Forest Path - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

85
Some Dhamma for my Heart
An Interview with Tan Kongkrit
Tan Pa¤¤àvuóóho: Tan Kongkrit, how many years did you practise
in Korat with Ajan Supot?
Tan Kongkrit:
I stayed with him four years.
TP:
Were you a second monk?
TK: No, I never been the second monk. When I stay with him
during the vassa another monk always come and I am always the
third monk.
TP: What was the teaching like there? How is it different or
similar to Wat Pa Nanachat?
TK: I think the Thai’s way (Ajan Supot) — when Tan Ajan wants
to talk something or do something it’s not necessary to consult with
the monks. Sometimes he just do it and if nobody ask him he
didn’t explain even sometime he didn’t give answer — the right
answer — when he do something or teach someone quite strong
or very hard when he talk.
TP: How does it feel being with Westerners who like explanations
and these kinds of things? How do you feel it as a practice?
TK: In the early days, I thought it made things too busy when
Tan Ajan or senior monks have to talk over even small matters with
the monks. In some matters the senior monks know better and if
they consult with junior monks sometime more problems arise
because the junior monks don’t know about or have no experience.
In the early days I didn’t like it but after some time I changed my
mind. It helps to know other people’s mind. When I stayed with
Ajan Supot I had to calculate what his thinking was when he punished
someone. Sometimes when he said strong words to me, but in
his mind, his intentions is not to teach me, but he want to teach
others. I tried to hold it and think he don’t want to teach me but
others. When he want to teach me he did the same way. When I
stay here, sometimes it’s too ‘real’. Tan Ajan Jayasàro explains