The worthy person is grateful and mindful of benefits done to him. This gratitude, this mindfulness, is congenial to the best people.
With a genuine keenness or readiness to serve others, one can attain happiness in any group or community, and the eagerness to serve others will endow you with the power and skill necessary for the required service. Nowadays, we tend to regard it as derogatory to serve, but there is great worth in service.
To trust a stranger without investigation invites troubles so endless that even descendants must endure them. To rust a man who has not been tested and to suspect a man who has proven trustworthy lead alike to endless ills.
Fasting in the monastic community is considered an ascetic practice, a “dhutanga” practice. Dhutanga means “to shake up” or “invigoration”. The Buddha, as is well known, emphasized moderation, the Middle Way that avoids extremes, in all things. Fasting is an additional method that one can take up, with supervision, for a time.
