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

and humbleness. The same was true for the Buddha himself. He
gave importance to these qualities because they bring up beauty in
oneself and cause others to appreciate one. We should understand
that gentleness and humbleness are very important qualities for a
samana. The expression “adikalyanam” (beautiful in the
beginning) points to this: one becomes beautiful to look at right
from the start. So we should train in being gentle and humble. It is
normal that raw materials need to undergo a process of change
and alteration until the outcome is a useful product that pleases
people. With no changes and corrections the result would be
unsatisfactory. Similarly, if human beings don’t undergo training,
exercise or practice, they are like raw materials. Other people
won’t appreciate them.
As samanas we need to train to calm down and weaken our
worldly behaviour. For example, it is the style of laypeople to sit
on chairs or around a table. Merely to change this habit to sitting
“pappiab” 20 on the floor is already quite difficult for us. It isn’t
impossible, though. After a bit of training one can sit on the floor
with ease. When I was a layman, I myself had never sat pappiab
or in the meditation posture before,. So I was quite stiff and
reluctant with these postures and with all the ways of paying
respect or bowing. It didn’t go smoothly. These things were
irritating for me, too. But if one relies on a sense of patient
endurance and keeps on doing these practices over and over, then
one becomes used to them. One’s way of bowing and being
(freedom from anger), avihimsa (non-violence), khanti (patient endurance) and
avirodhana (not straying from righteousness).
20 pappiab (Thai): a semi-cross-legged sitting posture on the floor with one
foot pointing behind to the back. This is the posture that is considered most
appropriate and polite for monks to assume when not meditating, especially
when listening to the Dhamma.
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