Khanti - Wat Pah Nanachat

was a ‘costume hippy’, complete with very long hair and
hennaed eyes, and a white waist coat, a short dhoti, and a large
string of beads around his neck. He held a knobbly walking
stick, and he carried with him a carved chillum from Karnataka
and hashish from Manali. He had the whole thing down
perfectly. He looked rather like I wanted to look. He sat down
on the other side of the restaurant and after some time I
remember him, obviously irritated, shouting at the little boy
who was running from table to table, rushed off his feet, ‘Hey
baba, I ordered my chips twenty minutes ago! Where are they!’
It occurred to me at that moment, I’m not seeing
anything different here than I’ve seen anywhere else, in any
other group of people. Different clothes, same mindset. I
became even more of a loner, and gave up on the peer group
idea.
So initially in Oakenholt, and especially at Wat Nong
Pah Pong I was surprised to discover the peer group that I had
been looking for. The feeling arose that: Yes, this is a group of
people, this is a form, this is a structure, this is a way of life
that I want to be part of. Here is a kind of community that will
bring out the best in me, and one in which I can very easily see
myself spending the rest of my life.
I immediately stopped looking at entrance into
monastic life as simply taking advantage of an excellent
vehicle for personal growth, and saw it much more as an
opportunity to surrender myself to a form that I found truly
uplifting. I can remember so vividly the first time that I put on
my robe as a novice, the first time I went on alms round – these
are memories of an incredible sense of pride and achievement.
It felt so good simply to be part of all this. I can remember
thinking that whatever would happens in my life in future,
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