I only got about 2 hours of sleep last night as the Dhamma talk went on quite late. The alms round wasn’t any different though and the pain jolted me awake. I was second following Tan B. as Tan T. had to go to Bung Wai and all was good. I tried wearing the main robe as the outer layer today to see if it would make any difference as it was bigger than the outer robe. I don’t think it made any difference at all so I will revert back.

Sangha Tea was more eventful than usual as a few monks asked Tan Ajahn about the possibility of having more time for private practice and potentially having some sort of retreat elsewhere. It was a very interesting discussion with lots of different viewpoints. Some novices were very much for it noting that the current schedule can be overwhelming. Some suggested the option to wake up later. Other monks pointed out that communal responsibility was already small and there’s at least five hours for private practice between 10am-3pm.

Tan Ajahn went to great lengths to explain the current system and why it was. He said that he would consider and think about various options but needed time. I don’t think he will change anything though as he looked rather frustrated. It made me appreciate his role even more. Leadership in any institution is taxing and the monastic community comes with its own challenges. Given that this particular lineage had its own set of disciplines, making any changes at all would take much consideration.

Only one month left now until I’m back in the world again. If the past month can be any indication, it should go by quickly. There are only 4 more Wan Phra or saunas to go so I need to use my time well. I’m still losing weight which is slightly worrying. I’m now at 75kg wearing just my top and lower cloth before the meal. I haven’t weighed this little since high school.

There’s been a noticeable shift in temperature and even trying to take a nap at 10:30am is hard now because it’s so warm inside. Tomorrow I think I will have to get the straw mat and try to sleep on the landing outside.

It’s Wan Phra so there was Pali-Thai chanting in the evening led by Ajahn C. and he actually asked the laypeople to speed up during the chanting because it was painfully slow. However, Tan Ajahn went to do the Q&A in English at the Bot so Ajahn C. had to give the Dhamma talk instead. He ended up taking 2 hours and my knees were positively dead by the end.

The days are getting warmer now so I must take an earlier nap otherwise it would be too hot at the kuti by 11am. Tan C. is leaving tomorrow so I had a chat with him. He gave me a long piece of string which I can now use to tie my robes to myself in the morning. Every morning straight after morning chanting, every monk would fold up their robes in various ways and then strapped or tied them to himself before proceeding with morning chores. One of the rules as a monk is to keep the main robes within reach at all times before sunrise. This will be very helpful as I had been using a long piece of cloth which was sometimes onerous to tie into a knot.

I helped him carry a stack of dhamma books back to his kuti. It was the first time at a different kuti and at first sight it looked more exposed compared to mine. However someone had used a bunch of steel wiring to block the large gaps to keep the tukkaes out. The location is better too, much closer to the central area. I might consider moving in if I find more tukkae in my room but for now I will remain where I am.

Tan T. had to go with the abbot so I thought I was going to lead the route. In the end, Tan R. led instead. He wasn’t as fast so it was manageable. One of the novices had to go upathak another Ajahn so I had to do two rounds of mopping around the sala. That left me with little time to put on the double robe properly so it fell to pieces by the end.

During morning sweeping my left flip-flop broke, at the expected place. I thought it would be a bright idea to use a candle to melt the rubber back together. I couldn’t have been more wrong and in hindsight it was obvious that rubber and fire don’t play well together. I went to the store room and requested a new pair from Ajahn S. who just happened to be walking by. The provided pair were Nanyang (seems like a tonne of them are offered to the monastery), an iconic Thai brand that have produced basic flip-flops forever. They make them in dedicated monk colours of orange and brown and it’s what all the monks wear. They were incredibly uncomfortable compared to my previous pair but feel like they’d last awhile.

I went on a short trip with the abbot and 6 others to Wat Pa Sai Ngam (วัดป่าไทรงาม) for an annual ceremony called พิธีไถ่ถอนโคกระบือ (loosely translated as “ceremony to save cows and water buffaloes”). There were 69 cows and water buffaloes that were saved from the slaughterhouse and would be given away to farmers in a lottery to be used as working animals. The tradition began 29 years ago as a pair of mother and child cows were stolen from a slaughterhouse and then separated. Neither would eat nor drink anything but then the child escaped. It somehow made it back to its mother where it finally drank the mother’s milk and they both cried. Apparently it was big news at the time. Luang Por Anek saw this (abbot at Wat Pa Sai Ngam, one of Luang Por Chah’s disciples) and saved the animals so they wouldn’t go back to the slaughterhouse again and began the tradition.

There was not much to the ceremony itself. There was a lot of filler at the beginning as the provincial mayor was an hour late. The MC did a good job though and kept people occupied. When he got there, the lottery to give the animals away was over in about 40 minutes. Then Tan Ajahn took us on a tour around the monastery and it was beautiful. It was very well maintained inside and out and we got to see the area where monks ate and it was rather old-school compared to what we have at WPN.

Tan T. proved to be a rather fierce alms round leader. I spoke to him beforehand to ask if he could potentially go a little slower. He still went really fast anyway. He did come over afterwards as I looked rather forlorn. His reasoning was that since the number of steps was constant, you might as well do it faster to get it over and done with and that the pain was only psychological.

If only it were that easy! I could only tell him that I’d try my best to follow him. As painful as it was, I knew that he was absolutely right. There was nothing else that I could say or do really other than grit my teeth and get through it. Honestly if I were to compare myself now to three weeks ago, I had made remarkable progress. However, I was nowhere near the level of the full-time monks and I reminded myself that I was only here part-time.

At the kuti I found that I could protect myself from the sun by hanging the outer robe on the clothesline. This way it was manageable in the late morning. Any later than that then it gets too hot anyway. I haven’t read much of Ajahn Jaya’s book recently but started reading some other rubbish to do with diets and ancient myths and legends instead. Time was passing fast now that I’ve gotten into the rhythm. In no time it was evening chanting and bedtime again.