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nuns thus had no contact with one another, hardly knowing one other. The Great Abbot would sit on the monks’ side. There was a small hole perforated in the partition close to the Great Abbot’s sitting position, to allow him to give instructions to those on both sides of the partition simultaneously. Only his face could be seen on the female side. In peacetime, the meditators took it in turn to meditate in four hour shifts throughout the day. However, during the Second World War, this was reduced to four shifts per day, each six hours long. The first shift would sit from six in the evening until midnight, being replaced by the second shift from midnight to six in the morning. The first shift would return to meditate from six in the morning until noon and the second shift would return to sit from noon until six in the evening. The two shifts meditated alternately in this way so that there was meditation research being done twenty-four hours a day. Khun Yay was selected as head of the late shift because she was seen as the most determined and was also of strong health. Even though she looked slightly built, she was earnest in everything she turned her hand to. She may have sat for meditation no longer than the others, but when she sat, she didn’t move. She sat as if sitting to the death each time - without any more feeling for her body at all. All she registered were the experiences she plumbed from the inside. At the end of the six hour shift, the others in the shift would vacate the room immediately, but Khun Yay lingered on to hear what instruction the Great Abbot would have for the incoming shift for a further half-an-hour or so.