..续本文上一页e casting of the Buddha images, the construction of the sala, the repair of the road leading to the Wat, the Mahayana services: All of these came in the form of non-liquid assets that, altogether, we estimated roughly at more than 300,000 baht.

　　All in all, the monks and lay people who joined in the festival came from 45 provinces.

　　Thus the Festival Celebrating 25 Centuries of Buddhism in the year B.E. 2500 came to a close.

　　Afterwards, right before the rains, another sponsor — Nai Thanabuun Kimanon, along with his wife and children — had another Buddha image cast and donated to the Wat to celebrate the year B.E. 2500, at a cost of 75,000 baht. The image was more than two meters across at the base. They also built a dais for it and conducted celebration ceremonies that, added to the cost of the image, totaled more than 150,000 baht.

　　A number of the monks, novices and nuns ordained during the festival stayed on for the rains, continuing to practice the Dhamma together. At the end of the rains many of them returned home, although a number of them are still currently ordained. As for myself, when the rains were over, I went to visit many of the places where there were friends and followers who had come to participate in the festival.

　　Later I went to Lampang, in hopes of building a chedi at Phra Sabai Cave. (This was when I first saw the three Bodhi trees that had sprung up there, and it made me very glad. They are tall trees now.) Chao Mae Suk of the Lampang Royal House, along with Khun Nai Kimrien Kingthien, Mae Liengtao Janwiroad and a contingent of lay men and women joined together with a group of my followers — both lay people and monks — to complete the chedi. We then enshrined relics of the Buddha there in the cave, and brought an Indian Bodhi tree to plant at the cave”s entrance.

　　From there I went on to Chieng Mai, Uttaradit, Phitsanuloke, Nakhorn Sawan and Lopburi.

　　* * *

　　I make it a practice to wander about during the dry season every year. I do this because I feel that a monk who stays put in one monastery is like a train sitting still at HuaLampong station — and everyone knows the worth of a train sitting still. So there”s no way I could stay in one place. I”ll have to keep on the move all of my life, as long as I”m still ordained.

　　Some of my companions have criticized me for being this way, and others have praised me, but I myself feel that it brings nothing but good. I”ve learned about the land, events, customs and religious practices in different areas. In some places it may be that I”m more ignorant than the people there; in other places and with other groups, it might be that I know more than they, so there”s no way I can lose by traveling about. Even if I just sit still in the forest, I gain by it. Wherever I find the people know less than I do, I can be their teacher. In whatever groups I find that I know less than they do, I”m willing to be their student. Either way I profit.

　　At the same time, living in the forest as I like to do has given me a lot to think about.

　　1) It was a custom of the Buddha. He was born in the forest, attained Awakening in the forest, and totally entered nibbana in the forest — and yet how was he at the same time able to bring his virtues right into the middle of great cities, as when he spread his religious work to include King Bimbisara of Rajagaha.

　　2) As I see it, it”s better to evade than to fight. As long as I”m not superhuman, as long as my skin can”t ward off knives, bullets and spears, I”d better not live in the centers of human society. This is why I feel it”s better to evade than to fight.

　　People who know how to evade have a saying: "To evade is wings; to avoid is a tail." This means: A tiny chick, fresh out of the egg, if it knows how to evade, won”t die. It will have a …

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