Quality of Life in Temples : หน้า 53/105

information, along with other things he has observed to form a picture of the quality of life in any temple. However, for temples that are clean and well organized and where the community coexists in harmony, the inspecting monk does not need to address many issues. He can then spend more time on his visit to teach about the Dhamma, bless them, praise them on their good conduct, and offer words of encouragement to continue to keep their high standards. When I was about to move from Wat Paknam to help build Wat PhraDhammakaya, I went to pay my farewell respects to my preceptor. My Preceptor told me that when the late Abbot of Wat Paknam was alive, he would say, “in order to build a temple, you need lots of money. Nevertheless, there are two ways of raising money. If you do not know how to raise money, then you must spend a lot of time seeking money out. But if you know how to raise money, then money seeks you out.” If a layman builds a temple and living quarters for monks, and he returns to find that the temples is littered with trash, with dust everywhere, stray dogs lying about in the temple and grounds covered with dog dirt, he will turn around and leave the temple, never to return. If the temple should need further construction work and this same layman is asked for his help again, the layman may politely decline by saying that business right now is not good, asking the temple to wait. However, if the layman is a person of honest and frank disposition, then he may reply, “why are you asking for more, you can’t even look after the one you already have. There is trash everywhere.” Therefore, as you can imagine,