About This Teaching
Wat Pah Pong, as Ajahn Dtun found it, was a flat, forested monastery among rice fields, with no electricity except a few evening hours from generators, and water drawn by hand each afternoon. Monks followed the Vinaya strictly and took up dhutanga (ascetic) practices that go against the grain of the defilements.
He kept one set of robes, ate at one sitting and refused late-arriving food. After once feeling greed toward a cake, he resolved never to eat until his mind was neutral, and says he has not eaten with lust for food since. Meditation visions sometimes foretold the day's events, but he gave them little weight, since they did not reduce greed, anger and delusion.
He outlines his daily routine of alternating walking and sitting, avoiding idle talk, and practising as if he might die that night. Feeling indebted to the lay supporters for his food, he would return to practice after the meal to repay them.