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who neither respects his own human dignity or that 
of others. 
Anyone who knows that they have been mal-
treated by someone else as a result of that person's 
bias cannot help but feel sad, angry or vengeful —
and with the progressive accumulation of such 
negative emotions in the mind —might eventually 
lead him to act wickedly himself towards the per-
son in question in any of the four categories already 
discussed above in the Four Defilements of Action. 
Thus we can see how one person's bias might un-
dermine another's responsibility for the human 
dignityof others. 
Thus we can conclude that bias undermines a 
person's responsibility towards human dignity 
whether it remains unexpressed in a person's mind, 
or whether it causes resentment in another in re-
sponse to an unjust action. 
Bias is very damaging to the cultivation of virtue 
because the best of intentions such as giving a gift 
out of "gratitude" can become interpreted as some-
thing base like nepotism or corruption if there is 
even the slightest suspicion of bias. If one can be 
sure that no-one involved in any situation is sub-
ject to bias — one can cultivate good deeds to the 
full. 
Anyone who can abstain from the Four Forms of 
Bias is someone who abides in justice. They will be 
someone who follows strictly the guidelines of all 
that is fair. 
C.2 The Ten Virtues of a Ruler 
The Buddha taught the Ten Virtues of a Ruler 
Irajadhamma] as guidelines for the conduct of 
those in a postion of power (J.v.378): 
1. generosity [dana]; 
2. self-discipline [sibs]; 
3. self-sacrifice [pariccaga]; 
4. integrity Iajjaval; 
5. gentleness [maddava]; 
6. austerity fractal; 
7. non-anger rakkodhat 
8. non-violence icivihispsa]; 
9. patience Mundt 
10. non-deviation from righteousness laviro-
dhancti. 
Thus whoever you are, you should not infringe the 
rights of others, twist the truth or bear false wit-
ness. You should follow social laws and regulations 
consistently — not intentionally breaking the law. 
One should neither slip into the Four Defilements 
of Action nor pressurize others into such behaviour. 
Even the simple adherence to consistent honesty, 
avoiding breaking social laws and traditions by pro-
tecting oneself from bias will stop one from stir-
ring society into unrest. Thus anyone who abstains 
from the Four Forms of Bias can also be considered, 
to a slightly greater extent, to be a person with so-
cial responsibility. 
D. CONCLUSIONS 
D.1 Relative importance of Pure Practice and 
Practice for Purity 
To the casual observer, the consequences of failing 
to "Practice Purely" (being biased and lacking the 
Ten Virtues of a Ruler) might appear less serious 
than those who don't "Practise for Purity"(i.e. with 
defilements of action, none of the Five Virtues and 
lacking the Tenfold Path of Wholesomeness) — but 
on closer examination, the two forms of wicked-
ness have equally devastating consequences. Thus 
if anyone truly wants to develop responsibility to-
wards human dignity, theymust practice purely and 
practice for purity — this is what it means to be 
truly responsible towards human dignity both in 
oneself and others. 
112 Achieving Dhamma Practice in Everyday Life 
Some people may wonder whether in the present 
day you can still find examples of people who can 
follow the Tenfold Path of Wholesomeness. What 
can you do if you are still unable to follow all ten 
perfectly? 
1. Select your livelihood: If you want to help 
yourself, first of all, be choosy about the work 
that you do. Don't involve yourself in forms 
of work that involve Wrong Livelihood (see 
Blessing Eighteen). However, if you want to go 
further than these ten principles in life to shift 
from simply neutral actions to more positive 
ones then you have to make a further effort 
as follows. 
2. Never allow yourself to be shoddy: Train your-
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self never to work on anything in a shoddy 
fashion. Always do your best in whatever task 
comes to you. This thoroughness will carry 
over when you come to training yourself in 
so that you cultivate virtue too. (e.g. prepar-
ing notes for a sermon instead of simply mak-
ing it up as you go along) 
3. Avoid bias: Train yourself to be unbiased and 
fair in whatever you do. You need to be sin-
cere to principles, to your work, to yourself 
and to others too. 
4. Meditate regularly. No matter how smart you 
are, without meditation you have no chance 
of being successful in your pursuit of the Ten-
fold Path of Wholesomeness. The reason is 
that, even though people know something is 
bad, they cannot stop themselves from carry-
ing on in the way they have always done. 
D.3 Overcoming obstacles to Dhamma Practice 
For various reasons people find great difficulty in 
earnestly cultivating virtue in their lives: 
1. Low Morale: Some try to practise but give in 
to themselves easily because they lack morale. 
Such people need to be close to those who are 
more experienced — i.e the Wise of the Sec-
ond Blessing. If you are able then choose a sort 
of work by which you can avoid having to 
put yourself in negative situations every day 
of the year. 
2. Bad Surroundings: Supposing you have the 
morale but your environment doesn't allow 
you to do as well as you want to, don't give 
up, but do as much as you are able to. e.g. 
someone who must work as a hunter for a liv-
ing but who keeps the Precepts when he can. 
It gives the mind a rest and reduces the toll of 
negativity in the mind. Do good deeds when-
ever you have the opportunity. When it comes 
to the right time a better opportunity will 
present itself. 
F. ILLUSlitA LIVE teXAMPLLS 
£1 Er. Kukku jataka (1.396) 
On the occasion of giving a teaching to the king, 
the Buddha related the story of his previous birth 
as the counsellor to King Brahmadatta who at that 
time was an unjust ruler. After waiting a long time 
for a tactful opportunity to correct the king's ways, 
one day the two visited a building under construc-
tion in the royal park.The roofing is not complete 
and the rafters had just been laid in place. The king 
asked his counsellor how the rafters could stay in 
place, and having found his opportunity, the coun-
sellor said that just as the peak of a roof will fall, 
unless tightly held by the rafters, a king will soon 
fall from power unless supported by subjects who 
have been won over by his righteousness. As a 
lemon must be eaten without its peel, so must taxes 
be gathered without violence. Like the lotus, un-
stained by the water in which it grows, is the virtu-
ous man untainted by the world — therefore his 
majesty should give up his extortion of unfair taxes 
and various other injustice driven by bias and de-
filements of action. 
£2 Er. Temiya the Mute (J.538) 
The bodhisattva was born as Temiya, son of the king 
of Kasi and Candadevi his wife. As a baby he lay in 
the lap of the king as he pronounced death sen-
tences on robbers brought before him. Temiya rec-
ollected past lives when he had done the same and 
suffered for 20,000 years in Ussada Hell as a result, 
therefore he feigned dumbness to avoid having to 
take the throne. Eventually, when he was sixteen 
his execution was ordered. As his grave was being 
dug, he confided his resolve to become an ascetic 
to Sunanda the gravedigger. Sunanda was im-
pressed by his words and released the bodhisattva 
to become an ascetic. His parents were informed 
and upon visiting Temiya's hermitage, they heard 
his preaching and all became ascetics too. Citizens 
of Kasi and three neighbouring kingdoms followed 
their example. Temiya's parents were identified 
with the parents of the Buddha, Sunanda with 
Sariputta. 
£3 Er. Mahadhammapala jaiaka (J.447) 
There is a story of when the Buddha went back to 
visit his father King Suddhodana. The King told 
him the story that someone had told him that his 
son had already died as the result of his practice of 
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self-mortification. But the King had not believed 
him. He had more confidence in his own son than 
that. The Buddha told him that it was not the first 
lifetime that the King had had such confidence in 
him as a son. 
In a previous lifetime when the Buddha had been 
studying in a town away from home with his 
teacher Diaipamolddia, a young student died. The 
Buddha told his teacher that where he lived, no-
one younger than 100 could die. The teacher didn't 
believe him, so took some goats bones and took 
them to the Buddha's father saying that he had re-
turned the bones of his son who had passed away 
in the course of his studies. At that time the Bud-
dha's father had not believed him either. Not even 
the children in that village would believe him. The 
reason why everybody in that village was so long-
lived was that for seven generations, everyone in 
the village had been practicing all of the Tenfold 
Path of Wholesomeness described above. 
E.4 Ex. Rajovada Jataka (J.334) 
Once the king of Benares, wishing to discover if he 
ruled justly, travelled about in disguise, and, in the 
course of his wanderings, came to the Himalayas, 
where the Bodhisatva lived as an ascetic. The as-
cetic gave him ripe figs, and, when asked why they 
were so sweet, explained that the king of the coun-
try was evidently a just ruler. The king returned to 
his kingdom and ruled unjustly for a while — re-
turning again to the hermitage, he found that the 
figs had become bitter. 
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Blessing Seventeen: 
Looking After 
One's Extended Family 
A. INTRODIRA ION 
A.1 Place of Blessing Seventeen in the sequence 
A notable quality of the numerical teachings of the 
Lord Buddha are they become successively deeper 
in the order in which they are taught. There is never 
an example of teachings of the Buddha skipping 
details. Dhamma is like a coastline which gets pro-
gressively deeper as you go further and further out 
to sea until at its furthest extent it comes to the deep-
est point at the bottom of the ocean. (Uposatha 
Sutta: Ud.51 ) If you learn the teachings in the order 
they were intended, you will be able to discern the 
progression of complexity that is contained in the 
order. It is not like conventional work where you 
can do things in any order. Furthermore, in Bud-
dhism we always start with ourselves and gradu-
ally expand the circle of influence of our good deeds 
for the benefit of those around us. With the Manual 
of Peace, we start with ourselves, learning about 
how to do good deeds, we learn how to make our-
selves useful to society. Once we have taken care of 
ourselves, only then do we turn our attention to 
looking after others in our family. We start by look-
ing after our own parents, offspring and spouse. 
Once our close family is harmonious and well-
off,we can further enlarge the influence of our good 
deeds to look after our extended family. From our 
extended family we can spread the goodwill fur-
ther and further until our goodwill extends to eve-
ryone in the world. 
Looking after our extended family looks as if it 
ought to be easy but when it comes down to it, it is 
not as easy as we imagined. You may have heard 
examples of families where the whole of the family 
has always helped one another until everybody in 
the family manages to set themselves up properly 
in life. On the other hand you may have heard of 
families where the intemal politics is so complicated 
that no-one dares to associate with them. One 
strange thing for "care of the extended family" is 
that instead of tacking it on to the end of blessings 
eleven, twelve and thirteen as the fourteenth Bless-
ing, the Buddha first inserts teachings on how to 
earn our living (Blessing Fourteen), the art of gen-
erosity (Blessing Fifteen) and how to practice 
Dhamma (Blessing Sixteen) in between. Some peo-
ple might dismiss this as insignificant, but there is 
a reason why looking after our extended family 
comes much later than looking after our close fam-
ily: 
• it is not so urgent as looking after the mem-
bers of our close family. 
• it is a major investment of time, energy and 
money. 
• done in a clumsy way, it might be misunder-
stood as favouritism or nepotism. 
Thus we need to know how to earn our living in 
the proper way first so that we will have a good 
enough financial position to help others. Also we 
have to practice Dhamma, ie. we must be fair, be-
cause otherwise favouritism will creep in as our mo-
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tivation for helping those around us. Instead of 
making the world a more peaceful place, our bias 
will make the world worse rather than better. Thus 
when you help your extended family it must not 
be in things that are causing a break with the Pre-
cepts or with virtue — otherwise some will use this 
blessing as an excuse for corruption. 
A.2 Definition: 'Looking after one's extended family' 
We can divide all our acquaintances in the world 
into two groups: 
• our close family: our parents, husband, wife, 
parents in law and our sons and daughters; 
• our extended family: all of our blood relations 
apart from our close family (e.g. aunts, un-
cles, cousins, grandparents etc.), those who we 
trust and have concern for, close friends (but 
maybe not those who are no more than ac-
quaintances or colleagues), spiritual teachers 
and fellow spiritual practitioners. 
For the group of our close family because of our 
debt of gratitude to our parents (see Blessing 
Eleven) or because if we have a husband, wife or 
children they are as a result of our own choice, as 
we have seen from Blessings Twelve and Thirteen 
our duties and our fulfilling of the "Emotional Bank 
Account" Isarigahavatthuj towards these groups 
needs to be unconditional. 
For your extended family, usually the degree of 
expected commitment is less. You don't see your 
extended family every day or have to live with 
them. Therefore you have space to breath between 
visits (unlike your close family where you have no 
space to breath). It may only be now and then that 
you have the opportunity to help a member of your 
extended family or a trusted friend, but when you 
do have the opportunity, you have to make a good 
job of it, or else it may destroy or make awkward 
your previously good relationship. Because you 
have not 'chosen' your extended family voluntar-
ily /intentionally, the expectations for how much 
support you can give them, is less. It is usually ex-
pected to be 'conditional' i.e. to give support, some-
thing is expected in return. Thus when we talk of 
looking after our extended family, we mean giving 
assistance according to the Emotional Bank Account 
IsangahavatthuJ on a conditional or 'one-off' basis. 
A.3 Finding out who your extended family is 
Sometimes we are not sure of the size of our extended 
family (both our blood-relations and our trusted 
friends), but we will surely find out when we are in 
our times of need. 
Once dose to Dhammakaya Temple, there was a 
boy who came and helped with the building of the 
temple road seven or eight years previously. When 
the road was finished, there was a lot of surplus tim-
ber. The boy had not yet set himself up in life and 
had no house of his own so the vice-abbot gave him 
the timber to build himself his first house. The young 
man was very appreciative of the timber but he ad-
mitted that if he had to work on the house himself 
(he could not afford to hire a carpenter) it would take 
him many months to complete. The vice abbot asked 
him how many people he had in his family. He said 
that he was related to practically everyone on the 
waterfront. The vice-abbot said that within a few 
days of starting to build his house he would know 
how many members he had in his extended family 
— the vice-abbot asked him to go to everyone he 
thought was one of his extended family and explain 
that he was short of the wages he needed to employ 
a carpenter. The man went to everyone who he 
thought had goodwill towards him. It turned out that 
all along the waterfront no-one would help him ex-
cept for two people — his stepbrother who lent him 
what he could and a farmer from another province 
who had stayed in the family house of the boy when 
he had first arrived in town and was looking for a 
place to stay. Thus from thinking that he had rela-
tives all along the waterfront it turned out that in 
actual fact he had only two people who were his true 
extended family— one was a blood-relative, another 
was a neighbour who remembered a favour. 
IMPORTANCE OFUlu HELPING ONE'S 
EXTENDED FAMILY 
B.1 We cannot remain independent throughout life 
Sometimes we are young and independent and we 
think that we could live self-sufficient in the world 
without having to take an interest in anyone else. If 
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we think we are independent, often it will cause us 
to think that everyone else should make themselves 
independent too and as a result we may turn a deaf 
ear to the pleas for help of others who are in need. 
The reality of the situation is that (in spite of the 
presence or absence of a welfare state) it is only for 
part of our lives that we can expect to be independ-
ent. If we are a child who is too young to look after 
himself or a senior citizen who is too old to look 
after themselves, or a wife who is heavily pregnant 
or if we get ill, all of a sudden we realize that we 
need to rely on other people too. In times of disas-
ter, such as fire or a death in the family or criminal 
proceedings, again we have to turn to others for 
help. Also during the rites of passage of our life, 
whether we are starting our first business or get-
ting married or having our first child then again, it 
is unlikely that we will have a very smooth right of 
passage without the help of those who are closest 
to us. Like the lone pine exposed unprotected to 
the wind we will soon be uprooted if we don't seek 
the support and shelter of our friends and family. 
For some people these needs are just occurring from 
time to time. For others, the need may last for many 
years. And when the need occurs, the thing which 
causes people to suffer the most boils down to four 
main things: shortage of funds/ability to borrow 
things, shortage of encouragement, shortage of 
manpower/advice, lack of security. We already met 
these four needs in previous lessons, especially in 
the workplace. If we are able to understand the 
needs (entitled to) by each sector of our family, we 
will be better able to see the opportunities to help 
other members of our family in the things that mat-
ter to them. 
B.2 Collective merit of a flintily needs unity 
The important thing to understand about helping 
our extended family is that it promotes the unity 
and solidarity of our family and society at large. It 
allows the family or the society we live in to main-
tain a certain level of collective merit. However if 
in a family or society there are a few troublemakers 
who do nothing to care for their extended family, 
they can destroy the good name of the family or 
the society and lead the collective merit of that so-
ciety to break down — in the way a small number 
of Thai drug-smugglers have given the whole na-
tion a bad reputation. 
£3 Making the world a more peaceful place 
There are many international organizations cam-
paigning for human rights and world peace — how-
ever the Buddha's approach to creating peace was 
slightly different. He proposed that we should try 
to make everybody in the world into our extended 
family. If other people don't share this philosophy, 
it doesn't matter how many peace organizations 
come into existence, they will not be enough to solve 
the problems of world peace. We will not even be 
able to solve the problems of gang fights in the 
neighbourhood let alone world wars. The thing 
which really can help the situation are the minds of 
men who believe the other people of the world do 
be their true extended family. However, the Bud-
dha didn't say that if everybody in the world is an 
extended family it will give rise to happiness, he 
said that 'help your extended family and it willbring 
its results'. 
Thus if you come to the real reason for helping 
our extended family you will see that it is the basis 
of harmony/unity in society. It is the only value 
that will spread the feeling that the whole of the 
world is of the same family. To bring peace to the 
world you have to start with the smallest viable 
unit. You cannot start by making the world 'out 
there' peaceful. It is like someone who wants to 
build a large skyscraper. One might prepare many 
blueprints and designs but all this will come to noth-
ing if you don't take care of the quality of the build-
ing materials such as sand and cement then no mat-
ter how good your design is the building will soon 
collapse. However, if you concentrate on the qual-
ity of the materials, so that there is no dust or splin-
ters of wood mixed up with the sand, you make a 
careful control of the size of gravel, you make sure 
that the steel is not rusted or bent, then apart from 
building an attractive skyscraper you will also build 
to last. 
In the same way, if we want to build a society 
which is one of quality then we have to start with 
the buildings blocks of society which are the dos-
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est to us and that means our relations with our ex- 
1. 
tended family. 
C. LOOKING AFTER YOUR EXTENDED 
FAMILY 
C.1 Appropriate times to help 
We have already mentioned that there are certain 
times when people lose their independence and 
have special need of the support of the extended 
family around them. The following circumstances 
are times when it is particularly important for us to 
pay attention to looking after our extended family: 
1. When our extended family fall on hard times 
and are without refuge. Supposing a child in 
our extended family is orphaned then perhaps 
we will take on such a child to look after for 
herself. 
2. When our extended family needs investment 
to set themselves up in life. Sometimes a fam-
ily cannot go as far in its education as it would 
like to because its own family is unable to pay 
its way into higher education, even though 
the child has the potential to go further. 
3. When our extended family needs to travel but 
has no transport 
4. When our extended family lacks necessary 
equipment for pursuing their livelihood. 
5. When some of our extended family is ill 
6. When there is some special occasion e.g. usu-
ally we don't pay much attention to our ex-
tended family, but on the occasion of the wed-
ding of someone in our extended family, and 
they need to set themselves up in life, maybe 
we will help to be the sponsor. Maybe you will 
help with the expenses involved with a fu-
neral in the family or an ordination in the fam-
ily. 
7. When someone in our family is unjustly ac-
cused of something they didn't do. 
8. When someone in the family is affected by 
natural disasters. 
C.2 Emotional Bank Account as the basis of 
help for one's family 
There are four main ways in which you can assist 
your extended family. We call these the Four Bases 
of Sympathy Isongohavatthu]: 
2. 
Helping with resources Veinal: This means giv-
ing or lending whatever we can spare which are 
useful to our extended family. All of these things 
sound easy but when we come to practising, they 
are not so simple. All it takes is one of our ex-
tended family to come borrowing 5,000 or 10,000 
when our salary is hardly enough to cover the 
month's overheads. If they come borrowing 
100,000 you would hardly take their request se-
riously any more. If we are still in difficulties 
about being generous to others at this point this 
is telling us that our cultivation of blessings at 
the level of Blessings Fourteen and Fifteen is not 
yet sufficient. If we are not really very earnest or 
efficient in the work that we do, and we never 
keep any savings then we still have our weak-
nesses. Thus if we are thorough in our thinking 
instead of thinking that it is enough just to cover 
our own basic needs, we have to think also of 
the eventuality of our extended family needing 
to rely on us as well. If you are skilful in the ap-
plication of these principles you will find that 
the members of your extended family are always 
on the increase and you will never be short of 
help in times of need. Even if beggars come to 
our door, we should find something to help them 
with, according to our means. In the old days, 
men would always keep a little money in reserve 
for times of need. If anyone came to them in need, 
at least they would not lose their friendship. (see 
budgetting scheme of Blessing Fifteen SE.2) If you 
can't afford to lend them money, at least give 
them advice. Even if you can't give them advice, 
maybe you can give them the busfare to reach 
the houses of other friends who may be able to 
help more. 
Endearing speech Ipiyavacal: This means speak-
ing in a way that is not at all upsetting to our 
extended family and not looking down on them 
either. Normally we are able to be polite to oth-
ers the whole of the time. However if we are ir-
ritable or in bad mood, even though we may try 
to say things politely, they never seem to come 
out as we intended — especially when we have 
to give reasons for things instead of telling peo-
ple "just do what I say". The other time when it 
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is difficult for us to speak politely is the time 
when others come asking for help from us but 
we have to refuse. Refusing in a way that is gen-
tle is no easy thing. If you have never made the 
effort to speak politely before then it is at this 
point that you will say something thay you may 
regret for years to come. Maybe you didn't real-
ize that the 300 or 500 that they have been giv-
ing us willingly all these years has been the last 
cents out of their purse every time. For them they 
didn't think that the money they gave was in-
significant, but they thought of the fact that they 
were prepared to empty out their purse even to 
the last cent every time we came asking. If we 
speak insensitively every time when they have 
cause to come asking us for help, then that may 
be the end of any relationship we ever had to 
them. Just a few ill considered words may mean 
that we cannot look each other in the eye any 
more for the rest of our lives. It is very frighten-
ing what words can do. It is strange that when 
we are children we tend not to hide our feelings 
because we aren't concerned about what other 
people think of us. Our moods fluctuate between 
tantrums and laughs thoughout the whole of the 
day. However, when we grow older, the same is 
no longer true. A few ill chosen words from an-
other adult and even if they were to come back 
asking your forgiveness with a gift of a million, 
you would still be reluctant to speak to them. 
Therefore start training yourself in endearing 
speech from this day on, so that when it comes 
to situations where you are taxed for words you 
won't risk being ostracised from your own fam-
ily 
3. Lending a helping hand Iatthacariya]: This 
means helping our extended family out when 
they have work to be done. Even if you don't 
have money to lend, you are still strengthening 
the bonds of friendship within your extended 
family by giving them a helping hand. 
4. Being consistent to one's duty Isamanat-
thatthaj: This means giving others familiarity 
and confidence — and not doing things that cre-
ate suspicion. You need to conduct yourself in a 
way befitting your status in the eyes of your ex-
tended family. Sometimes members of our ex-
tended family may have received only a low level 
of education. Sometimes they may not know the 
appropriate way to behave in a particular situa-
tion. Maybe all they know is that 'Whitey' is their 
grandson — but what they don't realise is that 
Mr. White is also the Managing Director of a finn. 
Thus when they visit Mr. White at his work and 
shout, "Come here Whitey!" at first Mr. White 
may have to listen patiently to the stream of 
things they have for him to help them with, but 
only later, when the situation is more relaxed on 
both sides will he be able to point out the rea-
sons for things, step by step. If you are not able 
to help with everything they ask then you must 
find a way of helping them but in a more feasi-
ble way. 
C.3 Spiritual ways to help 'extended family' 
Apart from helping people with material things, we 
can also help people with Dhamma (teachings). To 
give Dhamma to people is often even more impor 
tant than the physical things we give to people. It 
can be especially important when we come to help 
members of our extended family who are already 
materially self-sufficient but who are still a long way 
from spiritual pursuits such as generosity or keep-
ing the precepts. You might invite your aunt to go 
to the temple but she complains of having too many 
aches and pains to go to the temple today. There-
fore you give her a helping hand by driving a car 
to pick her up from her doorstep to take her to the 
temple and return her to her temple in the evening. 
So she complains that she doesn't have anything to 
give at the temple, so you say that you have already 
prepared all the food to offer at the temple and that 
all she needs to do is to offer it. Thus she agrees to 
go to the temple and later as she gets more familiar 
with the customs of the temple, later she will want 
to go without anyone prodding her — and before 
long she will want to be generous, keep the pre-
cepts and meditate without others having to give 
her encouragement all of the time. You might have 
a relative who has already got a good job but be-
cause he is still childish and irresponsible he is un-
able to set himself up properly in life. If you can 
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persuade such a person to take leave from work to 
ordain as a monk during the vacation, and you 
make all the arrangements for him and make him 
aware of all the advantages. Then that would be 
called looking after your extended family spiritu-
ally. 
C.4 Choosing the sort of family to help 
It is not every sort of family who will benefit from 
help you might try to give them. If you would like 
to maximize the amount of merit and satisfaction 
you gain from caring for your extended family, give 
priority to families who: 
• 
Make an earnest effort to help themselves 
first — not the sort who come running to you 
every time there is a minor problem and never 
think to try to solve their own problems 
• 
Those who are of good conduct, who are 
grateful, humble and courteous — and who 
aren't mixed up with the 'Roads to Ruin' 
L. ILLUS1 RAI WI!, txtuurLts 
D.1 Metaphor: Lone pine cannot survive in 
strong wind 
The Lord Buddha taught that all of the trees that 
stand together in the forest will help each other 
mutually giving shelter from the gales and storms, 
sun and rain. By offering each other shelter, each 
tree is protected from being uprooted. On the other 
hand the largest tree (the king of the forest) in the 
forest must endure the strong winds alone and in 
the end it cannot survive every storm. In the same 
way if anyone tries to go it alone in the swift cur-
rents of society, without the help of any friends and 
relatives, will eventually come to a sticky end. On 
the other hand, even if someone in society is not 
particularly outstanding in any respect, if they have 
sufficient friends and family who can help them in 
times of need, they will be able to overcome all dif-
ficulties that cross their path. If they run for elec-
tion, without much canvassing they can soon be 
elected without much trouble. 
D.2 Ex. Vattaka jataka (J.33) 
The bodhisattva was once a quail. There was a 
fowler who enticed quails by imitating their cry and 
then throwing a net over them. The bodhisattva 
suggested that when the fowler did this, they 
should all fly away with the net. This they did, day 
after day, and the fowler returned empty-handed 
until eventually his wife grew angry. One day, two 
of the quails started quarrelling and the 
bodhisattva, hearing their wrangling, decided to go 
elsewhere with his following. When the fowler 
came again and spread the net, the two quails 
started quarrelling and he was able to capture them. 
D.3 Ex. War in Kalinga (DhAjii.2541);) 
Kapilavatthu, the town of the Sakyans, and 
Koliya, the town of the Koliyans were situated 
on either side of the Rohini River. The fanners of 
both towns irrigated their fields from this river. 
One year, due to severe drought their paddy and 
other crops were threatened, and the farmers on 
both sides wanted to divert the water from the 
Rohini River to their own fields. Those living in 
Koliya wanted to divert and channel the water 
to irrigate their field. However, the farmers from 
Kapilavatthu protested that they would be de-
nied the use of the water and their crops would 
be destroyed. 
Both sides wanted the water for their own use 
only and as a result, there was much 
and 
hatred on both sides. The quarrel that started be-
tween the farmers soon spread like fire and the 
matter was reported to their respective rulers. 
Failing to find a compromise, both sides prepared 
to go to war. 
The Buddha came to know that his relatives on 
both sides of the river were preparing for battle. 
For their wellbeing and happiness and to avoid 
unnecessary suffering, he decided to stop them. 
All alone, he went and appeared in the middle of 
the river. His relatives on seeing him, laid aside 
all their weapons and paid homage to him. Then, 
the Buddha admonished them, asking, 'what do 
you think is more precious, irrigation water or 
your royal blood?' 
They replied "Our royal blood is more pre-
cious" 
"For the sake of some water, which is of little 
value, you should not destroy your lives which 
are of so much value. Why have you taken this 
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unwholesome course of action? If I had not been 
here today, your blood would have been flowing 
like this river by now. You are living with hatred, 
but I live free from hatred. You are ailing with 
moral defilements, but I am free from moral de-
filements. You are striving to develop selfishness 
and enmity, but I don't strive for the development 
of selfishness." Both sides then became ashamed 
of their foolishness and thus bloodshed was 
averted. 
The Buddha was also to help his extended fam-
ily, the Sakyans by prohibiting Viclficlabha from 
massacring them out of anger, as many as three 
times (See Blessing Thirty-Three §13.6) 
D.4 Ex. Kukkura Jataka (J.22) 
Because his carriage straps, left in the rain, are 
gnawed by his own dogs, the king of Benares or-
den all dogs except his own to be killed indis-
criminately. The Bodhisattva, who was the leader 
of the pack of dogs in the cemetary, visited the 
king and pointed out to him his iniquity, and re-
veals the truth by causing an emetic to be admin-
istered to the king's own dogs. In this way the 
Bodhisattva cared for his "extended family" by 
making sure justice was delivered to all of his 
kind. Having convinced the king, the Bodhisattva 
taught him the The Ten Virtues of a King and to 
avoid the Four Forms of Bias. Great are the ben-
efactions thereafter made to dogs in the kingdom. 
D.S Ex. Buddha tends the sick monk himself 
(Dlult319,0;) 
Once the Buddha happened to see the sorrowful state 
of a certain monk called Tissa'. The monk had been 
meditating diligently until becoming afflicted with a 
disease of stinking open sores covering his whole body. 
Because of the smell, he had been abandoned by his 
fellow monks.TheBuddha knew diatTissa would soon 
attain Arahanthood, so he proceeded to the fire-shed, 
close to the place where the monk was staying. There, 
he personally boiled some water went to the place 
where the monk was lying down, and took hold of the 
edge of the couch. It was only then that the other monks 
also gathered round him, and as instructed by the Bud-
dha, they carried him out where he was washed and 
bathed.While he was being bathed his robes were 
washed and dried. After the bath, the monk became 
fresh in body and mind and soon developed one-point-
edness of concentration. Standing at the head of the 
couch, the Buddha told him that this body when de-
void of life would be as useless as a log and would be 
laid on the earth. At the conclusion of the sermon, Tina 
attained Arahanthood. Soon after, he passed away into 
Parinibbana.The Buddha then directed some Mild:hiss 
to cremate his body and enshrine his relics in a stapa. 
Subsequently, the Buddha taught, Thikkhzis! You do 
not have your mother or father here who can tend to 
you. If you do not tend to one another who will be 
there to tend to you? Tend a sidc fellow monk as if you 
were tending me.' 
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Blessing Eighteen: 
Blameless Work 
A. INTRODMMON 
A.1 Blessing Eighteen in the Sequence of the 
Blessings 
The workplace is somewhere we have already been 
familiar with since Blessing Fourteen — but last 
time we visited, we were interested in work only 
as a means to earn the salary we needed to support 
the close family (as covered in Blessings Eleven, 
Twelve and Thirteen). Now we have matured a lit-
tle further in the sequence of the Blessings, we re-
turn to our work, not as simply something which 
needs to be completed, but to be completed well! 
Within the context of this Fifth Grouping of Bless-
ings, 'Becoming a pillar of society', it matters not 
simply that we finish our work, but also how well 
we do it and how beneficial it is to society too! In this 
Blessing we are to learn about the quality and the 
ethicality of the work we do — important factors 
in being the sort of person others in society can look 
up to. 
A.2 Buddhist Economics 
'Economics' is not a term native to Buddhism. "Bud-
dhis t Economics" is a phrase coined by E.F. 
Schumacher — but the concepts involved (espe-
cially Right Livelihood at the mundane Ilokiya] 
level) are very relevant to explaining a second visit 
to the workplace is necessary. Like the diligent but 
shoddy and corrupt worker tolerated by Blessing 
Fourteen, contemporary western economics tries to 
measure social well-being by financial transactions 
alone. Western economists try to avoid involvement 
of values when considering the 'economics' of dif-
ferent actions — and their approach is thus radi-
cally different from that of Buddhism. To give some 
examples of iniquities in the modern economic 
analysis, transactions which are considered ... : 
• Economic non-events: Any work which doesn't 
get paid a wage is a non-event to an econo-
mist — so much for voluntary work in the 
temple! 
• Economically equal activities: The purchase of a 
bottle of whisky and or a sack of rice to feed a 
village of hungry refugees have the same eco-
nomic value 
• 'Negligible' economic by-products: That vices are 
by-products of attending night-clubs, ram-
pant consumerism the result of advertising, 
temptation towards unethical business prac-
tices the result of competition—have no place 
in the economic equation. 
Costs given consideration in the Buddhist economic 
equation: To Buddhism, by contrast, the econom-
ics of livelihood has a human face (i.e. it acknowl-
edges values). Below are listed some of the factors 
to be encouraged in the equation of Buddhist eco-
nomics: 
• Physical health and security of the popula-
tion: if the public are made ill by unethical 
business practices, the medical costs it is the 
victims who end up paying the bill through 
Blessing Eighteen: Blameless Work 213 
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their own taxes! When consumerism exacer-
bates crimes, guess who has to pay for police 
investigations and prosecution of the offend-
ers? 
• Spiritual Health: the ravages of over-consum-
ption and over-production reflect unhealthy 
mental processes in the population generated 
by the superficial emotions of want, choice 
and material satisfaction — emotions which 
Buddhism does not encourage; 
• Quality of work Shoddy work is produced 
by shoddy minds. Buddhism foresees a work-
ing environment where workers are enthusi-
astic to give their best, because in so doing, 
apart from job satisfaction, workers will have 
the chance to train and better themselves and 
refine their minds through their working ex-
perience; 
• Job satisfaction: If workers enjoy their work 
and are industrious, productivity will be high. 
On the other hand, if they are dishonest, dis-
gruntled or lazy, this will have a negative ef-
fect on the quality of production and the 
amount of productivity. 
• Respect for individual human dignity: To be 
ethically sound, economic activity must take 
place in a way that is not harmful to the indi-
vidual, 
• Respect for interpersonal human dignity: To 
be ethically sound, economic activity must 
take place in a way that does not encourage 
one individual to take advantage of another; 
• Respect for fair economics/human dignity of 
society at large: society or the natural envi-
ronment. In other words, economic activity 
should not cause problems for oneself, agita 
lion in society or degeneration of the ecosys-
tem, but rather enhance well-being in these 
three spheres. 
A.3 Three types of Worker 
Workers in the world have many styles and quali-
ties, but in conclusion you can divide successful 
workers into three major kinds: 
1. those who finish what they do without being 
interested in the quality; 
2. those who finish their work to the best of their 
quality; 
3. those who care that the result of their work is 
beneficial to society; 
The Buddha taught that anyone who wants to be a 
pillar of society must pay attention to the quality 
of every piece of work they do as well as finishing 
it. 
AA Three types of work 
Work in Buddhism, as already discussed in Bless-
ing Fourteen (a source of food both for body and 
mind) is a term which relates to a much wider scope 
of activities that that implied by our 40-hour week! 
Thus, before going into further detail as to which 
sort of work is blameworthy and which not, it is 
important to recognize the scope of this analysis. 
The term 'work' includes: 
1. physical work (e.g. cooking or governing the 
country); 
2. verbal work (e.g. training our children or 
grandchildren, business negotiation or chant-
ing) (most of the details of this sort of work 
have already been discussed in Blessing Ten); 
3. mental work (adjustment and development 
of our own thoughts to overcome the inbuilt 
tendency of our thoughts to degenerate into 
preoccupation with sensuality Velma-
vitakka], vengefulness Ibripada-vitakka] or 
aggression Ivihirrreavitakkaj.; 
The principles of 'blame' discussed in relation to 
work, although mostly dealing with the context of 
physical work here, can in fact equally be applied 
to verbal and mental work too. 
13. ,H MANG THE ETHICAL VALUE OF WORK 
Often when people are looking to measure the 
standard of the work they are doing they rely too 
heavily on the amount of praise or criticism they 
receive from others (see example §E.2 below). The 
Buddha warned us that to use such an arbitrary 
measurement as our standard is not foolproof. In 
the world there are so many people of different 
viewpoints that you could never please all of the 
people all of the time. Some people cannot find a 
214 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living 
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word of praise for anyone. Thus whatever the task 
you do, you cannot listen simply to the criticism of 
others — because some people's criticism is possi-
bly without any foundation. You have to measure 
the quality of work based on reason. Therefore 
whatever work you are doing, never base your de-
cisions on the criticism of others. What then can you 
base your decisions on? The Buddha taught that 
we should make sure any work we do is: 
1. Not illegal: this is the grossest filter of 
blame in work— but it is too gross to cover 
all eventualities, and this is why we need 
to resort to the other three criteria too; 
2. Not breaking with tradition: Some things 
don't break the law, but because they are 
out of keeping with local customs or tradi-
tions, they may bring you into conflict with 
others. Supposing a man wears women's 
clothes — will the police arrest him? Prob-
ably not, but it is certainly not very good. 
Or when you are eating, there is a division 
made between sweet and savoury food. 
Some countries eat savoury food before 
they eat sweet desserts. Some, like Japan, 
eat their sweet food first. Not all customs 
are universally good. They may be appli-
cable only to the particular locality or cli-
mate in a place. So how can you tell if a 
custom is worth respecting or not? Suppos-
ing you want to choose what to wear to go 
to the temple. You know that it certainly 
won't break the law. As for customs, you 
know that in different places, the way peo-
ple dress is not the same — to go to the 
market you dress in a cosmopolitan way, 
to go to the cinema you dress in a fun-lov-
ing way, to go to the seaside you dress to 
the minimum — but if you go to the tem-
ple, because the atmosphere must be peace-
ful, you should dress more modestly and 
conservatively. It is customary to dress in a 
modest colour like white to go to the tem-
ple because doing so forces you to be care-
ful of your own level of cleanliness and 
such mindfulness aids you to meditate bet-
ter. 
3. Not breaking the Five Precepts: This en-
sures that you don't compromise the hu-
man dignity of others or of yourself (as al-
ready described in Blessing Nine). 
4. Not compromising your Five Virtues 
(paficadhamma): This ensures that you 
don't fall into unwholesome ways which 
compromise virtue or justice (in the ways 
already described in Blessing Seventeen) 
Thus, if in the future, you want to be a pillar of so-
ciety, then give things careful consideration before 
you do them. You have to do things well — not just 
finish them. If you want to know if there is going to 
be any bad side-effects occurring as the result of 
something we do, check by using these four princi-
ples. Check the law, customs, Precepts and virtue. 
C. AVOIDING WRONG LIVELIHOOD 
The Buddha taught that we should earn our living 
by working for it and by working honestly too —
otherwise the economy and society cannot truly 
prosper. Of course earning your living by thieving, 
shop-lifting or pick-pocketing is not supported by 
Buddhism — these forms of work have already been 
ruled out in our consideration of the ethical value of 
work above. But there is a grey area of what consti-
tutes a fair profit, which the Buddha charted for us 
with the concept of Right and Wrong Livelihood. 
Those who make a success out of Right Livelihood 
in business will have a positive effect on the economic 
situation of their country too — but those involved 
in Wrong Livelihood enterprises, whether directly 
or indirectly are undermining the well-being of their 
country by so doing. The Buddha said that a person 
who earns their living by Wrong Livelihood is like 
someone who intentionally advises a traveller to take 
a dangerous mad, saying that it is safe, but when 
travelling themselves, will always take another 
(safer) route. The main ways people earn a living 
are in either in the public or in the private sector —
and we will look at the specific considerations of 
Right and Wrong Livelihood for each in turn: 
C.I Private Enterprise 
Most work in private enterprise can be simplified 
Blessing Eighteen: Blameless Work 215 
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down to trading a product or a service. For Right 
Livelihood in the trading scenario the Buddha 
taught us to avoid five specific types of Wrong Live-
lihood: 
1. Dealing in slaves Isattavanijjaj: This means 
buying people at a low price and selling them 
at a higher price and supporting oneself from 
the profit made—or running a brothel where 
you are making a profit out of the loss of an-
other person's dignity. Taking on such an oc-
cupation will change the quality of your mind 
— it will cause you to see people as something 
inanimate. You will eventually lose your sense 
of humanity because you will no longer be 
able to appreciate others' human dignity. 
2. Dealing in weapons Isatthavagijja]: This 
means weapons for killing animals or people 
and supporting oneself from the profit made 
— selling weapons will make you see the 
world in a strange way. The quality of the 
wares you are selling all depend on the effi-
ciency with which the weapons can kill men 
or animals — eventually it will cause your 
own Precepts to suffer. 
3. Dealing in flesh [marpsavatdigtj: This means 
rearing live animals (like buffalos, pigs, ducks 
and chickens) to slaughter oneself or have 
someone else slaughter for us and support-
ing oneself from the profit made — most peo-
ple see animals with compassion, but if you 
kill them or trade with those in the abattoir, 
instead of seeing the nice side of animals, you 
will see animals as nothing more than a walk-
ing meat counter. Even though you might not 
be directly involved in such a trade, your ap-
preciation of the preciousness of life will dis-
appear. If ever you lose your temper there will 
be an increased intention for you to threaten 
people with the same murderous intentions 
that belong inside the abattoir. 
4. Dealing in alcohol inzajjavanija]: This means 
selling alcohol (or any other sort of substance 
causing heedlessness) and supporting oneself 
from the profit made — it doesn't break the 
law or customs —but it does break with Right 
Livelihood. If you sell alcohol you know that 
it will lead to the drunkenness of the customer 
— it will destroy their reputation, their wealth, 
their health etc. etc. —however, you don't feel 
any compassion for such a person or respon-
sibility for their human dignity. You know all 
the damaging consequences of buying our al-
cohol for the customer, but you look beyond 
these in your search for profit. Loving kind-
ness becomes a stranger to your heart. The 
more evil of this sort you collect for yourself, 
in this lifetime or in future lifetimes, if ever 
you find yourself in difficulties yourself, your 
evil will prevent others from having any com-
passion for you—even those you have helped 
before —even your own children. The karma 
will block out the reality and you won't be 
able to blame them. 
5. Dealing in poisons [Edam:a:AWE]: This means 
selling poisons for killing animals (e.g. insec-
ticide) and supporting oneself from the profit 
made. In many places where mosquitos are 
not even the vectors of malaria (like in Bang-
kok) people are dying not of malaria, but of 
self-poisoning from the DDT they spray on 
the mosquitoes. People think that insecticide 
will become benign again within a few hours 
but actually it takes about fifteen to twenty 
years to break down. If a bottle of such poi-
son smashes on the floor, even if you dean up 
thoroughly, the smell still remains for two or 
three weeks. If you work in the poison trade, 
there are broken bottles and spillages nearly 
every day. Even if you never use the poison, 
you are inhaling it every day. Those in the 
trade die of respiratory disease and blood can-
cer almost without exception. 
Those who do any of these trades, will find them-
selves increasingly unable to cultivate an 'Emo-
tional Bank Account' Isaitgahavafthesi with any-
one else. 
Furthermore, those who work in commerce but 
who are dishonest (by for example fixing their 
weights and measures) also fall into the category 
of Wrong Livelihood. Another variety of Wrong 
Livelihood are the forms of deception used by forg-
216 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living 
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ers — for example, they provide the first batch of 
their work all in solid gold — howevet, as soon as 
the order is placed, the remainder of their work will 
be in gold-plated brass. 
C.2 Public Sector 
It would be impossible for Wrong Livelihood en-
terprises to exist, whether on the large or small 
scale, without some form of cooperation from a 
corrupt Public Sector — whether it be the "soft 
drug" industry, gun running, casinos, forgery, 
prostitution, or assassination. Any such involve-
ment shows that those implicated are devoid of 
any sense of responsibility for human dignity in 
the fairness of the economy of their own country. 
Usually the enemy of Right Livelihood in the Pub-
lic Sector is bribery or corruption — for example 
surveyors in charge of measuring land for a buyer, 
if they are dishonest or corrupt and don't get paid 
protection money, will over-measure the land. 
However, if they are bribed, will undermeasure 
it. Judges who can be bribed to come to a verdict 
are no better. All come under the heading of Wrong 
Livelihood. 
C.3 Special Occupations 
C.3.1 Military 
In addition to the work categories already ex-
plained, special mention should be given to the 
work of the professional soldier which comes into 
strong disagreement with any form of Buddhist 
practice. In the time of the Buddha there was a sol-
dier who thought that soldiers who fought bravely 
for their king and country would have heaven as 
their afterlife destination. However, the Buddha ex-
plained that: 
'those who kill will be killed in return' 
Dutiya Kinnavatthu Sutta (S.i.83) 
And that there are only two possible afterlife desti-
nations even for those who (only) consider killing 
others — and those are hell and the animal realms 
— whether they be soldiers, cavaliers or soldiers 
mounted on elephants. Prodhijiva Sutta 
(S.iv.308), Assiroha Sutta (S.iv.310), Hatthiroha 
Sutta (S.iv.310)) 
C.3.2 Doctors and Nurses 
On the contrary, to be a doctor or a nurse can be a 
profession which can bring great merit if it is done 
well. If it is done badly, it can bring serious demerit. 
It was therefore for this reason that the Buddha gave 
guidelines on the abilities of those prerequisite for 
making a good doctor or nurse (in his particular 
context to look after sick monks): 
1. Must have the ability to prescribe the appro-
priate medicine; 
2. Must know the difference between what is for 
the comfort and discomfort of patients, being 
able to increase the comfort and decrease the 
discomfort of the patient by his or her actions; 
3. Not just interested in the payment received 
from the treatment— healing should be done 
out of the prime motivation of compassion 
4. Does not object to the removal/excretion of 
the patient's excrement, urine, vomit and sa-
liva; 
5. Able to cheer up the patient with timely 
Dhamma teachings 
Dutiya Upatthaka Sutta (A.iii.144) 
C.3.3 Devious Customers 
Even customers can do it! Supposing a butcher has 
two deer for sale, a big one and a small one. He 
asks $20 for the big one and $10 for the little one. A 
devious customer comes up and buys the little one 
for $10. Some time later he comes back and says he 
changed his mind and he wants the big one. The 
butcher asks $20 for the big deer, but the customer 
says that he already gave the hunter $10 and that 
the small deer he is returning is also worth $10. To-
gether they are worth $20, the price of the big deer. 
The customer therefore exchanges the big deer for 
the small one. Meanwhile the butcher is not smart 
enough to keep up with the customer's trick and is 
thereby cheated. On this occasion, the customer is 
guilty of Wrong Livelihood even though he might 
say the butcher deserved it. 
Therefore, if you aim to be a pillar of society who 
is beyond criticism by any reasonable person in the 
world, measure your work carefully by the stand-
ard of Right Livelihood. Apart from avoiding criti-
cism, all tasks which you do will be done to the 
Blessing Eighteen: Blameless Work 217 
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best of your ability. Others will regard you as an 
elder in society not only because of your advanc-
ing age, but also because of your wisdom and ex-
ample to upcoming generations. 
D. RELATIONSHIPS IN THE WORKPLACE 
Apart from the ethicality of work, a second area of 
problems in the work we do may come from per-
sonal conflicts arising at work. Irrespective of the 
nature of the work, we need to cultivate good hu-
man relationships in the workplace otherwise we 
might risk blame and undermine our job satisfac-
tion. We have to be able to get along with our col-
leagues whether they are true friends or false. Our 
relationship with this group of co-workers (whether 
they be our boss, employees, servants, inferiors or 
slaves!) are covered in the fifth grouping of rela-
tionships mentioned in the SingalovAda Sutta. 
From this teaching we find out about the recipro-
cal relationship between the boss and the employee. 
D.1 Duties of an employer 
The Buddha laid down five responsibilities of a boss 
to his employees as follows: 
encouragement which will keep the boss-em-
ployee relationship an amicable one; 
5. Allow holidays on occasion: employees 
should be allowed holidays according to the 
usual working calendar and national festivals 
Employers and bosses who take responsibility for 
their employees in these five ways will in such a 
way cultivate a mind of loving-kindness and com-
passion instead of simply thinking to take advan-
tage of others. A boss with all the features of a true 
friend — but such an attitude doesn't occur by ac-
cident —it needs for the boss to have been instilled 
with such responsibility since an early age, whoso-
ever fulfil their duties to the "nadir" in these ways. 
D.2 Duties of an employee 
The Buddha also laid down five responsibilitiesan 
employee ought to have towards his employee: 
1. 
2. 
1. Delegating appropriate work: Work given to 
an employee should be chosen as appropri-
ate to that person's age and gender and dis-
position and capability in order that they can 
work efficiently; 
3. 
2. Give food and remuneration: A decent wage 
should be given which is not less than the le-
gal minimum. There should be wage increase 
with time and bonuses. Employees who live 
"on site" should be provided with regard to 
appropriate food — not left hungry! A boss 
4. 
with such caring behaviour will be able to 
relinquish the effects of both bias and defile-
ments of action; 
3. Take care of employees in time of illness: 
Employees should be allowed to take leave if 
sick and enquiries should be made about their 
5. 
recovery to show the features of a "true 
friend" of the boss; 
4. From time to time give delicacies: organize 
celebration for special occasions for the em-
ployees etc. — and this will give them the 
Start work before him; 
Finish work after him: If any employee who 
can practise both of these duties, it shows that 
they have a strong degree of responsibility 
towards their employer — a sincere respect, 
love and gratitude towards their employer — 
rather than having the hidden intention that 
their behaviour be conditional on their em-
ployer raising their salary; 
Taking only the things (expressly) given to 
them by the employer an employee who can 
have the control of himself to avoid the de-
filements of action will not help themselves 
to the things 'left lying around' in the 
workplace or steal the boss's belongings; 
Doing their work better. Means giving their 
all to fulfil their duties for the greatest benefit 
— without having conditions to negotiate sal-
ary increases from their employer — such 
behaviour shows that the employee really has 
the generosity befitting a "wise one". 
Maintaining and defending the boss's good 
reputation: employees with such behaviour 
do so because of their loyalty to their employ-
ers — they see their boss as similar to the ways 
they would regard a kindly relative or par-
ent. 
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In general, it is the employer who controls the ben-
efits and disadvantages coming to an employee. 
That an employee fulfils these five responsibilities 
towards an employer means that the employer must 
have treated the employee well in the first place —
to want to show these responsibilities to repay his 
debt of gratitude. 
113 Reciprocal Relationship between Boss & Employer 
If the boss does not fulfil his duties but the employee 
does, the boss does not deserve such a good em-
ployee — in the end harm will come to that 
workplace because seeing the boss's attitude, be-
fore long the employees will imitate his example. 
If the boss fulfils his duties, but the employee 
doesn't — the employee does not deserve such a 
good employer — the workplace will not prosper 
because the boss cannot control the employees. 
If both boss and employees fail to fulfil their du-
ties, the workplace will go bankrupt because it will 
become a den of thieves — having dire conse-
quences for society at large. 
However if both boss and employee fulfil their 
responsibilities, the workplace will prosper—both 
boss and employee will enjoy happiness and peace 
and society will benefit too. 
D.4 Possible Harm coming from unfulfilled 
duties between boss and employee 
1. When employees have no sense of responsibility 
for their own human dignity — if a boss or em-
ployer lacks the self-discipline according to the 
teaching of the Buddha, the first disaster com-
ing to him is that his employees will have no 
sense of responsibility for their own human dig-
nity, producing at least the following three char-
acter traits: 
1. Chronic false view: Mostly employees come 
from an unwealthy and uneducated back-
ground and if they come into contact with an 
undisciplined boss who is a false friend, the 
employee will be discontent and will resist 
against the boss — an emotion which may 
exacerbate False View in the employee's mind. 
2. Breaks the Five Precepts: Those of False View 
also tend to break the Five Precepts. Employ-
ees might deteriorate into the Four Defile-
ments of Action in order to fight back against 
the employer, without any fear of the legal 
consequences 
3. Brings disadvantage to the employer in or-
der to avoid breaking the law, employees band 
together to strike in order to claim rights and 
benefits for themselves. Any form of strike 
will disadvantage the employer. 
2. When employees have no sense of responsibility 
for the human dignity of others — if a boss or 
employer lacks the self-discipline according to 
the teaching of the Buddha, the second disaster 
coming to him is that his employees will have 
no sense of responsibility for the human dignity 
of others, producing at least the following three 
character traits: 
1. Looking for ways to take advantage of the 
employer: When bias arises in the mind of the 
employee — they will want to put the em-
ployer at a disadvantage — something they 
can do in many ways, e.g. by "going slow" (if 
paid by the hour) or producing shoddy work 
(if paid for productivity). 
2. Mistreats employer. In order to get revenge 
for the resentment they feel, they produce 
shoddy goods or feign quality; 
3. Ruin the employer. Sometimes the employee 
divulges trade secrets to competing compa-
nies etc. 
3. When employees have no sense of responsibil-
ity for the human dignity of economic fairness 
— if a boss or employer lacks the self-discipline 
according to the teaching of the Buddha, the third 
disaster coming to him is that his employees will 
have no sense of responsibility for the human 
dignity for economic fairness, producing at least 
the following three character traits: 
1. Addiction to the 'Six Roads to Ruin': because 
of working to express animosity towards the 
employer, they will feel insecurity about 
working in that enterprise and immerse them-
selves in 'Roads to Ruin' to forget their woes 
by drinking alcohol or gambling; 
2. Undisciplined in expenditure: When they are 
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addicted to 'roads to ruin', they will lose the 
intelligence to use their earnings beneficially; 
3. Consequent debt problems: The combination 
of addictions and lack of discipline in expendi-
ture will lead them to indebtedness — pro-
ducing problems not only for themselves but 
eventually for the employer too! 
E. ILLUSI RA 11% E EXAMPLES 
E.1 Er. The Father, the Son and the Donkey 
Once there were a father and a son who went to the 
market in a distant town and bought a donkey. They 
led the donkey back towards their home on a rope. 
On the way back from the market, they passed 
through the first village and all the villagers ex-
claimed, "What a stupid father and son, they have 
spent good money on a donkey and now they lead 
it along the road instead of riding it". The father 
and son thought, "What they say is true," and so 
the father sat the son on the donkey and they went 
on their way. They passed through the second vil-
lage and all the villagers exclaimed, "What an un-
grateful son to ride the donkey and leave his poor 
father to walk — if the son were to walk and let his 
father ride, it would show that the son at least re-
pays his debt of gratitude to his father". The father 
and son thought, "What they say is true," and so 
the father sat on the donkey and the son walked 
and they went on their way. They passed through 
the third village and all the villagers exclaimed, 
"What a cruel father! He has hardly any more years 
of life in him, and he lets his poor son walk along 
the road in his place". The father and son consulted 
one another, "What they say is true," and so both 
the son and the father sat on the donkey and they 
went on their way. They passed through the fourth 
village and all the villagers exclaimed, "What a cruel 
father and son! Both of them together weigh more 
than the donkey itself and they are both riding the 
donkey — they're not interested even if they break 
the donkey's back". The father and son consulted 
one another, "What they say is true," — if they ride 
the donkey singly, together or lead the donkey, they 
get criticized — what can they do? They found a 
rope and tied the donkey so that it hung on the pole 
by its feet. The father took one end of the pole and 
the son the other and they went on their way. They 
passed through the fifth village and all the villag-
ers exclaimed, "This father and son must be mad. 
What could be the reason they have bought a don-
key to carry around like that. Wouldn't it be better 
just to walk empty-handed?" This story only goes 
to show that if you want to find something to criti-
cize, you can always find something. However, un-
fortunately, those who spend their whole time criti-
cizing others are very numerous in the world. The 
moral of the story is that you cannot rely on others' 
criticism to tell you the truth of a situation — you 
must have principles which are tried and tested to 
use as a rule of thumb. 
E.2 Er. Serioa Jdtaka (J.3) 
The bodhisattva was once a hawker of Seriva and 
was called Seriva. Once, in the company of a greedy 
merchant of the same name, he crossed the Telavitha 
and entered Andhapura. In that city was a family who 
had fallen on hard times, the sole survivors being a 
girl and her grandmother. The greedy merchant went 
to their house with his wares. The girl begged her 
grandmother to buy a trinket, and suggested that 
they should give the hawker the golden bowl from 
which they ate. The bowl was a valuable heirloom, 
but it had lost its lustre and the woman didn't know 
its value. The hawker was called in and shown the 
bowl. He scratched it with a needle and knew it was 
solid gold, but wishing to have it for nothing, he 
bluffed saying it was not worth half a farthing — so 
he threw it aside and left. Later. the bodhisattva came 
to the same street and was offered the same bowl. 
He told them the truth, gave them all the money he 
had and his stock too, leaving only eight pieces of 
money for himself. These he gave to the boatman and 
boarded the boat to cross the river. Meanwhile, the 
greedy merchant went again to the old woman's 
house, hoping to get the bowl in exchange for a few 
trinkets. When he heard what had happened, he lost 
command of himself, and throwing down all he had, 
ran down to the river to find the bodhisattva's boat 
in mid-stream. He shouted to the boatman to retum, 
but the bodhisattva urged him on. The merchant, re-
alizing what he had lost through his greed, was so 
upset that his heart burst and he fell down dead. 
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