DAY 7-Thursday 13th
We
stayed at BuddhaMetta Village for the next two days. During this time
we got to meet a number of the local people and continued to experience
their generosity.
It was in this area that Luangpoh Sudhiro came as a young monk to live in a cave. After the alms round and our morning meal, we visited this cave which is a short distance from the village.
LP also spoke of the 3 ways to make merit (puñña) – dana (generosity), sila (morality) and bhavana (meditation).
He said the way of practice is you should not eat without giving (dana), not leave home without taking the precepts (sila), and not go to bed without meditating (bhavana).
We also had the opportunity to help with the building work on site. A further two houses are under construction and we joined local people in pouring concrete floors.
Half way through the job, about thirty children from the local school joined us, making the activity even more joyful.
Luangpoh Sudhiro lived in this cave for 8 years, collecting water from
drips in the roof and travelling to the village to receive alms and share
the benefits of his practice.
He told us about some experiences he had while living and practicing the Dhamma. During one rains retreat he didn't lie down he simply maintained the other 3 meditation postures of standing, walking or sitting for each of the 90 days and nights.
That evening we went to the monks area to join them having refreshments
and to hear more about Luangpoh Sudhiro’s experiences living in
this area and to ask questions about practice.
Some members
of the group worked with local people to prepare special sticky rice cooked
in bamboo with coconut milk.