in the nun's room was still on. Luang Phaw looked
through the window and saw the nun trying on her
friend's blouse in front of the mirror and laughing.
Luang Phaw picked up a brick and threw it through
the window. It was quickly followed by another two.
The nun trying on the blouse came running out of the
building but could not see anyone to blame, so she
shouted, “You can't get away with throwing things
at me when I've done nothing wrong! Just you wait
and I'll tell Luang Phaw!”
The next morning the nun went to tell Luang Phaw
so that the perpetrator could be found and punished.
Luang Phaw asked casually what the nun was doing at
the time of the incident and why she hadn't put off the
light and gone to bed. The nun beat around the bush.
Luang Phaw continued with his questioning and even-
tually disclosed that he had thrown the bricks himself!
He taught her that she should never misbehave like
that again because frivolity would cause the mind to
wander and her meditation would suffer. He taught
all his disciples who had renounced the home life to
be careful of slipping back into their old habits or their
vows would have been in vain. He taught:
“The world is evil,
But if Dhamma is traded for worldly concern,
Nothing is left but eating, sleeping and outings
— Nothing more than these three...”
In spite of his strictness, Luang Phaw kept his sense of
humour. He had ways of embarrassing people about
personal shortcomings they needed to correct.
Once Luang Phaw accepted an invitation together
with eight monks to perform the chanting for the
consecration of a new house. There was one verse