In the 1980s, Zen Master Dae Kwan (Sifu) became a maechi in Thailand. She followed Phra Ajahn Pongsak (Luang Por), student of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, to practice in the forest of Chiang Mai for ten years. During this period, villagers who lived at the mountain top planted Poppy, which is the main source of opium, and cut down trees on a large scale. These actions not only destroyed the nature, turning the forest into a desert, but also caused water shortage and affected the lives of many villagers living downstream who relied heavily on agriculture.
From Buddha-Dharma, Luang Por understood that nature is very important. He always taught us that to preserve nature is to preserve our mind. Luang Por dedicated his whole life to the preservation of the Chiang Mai forest. He taught the villagers the essence of the Four Noble Truths, hoping that they would understand the importance of nature. He also personally led the villagers to conduct a series of construction projects in search of a water source, channeling the water to the village and a reservoir. All of these projects helped the affected villagers to rebuild their lives.
Zen Master Seung Sahn also visited Luang Por in Chiangmai. He highly praised for Luang Por for his simple life and his genuine practice.
Thirty years later, Luang Por attained Nirvana. In November 2015, Sifu led a group of students from Su Bong Zen Monastery to attend Luang Por’s cremation ceremony. What we saw was not desert any more, but blue mountains and flowing water and we were surrounded by green trees. Those villagers who were affected by deforestation in the past have been planting fruit trees up untill now, and they all have good lives with few worries. On the day of the ceremony, hundreds of villagers came to pay respect to Luang Por. They followed the coffin up to the mountain and said their last good bye to Luang Por! Sadhu! Sadhu!
