The Essence of the Dhamma
July 28, 2012
We look at the forest tradition and to us it seems very Thai. We forget that when Ajaan Mun was alive he was often accused of not following Thai customs, or Lao customs. He followed the Vinaya very closely, and that required that he not follow a lot of the customs that had developed around village Buddhism in Thailand and Laos. Every time he was accused of not following those customs, he replied that the customs of Thailand, Laos, or any country are the customs of the people with defilements. He was more interested in following the customs of the noble ones.