The Second Treatise on the Perfections – 2687 

 

said above applies to the present time when the Buddha’s teaching is widely 
extant. 

Although brought up in a Buddhist environment and taught to refrain from 
gross misdeeds, if one judges oneself to be deficient in moral conduct and to 
have committed all kinds of grave transgressions, one has no alternative but to 
start with the initial purification process of observing the set of precepts with 
right livelihood as the eighth (

ājīvaṭṭhamaka-sīla

) for the practice of the noble 

path. 

Those inclined to follow the line of least resistance are likely to find this set of 
precepts with right livelihood as the eighth attractive if someone points out that 
in observing this morality (

sīla

), one does not have to refrain from indulging in 

intoxicating drinks and drugs, one does not have to refrain from dancing, 
singing, enjoying shows, that it is easily observed, being free from difficult 
restraints and that it serves as the basis for the attainment of the paths and the 
fruitions. 

It is a weakness of human nature to look for easy means of acquiring wealth. 
People forget or ignore the fact that even with hard labour and diligent work it 
is not always possible to have one’s dream of riches fulfilled. Many of them have 
become a prey to fraudulent villains who claim to possess magical secrets of 
multiplying one’s wealth. By seeking an easy way of becoming rich, people have 
fallen a victim to their own avarice. 

Just as there are deceivers in worldly affairs, there are also frauds in religious 
matters, especially concerning the attainment of the paths and fruitions which is, 
of course, not easy at all to come by. Many are those who, inclining to seek 
shortcuts, have followed to their great loss the spurious teachings of self-
acclaimed masters who promise them the stage of a Stream-enterer within seven 
days of practising their technique, or that of a Once-returner if one has adequate 
intellectual development. After finishing their seven days’ course of practice, 
the master announces the pseudo-attainments of his pupils as a Stream-enterer 
or a Once-returner, and they consequently are delighted with their illusory 
achievements. 

Here, we would like to sound a note of caution. The metal copper, if it could be 
converted into the precious metal of gold, through practice of alchemy, would 
become possessed of the properties of gold which are vastly different from those 
of the original base metal of copper. Likewise, a noble person who has achieved