Mobile VersionBlessing Sixteen:
Dhamma Practice
D. CONCLUSIONS
D.1 Relative importance of Pure Practice and Practice for Purity
To the casual observer, the consequences of failing to “Practice Purely” (being biased and lacking the Ten Virtues of a Ruler) might appear less serious than those who don’t “Practise for Purity”(i.e. with defilements of action, none of the Five Virtues and lacking the Tenfold Path of Wholesomeness) — but on closer examination, the two forms of wickedness have equally devastating consequences. Thus if anyone truly wants to develop responsibility towards human dignity, they must practice purely and practice for purity — this is what it means to be truly responsible towards human dignity both in oneself and others.
D.2 Achieving Dhamma Practice in Everyday Life
Some people may wonder whether in the present day you can still find examples of people who can follow the Tenfold Path of Wholesomeness. What can you do if you are still unable to follow all ten perfectly?
1. Select your livelihood: If you want to help yourself, first of all, be choosy about the work that you do. Don’t involve yourself in forms of work that involve Wrong Livelihood (see Blessing Eighteen). However, if you want to go further than these ten principles in life to shift from simply neutral actions to more positive ones then you have to make a further effort as follows.
2. Never allow yourself to be shoddy: Train your self never to work on anything in a shoddy fashion. Always do your best in whatever task comes to you. This thoroughness will carry over when you come to training yourself in so that you cultivate virtue too. (e.g. preparing notes for a sermon instead of simply making it up as you go along)
3. Avoid bias: Train yourself to be unbiased and fair in whatever you do. You need to be sincere to principles, to your work, to yourself and to others too.
4. Meditate regularly. No matter how smart you are, without meditation you have no chance of being successful in your pursuit of the Tenfold Path of Wholesomeness. The reason is that, even though people know something is bad, they cannot stop themselves from carrying on in the way they have always done.
D.3 Overcoming obstacles to Dhamma Practice
For various reasons people find great difficulty in earnestly cultivating virtue in their lives:
1. Low Morale: Some try to practice but give in to themselves easily because they lack morale. Such people need to be close to those who are more experienced — i.e the Wise of the Second Blessing. If you are able then choose a sort of work by which you can avoid having to put yourself in negative situations every day of the year.
2. Bad Surroundings: Supposing you have the morale but your environment doesn’t allow you to do as well as you want to, don’t give up, but do as much as you are able to. e.g. someone who must work as a hunter for a living but who keeps the Precepts when he can. It gives the mind a rest and reduces the toll of negativity in the mind. Do good deeds whenever you have the opportunity. When it comes to the right time a better opportunity will present itself.
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