Untitled : หน้า 103/194

and the financial plan. At the time of establishing the temple, the whole of the plan of work was already in the heart of Ven. Dhammajayo, the Abbot. However, the financial plan and the plan for personnel were still undeveloped. There was only the plan of work — the plan for personnel and finances were to come hand-in-hand later on. However inestimable the amount of resources and money is needed, it was obvious that the transcending factor was the quality of the personnel needed to make Wat Phra Dhammakaya a success. In the words of the Abbot: "the people who perform this work must for sure be loving, with devotion and self-sacrifice to the extent that they are prepared to put their lives on the line." To make the plan of work manifest, the abbot started to build the temple with his own two hands and the determination to build the ideal place for meditation and Dhamma practice. He prayed that when people came to see the driving force of virtue in the temple, that they too would be inspired to give a helping hand with the abbot's scheme. In the beginning, the temple was just eighty acres of paddy field open to the sky. There were no trees to give shade because the soil was virtually infertile. The abbot needed to create an environment suitable for meditation. Trees were needed to shade the place and a network of canals was designed to make the temple cool and suitable for meditation. At that stage the temple didn't have a lot of money. Furthermore, the number of people always seemed to outstrip the resources available to give support.