Khanti - Wat Pah Nanachat

follow this path. And to allow that to nourish our minds
particularly in those times when we begin to feel a bit overburdened
or as if we are not really getting anywhere in the holy
life, or that things are not quite working out the way that we
hoped that they would, or expected that they would. I agree
with the teaching – and I know this wouldn’t go down with lay
Buddhists so well, that “it is better to be a miserable monk than
a happy layperson.”
The reason is, because the misery of a monk is misery
with an end. The misery is not inherent in the living of the holy
life, but it is a phase or one part of the journey for most of us.
Having such confidence in the process, in the overall journey
and the goal and the value of sticking with it, is absolutely
essential.
When I was first here in Northeast Thailand in late
1978, living at Wat Nong Pah Pong, I couldn’t speak the
language, of course. These days the monks that go to Wat
Nong Pah Pong are blessed with patient and skilful translators.
I didn’t have that at all. I remember my first three hour
Dhamma talk sitting pappiap 21 (which is a weird awkward kind
of posture when you’re not used to it) and being absolutely
fascinated by Ajahn Chah’s gestures and his tone of voice, and
what was obviously a deeply sincere effort to transmit the
Dhamma to his listeners. So I asked a junior western monk
who spoke quite good Thai to give me a summary of these
three hours. And he said, ‘Oh, just the same old stuff: talking
about patient endurance.’
21 pappiap: A common semi-cross-legged posture in Thailand, with
one leg pointing to the back and one folded in front of one.
21