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across and eventually down the ladder of goodness. Ob- stacles will never go away by themselves. Obstacles to goodness need to be re- cognised as such and faced with an unwavering will to reach beyond. "How can I go on to the next stage, if I stumble at the first?" SOME obstacles to good- ness are small enough to see - a missing chequebook, a friend hindered by scep- ticism but others are so massive and insuperable that a person may live a whole lifetime without realising they are subject to its boundaries. Like the frog under the coconut shell, it is easy to claim nothing more from life than a small, dark world. Our friends the sponsors are born lucky. They have a community of excellently-practising monks nearby who can be worthy recipients of their gener- osity. In some parts of Thailand there are so few monks that there is no alms-round that comes anywhere near their house. They must go far afield to find monks to receive their generosity; extra effort is required and some may never even take the trouble to try. And what of those who live in non-Buddhist countries? And what of those who never even heard of Buddhism or the value of pure generosity. Insur- mountable difficulty or Ultimate challenge? You, who read this article, choose a way to look at the obstacles that prevent you from fully pursuing gener- osity, self-discipline and meditation in your life. Freeing of the personality is the reward of all those who are positive in their efforts to overcome these obstacles. Obstacles can be the rungs of a ladder or the bars of a cage. It depends how you look at them... Kalyanamitra.org กัลยา ณ ม ต ร ๑๑๓