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danta (teeth), taco (finger/toenails) — telling the ordi- nand to repeat them after him, first in order and then in reverse. All were silent. The ordinand waited for Luang Phaw to place the yellow under-robe around his neck, and order him to retire to robe himself,¹ as is the custom. In other temples there would be no delay at this stage. The teaching of meditation was just a token gesture, and the ordinand would quickly be on his way to the robing room. For Luang Phaw, however, this was the time when the ordinand must make his mind ready to re- ceive the new status of monkhood by raising the quality of the mind into first-hand contact with the Dhamma of Lord Buddha. For different ordi- nands Luang Phaw would have different ways of leading the meditation, and would lead the ordinand to make as much progress in his medi- tation as he deemed fit. Sometimes, this would make the ceremony very lengthy. Luang Phaw continued, asking, "Did you take a close look at the hair they shaved from your head before your ordination?" The ordinand answered that he could remem- ber the tuft of his own hair that he took up in his hand while they were shaving his head, but at the same time wondered why Luang Phaw should be asking such a thing during the ordination. It wasn’t in the script. Completely in the dark, the ordinand hurriedly checked his mind to see if there was any special meaning in what Luang Phaw was asking. But before he could discover a satisfactory solution, Luang Phaw continued: