Reclaiming the Barren Paddy Field
When Luang Phor Dhammajayo entered into full ordination at Wat Paknam, Khun Yay was already 61 years old. She had the idea of finding a new temple site, since the number of students exceeded the space available in her small home at Wat Paknam. Khun Yay and her group prayed for a twenty-five acre plot of land. Soon, eighty acres of paddy-field were donated by a high-ranking lady, for the purpose of building a temple. Construction started on Magha Puja Day, 20th February 1970.
The Ven. Dhammajayo and Khun Yay took responsibility for raising the finances, and the lay-supporter who is now the Ven. Dattajeevo, took responsibility for the actual construction on the site.
Khun Yay asked the Ven. Dattajeevo, then a lay-supporter, the amount of money that would be necessary to set up a good temple. The Ven. Dattajeevo replied that it would be around 100 million Baht. Khun Yay then brought out the brown envelope she had been using for collecting donated money - there was only 3,200 Baht. The Ven. Dattajeevo questioned her, saying, "How can we build a temple with only 3,200 Baht?" Khun Yay asked him, "If you received a budget of 100 million Baht from the government for training people to be good men, and to devote their lives for Buddhism like you and the team; how many people would you get?" The Ven. Dattajeevo replied that we could not be certain of training even one good person,even if we had 100 million Baht. Khun Yay told him with a grin that she already had 11 good people, which was worth much more than 100 million Baht, and was certain they would succeed.
Every pioneer has to work hard. Every one of the canals in the temple compound needed to be dredged and excavated by the volunteers and every tree in the temple needed to be planted by hand. Many of the new planted saplings withered in the intense heat and needed to be replaced --sometimes three or four times. Khun Yay worked so hard that she became seriously under-nourished, and at one time came dangerously close to death. Only with the medical attention of a doctor from Chulalongkorn University Hospital did she recover and continue to participate in the life of the temple community.
