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

Foreword
“The Ways of the Peaceful” is one of the many possible
renderings of the term “Samana-Dhamma”, an
expression that summarizes the whole lifestyle of a
Buddhist monk. “Samana” means somebody who is
peaceful. Generally in the time of the Buddha all kinds of
recluses, ascetics, contemplatives, and members of
ordained communities living the life of a homeless
practitioner (anagarika) were referred to as “Samanas”.
The Buddhas disciples were often called the “Samanas
of Gotama” or the “Samanas of the Sakyan clan”, using
the Buddhas family and clan names. Whenever the
aspect of celibacy of these religious practitioners is
stressed, the term “brahmacariya” is used, which
translates in short as “Holy Life”. The Buddha himself
called his monks “Bhikkhus”. This literally means “one
who goes for alms”, but in the Thai Forest Tradition a
second translation is popular: “Those who see the
danger in the round of rebirth”. Besides the specific
monastic code that the Buddha established for his monks
(the “Vinaya”, with its 227 major training rules and
countless minor rules), that spells out the conduct of a
Buddhist monk in great detail, there was a general
understanding of the etiquette, the virtues and qualities of
a Samana, a peaceful ascetic. This is the “Samana-
Dhamma”. It refers to these general virtues more than to
the details of the training rules, but in fact the daily life of
a monk is always a combination of both, in the same way