Luang Por Liem: The Ways of the Peaceful - Wat Pah Nanachat

to cover ourselves. If we stay far away from these things they may
get lost or disappear. Somebody who wants our robes might come
and take them. We aren’t allowed to beg for new robes then. This
is something that we have to consider very well. If this happens, it
might make us break our precepts. At the very least we’ll have to
go and request replacements from somebody else, either from a
relative or non-relative, or from the communal stores. As we are
training to change our character and habits we don’t request or do
anything motivated by craving.
Don’t go and use all the different tricks of deceit and ways of
acting based on craving. We should be as straightforward as
possible, not making excuses in this way or that. One can’t do that
– finding excuses… we’ve been excusing ourselves for a long
time already and it just reinforces bad habits, the habits of a fool.
Now who’s going to do this? Our training has to have
resoluteness. To be resolute means to possess strong mental
determination. This can cut off those problems that give rise to
degeneration and decay. This is what it depends on: it depends on
the actions that we do. Just that.
Concerning our chanting now, during the time that we
determine the pansah, we have to pay attention to the proper time
and place for coming together. This is something that is
considered part of the training of the new monks, but it also
means maintaining our communal duties as a Sangha. This is
another factor of the practice.
Something else that we consider to be part of the season of
pansah is that we will have studies related to the pariyattidhamma
– the vinaya, the training rules, concerning the things
103