE 
LOCATION 
National Level 
Local Level 
Neighbourhood 
Level 
Household Level 
Amenable 
Location 
Unextreme Cli- 
mate, not too rug- 
ged, accessible 
from other coun- 
tries 
Ease of earning an 
honest living, good 
social infrastruc- 
Lure, no infectious 
diseases. 
Good water & 
electricity supplies, 
good roads, no 
traffic jams, good 
communications, 
no natural disasters 
Well planned house. 
sufficient spaces, 
good ventilation, 
trees for shade, parks 
nearby, no distur-
bane from noise 
k m ena hie tood 
Self-sufficient in 
food 
Supply of good all 
year round 
Proximity of mar-
ket 
A cottage garden, a
good cook in the 
house 
Amenable 
Neighbours 
Righteous mon- 
arch or govern- 
ment, population 
honest, no terror- 
ists or anarchists 
who threaten soli-
darity 
Lack of criminals, 
outlaws and mafia 
Access to doctors, 
patrons/benefac- 
tors, wise men, no 
dens of vice nearby 
Heads of the house-
hold must be virtu-
ous and not engage 
in roads to ruin 
Amenable 
Dhamma Teach- 
ings 
Just law and cus- 
toms 
Good educational 
system in worldly 
and spiritual mat- 
ters 
Monks pass on 
almsround, temples 
and schools in area 
Atmosphere of 
learning and teaching 
Dhamma in the 
home, having at least 
one communal meal 
daily 
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Blessing Four: Living in an 
Amenable Location 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 Amenability of Location in general 
Generally speaking, an appropriate or amenable 
location is one which facilitates success in what we set 
out to do. If we are a fisherman then it might be a place 
on the coast closest to the fish breeding grounds. If we 
are in business then it might be a place with all the 
hustle and bustle of the crowds where our business will 
prosper. And what if we are monks? Monks need a 
place with special characteristics — a place that is both 
peaceful and quiet but not too far from the homesteads 
of the village. For soldiers, an amenable location is a 
strategic one. In conclusion, each and every profession 
and activity has its own appropriate location for 
facilitating success. The word `location' can equally 
well be applied to the microcosm the setting of a par-
ticular activity as it can to the macrocosm. Even if you 
are sitting at a dining table, sitting at one side of the 
table might be more or less amenable than sitting at the 
other. The location that most concerns a person or his 
activities 
is 
his 
immediate 
environment 
or 
neighbourhood- but the more distant environments of 
his locality or country also have a part to play. 
A.1 Amenability in Dhamma practice 
The sort of location to be examined in this Blessing is 
the location amenable to refining the mind or put 
another way, the location that facilitates the depth 
by which we can understand the Teachings of the Lord 
Buddha. In such an amenable location, even though a 
person may initially lack wisdom, he can make a 
success of his life. On the contrary, in an unamenable 
location, even though he may have a high IQ and be 
capable, given no support, them is no way for him to 
achieve his full potential. Even though someone might 
get a PhD., if he is marooned on a desert island, all his 
knowledge goes to waste. You might be the world's 
greatest tactician, but if you are forced to live in the 
forest with primitive tribal people, all you knowledge 
will go to waste. 
The factors that mark an amenable location also apply 
to appropriate areas to live. The Lord Buddha 
highlighted four factors which make a location 
amenable — these are: 
I. Amenable location 
2. Amenable food 
3. Amenable neighbours 
4. Amenable Dhamma teachings 
A.3 Amenable is not the same as materially 
prosperous 
In many materially prosperous countries, life can be 
physically convenient. Often the infrastructure is well 
developed. Employment is easy to find and it is easy 
for residents to save up their wealth. On the surface, 
such a country might look attractive to live in, but one 
is wont to forget that although ma-
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terial poverty might be hard to find, spiritual poverty 
might be rife (see 5.8.4 below). In such a country, the 
opportunity and the means to develop spiritual maturity 
might be very hard to find. The chance to accrue merit 
might be almost nonexistant. Residents in such 
countries think only of work from the time they get up 
in the morning to the time they go to sleep at night. 
Thoughts of generosity, self-discipline or meditation 
might be the last thing on their minds. Even for those 
who have some spiritual calling, often they can find 
no-one to give them useful advice. To live in such a 
country might be life wasted from the point of view of 
spiritual development. It would be better to make some 
sacrifices of material convenience in choosing the place 
you want to live, in order to live in an environment of 
spiritual richness — which is truly an amenable 
environment for one's spiritual progress. 
B. Components 
The components of amenable location cannot be 
defined globally because they mean different things at 
different levels of explanation (see diagram p.66): 
B.I Amenable Location 
B. L I National Level 
At the geographical level, it may mean an amenable 
climate that is not too hot and not too cold. It might 
mean that the landscape is not too rugged or liable to 
flooding — but at the same time with convenient 
communications towards the rest of the world. 
B.L2 Local Level 
At a more local level, an amenable climate means ease 
for the populace in earning a decent living, good 
communications, proper social infrastructure and a 
plentiful supply of clean drinking water. 
B.1.3 Neighbourhood Level 
On the level of the neighbourhood, the things that make 
the environment amenable are a proper water and 
electricity supply, a good road system to avoid traffic 
jams, good communications and no flooding in the wet 
season. 
B. L4 Household Level 
On the level of the household, the things that count for 
making the environment amenable are a properly 
planned house with sufficient space, good ventilation, 
enough trees round and about to give shade, nearby 
open areas or parks and no disturbance from noise. 
Applying the same principles to a temple, amenable 
temple grounds is sufficiently spacious for the number 
of templegoers, with enough shade to allow the 
congregation to meditate in comfort and without 
disturbance from the hustle and bustle of urban life. 
B.2 Amenable Food 
B.2.1 National Level 
On a national level, amenable food means being 
self-sufficient in one's food supply, not having to rely 
on neighbouring countries for one's food supply, or 
drinking water. 
B.2.2 Local Level 
On local level, amenable food might mean the prox-
imity of a market for foodstuffs. It might also mean 
being able to grow home-produce. In any case, anyone 
who lives in an area liable to flooding should try to be 
self sufficient with their own cottage garden. It doesn't 
matter how you go about growing the vegetables. For 
some villages, when the floods come, if the government 
doesn't send in supplies by helicopter for two or three 
days, the whole village will starve. These are always 
the villages which are too lazy to grow their own 
vegetables. If they had grown their own vegetables, 
even though the floods come, it doesn't particularly 
bother them. By contrast, those places that plant only 
cash crops like maize, lose everything they have as 
soon as the floods arrive. Just having a few vegetables 
like onions in the garden allows one to survive for over 
a month even when the floods come. 
B.2.3 Neighbourhood Level 
Amenability of food at the neighbourhood level might 
mean the proximity of the market. 
8.1.4 Household Level 
An amenable food supply at the household level 
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can be summarized with just a few brief hints: 
I. You should have a supply of vegetables used around 
the kitchen in reserve in your cottage garden in case of 
times of need. 
2. Your house should be located close to the market. If 
it is too far from the market, this will become an 
obstacle to obtaining food. 
3. Your house ought to have a good cook. A good cook 
is the heart of a successful kitchen. There was once an 
army general who commented in front of his wife 
(whether he meant to praise her or criticize her is 
uncertain) saying, "the only reason that I've been able 
to put up with her all these years, is her only single 
good point 
— apart from this point there is nothing good about 
her. 
She neglects the children. She is useless at 
receiving guests. She takes little care of the 
household finances — I have to do the accounts 
myself. The only reason that I've been able to put up 
with her all these years, is that she makes a tasty 
meal. If it wasn't for her being a good cook, we 
would have gone our separate ways years ago." 
Anybody who thinks they can rely on instant foods, 
convenience foods and take-aways should think 
again. Everybody should attempt to learn how to 
cook. If ever you have to take care of someone who 
is ill or lonely or anxious, who have lost their 
appetite, and you can't get out to the market — that 
will be the time when your ability to make a proper 
meal will really make a difference. 
For as long as we still have defilements in the mind, we 
still have an appetite and we still have our favourite 
foods. Were not all like crocodiles which can survive 
on gravel. For as long as we're still human, we are still 
choosy about the food we eat. Too sweet or sour, salty 
or oily and the food loses its attraction. Thus if the food 
we eat is to be amenable there is no harm in food being 
tasty. 
B.3 Amenable Neighbours 
B.3.1 Definitions 
The various characteristics of a location or a neigh-
bourhood, whether good or bad, are only general 
characteristics. Even if the general characteristics 
of a location are abysmal, but the place is inhabited by 
virtuous people, then the drawbacks of the location can 
be overcome. On the other hand, in a good location 
with good housing and employment prospects, if the 
inhabitants are dishonest, however beautiful the 
buildings, it can be no better than a den of thieves. If 
the inhabitants are peaceful and well mannered, like 
monks, then the buildings are a refuge as good as a 
temple. 
B.3.2 National Level 
At the national level, amenable personnel means a 
population who eke out their existence by honest 
means. It means a population that lacks criminals, 
terrorists or anarchists who threaten the solidarity of the 
country. 
B.3.3 Local Level 
At the local level, if the populace are interested in 
nothing more than earning their living, society will not 
be a happy one. 
B.3.4 Neighbourhood Level 
At the neighbourhood level, in addition to a 
hardworking populace there must be those who make a 
direct contribution to the well-being of the society. 
I. Doctors are necessary in any society. Without them, 
every illness will entail death. Even if a location is the 
most profitable of marketplaces, without doctors in the 
background, it can never become an amenable society. 
Z Patrons and benefactors. Patrons and benefactors 
arise in a society where there is trading. Those who live 
in a mercantile society reap the benefits of having 
capital and such a society breeds rich benefactors and 
millionaires. Compare a society of people where there 
are only paupers and beggars and you will see how hard 
it is for such a society to become amenable to the study 
of Dhamma. In the time of the Lord Buddha, if a king 
decided to establish a new city, even if he had sufficient 
labour, craftsmen, without being granted a benefactor 
or patron from a neighbouring city, to be the patron of 
the new city, the king wouldn't dare to build a new 
town. 
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(see 5.D.2 below) The reason that having a patron 
was so important, apart from being a capitalist who 
would stimulate trade and growth, he would act as 
the economist who would help the king with his 
financial policy-making so that the new city would 
be able to keep its financial head above water. 
3. Wise men. Many of the reasons for the importance of 
the wise have already been covered in Blessing Two. 
In brief, the wise have a special discretion which allows 
them to distinguish between what is right and what is 
wrong, what's appropriate and what's inappropriate, 
what is meritorious and what is downright evil. Even if 
you're illiterate, but you can tell the difference between 
right and wrong, you can still be considered a wise one. 
Thus if you are choosing a place to live, avoid choosing 
a place where no wise ones live, because in such a 
place society is not amenable to the study of Dhamma. 
4. Righteous Monarch who is established in the Ten 
Virtues of a Monarch. Without going into detail, it can 
be said that a qualifying monarch must be just and 
moral. Of course the country's leader doesn't have to 
be a king to make it an amenable place to live. The 
same virtues in a president will make his country as 
amenable as a country governed by a virtuous king. 
8.3.5 Household Level 
Amenable personnel at the level of the household 
means the leader of the household must be virtuous. 
The husband should abstain from drinking alcohol, the 
wife from gambling. Both should be earnest in earning 
an honest living. Their children should be earnest in 
their studies and should be obedient to their parents' 
command. In this way the household will be united as 
the smallest unit of an amenable society. 
8.4 Amenable Dhamma 
B.4.1 Definitions 
Dhamma is the culture or principles which governs the 
lifestyle of a society that lives in an amenable location. 
At the most basic level amenable Dhamma 
in a society means the governing principles of law and 
order that the society abides by. Amenable Dhamma is 
lacking from countries where outlaws run amok. At a 
deeper level, amenable Dhamma equates with culture 
and tradition that is one of virtue. The law protects 
society only from acts of violation through the channels 
of body and speech, but has no effect on the quality of 
peoples' minds.The minds of a nation can be shaped for 
the better only by culture or traditions that raise the 
quality of mind. Examples of this might be the attitude 
of respect that a child should have towards his parents 
or a student towards his master. For as long as such 
traditions are still perpetuated and passed down from 
one generation to the next in a particular society, that 
society is still an amenable place to live. 
By contrast, you should avoid going to live in a barbaric 
society where man has no respect for his fellow man. An 
example of this would be the primitive society which 
idolize the man who is able to kill his own father — seeing 
him as the epitomy of hard-heartedness and fit to be the 
leader of the tribe. 
At a yet deeper level, amenable Dhamma in a society 
means a good educational system which allows the 
citizens to make a thorough study of both worldly and 
spiritual matters — where both schools and temples form 
the educational infrastructure of society — and all citizens 
are equipped with sufficient rationale not to be credulous. 
Deeper still, Buddhism should be well rooted in that 
country. The Lord Buddha taught that some people are 
born empty-handed and die empty handed — because 
they cannot distinguish between good and bad deeds. 
They just do whatever they feel like doing. When they 
are young, their parents bring them up. When they are 
full-grown, they get married and have a family — and 
their children get married and have their own children 
and the family name is perpetuated for another 
generation. In the end they pass away and they have no 
merit or demerit to take with them when they go. It is 
this sort of person that Buddhism recognizes as being 
born empty-handed and dying empty-handed. Put 
another way, life has been fruitless for them. 
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Even though some people are born on the doorstep of 
Buddhism, they still leave the world empty-handed — so 
what chance do people who have never even come across 
Buddhism stand? The Lord Buddha thus laid down guidelines 
for life, teaching that having taken human birth, you must 
seek benefit both for this lifetime and the next. Benefit can 
only accrue if you use your body and mind for positive good 
deeds that will give worthwhile returns on our having been 
born human. The Lord Buddha taught that at the very least, 
you ought to be able to set yourself up in life. If you are in 
debt or still have to rely on others for the roof over your head, 
you have not yet suceeded in even the most rudimentary of 
human duties. If you are a man (and not a mouse) you must 
be able to stand on your own two feet. This is what we call 
benefit for the present lifetime. 
From our description so far of the features of an 
amenable location, whether the inhabitants know 
Buddhism or not, they will manage to succeed in 
fulfilling benefit for the present lifetime. Where those 
who don't know Buddhism miss out, is through not 
knowing how to fulfil benefits for the next lifetime. 
Without a knowledge of Buddhism, you can do no 
better than use up the merits accrued from previous 
lifetimes. No additional merits are accrued this lifetime 
and at the end of this life, your after-life destination will 
be one of suffering. Those who accrue benefit for future 
lifetimes, when they die will not go to hell or be born as 
animals. Whatever the proportion of good and bad 
deeds they may have done, at the very least they will 
take human birth again — even though they may be 
handicapped in one way or another. 
84.2 National Level 
Amenable Dhamma Teachings at National Level means 
having just laws and customs as the national identity. 
R43 Local Level 
Dhamma for the children means having a good school. 
If our children have the chance to study at a decent 
school, it will give them a head start in life 
because there is such a great variety of quality in the 
teaching given at different schools. Dhamma for the 
adults means having a good temple near at hand. At the 
very least, if there is a temple near to our house there 
will be monks who pass near to our house on their 
almsround and we will have the opportunity to make 
merit every morning. If we want to listen to a sermon, 
we won't have to go far. If a site is close to both the 
school and the temple it will earn plenty of points for 
amenable Dhamma. 
B.4.4 Neighbourhood Level 
Amenable Dhamma Teachings at the Neighbourhood 
Level means that monks pass on almsround and having 
temples and schools in the vicinity. 
B.4.5 Household Level 
This means an atmosphere of enthusiasm for Dhamma 
learning and teaching in the home. 
B.4.6 Profit in for next life (A.iv.284) 
The special characteristic of Dhamma teaching that 
prevents a 
person 
from 
"leaving 
the 
world 
empty-handed" are the sort of teachings that lead to 
"profit in the hereafter". The Lord Buddha taught that 
the minimum of virtue required is the four virtues for 
benefit in the hereafter as follows [sampAyikattha-
payojana] (see detail from B1.2 §C4.2). 
I. Faith [saddha]: means confidence in things you 
ought to have faith in — being a person of discretion 
especially in the operation of the laws of karma — that 
doing good deeds will lead to good outcomes and that 
doing evil will lead to bad retribution. Without such 
well-founded faith you have little chance of well-being 
kiniSts 
[sEla]: You must keep the minimum of 
Five Precepts as the baseline of one's virtue because the 
Precepts measure the degree to which you are a person 
as opposed to being a savage. 
3. Self-sacrifice [cAga]: Self-sacrifice has many levels 
of meaning from the superficial to the deep. At its 
simplest, it means avoiding being so stingy that you 
cannot bear to see anyone else sharing your possessions 
or getting any benefit from them. It means the habit of 
liking to sham with 
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others. At its deepest level it means giving up even 
the destructive feelings we might feel towards other 
people or more generally, letting go of anything that 
encroaches on our quality of mind — i.e. all 
thoughts of evil and unseemly habits until none 
remain. 
4. Wisdom [pafulA]. To be specific, diligence in 
studying both worldly and spiritual knowledge 
— so that we can earn a decent living efficiently and 
at the same time know the difference between good 
and evil — in order to win the path to heaven. Once 
people are able to identify what is merit and what is 
demerit, they will gain the inspiration to do only 
good deeds. Thus knowledge paves the pathway to 
heaven. 
C. PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS 
Cl Choosing the location of a new home 
Having studied the four main principles of a location 
which is amenable to the spreading of the Dhamma, we 
have at the same time discovered a recipe for success in 
choosing the location of a new house. In the olden days, 
no-one would dare to build a new house without first 
seeking the advice of a teaching monk or at the very 
least of a fortune teller. They would always advise the 
oracle in question to look at the lie of the land. In fact, 
the most successful oracles were not interested in the lie 
of the land at all, but were interested in how many of 
the four principles of amenable location were present at 
the proposed site of the new house. If you want to tell 
as much about the potential site of a new house as the 
oracles of old did, start by drawing up a grid with five 
rows as follows: 
Site 1 
Site 
2 
Site 
3 
Site 
4 
1. Location 
2. Food 
3. Neighbours 
4.Dhamma 
Once you have drag n up the grid, supposing you 
wanted to build a house and you have a choice of four 
or five locations, but cannot decide which to 
choose, then award points to each of the different 
locations according to the four principles of an 
amenable location: location, food, neigbours and 
Dhamma. Give each principle points out of twenty-five. 
When we add up the total points for each different 
location, we will be able to choose the most amenable 
location by choosing the site with the highest point 
rating. Use the following guidelines for giving points: 
I. Amenable location: We should look at the neigh-
bourhood and give points if the place has good facilities 
including access, running water, electricity and a 
telephone line. If there is already a house on the site, 
the more spacious the better. The quality of the 
construction work will also guide you as to your 
awarding of points. Look at the subdivision of rooms to 
see whether it is habitable or not. Give the location 
points accordingly. 
2. Amenable food supply: Consider that if you should 
choose a particular site for your home, you will be 
living there for a long time and therefore should give 
adequate thought to the availability of food. Make sure 
that the location isn't too far from the market or from a 
shop selling food and various other 'perishables'. If any 
of these sources of food are close at hand, you can 
award that site plenty of points for the food supply. 
3. Amenable neighbours: Inspect the location to see 
whether it is near to or part of a slum. Do people 
gamble there or nearby? Is it close to a liquor factory? 
Is it a den of thieves? If it is any of these things, then 
keep your distance. Choose somewhere else. If on the 
contrary, all the neighbours are respectable, socially 
distinguished and of Right View (such as doctors or 
teachers) of good social standing and of good conduct, 
then this should attract us to live nearby. At the very 
least, those good neighbours will give us peaceful sur-
roundings and in times of need they will be able to help 
us. Give the neighbours the appropriate point rating. 
4. Amenable Dhamma: In order to give points for this 
particular factor, it is necessary to divide the 
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factor into two contributing parts: Dhamma for the 
children and Dhamma for the adults. 
When you add up the total points for each site, you 
should choose the location with the maximum points as 
the site for your new house. Next time you move house 
there is no need to call in the fortune teller — or a monk 
either, because armed with an understanding of the 
factors that make a site amenable for habitation, you 
can choose the site for new house without anyone else's 
help. This is certainly a good example of Dhamma that 
is immediately applicable to everyday life. 
C2 Making your present home amenable 
For those who do not ordain and leave the home life, 
usually, the home and family form the hub of life. In this 
connection, what should be done to the home to make it 
amenable to the prospering of the Dhamma? According to 
Thai tradition, even though we might have three meals a 
day, there should be at least one of those meals when the 
whole of the family is together (See Blessing 12, ,§B.3.1 
heading 3.2). 
Some people claim that they are overburdened with work. 
However if you consider that the only reason that you spend 
so much time at work is to be a breadwinner for your family 
to send your child to a private school — then think again. If 
you are left with no time to bring up your children properly 
and your child gets addicted to heroin because of your 
negligence, a million dollars would be insufficient to rectify 
the problem. If on the contrary, you can get by while still 
finding sufficient time to give run attention to your child's 
upbringing, then you will be rewarded when your child grows 
up into a virtuous example of a human being. 
Many parents have been reduced to tears by dis-
appointment. They're upset that their child cannot go to 
university because of becoming a junkie. They cry 
about their awful child — but it would be more fitting 
to cry about having been such an awful parent who 
didn't take the trouble to bring up their own child 
properly! 
Therefore, remember that bringing up a child means 
more than just seeing that there is food on their plate. 
You need to instil your child with vir 
tue and to this end, both children and parents should see 
each others' faces across the dining table at least once a 
day, and discuss Dhamma, instruct one another and 
comment on the habits which each should be improving 
upon. If you can't manage to meet at mealtimes, you 
should make sure that the family come together before 
bedtime, perhaps for Evening Chanting — but even 
bedtime cannot beat mealtimes. A child will never miss 
a meal, and a good telling off before dinner will stay in 
his mind for a long time. 
Thus if you are to give a good example of Dhamma 
which is amenable to the household, then a family being 
together at mealtimes will certainly fit the bill. 
C.3 Relative importance of the Four Amenable 
Location Factors 
In conclusion, an amenable location has four char-
acteristics: an amenable location, amenable food supply, 
amenable personnel and amenable Dhamma. If you put 
these four characteristics in order of importance, you will 
find the following: Amenable Dhamma is the most 
important, followed by amenable personnel, followed by 
amenable food supply and an amenable location is the least 
important of the four. 
Even though the location may not be ideal, but the food 
is plentiful or neither the location or the food supply are 
ideal, but the inhabitants are amenable, they can soon 
improve the quality of the location and the food. 
However, the thing that makes the inhabitants amenable 
is having Amenable Dhamma it that location. This is 
the reason why Amenable Dhamma is the most 
important attribute of the four. 
C.4 Amenable Location outside, Amenable Location inside 
There are two different types of amenable location: 
I. Amenable Surroundings: the quality of location 
which is determined by the four factors already 
discussed. 
Z Amenable Location within: This is the most im-
portant influence on the quality of our well being — i.e. 
a healthy body and mind — a body 
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and mind that are in no way disabled or infected 
by disease. Some people are born with a silver spoon in their 
mouths. They are brought up properly by their parents, but 
when they grow up, instead of feeling grateful for all the 
efforts made by their parents, they inflict illness upon 
themselves by turning alcaholic. There are a myriad diseases 
that come as a result of drinking alcohol. Even lying can be 
the source of disease (see Blessing Nine, $C.I.4)causing your 
memory to become blurred and eventually leading to senile 
dementure as the result of the bad karma you have 
accumulated throughout the course of your life. 
Thus as we have seen from the examples of breaking the 
Precepts of lying or drinking alcahol, all of the Precepts, if 
broken, will be the source of illness. Thus you need to 
protect your internal environment. If you pollute the 
quality of your internal environment, success will elude 
you for the rest of your life and your future lifetimes will 
be even worse. Take care of your Precepts and they will 
take care of you. 
Now that you know the four factors of an amenable 
location if you are still a child you should look for a 
location that is going to be amenable to your own 
education. If you are an adult then you should try to make 
your location into an amenable location, wherever you go. 
As an adult, it isn't good enough simply to go looking for 
amenable locations, you should be working actively to 
improve the quality of the environment. 
D. ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES 
D.1 Metaphor: Bonsai Bodhi Tree 
It is said that if you plant a tree in fertile soil, it will 
grow until it is many metres in diameter. If you take the 
same tree and plant it in a flower pot or a barrel, it will 
end up as a root-bound bonsai tree instead. Even if it is 
watered and carefully tended for several generations it 
will never grow higher than a few inches. Asked why a 
thousand-year old tree reaches only a few inches in 
height, we come back to the conclusion that it has been 
planted in an unamenable location. Even though it 
doesn't grow tall, it doesn't die. 
D.2 EL Establishing Saketu (DhA.L386) 
When King Pasenadi built the new city of Saketu in the 
time of the Lord Buddha, he sent a letter to King 
BimbAsara to ask for permission to move one of the 
patrons from that kingdom to live in the new city. King 
BimbasAra sent VisAkhA's father as patron to the new 
city. Before long, the patron got all the finances of the 
city properly organized and Saketu became one of the 
most prosperous city-states in India at that time. This 
goes to show that an amenable city doesn't just consist 
of buildings but it needs the presence of amenable 
neighbours such as benefactors and patrons. 
D.3 EL Ariya the fisherman (DhA.iii.396ff) 
Even though some people in the time of the Lord 
Buddha had no worldly knowledge — they were 
completely illiterate and were of the lowest trades 
— but they had the good fortune to be born in an 
amenable location (i.e. in the same time and place as 
the Buddha) and because of this fact alone, were able to 
attain enlightenment to level of a stream enterer 
[sotApana]. 
There was a fisherman called"Ariya" (lit. "noble one") 
who lived during the time of the Buddha. As a 
fisherman, he caught and killed fish every day. One day 
in meditation, the Buddha saw Ariya's potential to attain 
the fruit of stream-entry [sotApattiphala] and went, with 
a number of othcr monks to where Ariya was fishing. 
Seeing the Buddha approaching, Ariya became ashamed 
of his action and hid his fishing line. When the Buddha 
arrived, while standing in front of the man, he asked 
SAriputta his name. "SAriputta", replied SAriputta. The 
Buddha then proceeded to ask the name of each of the 
monks and overhearing, the man wondered whether 
after asking all the monks' names, the Buddha would 
ask his. The Buddha knew what he was thinking and 
asked the man his name. "Ariya" replied the man. In 
fact, the Buddha didn't need to be told the man's name. 
The Buddha gave Ariya a teaching that anyone who still 
harmed other living beings could not be called 'noble' 
on account of his actions. He said that one's nobility 
comes from not harming other living be 
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ings. Hearing the Buddha's teaching, Ariya attained 
stream-entry and from that day onwards never killed a 
living being again, having transcended the very 
intention to kill — in spite of the fact that he was 
illiterate. He lived in the depths of poverty, but he had 
one auspicious advantage in his life, and that was to 
live in a time and place where there was the opportunity 
to come face-to-face with the Lord Buddha — and this 
alone allowed him to become enlightened to the level of 
a stream-enterer. 
D.4 Ex. Ghosaka's lifetime as a dog (DhA.i.169, 
PsA.504ff) 
Another example of a similar phenomenon happened in a time 
before the Lord Buddha. At that time, the only Buddhas in 
existence were paccekabuddhas who although enlightened, 
were unable to teach for the benefit of the manyfolk. These 
paccekabuddhas came on almsround in the city. Having 
collected alms, they would return to the forest to take their 
meal. This would be his normal daily routine. Seeing that the 
paccekabuddha had to walk such a long way each day, one of 
the more faithful supporters invited the paccekabuddha to 
dwell nearby his own house and would bring food for the 
paccekabuddha every for every morning and midday meal. 
Any day when the householder was not free to make the 
offering himself, he would send his well-trained dog to 
carry a tiffin set of food to offer to the paccekabuddha 
at his place. As the dog grew more familiar with the 
paccekabuddha it took a liking to Him because the 
deportment and manner of the paccekabuddha was so 
gentle. If the dog was at home and failed to mind 
firewood for its master it would be beaten. However, in 
the dwelling of the paccekabuddha it was a different 
story. When the dog came close he could listen to the 
chanting of the paccekabuddha. There was no risk of 
being beaten and the paccekabuddha would even divide 
part of the food to give to the dog as well. The dog 
became more and more familiar with the gentle manner 
of the paccekabuddha. 
At the end of the rainy season, the paccekabuddha bid 
the householder farewell and returned to the 
forest. The paccekabuddha made his journey by floating 
through the air. The dog watched the paccekabuddha go 
with regret and howled as loudly as it could because 
there was nothing else for it to do. It was a sad farewell 
for the dog who still had the paccekabuddha on its 
mind. The dog was so sad that as it came to the end of 
its howling, it dropped dead. However, as the result of 
the faith of this dog in the paccekabuddha and from 
howling at the departure of the paccekabuddha, the dog 
was reborn immediately as an angel called Ghosaka —
whose duty was to be a spokesman for the rest of the an-
gels. 
In the time of the Lord Buddha, Ghosaka was reborn in 
the human realm as Ghosaka the Millionnaire and was 
one of the greatest patrons of Buddhism. The result of 
living in an amenable location and taking the chance to 
be an attendant to a paccekabuddha led him to become 
an angel on dying from rebirth as a dog and from his 
rebirth as an angel to be reborn as an important patron of 
Buddhism. 
D.5 Et Monk and Five-Hundred Bats (Vagguli 
Vatthu SadS. 8Iff) 
Another example comes from the time of a previous Buddha. 
There was a monk who had retired to a cave in order to train 
himself. The monk would rise early each moming and chant 
the Abhidhamnta.The monk shared the cave with five-hun-
dred bats. During the day the bats would return to the cave but 
at night they would fly outside to feed. Thus the bats would 
hear the chanting of the Abhidhamma every day. Even though 
the bats had no way of knowing the meaning of the chanting, 
they became familiar with the sound of the monk's chanting 
and became inspired with faith. 
When it came to time for the bats to pass away, they 
died with faith in their hearts and were all reborn as 
angels. Passing away from their existence as angels, 
they were reborn as men in the time of the present 
Buddha. All five hundred men became ordained as 
monks and hearing the chanting of the Abhidhamma 
only once, unlike normal people who might remain 
indifferent to the chanting, could re-
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member the words of the Abhidhamma which were cried as arahants. still impressed in their minds from that 
previous Thus, it is easy to see that simply living in an amelifetime, and recollecting the words of the nable 
location is not just advantageous for people Abhidhamma were soon able to become enlight— even lowly 
animals can experience the benefits! 
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Blessing Five: Having done 
good deeds in one's past 
A. INTRODUCTION 
With Blessing Five we are still exploring the virtues which 
comprise "turning towards wholesomeness" as exemplified by 
the second grouping. Last blessing we have already mentioned 
the "naturenurture" dichotomy of scientifically understood de-
velopment. Last blessing already covered the "nurture"aspect 
of the environment — and so this Blessing we come to the 
factor of "nature" — the aspects of our character and 
personality which we bring with us into the world. In this 
Blessing we attempt to explain the variety of material and spir-
itual success between different people in the world 
— differences which are not accountable in terms of the 
Blessings we have already studied up to this point. How 
for example can we explain the differences in disposition 
and life success of identical twins (with the same genetic 
components), brought up by the same parents in the same 
environment? 
How about newborn children, who far from being a 
clean slate have different personalities, different 
potentials and different speeds of learning. Science 
would attribute these things to genetic differences 
behveen their grandparents. This might work out for 
some things such as how people look or their physical 
strength, but I think you would agree that there are 
many other things that genetics cannot explain. No 
scientist has ever found a gene for intelligence for 
example. All that are found are the abberations that 
make people handicapped — and these are in spite of 
the fact that neither their parents or their grandparents 
were handicapped in such away. Thus it must be 
something about the child himself brings with him into 
the world. 
This Blessing attempts to account for the disparity in 
terms of the residue of life experience picked up by 
individuals in their past — particularly the positive life 
experiences. 
In order to understand the rather lengthy matter of 
having done good deeds in one's past, it is necessary to 
study the subject of merit in general and to touch also 
upon the subjects of retribution and mind quality. Some 
people study the Manual of Peace from Blessing One 
(Not Associating with Fools) through Blessing Two 
(Associating with the Wise), Blessing Three (Paying 
Respect to those worthy of Respect). They are able to 
accept all the reasoning of these first three Blessings, 
and are able to follow them in their everyday life. They 
even find that Blessing Four (Living in an Amenable 
Location), makes sense in their everyday lives —
because in any case they have to choose the location for 
their home and the place where they go to school, col-
lege and university. However, they may have difficulty 
with the claim that the sort of deeds we have done in 
the past can affect our quality of life and even the 
quality of society. It is obvious that with with this 
Blessing we are starting to deal with more subtle 
phenomena than before. 
Al. Success and Failure in Life 
Success and failure might appear on many different 
levels — on the level of society, the level of lifestyle, 
the level of personality or the level of the mind itself —
but basically it comes down to quality of mind on four 
levels 
A person blessed with success on the level of the mind 
will have a quality mind — that is a mind that 
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is stable and unwavering, hard to distract, pure and 
radiant, spacious and light, adaptable to any sort of task 
and implicitly happy and peaceful. Those who are less 
lucky might have a mind that is dull, inert and easily 
distracted. 
A person blessed with success on the level of the 
personality might may find that people believe every word 
of what they say. Those who are less lucky might find that 
even if they tell the truth solidly for a month, no-one will 
believe them. 
A person blessed with success on the level of the lifestyle 
might seem to be born smart. Their discretion is reliable. 
Those who are less lucky might have such bad judgement that 
they become too afraid to make any decisions, always 
hesitating or provaricating instead — and they miss life's 
opportunities as a result. Even though they might do their best 
at work and take painstaking care never to make any error —
they may be disliked and discriminated against by their boss. 
A society blessed with success can muster all its human 
and natural resources to become a world leader. Less 
lucky countries, even those with educated citizens and 
abundant natural resources can be reduced to deserts by 
corruption and civil strife. 
B. DEFINITIONS 
111. "Merit": Definitions and Characteristics 
This residue of positivity or strength of mind which we 
have built up for ourselves in their past, is called by the 
technical term, `merit'. The Pali word `putdiA' from 
which we derive the word 'merit', can be translated in 
different ways according to context just like the word 
`well' can mean `healthy' or `properly' depending on the 
context. Thus, the word `puntiAl has many meanings —
it can mean goodness, purification, cleansing, happiness 
or full. This spectrum of definitions, tell us not only the 
characteristics of merit, but also something of the func-
tion of merit too. The word `merit' in English fpuilliA] 
can sometimes be confusing because it makes us think of 
being honoured or praised or approved of by another 
person. However, all that is intended in this case is that it 
is `deserved'. It occurs spontaneously without needing a 
third party 
to award it to us. A general definition of merit is: 'the 
result of doing a good deed'. It has the following 
characteristics: 
I. It is distilled in the mind as soon as we perform a 
good deed; 
2. Is the agent by which the quality of the mind is 
improved; 
3. It can be accumulated; 
4. Merit belongs to the one who performed its origi-
nating deed; 
5. As we use it, normally it will become exhausted; 
6. The amount of merit depends on strength of in-
tention, amount of effort and amount of gratitude and 
ingratitude of the producing action. 
7. Gives effects attracting favourable circumstances at 
four levels: mind, personality, lifestyle and society. 
If you are an advanced meditator you can use your 
meditation to see what merit is like. However, the most 
that a normal meditator can see of the merit is like its 
shadow. We see its effects and so deduce that it must be 
present. We can compare merit to electricity (i.e. 
something which we cannot see or feel because it is 
nothing more than a source of power which cannot be 
observed with the naked eye). Normally, we cannot see 
electricity, only the effects it causes such as the heat 
from an iron when electricity is connected, or the 
electric shock which ensues if one grasps a live wire; it 
enters a light bulb and gives us the light by which we 
can read in the evening; it goes into a radiator and 
brings us warmth; it enters a refrigerator and stops our 
food from decaying and it enters a motor and makes it 
to spin. In the same way that we can use electricity 
without really ever having seen it, most of us have to be 
able to content with accruing merit without seeing it for 
ourselves. Merit cannot be observed with the naked eye, 
nevertheless we have the feeling that when we perform 
a meritorious deed, that the mind is refreshed and loses 
any sense of irritation or crampedness leaving the mind 
spacious, light and content. Most people in the world 
have never seen the real nature of merit itself, and thus 
have their doubts as to whether doing good deeds 
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really creates merit or not. However, those with more 
experience of meditation, who have seen the real nature 
of the merit for themselves, will see the merit as clearly 
as others see the rain falling from the heavens. 
R2 "In the past": Defined 
At this point we have to examine the meaning of the 
merits that we have performed in the past — and this 
may apply to anything in your past whether it means 
yesterday or many years ago. In fact our past can be 
divided into two periods: 
I. Our Recent Past: which means the time from which 
we were born from our mother's womb, and opened our 
eyes for the first time to look at the world right up to 
yesterday. 
2. Our Distant Past: which means all of our existences 
and experiences up to the time when we entered the 
womb in the most recent lifetime. 
To describe both of these periods of our past in a simpler way 
we can say that the merit in our recent past is all the good 
deeds we have done this lifetime since our childhood onwards. 
Examples of such good deeds might include helping our 
parents wash the dishes when we were young. We might have 
helped with the family business as we became older. 
Eventually, when we completed our education, and got down 
to a steady career, we have divided our time between earning 
a living and accruing good deeds for ourselves. All these good 
deeds right from the time when we were born can be referred 
to as merit in our recent past. 
As for the merit in our distant past, this refers to the 
merits that we have accrued in ow previous lives, 
whether it may be last lifetime or a hundred lifetimes 
ago. 
B3. Quality of Merit 
Apart from categorizing merit according towhen it was 
accrued merit can be categorized according to its 
quality: mundane merit [lokiyaputulA] and tran-
scendental merit [IokuttaraputiiiA]. 
L Mundane merit is the merit that people are generally 
familiar with — that is to say for people for whose mind 
is not completely pure at the time they do the good deed. 
Such merit can run out. When the merit is used up, it 
will no longer give its benefits — just like a tank full of 
petrol which has a limited range. 
2. Transcendental Merit is the merit that arises in the 
pure mind. Such merit is steadfast and will never 
diminish or be exhausted. 
Thus the purity of the mind also has an important role 
to play in dictating the quality of the merit we are able 
to accrue for ourselves. 
C. ACCRUING MERIT 
Cl. Three Major ways to Accrue Merit 
There are Ten Major Ways to Accrue Merit. As 
mentioned in the preceding sections, merit arises as the 
result of doing good deeds. Unfortunately, simply 
knowing that "good" is "meritorious" doesn't explain how 
to go about doing good deeds. "Goodness" or "merit" can 
become meaningless and cliched if they are not defined in 
the context of practice, and for this reason that Buddhism 
summarizes the different ways of practice of good deeds 
into a collection of ten types of practice in three categories 
through which merit canbe accrued. For the benefit of 
such people, the three categories of ways to accrue merit 
[pulitiAkiriyavatthu] are — generosity, keeping the 
precepts and meditation. 
L Generosity includes merit generated through 
generosity, merit generated through service, merit 
generated through the transfer of merit to others and 
merit generated through rejoicing in the merit of others. 
2. Keeping the Precepts includes merit generated 
through keeping the Precepts. 
3. Meditation includes merit generated through 
meditation, merit generated through humility towards 
those of high virtue, merit generated through listening 
to Dhamma sermons, merit generated through giving a 
discourse on the Dhamma and merit generated through 
correcting our assumptions about the world. 
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CZ Ten Major Ways to accrue merit 
If you expand these three categories into their ten types 
of practice we get the following: 
1. Generosity: this means merit generated through 
generosity [dAnamaya]. Some may wonder why merit 
can be accrued as the result of giving. Merit arises in 
the mind as explained above. The mind in its natural 
state takes the form of a clear sphere of diamond 
brightness, however, when polluted by defilements, 
these reduce the sparkling mind to dullness and 
weakness, lowering the potential of the mind. If a 
person does something generous, giving away some 
part of that wealth which is the source of their anxiety, 
the mind becomes more at ease. Merit arises and this 
merit lights up the mind for a while. The radiance 
gradually accrues in the mind. The brightness, or the 
merit accumulates in the mind as generous deeds are 
performed regularly. The merit that arises from 
generosity is generated by two actions of the mind: 
firstly, the removal of the defilement of greed from the 
mind — something which immediately upgrades the 
quality of the mind and of our character too; secondly, 
as a result of the benefit obtained from the gift by the 
recipient — the more benefit is obtained by the 
recipient, especially from a gift that is hard-wearing, the 
more merit will be accrued by the giver.There are many 
different forms of generosity. 
1. Giving useful material objects to others, 
whether it is food, clothing, shelter or medicine, will 
generate merit for the giver. The most basic act of 
generosity is the gift of something that is beneficial 
to the recipient [vatthudAna]. 
2. Giving worldly knowledge [vidhayadAna] Merit 
is also generated if you give the gift of knowledge 
that is beneficial to the recipient. of benefit to any 
recipient. Knowledge may be vocational skills —
such as how to set oneself up as a tailor. 
3. Giving spiritual knowledge [dhammadAna] of 
benefit to the recipient is knowledge of the Dhamma 
such as the advice contained in this book. 
4 Forgiving: There is also a way of giving where 
you don't have to make any physical effort at all —
when you are angry with Mr. A, Mr. B and Mr. C. 
All of them have at some time or other contributed 
trouble to your life. Suppose that one day, you 
decide to put an end to all the anger and forgive 
them for all the upsets they have caused you in the 
past — and start afresh. In such a case, as soon as 
the thought crosses you mind to forgive them, merit 
will arise in your mind. Even though you haven't 
expended even the slightest physical effort, you have 
managed to earn yourself merit though giving 
'forgiveness' [abhAyadAna]. Even giving others a 
smile instead of a scowl will bring you merit 
according to the same principle of forgiveness! 
2. Humility: This means merit generated through 
Humility towards those of High Virtue 
[apacAyanamaya]. You may be surprised that even 
without expending any physical effort, simply 
possessing the attitude of humility can cause one to 
accrue merit. The person who, instead of finding fault 
with others is both humble and respectful, has a virtue 
that will allow him to find the good in each and every 
person he meets. He will put others' faults to one side. 
Such humility will lead the owner to accrue merit, 
because at the very least, they will always see the world 
in a positive light, allowing them to remain in a pleasant 
mood the whole day long. If they are perceptive they 
will have the wisdom to see the virtues in the hearts of 
others and instil themselves with those virtues which 
they see in others — accruing even greater merit for 
themselves. 
3. Service: This means merit generated through Service 
[veyyAvaccamaya]. This is the domain of those who 
immediately rush to assist others who they see doing 
good deeds. For example, if they find out that their 
neighbour is preparing a meal to offer the monks, they 
will prepare all the seasoning needed for the meal and 
and give that to the neighbour making the meal. 
4. Transfer of Merit: Merit generated through the 
transfer of merit to others [pattidAnamaya]. 
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Whenever someone does a good deed and his mind 
is full of merit as the result of his goodness, and he 
transfers some part of his merit to another person, or 
to his deceased relatives, these are all counted as 
ways of generating merit through the transfer of 
merit. 
5. Rejoicing in the Merit of others: Merit generated 
through rejoicing in the merit of others 
[pattAnumodanAmaya]. This sort of merit is accrued by 
those who, whenever they see that someone else has 
done a good deed, is pleased for them and rejoices with 
them in the merit that they have made. Even if they are 
unable to contribute anything more to that person's 
merit making, by rejoicing with them or congratulating 
them on doing their good deed, they will earn a part of 
the merit for themselves too. It is in this connection that 
you often hear the word `Sadhu!' in Buddhist circles. 
6. Keeping the Precepts: Merit generated through 
keeping the Precepts [sEla]. Keeping the Precepts 
ensures that we never take advantage of others through 
our physical or verbal actions — and at the same time 
we bring no harm to ourselves. You might wonder how 
keeping the Precepts can possibly give rise to merit. 
When we abandon all thoughts of taking advantage of 
others, in their place arises the radiance of merit that 
has accrued in the mind. This will have the effect of 
quenching heart-felt troubles. 
7. Meditation: This means merit generated through 
meditation [bhAvanAmaya]. Meditation is a way of 
training the mind to become wiser. There are many 
different subdivisions to what can be considered as 
mind training and these include reading books on 
Dhamma, chanting and meditation itself. Meditation 
has the effect on the mind of causing the arising of 
radiance and distancing the mind from disturbance by 
anxiety, limiting its habitual wandering, bringing peace. 
Whenever the covering of defilements is banished from 
the mind, especially the defilement of ignorance which 
usually imprisons the mind in darkness and undermines 
its true potential, wisdom will arise in the mind as the 
brightness of merit. 
8. Listening to Dhamma Sermons: 
This 
means merit generated through listening to Dhamma 
sermons [dhammassavanamaya]. Listening to Dhamma 
lectures or sermons on the Dhamma will enhance our 
wisdom. Before, we might have had only a rudimentary 
understanding of the real nature of the world, but now 
as a result of hearing Dhamma Teachings, we know 
how to tell the difference between good and evil. Such 
an improvement in the level of our wisdom will result 
in our accruing merit for ourselves. 
9. Giving a discourse on the Dhamma: This means 
merit generated through giving a Discourse on the 
Dhamma [dhammadesanAmaya] Teaching the 
Dhamma by giving a sermon will bring merit to the 
preacher in the following ways: 
I. Preaching will rid the mind of reluctance to teach 
others. Some people are reluctant to share their 
wealth with others. Others are reluctant to share their 
knowledge with others. Giving a sermon, instructing 
others about to lead their lives virtuously, will help 
to uproot the trait of keeping valuable knowledge to 
oneself. 
2. Preaching helps you to revise the different groups 
of dhammas. As you preach, you are able to revise 
the different groups of dhammas, increasing your 
mastery of them. As you recollect those dhammas, 
you will be inspired by them and this will bring 
radiance to the mind. Mastery also comes through 
the necessity to revise from the Dhamma texts, 
sometimes two to three weeks in advance of actually 
giving the sermon, in order to obtain a profound 
understanding of the Dhamma topic in hand before 
having to teach it to others. 
10. Straightening One's Views: This means merit 
generated through Straightening out one's views: 
[diEEhujukammamaya]. As the result of listening to a 
good sermon, the listener will have the discretion to tell 
good from evil, right from wrong. They will no longer 
doubt that doing good deeds gives good results or that 
doing evil will bring bad results. Before long the mind 
is steadfast in the pursuit of good deeds and in the 
avoidance of evil. This process is what we mean 
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