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

willingness to help and an attitude of sacrifice in one’s mind. It’s
for the good that one sacrifices.
When Luang Por Chah was still young, he was very supportive
and helpful when somebody came to live with him. However, it
was also the policy to let people spend some time on their own in
the beginning. This gave them the chance to test whether they
could make it, living in such an unfamiliar place. After they made
it, Luang Por Chah would rely on the method of letting people
help themselves with all the work and their practice. All this
meant giving people the opportunity to live self-reliantly.
As concerns the robe sewing – in the old days they were handsewn.
One used needles and not machines or the tools we have
today. Luang Por Chah would help with the cutting, but one had
to do the sewing oneself. Until a robe was finished it took many,
many days. Practices like these show how much Luang Por Chah
cared about us being able to take care of ourselves.
Concerning the use of our requisites – the ways of putting on
the robes and looking after them, or even how we practice with
conducting our bodies in all the different postures – Luang Por
Chah would give the advice to do things mindfully: sitting with
mindfulness, walking and standing and so on, or being mindful
when one is putting on the robe. All these practices enable people
to become more self-reliant. By taking responsibility for
themselves, they won’t become a burden or need others to do
things for them. This is also an aspect of ‘work’.
76