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E.3 Ex. Stici Jataka (J.387) 
The bodhisattva was once a very clever smith 
of Kasi, but was very poor. The principal royal 
smith had a beautiful daughter and the 
bodhisattva, wishing to win her, made a needle 
so delicate that could pierce anvils and float on 
water. For this needle, he made seven sheaths. 
He then went to the village of the head smith, 
stood outside the house and sang the praises of 
the needle. The smith's daughter, who was fan-
ning her father, told the bodhisattva to go else-
where as no-one in that village wanted needles. 
The bodhisattva answered that his were no or-
dinary needles and the head-smith asked him 
to show them. The bodhisattva suggested that 
all the smiths be summoned and in their pres-
ence, he gave the needle-tube to the head-smith. 
He thought it was the needle itself, because he 
could find no end or tip. The tube was handed 
back to the bodhisattva who took out the first 
sheath. In this way the seven sheaths were re-
moved and when the needle was at last revealed, 
he made it pierce an anvil and float on water. 
The whole assembly was filled with envy and 
admiration and the head-smith gave his daugh-
ter to the bodhisattva. 
Blessing Eighteen: Blameless Work 221 
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The Sixth 
Group of Blessings 
"Preparation of Mind" 
The first eighteen blessings form the first half of the Mangala Sutta. 
They are all concerned with transforming our lives. It is only upon 
the foundation of security in life achieved in the first half of the 
Blessings of Life, that one can go on, in the second half of the Sutta 
to cultivate purity of mind in earnest by following Blessings nine-
teen to thirty-eight. When we come to the start of the sixth group-
ing we are concerned with the preparation of the mind. 
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Blessing Nineteen: 
Abstaining from 
Unwholesomeness 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 Introduction to the Nineteenth Blessing 
The mind is fickle and easily influenced. A per-
son who is virtuous today can easily relapse into 
bad behaviour tomorrow if his mind has not been 
cultivated to the point of steadfastness. When you 
realize the weakness of the mind it immediately 
implies that we have work to do in the constant 
upgrading of the mind towards something bet-
ter. If you really want to be sure that you will 
never do unwholesome deeds again, then at the 
least you have to attain enlightenment at the level 
of 'stream-enterer' [sotapana]. For those who still 
fall short of this initial degree of enlightenment 
— although you can always praise and encour-
age their good intentions — you can never en-
tirely trust the working of the remaining defile-
ments in their mind. 
Cultivating virtue can be compared to climb-
ing a tree. Trees have no branches at the lowest 
level. The lowest branches are several metres 
above the ground. Therefore if you want to start 
climbing a tree you have to shinny up the trunk 
before you can sit to rest on the lowest branch. If 
you don't make it to the first branch, whenever 
you get fired you will slide back down to the bot-
tom of the tree again. Only if you are on the first 
branch can you be sure you will not backslide and 
can you be sure that you have a chance of eating 
the fruit from the tree. In the same way, in the 
pursuit of virtue, no matter how many years you 
have been cultivating good deeds, if you have still 
not managed to attain the body of enlightenment 
(Dhammakitya) inside yourself, you cannot be 
assured that one day, if you are short of encour-
agement you will not fall back to your old un-
wholesome ways. 
For most people in the world, unfortunately it 
is much easier to do unwholesome (wicked) 
things rather than wholesome (good) ones. To do 
unwholesome deeds is like going with the flow 
— but in fact is is the tide of defilements in the 
mind. Instead of being ourselves, we become like 
a puppet to the defilements or demons [mare] in 
our minds — in the beginning it might seem easy, 
but in the long-term suffering and regret is the 
path to which it leads. By comparison to do good 
deeds is like travelling against the flow—it needs 
much more patience and precision to go against 
the tide of temptation and defilement in one's 
mind. However, although it may seem more dif-
ficult in the beginning, in the long term, it has 
true happiness as its destination. 
Thus to gain the steadfastness of mind and re-
sist the temptation of slipping into the conven-
ience of unwholesome ways, we have to study 
Blessing Nineteen concerning the avoidance of 
all unwholesomeness. It is the first step in ad-
justing our quality of mind. Adjustments to qual-
ity of mind will continue in a way that becomes 
increasingly refined all the way to Blessing 
Thirty-Eight. 
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B. MORAL ANIMA( 1ILS TO I NBIIOLLSOMENESS 
When comparing different systems of ethics, usu-
ally you will not find much disagreement in the dis-
cussion of what constitutes a good deed— however, 
when you come to the morality of avoiding evil, 
suddenly there is a lot more controversy. 
People like to do what they feel comes naturally 
and if you look at man to try to find out what ap-
pears to be the natural state of man you will come 
across a lot of surprises. If you were to describe what 
ought to happen to a rock when you drop it, it falls 
to the ground every time, so it is easy to make up a 
rule. However, if you try to make up a rule to de-
scribe what man ought to do in any situation, even 
if you expect the best of intentions from man, you 
will often be disappointed. Even if you take the 
most crude system governing morality, such as the 
law, you will find that many people disobey it. Even 
though people know perfectly well what is right 
and wrong, they still do misdeeds, and you might 
argue that if the nature of man is to be disinterested 
even in the most basic of morality, that it is not man 
that is the measure of morality, but it must lie else-
where. Indeed, according to the rationale of 
Phramonkolthepmuni, the Great Abbot of Wat 
Paknam: 
"Force needs to be applied to improve peoples' 
virtues. The mind is like water which tends to 
sink to its own depth. Without effort, the mind's 
virtue, like water, will fall to the lowest level —
that is the performance of evil deeds. If normal 
people are to develop their minds to the level 
of the arahant, then efforts need to be made. 
The mind has to be brought under control until 
it comes to a standstill. Thus, to govern others, 
there need to be rules. There needs to be some-
thing to force people to become better — and 
there need to be penalties for breaking the 
rules." 
If the rules are to be better than man himself, to 
make him better, then the question arises where 
they should come from. The answer to the ques-
tion is different in different ethical systems de-
pending on what each takes as its ideal. In gen-
eral, you can summarize the origin of these rules 
under three headings: 
1. Artificial Morality: artificial morality where 
the Law court decides what is right or wrong 
and retribution is man-made; 
2. Theistic Morality: where decisions about 
what is useful or unuseful behaviour are at-
tributed to a supreme supernatural being. In 
deified religions such as Christianity or Islam, 
sin originates from displeasure or disloyalty 
to the will of this supreme being and can also 
be nullified by confession and penance to that 
being. Supposing the Creator ordered Chris-
tians always to think of God and never to take 
His name in vain— if they were to blaspheme 
or use God as a swearword — because that is 
against God's will, it is a source of sin. Because 
God and not the perpetrator is the source of 
the sin, this logic can lead to strange beliefs 
such as that sin can be transmitted from par-
ents to their children. Adam and Eve ate the 
forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden and so 
committed the primordial sin. As a result of 
that action all subsequent generations down 
to the present day all have to suffer as the re-
sult. 
3. Natural Morality: This does not mean doing 
'whatever comes naturally'! It refers to guide-
lines for morality which are not attributed to 
any supernatural source, but which are passed 
down from a time when men were wiser, more 
insightful, perceptive and shameful than in 
the present day. The men did not make the 
rules but observed the long term conse-
quences of the behaviours — thereby coming 
up with recommendations for how to behave 
in order not to risk regret at a later time. It is 
just like a person who vainly tries to wear 
shoes that are two sizes too small for them. 
No-one says such behaviour is good or bad 
— but the truth is that by wearing them, later 
they will suffer from pain as a result. Thus, 
natural morality is not a system of judge-
ments, but a description of the likely conse-
quences of behaviours in the long term. 
As we shall see, the Buddhist understanding of 
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wholesomeness andunwholesomeness accords to 
natural morality. 
C. UNWHOLESOMENESS 
The translation of the Pali word 'papa' (which we 
translate glibly as 'unwholesomeness') in fact has 
very broad scope of meaning. The implication of 
the word is one of 'malfunction'. If you consider 
any other malfunctioning object such as a rundown 
house or a broken-down car or rotten food you 
might have a better idea of the unpleasant quali-
fies of papa'. However the important malfunction-
ing implied by the term is the malfunctioning of 
the mind. When the mind malfunctions it takes on 
the unpleasant qualities of cruelty, impurity and low 
quality. Anything that detracts from the quality of the 
mind is 'unwholesome' for the purposes of our un-
derstanding of the word 'papa'. 
C.1 Origin of 'unwholesomeness' in Buddhism 
The Buddha taught that sin will not arise for those 
who do no unwholesome deeds. Unwholesomeness 
will only arise if you do unwholesome deeds, as 
we can see from the proverbs: 
Natthi papcup akubbato 
No unwholesomeness accrues to those who 
do no unwholesome deeds 
Dh. v. 124 
and 
Attana pakatatp pdpairt attana scupkilissati, 
attend akatcup papatp attana 'act visujjhati 
Unwholesomeness accrues personally to those 
who do unwholesome deeds. Those who do no 
unwholesome deeds remain pure. 
Nd'.32 
If you don't do any unwholesome deeds, there will 
be no unwholesome consequences. If you do un-
wholesome deeds you will receive unwholesome 
consequences. You don't find that one person does 
unwholesome deeds and another person receives 
the consequences. If a father eats a meal, he will be 
full. His son will be left hungry. It is never the case 
that the father eats a meal and his son has his appe-
tite satisfied thereby! Thus in Buddhism unwhole-
someness arises for a person as a result of the un-
wholesome deeds they do. Unwholesomeness 
arises in the mind of that person (not in their feet or 
hands etc.) Unwholesome will attach itself to the 
mind of the doer and will stain the mind of that 
person making the mind dull and clouded. 
Unwholesome for Buddhists is produced by ac-
tion of body, speech or mind which leads to un-
wholesomeness in the mind. The result of practis-
ing discipline until attaining self-discipline is to re-
move oneself from the influence of the Tenfold Path 
of Unwholesomeness lakusaladhammapathaj(see 
Blessing Nine §D.2). The Buddha analysed unwhole-
some states in a very detailed way, because he 
wanted us to be able to keep up with the changes 
occurring in our own minds. He expected us even 
to be able to recognize vengefulness arising in our 
own minds and withdraw from a situation before 
it worsens to anger, cruelty or aggression. 
C2 Characteristics of Unwholesomeness 
In fact many of the dynamics of unwholesomeness 
are the same as for merit but they take their action 
in the opposite way. It is the residue of unwhole-
some karma which can be done with body, speech 
or mind. They are like poisons for the mind where 
merit is a food. Unwholesomeness will tend to 
cloud the mind, worsen the quality of the mind, it 
can be accumulated, it belongs to the person who 
did its originating evil deed, as it gives its fruits it 
will be exhausted, the amount of demerit depends 
on the strength of intention, amount of effort and 
the amount of ingratitude of the originating deed, 
and it will attract misfortune at four levels: mind, 
personality, lifestyle and society. 
1. Level of mind: The first level of description at 
which unwholesomeness brings retribution is 
at the level of the mind. The retribution in-
cludes clouding the mind, decreasing the 
quality of the mind, bringing unease of mind, 
making the mind more unstable, making the 
mind less flexible, making the mind less radi-
ant, decreasing the potential of the mind, ob-
structing decision-making, obstructing in-
sightful analysis of any situation, make think-
ing less thorough and comprehensive, ob-
structing thought that is noble or deep; 
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2. Level of Personality: Damage to the quality 
of the mind brings about the following gen-
eral changes in personality — physical awk-
wardness, bringing ignorance, crudeness and 
clumsiness, causing a decay of tastes and val-
ues, deterioration of character and personal-
ity, lack of skill in speech, deterioration of be-
haviour, more impatience, less control over 
temper, worsened personal appearance, more 
anxieties. 
3. Level of Lifestyle: Unwholesomeness will take 
its effect on our mind and our personality 
immediately whenever we perform an un-
wholesome action. At the third level, that of 
the lifestyle, however, we cannot be sure how 
quickly the damage will be manifested be-
cause our quality of lifetime arises as the re-
sult of both present and past deeds. General 
disadvantages include failure, condemnation, 
vulnerability to misfortune, lack of attain-
ment, disappointment in the things we wish 
for. 
4. Level of Society: Beyond the level of lifestyle, 
accumulated collective results of the unwhole-
someness of many people together will give 
rise to: Sorrow, disharmony, injustice, aggres-
sion, lack of progress, hardship at the social 
and family levels 
C.3 Purifying oneself from unwholesomeness 
In Buddhism unwholesomeness arises as the resi-
due of our own unwholesome deeds. Unwhole-
someness which we have accrued for ourselves will 
stay with us until it gives its retribution. To do good 
deeds does not even out the bad ones we have done 
— they are like two separate bank accounts. How-
ever, if we would like to reduce the effect of un-
wholesomeness you have accrued for yourself in 
the past is to do as many good deeds as you can, 
thereby to dilute the relative amount of unwhole-
someness in your karmic history (as already men-
tioned in Blessing 16, §A.1, A.2). 
b. ABSTAINING FROM IA ROLF.-SOMFNISS 
D.1 Definitions 
This blessing uses two words to describe the way 
in which unwholesomeness can be eradicated from 
the mind. 'Arad' means giving up any unwhole-
some habits which we have picked up in the past 
— i.e. eradication.' Virate means not picking up any 
further types of unwholesome habit — i.e. by avoid-
ance. 
D.2 Strategies for abstinence 
The way we practice eradication and avoidance of 
unwholesomeness depends on the exact type of 
unwholesomeness. Even medicine needs to be sepa-
rated into different classes such as internal, exter-
nal, vitamins etc. for convenience in using them to 
cure illnesses. In the same way if we understand 
the different sorts of unwholesomeness, we will be 
thorough in our giving up and avoidance of un-
wholesomeness behaviours and practice will be 
more convenient for us. Unwholesomeness is cat-
egorized according to its refinement and the appro-
priate way to avoid such unwholesomeness de-
pends on their refinement. 
D.2.1 Gross unwholesomeness 
Gross unwholesomeness includes physical and ver-
bal misdeed such as killing, stealing, committing 
adultery and lying. No-one stops doing evil by ac-
cident. One has to start with the intention to avoid 
evil. It is like the person who wants to give up smok-
ing has to start with the intention to give up smok-
ing first of all. The intention to avoid evil is called 
"virati" in the Pali or "veramani" which you will 
recognize from the requesting of the Precepts. In 
fact there are three ways in which people avail 
themselves of the intention to avoid evil (DA.i.305, 
KhA.142). 
1. Situational avoidance Isampattavirati]: This 
means avoidance of evil on a situational ba-
sis. There is no public declaration that a per-
son will avoid evil in advance — he decides 
on the spur of the moment when confronted 
with the situation. If you see a fish washed 
up on the beach and you decide on the spur 
of the moment to throw it back into the water 
out of compassion, rather than killing it—this 
is the sort of avoidance which we call 
sampattavirati. Perhaps you would turn in a 
lost wallet with all of the money instead of 
keeping it for yourself, for fear of being ac-
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cused of stealing. Such avoidance of evil oc-
curs as the result of the important ability to 
teach oneself i.e. the fear and shame of evil or 
the consequences of evil [hiri-ottappa]. 
2. Planned Avoidance [samadanaviratik This 
means avoidance of evil by formally request-
ing the giving of the precepts by a monk. Some 
people simply make a vow to keep the Pre-
cepts each day in front of the shrine. Even if 
someone were to give you a bottle of beer, not 
because you are ashamed to do so, but because 
you have taken the Five Precepts that day, you 
will turn down the offer for fear of breaking 
your vow. 
3. Transcendental Avoidance [samuccheda-
virati]: This is absolute avoidance of evil of 
the type achieved by those who have attained 
the stages of Buddhist sainthood. Their mind 
is on such a high level, that even the intention 
to do the evil doesn't enter into the mind, let 
alone the outcomes of evil thought like 
or action. 
Although there are different ways of abstaining 
from unwholesomeness, in practice, keeping the 
Precepts is the most workable. The Precepts are the 
means by which gross unwholesomeness can be 
avoided. Thus we use the Five Precepts, the Eight 
Precepts, the Ten Precepts and the 227 Precepts. 
D.2.2 Medium unwholesomeness 
Unwholesomeness at the medium level is anything 
that causes the mind to wander away from the cen-
tre of the body. The further the mind wanders from 
the centre of the body, the more damaging will be 
the things which the mind will think about — and 
the amount of unwholesomeness will increase in 
proportion.This is the reason why we must prac-
tice meditation as the way to bring the mind back 
from all those negative thoughts to the centre of 
the body. 
Supposing you are walking along and stub your 
toe on a step. When you are angry, your mind will 
go to the step. If you can bring the mind back to the 
centre of the body again, then the anger disappears. 
Even if you are not able to bring the mind back im-
mediately, the sooner you can bring the mind back 
the sooner will you recover from the anger. If you 
are slow in bringing your mind back, before long 
your thoughts will elaborate onto who to blame and 
how to get your revenge. 
The same principles apply to greed. Whenever 
you see something as beautiful, it will cause your 
mind to be pulled away from the centre of the body 
to be with the beautiful thing. If your mind is away 
from the centre of the body for long enough, the 
thoughts that follow on will be thoughts of envy 
and how to obtain the thing for yourself, even if it 
is by dishonest means. If you see something as beau-
tiful, if you want to maintain your quality of mind, 
then you should quickly bring your mind back to 
the centre of your body, repeat the mantra Samma-
Araham to yourself and be quickly on your way. 
Therefore, when we talk about unwholesomeness 
at this level, we mean the distancing of the mind 
from the centre of the body andthe associated nega-
tive thoughts. These negative ways of thinking can 
be categorizedas five sorts of mental hindrance 
inivaraaa]. Most people overlook the damage of 
them. In fact they seriously impede your opportu-
nity to do good deeds 
1. Sense-desire [kamachandal: 
2. Illwill [byapcida]: 
3. Sloth and Torpor [thinamiddha]: 
4. Absent-mindedness [uddhacca-kukkucca] 
5. Doubt [uicikiccha]: 
Hindrances can be overcome by the practice of 
meditation until one-pointedness Iekaggatal of 
mind can be achieved. Some days we meditate well. 
Other days we have to compete with many obsta-
cles. All this is part of the fight against impurities 
in the mind. Thus don't think that if your medita-
tion still seems to have many obstacles it is of no 
merit. In fact it is a fight against the unwholesome 
in the mind. One day in the future you achieve to-
tal victory. 
D.2.3 Subtle unwholesomeness 
Subtle unwholesomeness is et harder to observe. 
These fetters [anusaya] 
254, A.iv.8, Vbh.383) 
are like habits that stop us achieving the path to 
Nirvana: 
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1. Sensual grasping Ramaraga]: 
2. Irritability [patigha] 
3. Wrong View [clifthe] 
4. Doubt [vicikicchat 
5. Looking down on others [mina) 
6. Grasping for existence Ibhcivaragal 
7. Ignorance lard/jai 
You have to overcome such defilements by attain-
ing the Dhammalciya and using the DhammaltAya 
for insight meditation to uproot them. 
D.3 Developing Conscience as Protection from 
Unwholesome Behaviour 
Sometimes we know that our behaviour is un-
wholesome, but we carry on doing it nonetheless. 
In order to strengthen one's conscience, the Bud-
dha recommended the cultivation of two additional 
virtues — that of being ashamed of unwholesome-
ness [hiri] and fear of the consequences of unwhole-
someness [ottappaj. Shame of unwholesomeness 
can be developed by recollecting: 
1. Your own human status. You have to think 
that you are a human being and not a savage 
— having attained such a noble birth how can 
we stoop to killing, stealing or adultery? 
2. Your own family. You have to remind your-
self that your family has been doing good 
deeds for generations — so how can you bear 
to be the one to destroy the family name. 
3. Your own age. If you remind yourself that at 
your age you ought to know better than to 
mess around with various sorts of immoral-
ity. 
4. Your own past good deeds. You have to think 
how can you bear to spoil your track record 
5. Your own knowledge. You have to think how 
you can be so stupid to do bad things in spite 
of all you have learned. 
6. Your own teachers. You have to think of your 
spiritual teachers and academic teacher and 
think how they would feel about what you 
are doing. 
Another way of thinking is to remind yourself that 
there are no secrets in the world. If others don't see 
what we are doing, the angels will. Even if the an-
gels don't see, we are still witness to our own deeds. 
Similarly, fear of the consequences of unwhole-
someness can be developed by recollecting: 
1. Later Regret. If we were to do an unwhole-
some thing like this, it is not worth it be-
cause we will only regret it later. 
2. Criticism: If we were to do an unwhole-
some thing like this, it is not worth it be-
cause others will criticize us for it. 
3. Retribution: If we were to do an unwhole-
some thing like this, it is not worth it be-
cause we will only be punished later or re-
ceive the bad karma. 
4. Hell Realms: If we were to do an unwhole-
some thing like this, it is not worth it be-
cause we will only be born in hell. 
In conclusion we can say that unwholesomeness is 
not just breaking the Precepts but it is what hap-
pens to the mind whenever the mind is distanced 
from the centre of the body. To avoid unwholesome 
we have to train the mind to return and establish 
itself permanently at the centre of the body. In the 
beginning we have to keep the Precepts, at an in-
termediate level we have to train ourselves in medi-
tation until we can attain the Dhammakaya. When 
we attain Dhammakaya we can meditate oninsight 
and uproot the refined defilements from the mind 
too. In order to inspire yourself to train in keeping 
the Precepts and meditate conscientiously you 
should cultivate these hand-in-hand with your con-
science. 
L. 1LIA1S112A1MI, EXAMPLES 
El Metaphor. Just as we must freshen ourselves up ... 
Just as we have to freshen ourselves up thoroughly 
before dressing up smart, before we avail ourselves 
of the higher virtues we have to make sure we are 
completely free of remaining unwholesomeness. 
£2 Ex. Cakkana and the Rabbit SA.ii. I 12, 
Milt 165, DhsA.103 
There is a story of a young man whose mother was 
ill with a bad back. The doctor said the only way to 
cure the disease is to treat it with fresh rabbit blood. 
Because he wanted his mother to be cured he went 
out hunting for rabbits. He caught a rabbit but when 
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he was about to wring its neck, he saw its sad eyes 
and couldn't bring himself to kill it. He let the rab-
bit go and returned home empty handed. 
His brother asked him, "Where's the rabbit?" 
The boy said, he had let the rabbit go so his 
brother shouted at him, "Do you think the life of a 
rabbit is worth more than the life of your own 
mother?" 
The boy didn't say anything but went and bowed 
at the feet of his mother and said, "Mother I wanted 
to kill a rabbit to make medicine for you but I 
couldn't bring myself to do it. I thought to myself 
that your illness is only due to the karmic retribu-
tion of such killing for many lifetimes. Even if I were 
to have killed the rabbit, there is no guarantee that 
its blood would help you to survive. Whether the 
medicine worked or not, the killing would just 
make for more unwholesome karma so we would 
come across the same predicament in future life-
times." 
The young boy made an act of truth, saying, "May 
the power of never having killed an animal since I 
was born cause my mother to be cured". 
Because of the boy's virtue and sincerity, miracu-
lously the mother was cured. Thus if you keep the 
Precepts properly, when it comes to situations of 
hardship, your resolution will also be effective. This 
isan example of abstinence from unwholesomeness 
by situational avoidance. 
£3 Ex. The Man and the Python (Mt:Ayala. 
dipani 2/158/129) 
There was once a young man who used to go to the 
temple regularly and request his Precepts from an 
arahant. He didn't have any special virtue except 
for the Precepts he had requested. One day he went 
to work in the forest. On the way a python cap-
tured him and coiled round him with the intention 
to crush him. Normally, forest travelers will keep a 
dagger on them for such an eventuality. Every time 
you breath out, the python will tighten its coils, but 
if the victim puts the knife between themselves and 
the coils normally the snake will release them.The 
young man immediately pulled out his dagger with 
the thought to stab the python in the head. Then he 
thought, it is such a rare opportunity for me to be 
born at a time when Buddhism is still known and 
practiced. It is so rare for me to be able to meet an 
arahant. If I were to die, I don't know how many 
more lifetimes it would take before I would have a 
similar chance again. If I were to kill this snake then 
there would be no end to the vicious circle of karma. 
It would also break my Precepts. It is also equiva-
lent to lying to an arahant. He had to think to him-
self which was more important to him — Precepts 
or his own life. Finally he decided his Precepts were 
more important so he threw away his knife and 
concentrated at the centre of his body. The merit 
filled his mind. A strange thing happened. The 
snake, even though it was a humble beast, suddenly 
felt sorry for the man and let him go. This is an ex-
ample of abstinence from unwholesomeness by 
planned avoidance. 
E.4 Ex. Kukkutamitta 
the Hunter 
(DhA.iii.241):) 
In the time of the Buddha there was a woman who 
had been going to the temple with her mother since 
the age of seven. At that time she had already be-
come a stream-enterer. A stream-enterer keeps the 
Precepts automatically the whole of the time and is 
unable to break their Precepts. Sense-grasping is still 
in the mind of a stream-enterer, however. Thus even 
though she was a stream-enterer, she still had subtle 
desires. As the daughter of a millionaire she had her 
own castle and each day she would look down from 
the castle at the people coming and going in the 
market place (because she had nothing better to do). 
One day she saw a hunter coming to sell the ani-
mals he had killed in the market place. She fell in 
love with him on first sight, and in the end eloped 
with him. Even though she could no longer bring 
herself to kill, steal, commit adultery, lie or drink al-
cohol, she could not help herself falling in love. Be-
fore long she had seven sons. When they married, 
she had another seven daughter in-laws. The Bud-
dha saw that the time had come when the family 
could profit from his teaching so he passed by the 
home of the hunter. The Buddha spread loving-kind-
ness so that no animals in the area got caught in any 
of the hunter's traps. The Buddha sat in the forest 
and meditated. When the hunter couldn't catch any-
Blessing Nineteen: Abstaining from Unwholesomeness 231 
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thing he thought that someone must be stealing the 
animals out of the traps, so he looked for the culprit. 
He saw the footprints of the Buddha and followed 
them to where the Buddha was. The hunter aimed 
an arrow at the Buddha but was unable to shoot and 
stuck there at the spot. All the seven sons came out 
looking for the father, and tried to shoot the Buddha 
and ended up the same as the father; frozen to the 
spot. Later in the day, the woman came out looking 
for the rest of the family along with her daughters 
in-law. When the woman saw the Buddha and what 
her husband was trying to do she called, "That's my 
own father. Don't harm him!" When the sons and 
father heard their mother's voice they thought that 
the Buddha was really her father and so laid down 
their bows. The Buddha was able to teach them un-
til all of them could attain stream-entry in that fam-
ily. From that time onwards no-one in the family 
could kill any more. This is an example of abstinence 
from unwholesomeness by transcendental avoidance. 
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Blessing Twenty: 
Restraint from 
Drinking Intoxicants 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 Western values concerning alcohol 
Alcohol in the West is a substance primarily associ-
ated with relaxation and celebration. Most 
westerners would shrink from any hint that alco-
hol is an agent of mass destruction. However, con-
sider some of the following national statistics from 
the USA summarized in a SCielitifiC American report 
in June 1998 (p.67): 
• Alcohol consumption contributes annually to 
100,000 deaths in the USA alone. 
• Alcoholism is the third most common prevent-
able cause of death after smoking and obesity. 
• 14-20 million Americans have some history of 
their lives being disrupted by their relations with 
alcohol. 
• An estimated 40% of Americans have been inti-
mately exposed to the effects of alcohol abuse 
through a family member. 
• As many as 12,000 children born annually to 
drinking mothers in the US have mental and 
physical deficiencies as a result of their exposure 
to alcohol in utero. 
The mores and traditions of our era form a veil of 
self-satisfying myths which often blind us to the 
damage alcohol consumption actually brings to 
modem society — and perhaps by understanding 
how deeply alcohol is woven into Western culture, 
can we take care not to have the wool pulled over 
our eyes too! 
In the West before the popularity of tea and cof-
fee in the late eighteenth century, alcohol was 
claimed to be one of the only hygenic drinks avail-
able. Although Judeo-Christian teachings prevalent 
in the west have never supported drunkenness, 
they have portrayed alcohol consumption as a nec-
essary coping mechanism in the face of social hard-
ship: 
"Give strong drink unto him that is ready 
to perish, and wine unto those that be of 
heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his 
poverty, and remember his misery no 
more." (Proverbs 31) 
Wine has even been incorporated into the most sa-
cred of Christian ceremonies — the Mass. Histori-
cally speaking, the escalation in the seriousness of 
alcohol problems has been accelerated as the dis-
tilled liquor products have become more readily 
available on the market. Research as early as 1813 
established the connection between alcohol con-
sumption and liver disease, jaundice, wasting and 
mental disfunction. Indeed, alcohol consumption 
has not gone completely unopposed in the West — 
however, in Christian circles such opposition has 
mostly come in the form of temperance rather than 
abstinence. It was Methodist values backed by clini-
cal research which led to the American Prohibition 
from 1920 to 1933. 
Because of its long history of acceptance in Judeo-
Christian culture alcohol remains deeply rooted in 
the Western idea of respectability. Thus, as we pur-
Blessing Twenty: Restraint from Drinking Intoxicants 233 
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sue our path of the Manual of Peace, whether in a 
Buddhist context or otherwise, we need to take care 
to make ourselves truly open to alternative ap-
proaches to intoxicants like alcohol — westerners 
reading the content of this blessing need (perhaps 
more than for other blessings) to have particular 
conviction in the wisdom of 'Restraint from drink-
ing intoxicants' to adopt standards concerning the 
consumption of alcohol based on the Buddha's 
teachings rather than the current social norms. 
A.2 Why Buddhists consider abstinence from 
alcohol indispensable 
Abstaining from alcohol is a virtue we have already 
encountered several times on our journey through 
the Manual of Peace — as a 'road to ruin' in Bless-
ings Si; Seven, Thirteen and Fourteen, as the Fifth 
Precept in Blessing Nine and as a substance which 
is not to be sold for one's livelihood in Blessing 
Eighteen. The Buddha devotes an entire blessing 
to 'Restraint from Drinking Intoxicants' in Bless-
ing Twenty, not simply because of the damage al-
cohol does to one's physical health, but because if 
one doesn't abstain from alcohol definitively by this 
point in the Manual of Peace, one will have no 
chance to upgrade oneself in the direction of Bless-
ing Twenty-One (Avoiding recklessness in the 
Dhamma) and beyond. 
If you consider self-discipline based on the Five 
Precepts, you will find that each of the Five Pre-
cepts are more or less independent from one an-
other — except for the fifth. If you break the any of 
the first four precepts, normally it will not cause 
any other of the Precepts to be broken. However, if 
the Fifth Precept is ever broken, it subsequently in-
creases the risk of breaking all the other four Pre-
cepts. When you drink, you say more than you 
mean to, some is true, the rest breaks the fourth Pre-
cept. If you have some latent adulterous tenden-
cies, they will manifest themselves when you are 
drunk. If you have tendencies to steal then you will 
find it hard to keep your hands to yourself when 
you are drunk. If you are normally bad-tempered, 
when you are drunk you will be uninhibited in your 
violence. Alcohol may be the single reason why you 
break all the Precepts. Without alcohol, when our 
conscience is fully-functional, we cannot do any-
thing harmful, because we still feel shy of wicked 
deeds — especially for our reputation. Thus alco-
hol is something about which we have to be ex-
tremely wary. 
For most of us, no matter how bad we may start 
out, if we don't go to the lengths of drinking alco-
hol, we still have the opportunity to change our-
selves for the better. Supposing someone is a ruf-
fian who likes to pick fights, usually such habits 
will only last for as long as he is a teenager. When 
he is more mature he will stop by himself. Thieves 
who have been stealing since they were young, as 
they grow up will start to think, "Am I going to 
keep on stealing like this until the day I die?" Even 
the Casanovas of the world, as they get older will 
become reflective about their own condition— they 
will become self-conscious about being seen by oth-
ers as a 'dirty old man'. Liars too will eventually 
become bored of lying. However, if any of these four 
types of people are still drinking alcohol as well, 
they will be unable to stop their old ways. The 
thought of stopping might cross their minds, but 
as soon as they start drinking, their behaviour will 
regress into its old ways. The fifth Precept is thus 
the most crucial. If you ever hear anyone boasting 
that they can keep all the Precepts except the last, 
take their claims with a pinch of salt — all five of 
their Precepts are at risk 
A.3 How alcohol affects the mind 
The problem with alcohol is that it worsens the latent 
weaknesses and unwholesome tendencies that already 
existin the inind.The Buddha taught that the untrained 
mind tends to have the following four weaknesses: 
1. It is habituated to unwholesomeness: The 
mind will squirm like a fish out of water: be-
ing so used to negative moods as soon as you 
start to take the mind away from these nega-
tive states it will struggle. 
2. It will change continuously: You will tend to 
change your mind about any decision you 
have made 
3. It will wander: It is hard to keep the mind on 
a single thing 
4. It is hard to pacify. 
234 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towarcLs Enlightened Living 
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Under the influence of alcohol, all these bad fea-
tures of the mind have the chance to manifest them-
selves to the full. 
A.4 Drunkenness even without alcohol 
Even if we are sober it is difficult enough to per-
ceive the true nature of life and the world around 
us. The Buddha taught that, even if we don't smoke, 
drink alcohol or abuse drugs, we are already drunk 
the whole of the time — especially concerning the 
following three things: 
1. we are drunken concerning our youth (we tend 
to think "l am still young — I can still go out 
every night. I am still beautiful — I can still 
turn the heads of young men") 
2. we are drunken concerning ourfreedom of dis-
ease. Those who are healthy are wont to think 
that they will be healthy like that forever and 
that abuse of their health doesn't matter. 
3. we are drunken concerning the length of our 
lives. We think that the likes of us doesn't die 
so easily. We tend to think we are still strong 
and that our time has not come — in fad we 
are fooling ourselves. 
The Buddha called such attitudes 'drunkenness'. 
Even without drinking alcohol, people still think 
like this. If we drink alcohol as well, there will be 
many more forms of drunkenness which will be 
attracted to us as the result. 
B. DENNI1 IONS 
B.1 Definition of 'intoxicants' 
Intoxicants [majjhapanal in this blessing refer to 
anything absorbable by the body that clouds the 
mind. In general this means alcohol, but it also re-
fers to other substances such as addictive drugs. It 
can mean liquids that are drunk or injected or dry 
substances like tobacco that are smoked. 
B.2 Definition of 'drinking' 
The Pali word isaiifiamos used in relation to alco-
hol in this Blessing usually means 'being careful 
with regard to'. In our context, however, 'being care-
ful' of intoxicating substances doesn't just mean 
using these things with care, in normal circum-
stances it means total abstention. It is only in excep-
tional circumstances such as medical use that care-
ful use of alcohol may be considered. Some religions 
which prohibit alcohol per se will not even allow 
their followers to use alcohol to clean a wound or 
to preserve a corpse —however Buddhism allows 
intoxicants to be used for medical purposes (e.g. 
where alcohol must be used to extract the active 
ingredients of some medicines). This excuse should 
not, however, be abused by those who put a tea-
spoonful of medicine in a bottle of alcohol to drink 
instead of putting a teaspoonful of alcohol in a bot-
tle of medicine. Similarly, we know that such drugs 
like opium are damaging to smoke, but they may 
be used for medicinal purposes. However to use 
them for non-medicinal purposes is prohibited. This 
is the only reason why 'being careful in the use of 
is used instead of 'abstain from'. If your sense of 
discretion is good, and your mind is dear, then you 
will be able to know for yourself what is the appro-
priate use of these substances. Thus we abstain com-
pletely from the general use of these substances and 
we use these substances with care in the case of me-
dicinal use. 
C. DAMAGE FROM DRINKING ALCOHOL 
C.1 Damage arising from drinking alcohol 
(visible this lifetime) 
In brief the Buddha taught 
182-4) that, even 
without waiting to see whalwil happen to us as 
the result of drinking alcohol in the next life, the 
damage alcohol does is as follows: 
1. It destroys your wealth: it will start eating into 
your income from the day you start to drink. 
2. It destroys friendship — in the beginning peo-
ple look like they are drinking to be sociable, 
but at the end of the night they may be break-
ing bottles over one another's heads 
3. It destroys your health 
4. It destroys your respectability 
5. It destroys your honour 
6. It destroys your intelligence. 
These are all dangers of alcohol visible in the present 
lifetime. 
Blessing Twenty: Restraint from Drinking Intoxicants 235 
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C.2 Damage arising from drinking alcohol 
(visible next lifetime) 
If we take a longer term view, drinking alcohol this 
lifetime stores up countless forms of retribution for 
future lifetimes: 
1. Speech impediments: Some people are born 
mute, and it turns out that such people passed 
away while drunk, while they were so drunk 
they couldn't say anything coherent. Even after 
a long time in hell, they may still not be able to 
throw off their speech impediment. A lesser form 
of the same retribution is to suffer from a stam-
mer; 
2. Madness: Some people are born mad or mentally 
incompetent as a result of having drunk a lot of 
alcohol in their past. The hallucinations experi-
enced when drunk become a permanent state of 
mind in a future birth. Some experience para-
noia. Lesser forms of the same sort of retribu-
tion are to lack steadfastness and self-confidence 
or to be gullible. Some people hear only a few 
words of praise from the opposite sex and elope 
with them — or hear a few words of criticism 
and hang themselves. Some are incapable of do-
ing anything more than sitting around all day 
and daydreaming —'building castles in the air'. 
3. Mental Deficiency: Some are mentally retarded 
having been so drunk in previous existences that 
they were unable to think straight — in a later 
existence this becomes a permanent state of be-
ing. 
4. Arising as a Crawling Animal: Even the crawl-
ing animals like snakes and lizards have drunk-
enness in previous lives as their causes — previ-
ously they were drunks who had been rehears-
ing crawling on all fours since they were still 
human. The difference between poisonous 
snakes and non-poisonous snakes is the differ-
ence between vengeful drunks who create suf-
fering for others and those who get drunk and 
remain benign. 
It is because the long-term effects of drinking are 
so difficult to control that when we come to the task 
of adjusting the quality of the mind, the Buddha 
had to teach us to avoid alcohol repeatedly. 
b. Ilk,N1,111S OF NOT DRINKING ALCOHOL 
The Buddha taught that if we don't drink alcohol, 
it will pave the way for the higher blessings ahead 
on the path — with advantages such as: 
• knowing events in the past, present and future 
without delay 
• mindfulness in all situations (rather than the 
mind wandering continuously) 
• non-recklessness 
• lack of envious enemies 
• respect from others 
• happiness 
• appreciating the virtue of others Ratak; hid 
• repaying one's debt of gratitude to others 
[katavedi] 
• generosity 
• purity of precepts 
• wisdom 
• worldly wealth 
• heavenly wealth 
• the ability to be a true refuge to oneself 
• the wealth of Nirvana 
Furthermore the purity by which we can avoid the 
Tenfold Path of Unwholesomeness will be avoided 
together with the Subtle Defilements of mind. We 
will have less tendency to engage in: 
• lies 
• malicious gossip 
• insults or swearing 
• idle chatter 
• deviousness 
• ill-temperedness 
• lack of shame of evil [kin] 
• lack of fear of (the retribution) of evil [ottappa] 
• wrong view. 
E. PRAGER-UM OF GIVING.IP MAIM; IMANIIIVELY 
Having realized the harm brought by consuming 
alcohol, if you decide to kick the drink habit, pre-
pare yourself for a struggle! It is not so easy to 
change an addiction and you are liable to experi-
ence withdrawal symptoms. However, for those 
who dare to train themselves in this way, here are a 
few words of advice to help pave the way to your 
eventual freedom from alcohol: 
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1. The first thing you have to do is see through to 
the danger of alcohol. 
2. Once you have seen the danger, you need to 
make up your mind to give up. 
3. The third thing is to avoid contact with anything 
that will remind you of drink any more (such as 
collections of old bottles). Don't allow any of 
these sort of things into your house. 
4. Fourthly, think of your own self-respect. Think 
of the things that will create a sense of conscience 
for yourself. 
5. The fifth thing you need to do is not to associate 
with your drinking friends any more. 
N. ILLUS112/111V1.1,2CAMPLLS 
El Metaphor: Just as one match can burn a 
town clown 
Just as a single match can burn down an entire town 
— even a little alcohol can cause a lapse of 
mindfulness that may ruin your whole life. 
11.2 Metaphor: The elephant's trunk 
In one metaphor told by Phramonkolthepmuni 
(1885-1959) - the Great Abbot of Wat Paknam: 
"abstaining from alcohol is the most important 
single Precepts because it ensures the reliabil-
ity of all the other four. For this reason you must 
strictly abstain from all alcohol. If you cannot 
abstain from alcohol then no single one of your 
Five Precepts is safe. This precept prohibits the 
consumption of any substance which causes 
people to lose their sense of responsibility. The 
enlightened ones never think to touch even a 
drop of such substances and you should fol-
low their example too if you really want to keep 
the Precepts. If the substance is one that causes 
heedlessness, you have the intention of consum-
ing it, you make the effort to consume it and it 
goes inside your body (e.g. down your throat) 
then the Fifth Precept will be broken. 
The Buddha compared the first four Precepts 
to the feet of an elephant and the Fifth Precept 
to its trunk. The whole of an elephant's quality 
of life depends on the intactness of its trunk. 
With its trunk it can earn its living and feed it-
self. Without a trunk it cannot stoop down and 
eat grass like a buffalo — because its so tall. It 
would have to endure the difficulty of lying 
down in order to eat. That's why the trunk is 
important. In the same way abstaining from al-
cohol is the important part of the Five Precepts. 
If you consume substances that make you heed-
less then before you realize it, you will break 
the other four Precepts. 
Thus the Fifth Precept is the important one. 
This is because of greed, hatred and ignorance 
in the mind, ignorance is the most damaging. 
This is why the Fifth Precept is so important. 
All the benefits of the good things in the whole 
of the Buddhist Canon hinge upon our respon-
sibility towards practising them. If you are reck-
less then you will estrange yourself from all 
these good things and furthermore do evil 
things instead. Alcohol and drugs that dull the 
mind causing one to slip into recklessness. Thus 
only when you are able to abstain strictly from 
all such substances will you set yourself upon 
a foundation of non-recklessness." 
E3 Ex. Bhagraghata jataka J.ii.431,1): 
Once the banker Anithapirmlika had a nephew 
who had squandered 40 million by his drinking 
habits, leaving him penniless. The nephew there-
fore came to Anithapirmlika's home asking for 
some financial help. The nephew said he would use 
the money to invest in business — to set himself up 
in life. Anithapirmlika was pleasantly surprised to 
hear his drunken nephew wanted to earn his liv-
ing. He gave him 1,000 and taught him a few tricks 
of the trade. The nephew thanked Anfithapioclika 
and wasted no time in going out with his friends at 
spending all the money on booze. 
Later he came back to Anithapirmlika saying he 
had lost all his money in business due to lack of 
experience and asked for money again. Anitha-
&milks pretended he didn't know what was go-
ing on and this time gave the nephew only 500, 
again telling him to invest it wisely. The shameless 
nephew spent all 500 on the alcohol again. 
For a third time, the nephew returned to ask for 
more. Anfithapiticlika gave him two pieces of 
coarse cloth instead of money, knowing he would 
Blessing Twenty: Restraint from Drinking Intoxicants 237 
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be more likely to make an effort to sell it. The 
nephew did sell the cloth but again he spent all he 
had earned on alcohol. 
He came back to An.ithapizmlika for a fourth time 
with an outstretched palm. This time Anfitha-
piticlilca had his nephew thrown out into the street. 
The nephew was destitute and lodged at this per-
son's house or that, until eventually the nephew 
died in poverty. 
Anithapicslika felt somehow blameworthy for 
his nephew's death. Was there something more he 
could have done? He sought audience from the 
Buddha telling him the whole story. The Buddha 
said that it was not only this life that the nephew 
had been beyond help. 
In a previous lifetime when the nephew had been 
given a wishing cup, it still couldn't help him. It 
still couldn't satiate his appetite — so it is no sur-
prise that with AnithapirAlika's limited means 
weren't enough to help him. 
The Buddha concluded briefly, but Anitha-
pirAilca invited him to give more detail. The Bud-
dha thus revealed the story of the past as follows: 
In the past, when King Brahmadatta reigned in 
Benares, the Bodhisattva was born as a millionaire, 
inheriting a fortune of 40 million from his father. 
He had only one child — a son. The Bodhisattva 
liked to perform acts of charity regularly, giving 
alms and pursuing other forms of virtues until the 
end of his life. When he passed away the 
Bodhisattva was reborn as Indra, the king of heaven. 
The only son inherited the fortune of 40 million, 
but instead of investing it in business, he had a huge 
pavilion built — not as a place of worship but as a 
drinking place. 
There he whiled away the time drinking with 
friends, hiring dancers and singers and gave them 
extravagant prizes for their performances. He did 
the same things every day — this and nothing else 
— living a life of drink and recklessness. Eventu-
ally his wealth was exhausted. He had to sell-up 
everything he owned. He was left destitute, wear-
ing only rags and wandering the streets. 
Indra surveyed the world and saw his former son 
destitute — his inheritance squandered on alcohol. 
Out of mercy, Indra appeared to the son saying 
"Now you are in great hardship. I feel sorry for you, 
so 
it. ever 
you this magic pot — take good care 
of it. ever drop it. If it breaks, it will lose its magic 
powers. It will produce whatever you wish for." 
The son accepted the cup and Indra gave him a 
sermon before returning to heaven, re-iterating that 
he should never let the cup break. The son prom-
ised to take good care of it. "Good," said Indra, "Be-
cause its your last chance to liberate yourself from 
hardship and poverty!" 
As soon as Indra was gone, he made a wish for 
all types of wealth and spent all the wealth on alco-
hol. He drank alone or in company singing and 
dancing merrily, holding the wishing cup in one 
hand and a bottle of liquor in other. He felt more 
and more incapable. He came to the point where 
his merit had run out — because the alcohol had 
uprooted the last of his merit. He started to play 
with the wishing cup for fun, throwing it in the air 
and catching it. Eventually it fell to the ground and 
broke — irreparably. And so he returned to his 
former hardship, with a begging bowl, a burden 
on society to the end of his days." 
"Anithapirglika! As it was in the past, so it is 
now — this man has not changed his ways." Thus 
for an alcoholic even the gift of a wishing cup is 
still unable to bring happiness or prosperity. From 
their foolishness drinkers even destroy the luck they 
already have. Even though he had had the chance 
to help himself with a magic pot even more power-
ful than any money, as a drunk he could not do 
anything to help himself. He was beyond help. 
Therefore before helping someone, look to see 
whether they are going to use the money you give 
them to buy alcohol. Sometimes you pay labourers 
more wages— instead of the work they do improv-
ing, it gets worse because they have more money 
left at the end of the week to spend on drink. Make 
sure that before you help someone, they stop all 
forms of the Six Roads to Ruin, even if they are your 
own family or parents. 
F.4 Ex. Putting your land in a whisky bottle 
There was an old uncle who loved to drink liquor. 
His wife and children warned him again and again 
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but he would not listen. He sold all his land to buy 
liquor. One day the son came home tired from the 
fields and saw his father drinking and thought, 
"How can I teach my father to see through his stu-
pidity?" The boy took a goad and beat a buffalo 
trying to force the buffalo into an earthenware pot. 
The father said, "Stop that at once! How can you 
expect to force a buffalo into a tiny jar like that?" 
The boy said, "Father it's no more illogical than 
what you do every day — you have managed to 
put all of the land on this farm in your whisky bot-
tle!" 
Then the father managed to see what his son was 
teaching him — if his son was doing something 
crazy, then he was the crazier of the two of them. 
F.5 Ex.Mahlulhana: a millionnaire reduced to 
rays (Dlui. iii.129f1) 
In the time of Lord Buddha there was a family of 
bankers who had 80 million to their name. The son 
was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and his 
parents loved him so much that when they got older 
they pleaded with him just to live off the family 
inheritance and never to earn his living. They said, 
"You are our only child. Even if you were to spend 
the money all your life, there is so much you would 
surely never manage to use it all up. So just take it 
easy. It would be much better then the stress of earn-
ing a living." 
The son didn't like working for a living anyway, 
so he agreed wholeheartedly. He settled down to 
the onerous task of spending his parents' fortune 
and passed the time playing the guitar or singing 
songs. 
In another nearby town there was a daughter born 
to another bankers' family and her parents loved 
her so much that when they got older they pleaded 
with her in just the same way, just to live off the 
family inheritance and never to earn her living. 
They said, "You are our only child. Even if you were 
to spend the money all your life, there is so much 
you would surely never manage to use it all up —
so please take it easy. It would be much better then 
the stress of earning a living. You could live nearby 
us so we won't get lonely in our old age." The 
daughter agreed and whiled away her time spend-
ing her parents' fortune. 
When both the daughter and the son came of age, 
both families looked for a worthy partner for their 
child. They found a worthy partner in each other 
and so their marriage was arranged. This couple 
was amply provided for but they had no idea how 
to manage their wealth. At the time when the par-
ents on both sides of the family passed away the 
couple had been left with a total inheritance of 160 
million — the millionaire boy would seek audience 
with the king three times a day. 
In that town there was a group of drunkards. They 
would get drunk and chatter idly and dream of 
ways to be able to get free drinks their whole life 
long, because they thought alcohol was the great-
est drink in the world. One day, they came up with 
the idea of persuading some wealthy person to be-
come an alcoholic like themselves — then they 
would be able to manipulate that millionaire's 
wealth. They did their homework and found out 
how rich the millionaire boy was. They found out 
that he went for royal audience three times a day 
and what mute he took on the way back from the 
palace with his retinue. The next day the drunk-
ards waited nearby the millionaire boy's usual route 
and acted like they were having tremendous fun. 
When they saw the millionaire boy they toasted him 
shouting, "May you live to be a hundred years old". 
The millionaire asked his man-servant (who was a 
drunk himself) what the group was doing. The 
manservant said, "the men are drinking a drink 
called 'alcohol' (which at that time was not well 
known)". The millionaire asked what alcohol was. 
The man-servant replied, in the manner of alcoholic, 
"It is the most delicious drink in the world. If you 
were to have just a sip of alcohol, you would feel 
very lively. You will be a new person. It'll reduce 
cholesterol. If you have high blood pressure, it will 
reduce your blood pressure. If you have low blood 
pressure, it will raise your blood pressure. It's good 
for you in every way." 
The millionaire boy said, "If that is the case, bring 
some alcohol for me to try!" 
He thought he would only have a sip, but the taste 
was so seductive he felt intoxicated. All the drunk-
ards gathered around him cheering him on to drink 
Blessing Twenty: Restraint from Drinking Intoxicants 239 
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more and that is exactly what he did. He drank more 
and more until he wasn't himself any more. The 
drunkards smirked to themselves. The millionaire 
boy kept on paying for more drinks — drinks for 
himself and drinks for all the other cronies too —
because it's no fun to drink all alone. You have to 
have company when you are drinking, so that you 
can chat and boast and tell tall stories. And just get-
ting drunk wasn't enough — he would go out buy-
ing expensive flower garlands and would invite 
musicians and dancers to perform for him and 
would always reward them with lavish prizes. He 
would do the same thing every day. Before long all 
that was left of his fortune were empty treasure 
chests. The treasurer came to advise the million-
aire boy that there was not nothing left of his for-
tune of 80 million. The millionaire boy asked 
"Doesn't my wife have some money to her name?" 
The treasurer answered, "Yes sir! She does still have 
some wealth." 
Therefore as soon as the millionaire boy got his 
hands on his wife's fortune he continued his 
drunken extravagance as before, until eventually 
the fortune was exhausted again. Now in order to 
raise some cash, he was reduced to selling all his 
beautiful estates. To slake his thirst, he sold off his 
orchards, his coach and horses, trinkets around the 
house and eventually the house itself. 
In the beginning they asked the permission of the 
new owner to stay on in their former house. Their 
handsome looks became forlorn. In their old age 
they were driven from the house by the new own-
ers. So they had to wander from one house to an-
other looking for refuge. Eventually they had to 
resort to a begging bowl to feed themselves. 
One day the Lord Buddha, with Ananda as his 
attendant, passed through that town and seeing the 
husband and wife begging for the monks left-overs 
by the monk's refectory, the Buddha smiled to him-
self. Seeing the Buddha smile, Ananda asked the 
reason. The Buddha replied, "Ananda! Look at this 
millionaire son formerly rich, but who has squan-
dered 160 million and who must now take his wife 
around begging for a living in the city." 
"If this millionaire's son hadn't squandered his 
wealth, but in his youth had invested in business, 
he would be the richest man in the city by now, 
because he has a lot of merit in his past. If he had 
renounced the world in his youth he would have 
become an arahant. If his wife had renounced the 
world as a nun in her youth. She would have be-
come a non-returner landermil" 
"If this millionaire's son had squandered his 
wealth only in his youth, but in middle age had 
invested his wealth in business, his previous mer-
its would have caused him to become the second 
richest man in the city. If he had decided to renounce 
the world in the middle age he would have become 
a non-returner landgamil, and his wife if she had 
ordained as a nun, would have become a once-re-
turner Isakidagami]." 
"If this millionaire's son had squandered his 
wealth in his youth and his middle age, but had 
invested his wealth in his old-age, his previous 
merit would have caused him to become the third 
richest man in the city and if he had decided to re-
nounce the world in his old age, he would have 
become a once-returner Isakidagami]. If his wife 
had ordained as a nun, she would have become a 
"stream-enterer isotapana]." 
"Unfortunately, this couple have completely 
squandered their wealth and have lost their oppor-
tunity to cultivate to path for Nirvana. Ananda! 
Foolish people who fail to cultivate virtue in their 
lives, and who fail to earn their living when they 
are young, will become forlorn like an aging heron, 
living in a dried-up pond with no more fish to prey 
upon. They hadn't cultivated virtue in their youth 
— nor earned their living either. In their old age all 
they can do now is reminisce with regret about their 
former wealth like an arrow that falls to earth when 
its momentum has run out. 
Therefore the harm of alcohol apart from it de-
stroying the drinker also ruins the lives of the rest 
of the drinker's family, destroys our wealth and 
security and obscures the pathway to Nirvana. This 
is the harmfulness of alcohol — therefore if you 
have alcohol in your possession stop drinking it, 
pour it away and discard the bottles. Make sure 
your home is alcohol free. 
240 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living 
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