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Venerable Ajaan Chob said that the Devatās would come and listen to his Dhamma. At times many came and at other times few, but in general there were not so many as came to visit Venerable Ajaan Mun. Sometimes between fifty and sixty came, sometimes from one to six hundred and on rare occa- sions there were thousands.

“The clothes which the Devatās wore, whether from the upper or the lower realms, would all be the same, sometimes white sometimes red but none of them would be obtrusive. None of them ever had on any jewels, decorations or make-up, whatever group they were and however often they came. For when they came to visit a Bhikkhu who was possessed of Virtue and Dhamma which all of them venerated highly and had faith in, their leader would let it be known that none of them should wear any decorations or make-up while visiting the Bhikkhu, and their dress should be appropriate and correct, in the manner of the Buddhist lay devotees. Their manners and behaviour were beautifully graceful, impressive to see and captivating to the heart, and having seen them one never felt bored and uninterested. It is an example which we human beings would do well to adopt when vis- iting a Bhikkhu or the Sangha in a monastery or elsewhere so as to give an appearance of seemliness, which does not cause offence or revulsion such that having seen it one feels a disgust which one cannot easily shake off.”

“But who is capable of telling people about the Devaputtas and Devatās, so that they would believe it enough to learn and to take them as an example to

be followed and practised? Who is bold enough to undertake this task? For as soon as they hear anyone talking about Devatās, Pretas and ghosts, whether in fun or seriously, they just laugh at him. As for anyone suggesting that the world of human beings should take up the standards of social behaviour of the Deva worlds, they would say he was mad, deranged. Even a mental institution would hardly accept him for treatment, so don’t you think he would just die worthlessly while still being infected by madness?”

After the Elder had finished, we both laughed and paused for a short while. Then I could not resist the impulse to sound out the Elder, half seriously, half in fun, saying:

“I think the Venerable Ajaan should himself be the one to introduce people to the etiquette of the Devatās, because you have actually seen them yourself so why should they say that you are mad? People in the world, when they go abroad and see things in various foreign countries, talk about them after they return home, and they introduce some things from abroad to improve things and solve problems in their homes and towns. Thus they introduce regulations and customs for people in our country to follow. For instance, in Thailand the styles of dress and clothing have almost completely changed into those as used in other countries, both for men and women, young and old. For our Thai people are easy to teach, not being stubborn and inflexible like in some other countries. For the more styles of dress and decoration they have, the more they like it, and they make copies of other peoples styles as well as, or better than the originals. They also have the most wonderful memories for anything which they see or hear that is strange and fascinating. Now when we think of the dress styles in the realms of the Devas which none of them have ever seen, not even those who go flying about in space, there is no doubt that they would grasp at them and admire these Deva styles as soon as they were displayed to the world. If people were shown the way I think that there would be many who should be interested, because this is the style of the upper classes.”

After I had finished saying this we both had a good laugh. Then the Venerable Elder replied saying:

“What you say is, as usual, too extravagant. If I was to do as you say I would not be able to live in Thailand for certain. I would surely have to be

exiled amongst the Pretas and ghosts. Because people would accuse me of being one of them and they would drive me out to live with the Pretas and ghosts for sure. As for sending me to live amongst the Devas and Brahmas, there is no hope of this because their status is very exalted and respectable. But it is to the realms of the Pretas and ghosts that they would exile me, because their status is low and inferior, which nobody wants to pay respect to. If this were to happen, what would you say then?”

Again, we had a good laugh, and the Venerable Ajaan went on speaking: “Please don’t ever suggest that I should introduce the manners and cus- toms of the Devas and Brahmas to people in this world. For people still respect the Sāsana and the Lord Buddha and hold them in the highest regard and the Dhamma which we have discussed is to be found within them. So if anyone is interested enough to practise this way, there is nothing lacking in all the teachings of Dhamma which are available to people — unless, that is, one is too stupid. But that which I told you about was for you alone and I did not think of it as being for other people. Then as soon as I tell you of these things that happened you immediately ask me to teach the ways and customs of the Devatās to people in general. It would be the greatest misfortune for anyone who starts to think of teaching these subtle ways and manners to the world. I couldn’t do it, in fact I shouldn’t even think about it.”

“I merely suggested it on the spur of the moment,” I replied. “If you don’t like it you should not force yourself to do it.”

We talked together in a relaxed intimate way as Bhikkhus who are alone and have complete confidence in each other.

MaNy grOupsOf DevatāswhOcaMetO vIsIthIM on various occasions had

preferences for different aspects of Dhamma. Some liked to be given the moral precepts (sīla) before listening to Dhamma, some wanted to listen to Dhamma straight away, some liked the higher and some the lower Saṁyojana

Dhammas,58 _{but most preferred the lower group. Some liked to hear the}

Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta,59 _{others the Karaṇīyamettā Sutta, and yet others}

58. See Appendix on page 569.

preferred to listen to the Sangaha–Dhamma which is concerned with helping each other.

He said that they variously had their own peculiar preferences, each being different but they followed the wishes of the majority when many of them came. They variously liked listening to Dhamma in accordance with their tendencies of character, much as some people do. Some liked to hear about

mettā and the Brahmavihāras,60 _{others liked to hear some suttas which I had never}

heard of before and I could only tell them that I didn’t know anything about these suttas. So they asked to hear another sutta which they liked.

He said that the Devatās loved and respected him very much and did not want him to go elsewhere. They wanted him to stay a long time with them, for they told him that while he stayed there their hearts were very peaceful. At night they would hear the sound of his chanting and developing the Dhamma of mettā, and they were deeply affected by the Dhamma which he chanted a great deal, so that they did not want him to stop. He said that in doing this chanting he only did it mentally and did not do it out loud such that anyone could hear it. But when the Devatās came to visit him they would ask him to chant various special suttas which made them feel happy and which they enjoyed listening to more than any other suttas. While he was chanting they listened intently and completely absorbed. He asked them: “How do you know when I am chanting these suttas?” They immediately answered saying that:

“The sound of your chanting reverberates through all the worlds and how could we not hear it?”

Dhamma is very subtle and refined, and when it is brought out and proclaimed by chanting or recitation it is bound to resonate throughout the worlds to let everyone hear it who is able to hear it in the whole Loka–dhātu.