Integrity, Not Cement

Wat Pah Pong was established without capital and with no plan of development. Luang Por’s belief was that if the Sangha practised sincerely, the material evolution of the monastery would gradually take care of itself, because lay Buddhists, inspired by the monks’ dedication, would offer the necessary funds of their own volition. In the long term, buildings would be needed, but they were not an urgent or overriding concern. The important thing was the monks’ practice.

The Vinaya forbids monks from any kind of fund-raising effort; they are taught to be content with whatever is offered out of faith, however much or however little, whether of good quality or poor. Luang Por followed these injunctions to the letter. If it was going to take ten or twenty years to build a proper Dhamma Hall, then so be it.

He was certainly not going to sell his integrity for bags of cement.

This reflection by Ajahn Jayasaro is from the book, Stillness Flowing, (pdf) p.128.