..续本文上一页 He relates a childhood memory of playing the role of a monk. He would sit sternly on an old bamboo bed with pahkaoumah draped over his left shoulder like a robe, and his friends would be the laity. The meal time is probably the only event in the monk”s daily life that is interesting enough to lend itself to drama, and it was that which the children would enact. Luang Por would ring a bell, and his friends would bring a tray of fruit and cool water. After bowing three times they would offer it to him meekly. He in return would give them the five precepts of the Buddhist layperson and a blessing.

　　School was not as yet a major intrusion on children”s right to fun. By the 1920s, some thirty years after its inception, a State education system had still forged few inroads into rural Isahn. During Luang Por”s childhood, three years of primary education were available, but they were not compulsory and few parents saw their worth. Luang Por, by the age of nine, had completed a single year.

　　Education of the young had traditionally been one of the major functions of the village Wat (monastery). Apart from the fact that fifty percent of children – the girls – were excluded, results were impressive. Foreign observers had often expressed surprise at the high standard of literacy among Thai men (at the same time, interestingly enough, praising what they saw as the superior shrewdness and industry of the women). The boys would help out with the monastery chores and, through daily personal contact with the monks and participating in the life of the Wat, received an education with a strong moral and spiritual foundation. It was a system that forged strong links between the monastery and the village, and it has been argued that the loss of this educational role to the State was a body blow to the rural Sangha”s sense of purpose from which it has never fully recovered. It was at the age of nine that Luang Por asked permission from his parents to move out of the family home and into the local monastery. It was a common practice for parents to entrust sons to the monks but rare for a boy to volunteer. Many years later Luang Por spoke of his decision in the following way:

　　“As a boy I had a fear of committing evil actions. I was always a straightforward lad. I was honest, and I didn”t tell lies. When there were things to be shared out, I was considerate; I would take less than my due. That basic nature just kept maturing until one day I said to myself, “Go to the monastery”. I asked my friends if they had ever thought of doing the same thing, and none of them had. The idea just arose naturally. I”d say it was the result of past actions – as time went on, wholesome qualities steadily grew inside me until one day they led me to decide and do as I did.”

　　On another occasion, in a more humorous vein, Luang Por told some lay disciples that he had become a dekwat (monastery child) because he was tired of watering the family tobacco fields and because the humdrum daily round of chores was so tedious and repetitive. As one of Luang Por”s sisters remembers it, a small accident brought things to a head: “His going to live in the monastery wasn”t arranged by our parents; it was his own idea. One day he was helping his brothers and sisters pounding rice, but he wasn”t putting much heart into it. He (accidentally) got hit by the wood we were using as a mallet. It must have hurt him because he got angry and shouted out, “That”s it! I”m going to go and ordain!””

　　A few days after the mallet blow, Luang Por”s parents took him to the village monastery. Wat Bahn Gor was situated in a large sandy enclosure shaded by coconut palms, mango trees, and tamarinds and consisted of a Sala (main meeting and sermon hall), a Vihāra (monks residence), and Samānam (water-ringed …

《The Early Years of Venerable Ajahn Chah》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…