EFTA01129103

mind. When we can avoid causing suffering to our-
selves or others, we set ourselves on the path to 
goodness, revelation and difference from others in 
general. 'Vinayd will be the virtue that tells us what 
is appropriate and inappropriate to do or say or look 
at or eat. 
B.2 Definition: Self-Discipline 
When people think of Precepts, they often mistak-
enly think that Precepts are nothing more than pro-
hibitions. In fact the meaning of the Pali word for 
'Precepts' i.e. 'slice means 'the norm' or 'cooling'. 
Precepts mean the level of virtue that is normal for 
human beings to have. It is a norm that distin-
guishes men from savages or from animals. It is for 
this reason that we differentiate ' :Pinny? from 'silo' 
by calling the latter "self-discipline". As we shall 
see "self-discipline" is the result of training your-
self in "discipline". It is a state of mind rather than a 
set of rules to follow. 
B.3 The Difference between Discipline & 
Discipline is the means by which we restrain (the 
manifesting of) unwholesome actions and speech. 
When one is new to discipline, the mind is usually 
still reluctant. Many thoughts will go through the 
mind to protest at the inconvenience of behaving 
in a disciplined way. Such thoughts do not 
constitutes breach of discipline because they are not 
manifest. Apart from protecting the practitioner 
from degradation of behaviour into any of the Four 
Defilements of Action Ikammakilesa], discipline 
will gradually channel the mind into the develop-
ment of "self-discipline". Self-discipline is the at-
tainment of restraint of unwholesome thought as 
well as unwholesome action and speech. At this 
point there is no further reluctance in the mind any 
more. One has managed to be "a teacher to one-
self" sufficiently well to be able to police one's body, 
speech and mind without the need for any further 
rules or regulations to force such behaviours. 
R4 Different Types of Discipline 
There are different sets of codes of conduct which 
can be used for training in discipline. Some are suit-
able for laypeople. Others are suitable for monks. 
They work on the principle of the "principle of limi-
tation" because as Kierkegaard wrote in Either/Or: 
A Fragment of Life: Part One (1843): 
"The more a person limits themselves,the more 
resourceful he becomes" (p.289-91) 
In Buddhism, it is not by arbitrary rules that we 
limit ourselves — we choose rules that also ensure 
protection of the human dignity of ourselves, oth-
ers and society — but it is true that the more inten-
sive the level of practice, the more rules of training 
we tend to keep. 
BA.1 Discipline for Householders 
B.4.1.1 Five Precepts 
The Five Precepts Ipancu-silai are the basic set of 
discipline advocated for every Buddhist. The Five 
Precepts are much older than Buddhism, but were 
adopted by Buddhism amongst many other reli-
gions as the core practice for moral conduct. Ele-
ments of the same principles are found in the Ten 
Commandments, Islamic Law and even Hindu 
practices. This is because the Five Precepts protect 
against a person taking advantage of the weak-
nesses of himself and others. There is nothing that 
people love more than their own life, their posses-
sions, their spouse and trust. There is nothing that 
disables people more than the loss of their own clear 
conscience. These five weaknesses in human rela-
tionships are guarded by the Five Precepts. Such 
weaknesses are not exclusive to Buddhists, but ap-
ply for all people in the world, therefore the Five 
Precepts are the fundemental bedrock of all moral-
ity. The Precepts themselves consist of five rules of 
training: 
1. Not to kill living beings 
2. Not to steal 
3. Not to commit adultery 
4. Not to tell lies 
5. Not knowingly to drink alcohol or consume in-
toxicants. 
By keeping the Five Precepts people can ensure 
harmony for society and also prevent many of the 
roots of suffering. The Precepts bring coolness to 
the mind and body — there is no burning caused 
by suffering in body and mind as the result. 
Blessing Nine: Artfulness in Usage 121 
EFTA01129223

The Five Precepts share the same Pali word' pafica-
sila" as the five principles upon which Sukarno 
founded the Indonesian Constitution — but don't 
go thinking that Indonesian Law is founded on 
Buddhist Principles because on closer examination, 
the five basic principles of the Indonesian Consti-
tution turn out to be something else completely. 
The Five Precepts are intended to be kept by Bud-
dhist householders on a daily basis. 
B.4.1.2 Eight Precepts 
The Eight Precepts are a set of rules of training 
which expand on the Five Precepts with adjustment 
of the third and fifth precepts and addition of the 
sixth, seventh and eighth. The Precepts themselves 
consist of eight rules of training: 
1. Not to kill living beings 
2. Not to steal 
3. Not to be uncelibate 
4. Not to tell lies 
5. Not to drink alcohol or consume intoxicants 
6. Not to take meals between midday and dawn 
7. Not to indulge in romantic entertainment or im-
modesty 
8. Not to be indulgent in one's sleeping habits 
They are intended to be kept by Buddhist house-
holders during times of intensified training, espe-
cially on meditation retreats or for self-purification 
on a periodic basis, such as one or twice a week 
Eight precepts is sometimes called ' uposatha-sike 
where the Eight Precepts are kept for three days 
before, during and after one of the quarter moon 
days. The only real difference is the length of time 
one expects to keep them. The content is the same 
but for uposatha-sila, usually, one will only keep 
them on the full moon days with the possibility of 
one day before for preparation and one day after 
for debriefing. For Eight Precepts the length of time 
the precepts are kept has no special duration. 
B.4.2 Discipline for Monastics 
B.4.2.1 Ten Precepts 
The Ten Precepts are a set of rules of training which 
expand on the Eight Precepts with adjustment of 
the seventh precept and addition of the tenth. The 
Precepts themselves consist of ten rules of training: 
1. Not to kill living beings 
2. Not to steal 
3. Not to be uncelibate 
4. Not to tell lies 
5. Not to drink alcohol or consume intoxicants 
6. Not to take meals between midday and dawn 
7. Not to indulge in romantic entertainment 
8. Not to indulge in immodesty 
9. Not to be indulgent in one's sleeping habits 
10. Not to handle gold or silver 
They are intended to be kept by Buddhist novices 
on a daily basis 
B.4.2.2 Two-Hundred & 'Evenly-Seven Precepts 
As Buddhists train themselves as laypeopleand as 
monks, Buddhist spiritual discipline can be divided 
into two parts accordingly: discipline for the home-
less IanagariyavinayaJ and discipline for the 
householder Iagariyavinaya]. The monks have spe-
cial discipline in keeping with their aim to reach an 
end of defilements within the shortest possible time. 
For the monastic community, eradication of defile-
ments in the mind is intensive, so the self-discipline 
of monastics is intensive accordingly. The 227 Pre-
cepts are a set of rules of training which expand on 
the Ten Precepts. They are intended to be kept by 
fully-ordained Buddhist monks on a daily basis. 
C. DISCIPLINE: PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS 
C.1 Components of Five Precepts 
In the keeping of Five Precepts, householders of-
ten feel guilty when they mistakenly do unwhole-
some things — they don't know whether it means 
they have broken their Precepts. Some people acci-
dentally run over a stray dog while they are driv-
ing because they happen to be in a hurry and won-
der whether it breaks the Precepts. Some women 
know that they have never taken the possession of 
others without asking (i.e. they have never stolen) 
but they wonder if taking money from their hus-
band without asking is breaking the Precepts. The 
Components of Five Precepts explained below are 
an attempt to answer this genre of questions.Below 
you will find descriptions of the factors involved 
122 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living 
EFTA01129224

in breaking each of the Precepts. All factors must 
be present in order for the Precept to be broken.: 
C.1.1 First Precept: Not Killing 
In order to break the Precept of not killing, your 
action has to consist of five components: 
1. The victim must really be alive: Suppose there is a 
certain dog we have hated for a long time. Every 
time we see it it has barked us, chased us and 
bitten us. We think that the dog is alive, but in 
fact it has already died. Someone else had just 
shot the dog dead that very morning. It is lying 
dead in the road, but we were not to know that. 
Seeing it lying in the road we think to ourselves, 
"This time we can get our own back on the dog," 
and we reverse the car over the dog. In this case 
we have not managed to break the Precepts be-
cause it had already died long ago of other 
causes. 
2. We are aware that the victim is alive: Sometimes 
we misunderstand that an animal is already 
dead, so you think that a cremation is in order. 
You throw the body of the animal into the flames 
— but it is not really dead. However we were 
not to know that. This time the animal does re-
ally die! Again, such an action does not break 
the Precepts. 
3. We have the intention to kill the victim: Supposing 
you run over an animal killing it accidentally, 
because there is no intention to kill (you could 
not avoid it), again the Precepts are not broken. 
4. We put in the effort to kill the victim: You have to 
put in the effort to kill, if you are to break the 
Precepts. You have to really aim the gun and pull 
the trigger if you are to create the necessary con-
ditions to break the Precepts. 
5. The victim dies in the way intended: As the result of 
our efforts, the animal must really die if the Pre-
cepts are to be broken. If you shoot to kill, but 
the result is only to break an arm or leg, the Pre-
cepts are not yet broken. 
C.1.2 Second Precept: Not Stealing 
In order to break the Precept of not stealing, your 
action has to consist of five components: 
1. There is an owner who is possessive about that ob-
ject: If you are in the forest where there are ob-
jects of which no-one is the dear owner it is all 
right to take them. 
2. The perpetrator knows the object has someone pos-
sessive of it: People can even be possessive of a 
favourite rag. If for some reason you cannot find 
the rag you usually use, often you feel irritated 
or angry. In the past there was an agreement be-
tween market gardeners as follows — whatever 
they plant, whether it may be bananas or sugar 
cane or aubergines or chillis, if anyone walks 
through the field and feels they want to eat some 
of the crop, they are allowed to help themselves 
to as much as they can eat, but it is prohibited to 
take any in your pockets or in a bag to eat in the 
home. It is said that there is only one eater of 
stolen food who steals food and takes it home to 
eat and that is a stray dog. 
3. The perpetrator has the intention to steal: Even the 
intention to steal starts to cloud the mind. 
4. The perpetrator makes the effort to steal the object: 
This means trying to find devious strategies and 
actually putting those strategies into practice. 
5. The perpetrator obtains the object in keeping with his 
intention. 
C.1.3 Third Precept: Not Committing Adultery 
In order to break the Precept of not committing 
adultery, your action has to consist of four compo-
nents: 
1. The object of the affection must be a man or woman 
who is prohibited: So what do we mean by a part-
ner who is prohibited? There are four sorts of 
women who are prohibited to men 
• married women; 
• women who are still in the care of their par-
ents; 
• women who lifestyle prohibits sexual inter-
course, such as nuns or female prisoners. 
• women related to us such as our mother or 
our sister or our daughter 
and three types of men prohibited to women: 
• any man who is not your own husband; 
• men whose lifestyle prohibits sexual inter-
course such as monks. 
Blessing Nine: Artfulness in Usage 123 
EFTA01129225

• men who are related to us 
2. The perpetrator has the intention to have sexual in-
tercourse with that person; 
3. The perpetrator makes the effort to have sexual inter-
course (e.g. removes his clothes) 
4. There is a joining of the sexual organs. 
In fact there is no man or women born in the world 
who has no connections except for the one who is 
already married to you. No-one else is the legiti-
mate subject for sexual intercourse —not in the bar 
nor the night club — even prostitutes are prohib-
ited (consider respect for human dignity and fair 
economics and you will understand why) — there 
are no such things as 'wayside flowers' free to be 
picked by anyone. 
C.1.4 Fourth Precept: Not Telling Lies 
In order to break the Precept of not telling lies, 
your speech has to consist of four components: 
1. Saying something that is not true 
2. Having the intention to misrepresent the truth 
3. Making the effort to misrepresent the truth. 
4. The listener understands what you have said. 
The damage of lying comes from the chain reac-
tion it causes: inorder to lie to someone once, you 
have to lie to yourself first three times. The first 
time you lie to yourself is in order to prepare your-
self to tell a lie. You have to make up the story and 
convince yourself first. The second time you have 
to lie to yourself is when you meet the person who 
you are going to lie to. Thirdly, you have to re-
member what lies you have told to who, because 
next time you meet them you have to tell them 
things consistent with that first lie, or else your 
dishonesty will be discovered. If the lie is an im-
portant one, sometimes you will have to remem-
ber it for years. The result of being a liar is that 
eventually you will lose your self-confidence be-
cause you have lied to yourself until you have 
become used to it. At the end of your life, your 
memory becomes so blurred to the truth that you 
end up suffering from senile dementure as the re-
sult of the mental hypocrisy you have accumulated 
throughout the course of your life. 
C.1.5 Fifth Precept: Not Drinking Alcohol 
In order to break the Precept of not drinkingalcohol, 
your action has to consist of five components: 
1. The liquid drunk must be alcohol 
2. The person must know that it is alcohol. 
3. The person must have the intention to drink it 
4. The person must make the effort to drink it 
5. The alcohol must be swallowed. 
For the purposes of the fifth Precept, not only al-
cohol and heedlessness-inducing intoxicants are 
prohibited, but also such drugs such as heroine, 
opium, maruana etc.. If you consider tobacco from 
the point of view of this Precept in an objective way, 
you will find that smoking tobacco must be avoided 
too. Those who become addicted to anything like 
tobacco will find themselves in difficulty when they 
come to practice meditation on a retreat where there 
is no opportunityto smoke. Some people say that 
they smoke without being addicted — and they 
have been smoking without addiction continuously 
for the last ten years! 
C.1.6 Seriousness of Breaking Precepts 
In addition, breaking a Precept may be more or less 
serious dependent on an additional three factors: 
1. the amount of effort invested in breaking the 
Precept: the more the effort invested in a deed, 
the more serious is the breaking of that Precept. 
To kill a large animal is more serious than to kill 
a small animal because it takes more effort. 
2. the gratitude or ingratitude in breaking the Pre-
cept: the more an action expresses ingratitude, 
the greater will be the seriousness of breaking 
the Precept. Wringing the neck of the cock which 
crowed to wake you up every morning at dawn 
to go to school until you got yourself a univer-
sity degree is worse than wringing the neck of 
another cock you have never known before. Thus 
one should be very careful not to disregard the 
debt of gratitude owed to others. If that person 
or animal is one that is useful — especially if it 
has been helpful to us personally in the past. 
3. The strength of the intention behind breaking the 
Precept: if you kill an ant by pulling each leg out 
124 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living 
EFTA01129226

one by one and then killing it, it is worse than 
killing the ant outright in one fell swoop. To kill 
a mosquito by slapping it is not as bad as putting 
a candle flame to the wings of the mosquito and 
leaving it in pain to wriggle to death for the next 
three days. If a person kills with vengeance and 
cruelty, it is more serious than for killing out of 
vengeance in cold blood. If someone kills some-
one with a single shot, it is not so bad as some-
one who tortures someone to death. Thus even 
in the past, they would try to find quick ways of 
execution so that they could reduce the evil ac-
crued by the executioner. (Best of all is not to have 
to kill the prisoner at all). 
C.2 Components of Eight Precepts 
C.2.1 Differences between Five and Eight 
Precepts 
The following differences are found between the 
components of Precepts shared between the Five 
and Eight Precepts: 
The Third Precept: Undurstity : The first difference 
between the Five Precepts and the Eight Precepts 
concerns the Third Precept. Immoral sexual re-
lations Ikanwsu micchachara] are replaced by 
abstention from any sexual relations 
(brahmacariya — lit. Brahma-faring). For the 
Third Precept of the Eight Precepts there are only 
two components: 
1. You have the intention of having sexual rela-
tions. 
2. There is a joining of the sexual organs. 
In this case it makes no difference whether your 
partner is your husband or wife. It will cause 
your Precepts to be broken. If either or both hus-
band and wife are training themselves in the 
Eight Precepts it is usual for them to sleep apart. 
This form of training is important because for 
most people in the world who lack control over 
their own minds, for most of the time, their 
thoughts and action are dictated by the defile-
ments of sensual indulgence. The five precepts 
already teaches you to be contented with your 
spouse. The Eight Precepts goes further with this 
training by offering sixth, seventh and eighth 
Precepts to help play a supporting role in the 
reduction of attachment to sensual stimuli. 
The Fifth Precept: Not Drinking Alcohol : Another dif-
ference between Five Precepts and Eight Precepts 
concerns the fifth Precept. For Five Precepts the 
fifth Precept has five components, but for the 
Eight Precepts, there are only four components 
as follows: 
1. The liquid drunk must be alcohol 
2. The person must have the intention to drink it 
3. The person must make the effort to drink it 
4. The alcohol must be swallowed. 
You will see that for the Eight Precepts it is no 
longer necessary to know that the drink is alco-
hol in order to cause the fifth Precept to be bro-
ken. 
C.2.2 Sixth Precept: Refraining from Untimely 
Eating 
It is commonly asked by housewives who keep the 
Eight Precepts whether they are allowed to taste 
the food they are preparing for their husbands in 
the evening. Sometimes to taste and to eat food are 
not the same (except for the person who tastes half 
a plate of food and still doesn't know the flavour!) 
1. It must be midday of one day to the dawn of the fiat: 
The dawn signals the changing of the day for 
Buddhists — technically the earliest time that if 
you go out into the open, and stretch out your 
arm, you can see the lines on your hand dearly 
without having to use a torch or the time at dawn 
when you can first distinguish the leaves of trees 
as being of different shades of green. 
2. The substance eaten is solid food (chewable): This 
second component has some exceptions i.e. 
chewable food that is allowed. Exceptions in-
clude refined sugar, sugar cane juice, tamarinds, 
embolic myrobalan, nutgall or pickled ginger. 
For those who might have dietary problems if 
their stomach is completely empty, cheese or 
butter is allowed (but not cheese sandwiches!) 
3. The effort is made to eat the food 
4. The food is swallowed. 
If all four of these components are present then the 
Blessing Nine: Artfulness in Usage 125 
EFTA01129227

sixth Precept will be broken.The point of keeping 
the sixth precept is to remove another possible risk 
of sleepiness as a hindrance to one's meditation 
practice by avoiding a heavy evening meal. If we 
eat too much, it will give us more energy than we 
can use and this contributes to ease of sexual 
arousal. If you were to miss a meal once a week by 
forgoing an evening meal, you will find that the 
excess food will be burned up. 
C.2.3 Seventh Precept: Not indulging in 
entertainment or immodesty 
Indulging in entertainment means specifically: sing-
ing, dancing or playing musical instruments your-
self, watching others doing the same (excepting the 
national anthem or music in honour of the mon-
arch). Immodesty means wearing perfume, jewelry, 
flowers or makeup (except talcum powder for me-
dicinal purposes). Some people ask if they can 
watch the television when keeping the eight pre-
cepts — the answer is that you have to be selective 
about what you watch. You can watch news but 
don't go watching a cabaret or certain sorts of ad-
vertising. You have to avoid contact with cosmet-
ics that are meant for beautification instead of for 
health. You shouldn't wear perfume, make-up, 
flowers, hair dye. Wearing talcum powder should 
just be to prevent athlete's foot or abrasion — not 
for beautification. The components of this seventh 
precept are any of the following: 
1. Playing musical instruments, dancing or singing 
romantic songs yourself 
2. Watching entertainment consisting of singing, danc-
ing or romantic music. 
or all of the following: 
1. There are cosmetics or perfume 
2. The reason is not because of poor health 
3. You wear the cosmetics or perfume 
C.2.4 Eighth Precept: Not engaging in Indolent 
Sleeping Habits 
The following are the components of the eighth 
precept: 
1. The sleeping place is large or high 
2. You know that the sleeping place is large or high 
3. Sitting or lying down on that place 
You will notice that not only lying on a soft mat-
tress is forbidden but also sitting on such a mat-
tress, because they contribute to making the mind 
wanderThe softer the mattress on which you sleep, 
the less you feel like getting up in the morning. As 
you sleep without mindfulness, it will start to un-
dermine the purity of your third precept. However, 
nowadays houses commonly have sofas which are 
soft. If you were to be strict, sitting on a sofa would 
be forbidden, but for the sake of manners, it is bet-
ter to accept others hospitality than to take all the 
cushions off the sofa and throw them away. At the 
same time we should take good care of our pres-
ence of mind. We have to think of both our Pre-
cepts and the appropriateness in any situation. 
Sometimes hotels have nowhere but beds upon 
which to sleep. In other places it may be too cold to 
sleep on the floor without anything under you in 
the way of insulation. Thus consider appropriate-
ness in each situation. 
C3 Monastic Discipline 
C.3.1 The Objectives behind Monastic 
Discipline (Vin.iii.20, A.v.70) 
The Buddha created the monastic discipline for ten 
reasons: 
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
To maintain peace in the monastic community; 
To restrain stubborn and shameless disciples; 
To maintain the happiness of the monastic com-
munity; 
To maintain the happiness of monks who love 
discipline; 
To give protection from defilements that might 
increase in the present time (for example if 
monks are allowed to speak one-to-one with 
females, there may be many new problems re-
suiting); 
To give protection from defilements that might 
increase in the future (for example if monks are 
allowed to speak one-to-one with females, later 
it may lead the monk to spend all their time 
thinking of that female.); 
126 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living 
EFTA01129228

7. To instil faith in the public who are not yet faith-
ful; 
8. To increase the faith of the public who are al-
ready faithful; 
9. To maintain the Teaching of the Buddha stead-
fast; 
10. To maintain discipline itself; 
C.3.2 Components of Monastic Discipline 
Although it would be possible to give the compo-
nents for each of the 227 monastic Precepts (same 
principles apply as for those of the Five and Eight 
Precepts) there is insufficient space to do so. How-
ever, to demonstrate that monastic discipline is 
more than just the code of conduct, the four com-
ponents of monastic practice are described below: 
C.3.21 Restraint according to monastic code of 
conduct [patinzokkhasaravara]: 
The ipcitinzokkhe is the set of rules of training 
which the Buddha gave to monks for the restraint 
of their bodily actions and speech. As soon a monk 
ordains, whether he knew the rules or not previ-
ously, it is immediately his duty to make sure he 
knows and abides by the 227 rules of conduct. The 
227 Rules therein can be divided into three degrees 
of seriousness: 
1. Rules entailing defeat Iparajika]: There are 
four rules in this category: killing people, 
stealing, sexual intercourse and claims of 
mental attainments. Any monk who infringes 
the rules of this category immediately in no 
longer a monk any more. Whether he is dis-
robed or not, he is no longer a monk any more. 
It is the heaviest infringement of monastic 
conduct possible. 
2. Rules entailing an initial and subsequent 
meeting of the order [sanghadisesaj: This cat-
egory of rules of training is less serious than 
the previous, but can still be considered evil 
and coarse. When a monk breaks one of these 
rules, they must confess their transgression to 
the rest of the monastic community. If a monk 
who has infringed such a rule still has not ad-
mitted his fault to the rest of the monastic com-
munity, then he is still not returned to purity. 
The reason for this is to show that you are 
aware of your fault and will not do it again. 
Only then can the monk be re-admitted to the 
monastic community. 
3. Rules entailing confession: These include 
"Rules entailing confession" [pacittiya], 
"Rules entailing forfeiture and confession " 
[nissaggiya-pacittiya]; "Rules entailing ac-
knowledgment" Ipatidesaniyab "Minor 
Transgressions" Iclukkatal, and;" Wrong 
Speech" [dubbluisita]. For these infringe-
ments of the monastic conduct there is no need 
for monks to confess in front of the monastic 
assembly. By confessing to another monk the 
offending monk can be returned to purity 
again. In fact, confession doesn't wash away 
the evil caused by infringement of the disci-
pline, but it helps to give the monk the 
mindfulness not to infringe the same rule of 
conduct again. Confession is like the healing 
of an open wound — but the scar still remains. 
Best of all is never to break the rules of mo-
nastic conduct. 
C.3.2.2 Restraint of the senses [indriyasaravaral 
This means specifically the restraint of the eyes, ears, 
nose, tongue, skin contact and mind. Monks should 
not look at inappropriate things: if a monk sees a 
couple petting at the side of the road, he shouldn't 
stay and watch them but should quickly go some-
where else. Monks should not listen to inappropri-
ate things — there is no need to go listening to gos-
sip that doesn't concern him. Monks should not 
smell things that are inappropriate or taste things 
that are inappropriate: mostly this concerns food 
and not just eating things for the taste. Monks 
should not touch or have skin contact with things 
that are inappropriate: not using rubbing creams 
just for the smoothness of the skin or to take pleas-
ure in touching soft and comfortable things. Monks 
should not use their mind to think of inappropri-
ate things. In other words monks should not find 
pleasure or displeasure from the use of the senses. 
C.3.2.3 Purity of livelihood [afivaparisuddhi] 
Monks have to make their living, but not by culti-
vating fields or earning a wage. The proper way of 
making a living for a monk is to go on almsround. 
Blessing Nine: Artfulness in Usage 127 
EFTA01129229

All monks know this but some think that almsround 
is inconvenient because sometimes alms are do-
nated, sometimes not. To set oneself up as a for-
tune teller or a seller of lottery tickets somehow 
seems more convenient! — but it is not pure liveli-
hood for monks. Lotteries are a form of gambling 
and gambling is one of the roads to ruin. Thus if 
monks encourage and make their living out of lot-
teries or lottery numbers, don't go supporting them 
— they are in breach of monastic discipline. For-
tune telling by monks is no better than lottery tips. 
Fortune telling is a pseudo-science of statistics and 
is not grounded on truth. Thus fortune telling is a 
sort of guesswork which is not much better than 
lying. 
C.3.2.4 Reflection on the Requisites [paccaya-
paccavekkhatia]: 
This is the practice by monks of recollection or re-
flection on the four different sorts of requisites be-
fore use. The requisites of clothing, food, shelter and 
medicine are the basic needs of life. Monks must 
reflect that the requisites are nothing more than 
needs to keep the body going, in the same way as 
fuel keeps a car mobile. Most people use the requi-
sites of life without distinguishing between need 
and want—but for monks the proper practice is to 
use the requisites to train oneself in the considera-
tion of moderation. 
1). ATTAIN NIENT Oh SIMI...DIE( II LINE 
D.1 Levels of Avoidance 
Properly practised, discipline will give rise to self-
discipline. Where discipline is the avoidance of un-
wholesomeness by external means, self-discipline 
is the avoidance of unwholesomeness by internal 
means. To distinguish between the two, we iden-
tify three different ways in which unwholesome-
ness can be avoided [virati]: 
1. Avoidance on the spur of the moment 
[sampattaviratiJ: this is a form of discipline 
whereby one refrains from unwholesome action 
or speech spontaneously without having re-
quested any Precepts in advance. 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 —
this is the sort of avoidance which we call 'avoid-
ance on the spur of the moment'. Perhaps you 
would turn in a lost wallet with all of the money 
instead of keeping it for yourself, for fear of be-
ing accused of stealing. Such avoidance of evil 
occurs as the result of fear and shame of evil or 
the consequences of evil [hiri-ottappa]; 
2. Avoidance having requested the Precepts 
Isanzaclanavirati]: this is a form of discipline 
whereby one refrains from unwholesome action 
or speech for fear of breaking Precepts one has 
previously requested from a monk. Some peo-
ple simply make a vow to keep the Precepts each 
day in front of the shrine. Even if someone were 
to give you a bottle of beer, because you have 
taken the five precepts that day, you will turn 
down the offer for fear of breaking your vow; 
3. Avoidance through transcending framucceda-
virati]: this is a form of self-discipline whereby 
one no longer has any temptation to do evil, be-
cause the mind has reached a stage of purity and 
transcendental attainment whereby no unwhole-
some intention can arise in the mind any more 
to drive unwholesome speech or action. This is 
absolute avoidance of evil of the type achieved 
by those who have attained the stages of Bud-
dhist sainthood. 
D.2 Refraining from the Tenfold Path of 
Unwholesomeness 
The result of practising discipline until attainingself-
discipline is to remove oneself from the influence 
of the Tenfold Path of Unwholesomeness [akusala-
dhammapatha], the first four of which can be rec-
ognized as the Four Defilements of Action 
Rammakilesaj: 
1. Killing: e.g. killing people, fishing, hunting 
and cruelty to animals 
2. Stealing: e.g Thieving, mugging, shoplifting, 
corruption and deceit 
3. Committing adultery: unfaithfulness to one's 
spouse, rape, pre-marital sex 
4. Lying: eg. telling lies, exaggeration, forgery 
5. Malicious or divisive gossip: e.g. gossip in a 
128 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living 
EFTA01129230

way to turn one person against another mud-
slinging 
6. Harsh or insulting speech: e.g. name calling, 
swearing 
7. Idle chatter: e.g. purposeless babble, raving, 
boasting 
8. Covetousness: e.g. considering to get some-
thing one wants in a dishonest way, coveting 
others' possessions 
9. Vengeful Thought: e.g. wanting to get revenge 
or get your own back 
10. False View: e.g. thinking good and evil to benon-
existent, thinking you have no debt of gratitude 
to your parents, thinking death to be the end of 
the story, not believing in the law of Karma 
and to establish oneself in the Tenfold Path of 
Wholesomeness Ilausaladhannapatha]: 
1. absolutely not killing. 
2. absolutely not stealing 
3. absolutely not committing adultery 
4. absolutely not lying 
5. absolutely not gossiping 
6. absolutely not speaking harshly. 
7. absolutely not idle chatter 
8. absolutely not thinking to take the possession 
of others 
9. absolutely remove yourself from vengefulness. 
10. absolutely possession of Right View 
E. ILLUS1 RA 1 l% 
LAA.M1 LES 
E.1 Metaphor: Vinaya to knowledge is as a 
scabbard to a sword 
Even if you have theoretical knowledge and expe-
rience, you need to have an extra virtue to protect 
you from using that knowledge in the wrong way 
— that virtue is self-discipline. Without self-disci-
pline, you will apply your knowledge to do im-
moral things. The people of old had sayings that: 
"If a sharp sword lacks a scabbard, it can harm 
even the owner. If a hand-grenade lacks a fir-
ing pin it can kill even the owner. A person of 
knowledge and experience can come to an un-
fortunate end, if he lacks self-discipline" 
£2 Metaphor. Value of clay is in the value of 
the mold 
The people of old remarked that a humble lump 
of clay in the middle of a field is a strange thing. 
Unshaped, in the middle of that field it is with-
out worth. However, if you put it into moulds 
of various sorts, it acquires worth depending on 
the nature of the mould. If you put the clay in 
the mould for a plate or a cup, when it comes 
out of the mould, it has acquired some value —
it is something you can use on the table. If you 
put it into the mould for a doll, then the result-
ing doll is of value and can be used to decorate 
the house. If you put the clay into the mould for 
a Buddha image, the clay is suddenly trans-
formed into something superior to household 
use, but something to be the object of respect 
for all who see it. Thus you can see that the bet-
ter the mould you subject the clay to, the more 
value it acquires. When we come to talk about 
people instead of clay, we find that in the same 
way, the thing that gives people their value is 
the self-discipline they abide by. The greater the 
degree of self-discipline, the ewmore they are 
worth. 
Blessing Nine: Artfulness in Usage 129 
EFTA01129231

130 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living 
EFTA01129232

Blessing Ten: 
Artfulness 
in Speech 
LINTRODUCTION 
Some might think the words coming from our 
mouths are relatively unimportant when compared 
to the artfulness in "knowledge", "application" and 
"usage" discussed in the previous blessings of this 
grouping. However, when it comes to "making 
oneself useful to society"one cannot avoid commu-
nicative skills for team-building and for passing 
one's knowledge on to others. 
A.1 Buddhism founded on the tenet of correct 
speech 
Furthermore, it is only due to the care taken in 
"communicative skills" that the Buddha's Teach-
ing can have been passed down across the space of 
2,500 years to the present day and still inspire peo-
ple. Words can be true but they may not be pleas-
ant to listen to. If words are both true and polite, 
the ancients said that they were both worth listen-
ing to and also worth hearing. If words, apart from 
being both true and polite were also useful, the an-
cients said that such words apart from being worth 
believing and worth hearing are also worthy of re-
spect — it is hard to find any religion which analy-
ses speech to such depth. 
A.2 Verbal karma easier to produce than 
Physical karma 
If you compare the possibilities for doing and say-
ing good things, you find that the possibilities for 
good speech are almost unlimited, more than what 
we can do with the body. You can really do many 
more good deeds with your speech than your ac-
tions or if you make the mistake of doing evil, you 
can do much more evil with your speech than with 
your body. This is the reason why the Buddha had 
to give the art of speaking its own separate bless-
ing, because of all there is to be studied. 
A.3 Why one mouth is ample 
Without understanding the principles of artful 
speech, we are wont to say too much. The people 
of old would teach small children the way to look 
at yourself in the mirror. They would say, don't go 
looking at how beautiful or handsome you are —
because before long old age will rob you of all these 
things. Take a good look at your own face. You will 
notice that even though your eyes have only one 
function, to look, nature has given you two. You 
will notice that even though your ears have only 
one function, to hear, nature has also given you two. 
You will notice that even though your nostrils have 
only one function, to breathe, nature has given you 
two. However, your mouth has two functions, to 
eat and to talk, but nature has given you only one 
mouth. It is as if nature is telling us to use our mouth 
in moderation — not to eat too much and not to 
say too much! 
b. UNWHOLESOME SPEECH 
From our study of self-discipline in Blessing Nine, 
we already know to avoid the different sorts of un-
wholesome speech described in the Tenfold Path 
of Unwholesomeness Icausaladhammapathal — 
Blessing Ten: Artfulness in Speech 131 
EFTA01129233

these go beyond lying to enumerate no less than 
four different sorts of unwholesome speech which 
should be avoided: 
1. Telling lies 
2. Divisive Speech 
3. Harsh Speech 
4. Idle Chatter 
£1 Telling Lies 
Telling lies means saying or writing words that are 
untrue in order to take advantage of someone else. 
As this subject has already been dealt with in Bless-
ing Nine, no further detail will be repeated here. 
B.2 Divisive Speech 
Divisive speech or malicious gossip is speaking di-
visively to set one person against another. There 
are four components to malicious gossip: 
1. There is someone to set against one another; 
2. You have the intention to set one side against the 
other. 
3. You make the effort to speak divisively; 
4. You manage to make yourself understood; 
The amount of evil involved in speaking divisively 
depends on severalfactors: 
1. The Debt of Gratitude between the Perpetrator and 
the Victim: If you speak in such a way as to cause 
your own parents' marriage to break up or to set 
up one of your teachers against another or to set 
one monk against another, the evil will be very 
heavy.The degree to which the victims are di-
vided: If the victims are completely unable ever 
to get back together again, the evil will be very 
heavy. 
2. The Strength of the Intention behind wanting to cause 
a division: The stronger the divisive intention, the 
heavier will be the evil. 
3. The amount of effirt put in to making a division. The 
more the effort the heavier the evil 
B.3 Idle Chatter 
Idle chatter is speaking purposelessly just to pass
the time. There are two components to idle chatter: 
2. To have the intention to talk about something mean-
ingless: Meaningless words are the sort of words 
that don't lead a conversation anywhere. 
2. Speaking those meaningless words 
The seriousness of retribution of idle chatter de-
pends on the importance of the meaningfulness 
that you impede be speaking. Even those who al-
ways speak in a joking way that lacks seriousness 
don't have to wait for next life to see the results of 
their misdeeds — no-one will take them seriously. 
The amount of evil involved in idle chatter de-
pends on several factors: 
1. Amount of chatter: The heaviness of the retribu-
tion depends on whether you chatter a lot or a 
little. 
2. How much the speaker is believed: The more oth-
ers are taken in by what we say, the worse will 
be the retribution. 
3. The strength of the intention: The stronger the in-
tention the worse the retribution. 
B.4 Harsh Speech 
Harsh speech includes swearing or insultingothers 
to the degree that it upsets them. Harsh speech 
even 
includes 
sarcasm 
and 
sarcastic 
comparisons.There are three components to harsh 
speech: 
2. There is someone to insult 
2. The speaker has the angry intention to insult that 
person 
3. The speaker gets down to insulting that person 
The amount of evil involved in speaking harshly 
depends on severalfactors: 
1. The Debt of Gratitude between the Perpetrator and 
the Victim: If you speak in such a way as to in-
sult your own parents or teachers, the evil will 
be very heavy.The evil is also heavy if the vic-
tim is of high mental attainment. 
2. Whether the insult is to their face or behind their 
back. An insult to someone's face is worse in its 
retribution than an insult behind their back. 
3. The strength of bad intention behind the insult. The 
stronger the bad intention, the worse will be the 
retribution. 
4. The amount of effort behind the insult 
132 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living 
EFTA01129234

B.5 Retribution of insulting those of virtue 
There are eleven forms of disasters befalling monks 
who (unfoundedly) verbally abuse others who have 
already attained the stages of sainthood: 
1. failing to attain the due mental attainments; 
2. falling away from the previous mental attain-
ments; 
3. their Sadhamma will become clouded; 
4. will delude themselves into thinking they have 
already attained Sadhamma; 
5. will become discontented with pursuing the 
Brahma-faring; 
6. will commit monastic transgressions; 
7. will give up the training and fall back into the 
low (household) life: 
8. will be struck down by grave illness; 
9. will be struck down by madness or mental dis-
traction; 
10. will commit mortal blunders, and; 
11. has the hell realms as an afterlife destination. 
AN.XI.6 
Thus if at all possible, whether concerning a monk 
or not, never be someone to find fault in others. 
Always try to look for the good in others. You may 
notice the weaknesses of others. Observe them, re-
member them but don't use them as the subject of 
conversation. If you are always immersed in the 
good deeds of others then even if you try to think 
of evil things you will be unable to. You won't be 
tempted to find fault with that person or that per-
son to the degree that you end up finding fault with 
people who have no fault. 
B.6 Disadvantage of saying too much 
Most people in the world believe that they are men 
of principle. However, when it comes to speaking, 
many find that they just say what they feel like. If 
people do have a governing principle about the 
things they say, then usually they just try to say the 
things that are pleasing for the other person to hear. 
The trouble with such a principle is that people will 
always say what is easiest to say instead of saying 
the things that need to be said. Such a principle, 
when you come to speech at the level of politicians 
or those in power will impede the progress of the 
country because politicians are always saying what 
is easiest to say instead of speaking out about the 
things in society which ought to be changed. 
If one has no clear principles then the more you 
speak, the more damage you do. The people of old 
had the saying that, "The more you say the more 
trouble you create." The reason is that when we 
have already said all that is beneficial and neces-
sary to say and we keep on speaking then the next 
things to come out of our mouth are worthless or 
harmful speech such as gossip, slander, abuse, chat-
ter and lies. Thus the people of old said, "keep what 
you have to say to mimimum and you will 
mimimize your problems. However if you refuse 
to speak at all then no-one understands you!" Thus 
we all have to say something, but for our own ben-
efit we should clearly understand the nature of 
speech and the principles of artful speech that is 
beneficial so say so that we can be confident in se-
lecting the things we say or keep to ourselves. 
C. ARTFUL SPEECH 
C.1 Definition 
By artful speech we mean speech that has been care-
fully filtered and distilled by the mind as good, 
before it is allowed to pass our lips. It is not only 
speech that is better than nothing. It is speech that 
has been carefully selected by many criteria. It must 
be good from every viewpoint — so good that it 
cannot have any fault found in it. The reason why 
we must be careful with our speech is that how-
ever good our intentions if we say something in 
the wrong way we can still upset the people around 
us because they cannot see what we are thinking. 
All they can pick up is the words by which we ex-
press those intentions. 
C.2 Components of speech 
From the meaning communicated by the things 
people say we can identify three major compo-
nents: 
1. The Intention behind the Words: You can see 
whether the intention behind the things some-
one is saying is based on greed (e.g. they would 
like to get something from someone), hatred (e.g. 
in order to try to harm someone) or delusion (e.g. 
out of the envy of someone). These are all dam-
Blessing Ten: Artfulness in Speech 133 
EFTA01129235

aging forms of speech. If speech is used in a good 
way then the intention must be good. Good 
speech may be said out of compassion. 
2. The Sort of Words Chosen: The more true they 
are the less false they are. The more polite speech 
is the less rude it is and vice versa. If the useful-
ness of words is reduced then they become more 
superfluous. Thus you can classify the speech of 
anyone in the world in terms of these three vari-
ables no matter what language it is spoken in: 
1. True or Untrue 
2. Polite or Rude 
3. Useful or SuperfluousWords are either true or 
false. 
3. The Occasion Chosen to say therm Sometimes 
this means whether what is said is appropriate 
to the time available and the place where it is 
said. 
C.3 Qualities of artful speech 
Applying the general components of speak toartful 
speech, we find that there are five components. If 
speech is truly good it must be good to five levels. 
It is not like a one-star hotel which is better than a 
hotel with no stars. If we are truly principled in the 
things we say, then every word we say must be 'five 
star'. If it is any less, we will not let it pass our lips.: 
1. Speech must always be based on the intention 
of compassion: If the intention behind our speech 
is not compassion for the hearer then those words 
are better not said. Think for example of the sort 
of things you say when you are angry with some-
one and you will see that if you are angry its 
better to keep your mouth closed. 
2. Speech must be true: (sort of words spoken) Sup-
posing we would like someone to do a good deed 
(i.e. we have compassion for them) but to get 
them to do so we tell a white lie then it is no 
longer artful speech. Some people would like to 
cheer up a child so they say "Oh! Here comes 
the most precious boy in the world!" This could 
not yet be counted as artful speech — it is no 
more than words to fool children. The same thing 
even goes for telling "white lies" to fool people 
into doing beneficial things or the meaningless 
words exchanged between people in love. 
3. Speech must be polite (sort of words spoken): If it 
is not polite it can never be artful speech. It is 
speech which ought to stay in the market place. 
4. Speech must be useful (sort of words spoken): It 
should not something be said just to float on the 
breeze. Does it create benefit by making the mind 
of the speaker and the listener brighter? Does it 
create benefit both in this lifetime and the next? 
This doesn't mean that we tell lies for our own 
benefit but by doing so we take advantage of oth-
ers. Both speaker and listener must benefit as the 
result of the words spoken. Why bother telling 
someone that Mr. So-and-so is involved in cor-
ruption when everyone throughout the town al-
ready knows it to be a fact. 
5. Speech must be at the appropriate time and oc-
casion (the occasion chosen to say them): Even 
if you say the right thing but it is at the wrong 
time then you cannot consider it to be artful 
speech. You might want to give your husband 
or wife or friend a useful piece of criticism but if 
you do it in front of their boss it turns advice 
into a disgrace for that person. If you want to 
give your boss a warning you have to choose the 
appropriate time or else it might be seen as in-
sult. 
C.4 Special Considerations when giving criticism 
The subject of appropriate occasion is something 
that is very hard to judge. In societies where there 
must be quality control and there does need to be 
evaluation and criticism of sloppy practices, then 
often one cannot wait for the right opportunity to 
come along by accident. In such a case you have to 
do your best to create the opportunity. Apart from 
keeping to all the five principles already mentioned, 
there are two extra considerations which you 
should bear in mind which can help to create fa-
vourable circumstances for giving criticism: 
1. Praise them before you criticise them: A piece of 
criticism may take three pieces of praise to bal-
ance up the good feeling lost. The praise should 
always come first. Don't forget that others have 
feelings too and even if someone has made a lot 
of faults you shouldn't criticise them for any 
134 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living 
EFTA01129236

more than two faults per day or else you may 
have a resignation on your hands. 
2. Smile when you give the criticism: Don't criti-
cise out of anger. 
If you ever say something to someone and you are 
surprised that it makes them angry, try checking 
the words that you said using the 'five-star' meas-
ure of artful speech mentioned above. If you do not 
filter your use of words carefully, then your 
wordsmay cause harm to others. On other occa-
sions, like a cup and a saucer must be of a match-
ing quality, sometimes situations require words of 
a matching quality too. Sometimes it is good to 
speak in a way that is polite, but sometimes a situ-
ation doesn't require it because in some exceptional 
circumstances, five star language is not appreciated. 
C.5 Those who don't appreciate artful speech 
It is not as if you should speak in the most polite 
possible way to every person you meet. Some peo-
ple cannot stand to hear polite language and may 
even criticize you because of it. They hear some-
one speaking dearly and accuse that person of be-
ing 'affected'. In such cases you might need to lower 
the grade of politeness of the language you use to 
make your language more direct, to shock the per-
son into awareness. However, the rest of the four 
components of good speech must remain intact. The 
following sort of people might need to hear direct 
speech: 
1. Those who have a superiority complex or like to 
pretend that everyone is equal: Those who think 
they are God's gift to the world. Such people will 
not profit from flowery speech. Sometimes they 
need to be shocked by the words they hear in 
order to change themselves for the better. 
2. Those whose mind is blinded to the virtues of 
the speaker by their lack of faith for that per-
son: This is especially true if someone's mind is 
still attached to practices that are diametrically 
opposed to the ones you are advocating. Thus 
you can speak flowery words until you are red 
in the face and they will still not be inspired by 
your words. Even so you must not give up try-
ing to help such people! 
3. Those who are in the midst of depression: For 
such people, flowery words are of no more use 
than flute music to a buffalo. 
C.6 Praiseworthy Talk 
In Buddhism, the most useful sort of talk istalk of 
virtue by one who exemplifies the virtue they are 
talking about. The Buddha taught that ten types of 
conversation which are praiseworthy are: 
1. one who wants little and talks on wanting little 
[appiccha]; 
2. one who is contented and talks on contentment 
[santuttlii]; 
3. one who is loves seclusion and talks on seclu-
sion [paviveka]; 
4. one who loves solitude and talks on solitude 
[osarpsagga); 
5. one who strives energetically and talks on en-
ergetic striving [viriyal; 
6. one who is self-disciplined and talks on self-
discipline [silo]; 
7. one who has attained concentration and talks 
on concentration Isamadhi]; 
8. one who has attained wisdom and talks on wis-
dom [pail/bib 
9. one who is has attained liberation and talks on 
liberation ruimutti), and; 
10.one who is has attained seeing and knowing of 
liberation and talks on seeing and knowing of 
liberation Ivimuttifinuadassanaj. 
C.7 Characteristics of a peace envoy 
One of the most useful applications of artful speech 
is to make the world a more peaceful place. When-
ever there is conflict in society the reasons for peo-
ple to do evil things are multiplied manyfold. If we 
ever have the opportunity to encourage people to 
live together in peace and harmony it is something 
very meritorious for us to do. Anyone who is fit-
ting to be an envoy of this sort should have eight 
characteristics which we should learn and train 
ourselves in so that we may be ready if ever we 
have the opportunity to take on this duty. In the 
future, no matter how many lifetimes we are born 
for we will always have friends and relatives who 
are peaceful and harmonious: 
Blessing Ten: Artfulness in Speech 135 
EFTA01129237

1. You must be able to listen to others opinions and 
not refuse their point of view: Some people like 
to hear only the sound of their own voice. They 
don't let others get a word in edgeways. Of 
course they can never find anyone to listen to 
them. Before becoming a good speaker you must 
train yourself to listen to other people first. 
Whether what another person is saying is right 
or wrong, at least give them the chance to say 
what they have to say and in that way you will 
be able to pick up the jist of what they have to 
say. 
2. When you do speak, you must be able to capture 
your listener's attention and hold it• That doesn't 
mean just spending all your time listening to 
what others have to say but when it comes to 
your turn to speak then you should see to it that 
what you are saying is listened to. Don"t go 
speaking in a way that is irritating so that no one 
can listen to you for long. 
3. Know how to set the boundaries for what you 
have to say to the minimum: If you are not able 
to limit the scope of what you have to say then it 
is like driving a cart along to chase a rabbit. This 
is what it is always like if the objective of what 
you have to say is not dear. There will be no end 
to what you have to say. Political negotiations 
will go on for seven days and seven nights and 
still reach no conclusion. 
4. You must be able to remember what you have to 
say: Never use a forgetful person as your emis-
sary. 
5. Understand the detail of everything you have to 
say: It is not enough simply to be able to memo-
rize the details. 
6. Having the ability to make others understand 
what you have to say: This really takes a lot of 
ability. You must be artful in the use of meta-
phor and artful speech. 
7. You must be skilled in selecting to say only use 
ful things and cutting out the rest. 
8. By habit you must be someone who is not fond 
of starting arguments: Never send anyone with 
a short temper as your ambassador unless you 
are planning to start a war. 
Finally, in the words of the Buddha 
"An ambassador is one who even in the com-
pany of the harsh-spoken, can remain un-
scathed and unruffled, makes no mistake in his 
use of words, doesn't conceal information, has 
the ability to alleviate the doubts of others and 
who is not angered by questioning." 
(Vin. Culavagga 7/201) 
as Buddhist Principles of Public Speaking 
There are many different recipes for success for pub-
lic speaking in the world — including those of the 
Toastmasters or Carnegie, but in general, they do 
not have principles which deviate far from the prin-
cipals already outlined above — except for aspects 
of the delivery. Buddhist principlesof public speak-
ing emphasize the following components: 
1. Sound body: This includes all aspects of non-ver-
bal communication 
2. Sound speech: This means speech that is pleas-
ant to the ears, eyes and mind of the listener: 
1. Being pleasant to the ear means possessing "Five 
Star" speech and includes the use of words, 
use of intonation and the rhythm of what is 
said. 
2. Being pleasant to the eye means the speaker hav-
ing a pleasant personality and use of expres-
sion. 
3. Being pleasant to the mind includes appropri-
ate choice of subject, being prepared, having 
one's thoughts organized and structuring the 
speech into three parts: an introduction, main 
body and conclusion. 
3. Sound mind: Exemplifying the virtues which you 
talk about. 
Buddhist public speaking is not just talking to be 
understood or believed, but for the enjoyment and 
the inspiration of the listener to do good deeds. 
U. 1LLLJSflATIVE EXAMPLES 
D.1 Metaphor. A fish lives & dies because of its mouth 
A fish can have long life dependant on its mouth 
which it uses to feed. However, because the self-
same mouth and its greed for bait, it swallows the 
hook which brings its life to an end. In the same 
136 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living 
EFTA01129238

way, if we use our mouth for artful speech, it can 
bring us success and prosperity in life, but some-
times even a word of unwholesome speech from 
the same mouth can cost us our lives. 
D.2 Metaphor. It is not just knowing the right thing to say 
A smart person is not a person who knows when to 
say the right thing — they must also know when to 
keep their silence. A knowledge of the things not to 
be said is more important for an artful speaker, even 
more than a knowledge of the things to be said. 
D.3 .Ex.: Condemned man who said too much 
The less you say, the less risk you run of saying 
something foolish, even dangerous. In 1825 a new 
czar, Nicholas I, ascended the throne of Russia. A 
rebellion immediately broke out, led by liberals 
demanding that the country modernize — that its 
industries and civil structures catch up with the rest 
of Europe. Brutally crushing the rebellion (the 
Decembrist Uprising), Nicholas I sentenced one of 
its leaders, Kondraty Ryleyev, to death. On the day 
of the execution. Ryleyev stood on the gallows, the 
noose round his neck. The trap-door opened — but 
as Ryleyev dangled, the rope broke, dashing him 
to the ground. At the time, events like this were con-
sidered signs of providence or heavenly will, and a 
man saved from execution this way was usually 
pardoned. As Ryleyev got to his feet, bruised and 
dirtied but believing his neck had been saved, he 
called out to the crowd, "You see, in Russia they 
don't know how to do anything properly, not even 
how to make a rope!" A messenger immediately 
went to the Winter Palace with news of the failed 
hanging. Vexed by this disappointing turnabout, 
Nicholas I nevertheless began to sign the pardon. 
But then: "Did Ryleyev say anything after this 
miracle?"the czar asked the messenger. "Sire," the 
messenger replied,"he said that in Russia they don't 
even know how to make a rope!" "In that case,"said 
the Czar, "let us prove the contrary," and he tore 
up the pardon. The next day Ryleyev was hanged 
again. This time the rope did not break. Morale: 
Once the words are out, you cannot take them back. 
Keep them under control. Be particularly careful 
with sarcasm: The momentary satisfaction you gain 
with biting words will be outweighed by the price 
you pay. 
D.4 Er. Nandivisala Jataka (J.28) 
A tale which has become most famous as one of 
iEsops' Tales, in fact originates from the Jataka Tale 
of Nantivisala, the ox which pulled 100 carts for a 
wager. This young ox was miraculously strong ever 
since it was born and so the owner had the ox pull 
100 carts. When he found that the ox could pull the 
carts, the owner made the ox's ability subject to a 
wager to a millionnaire who didn't believe it. How-
ever, when it came to the time to prove the bet, the 
master said, 'Go ahead and pull the carts, ox!'. Be-
cause the ox didn't like the direct language it re-
fused to move. Even oxen have feelings. Thus the 
owner lost the bet. Later the owner made a second 
bet, spoke politely to the ox and won the wager 
making a profit. 
D.5 Er. Mamsa Jataka (J.315) 
There were once four sons of a millionnaire who 
wanted to compare their skills of persuasion and 
competed with each other in asking for meat from 
the cart of a butcher. When the four brothers saw 
the butcher's cart they thought to themself that they 
would like to eat some meat and they decided to 
see who could persuade the butcher to give them 
some meat. 
The first son shouted out to the butcher,"Hey 
butcher! Bring me some meat!" The butcher was a 
kindly man and he said "Of course but because your 
words are not sweet to my ears" he threw the boy 
some trotters. Everybody asked him why he gave 
the boy trotters and he replied that trotters are tough 
and have no taste just like the words of the one who 
had requested them. 
The second son said, "My brother! Please give me 
some of your meat to eat." Because the second son 
had had the respect to call him his brother then he 
cut off some choice meat to give to him. 
The third son said, "Oh my father! Please give 
me some of your meat to eat." Because the third 
son had had the respect to call him his father he cut 
the heart out of an ox to give to him. 
The fourth son said, "My friend! Please give me 
Blessing Ten: Artfulness in Speech 137 
EFTA01129239

some of your meat to eat." The butcher heard his 
words and felt pleased. He said that when our 
ages are so similar like this, it is closest to the 
truth to say that we are friends. To call me 'fa-
ther' is too much. To call me 'friend' is the most 
appropriate. So with those words he gave the 
whole of his cart to the fourth son. The fourth 
son was true to his word and took the butcher to 
his house. He said if you have this much gener-
osity to me then I will be generous to you too — 
come and live here if you like — I have a reason-
able amount of wealth to my name therefore if 
any of your friends are in distress just tell me and 
I will help. Well, it turned out that the butcher 
had a few unpaid debts so he was able to pay all 
those off. The fourth son was a friend to the 
butcher for the rest of his life. 
This is the benefit accrued to the fourth son who 
didn't speak harshly, or patronizingly but appro-
priately to the truth of the situation. 
138 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living 
EFTA01129240

The Fourth 
Group of Blessings 
"Harmony in the Family Life" 
The fourth group of blessings contains Blessings Eleven to Four-
teen. Nearly all of these concern how we take care of our dose fam-
ily and therefore the grouping is sometimes referred to as "Har-
mony in the Family Life". Nested between Group III concerning 
"Setting Oneself up in life" and Group V concerning "Becoming a 
pillar of sodety", it is obvious that harmony at home is something 
we have to get right if we are truly to be of use to sodety at large. It 
is many an important businessman who has not managed to go as 
far as he ought in his career because of being upset or unfulfilled in 
his family life. This does not mean that it is necessary to have a 
husband or wife and children to make a success in one's life — but 
if one does have one's own family, than one has to fulfil one's duty 
to them properly. In any case one must fulfil one's duty to one's 
parents. 
 
2 
EFTA01129241

140 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living 
EFTA01129242