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Epilogue "Buddhism can only exist for as long as common people see the value of giving. If people were to stop giving food and sustenance, even for a single month, Buddhism would disappear from Thailand. All the monks and novices would have to disrobe." (Phramonkolthepmuni) The peoples' faith and support of Buddhism is in direct proportion to the devotion and discipline of the monastic community. The times of Luang Phaw Wat Paknam were times of great trial for the monastic community of Thailand. In many places, monks ordained only temporarily and did not uphold the faith of householders who expected teachings more profound than those that could be apprehended within only a few days of ordination. In the cities especially the monks devoted all of their energy to the study of texts but forgot that the real purpose of their scriptural studies was as a foundation for meditation. The study of meditation before the time of Luang Phaw Wat Paknam was restricted to the forest monks and it was widely held that arahants had disappeared from the world since the time of the Buddha; therefore it was useless to try to emulate the efforts of the saints of old. Even if any of the forest monks had achieved any attainments, the likelihood of passing the benefits of these teachings on to the general public was as remote as the forest temples themselves. Thus, except for the initiated few who 139