Sample Title : หน้า 15/163

1 A Chicken's Life "Born in search of gems — but when you find them, disburse them! Craving cheats us, falsity deludes us and ensnares our roiling, tortured mind — put an end to craving, escape falsity, remove yourself from sensuality, follow the threefold khandha without let, complete the sixteen tasks: until invulnerable to hardship — that you can call Nirovana if you like..." (Phramonkholthepmuni) A full-moon night of September 1916. The moon's bright face is suspended motionless against a backdrop of twinkling stars. The mirror surface of a nearby waterway is gently stirred by the night breeze and the ripples catch the light of the moon as they move towards the canal bank. It is early evening on the outskirts of Bangkok. The rain has just stopped. The raindrops still hang pendent on the leaves like jewelled tears twinkling in the moonlight. Everything is quiet inside the main compound of Wat Bangkuvieng, except for the rasping of crickets and the chirping of insects. From outside the temple compound, the sound is carried on the breeze together with the warm smell of the dampened soil. A beam of moonlight shines through the window of the largest building illuminating a gigantic statue of the Buddha in deep meditation. 17