it. One still has to have washed out one's bowl with water. When going on almsround, we must go with the robes worn neatly in the style for almsround. In the area of meticulousness, the Buddha was unsurpassed. He even specified the style of wearing robes on almsround. Very thorough indeed. The Buddha wanted his students to work to be sublime and admirable in thought, speech and deed. That is why he gave guidance to help them be able to be sublime. He taught the Vinaya in order that thier words and bodily actions be sublime. Those not yet admirable in their bodily actions and speech, following the Vinaya will indeed become so. There's no need to mention those already admirable. They will become more sublime, many times over.

Temporary monks and novices aside, the rest of the Sangha members must use a bag for their alms-bowl when they go on almsround. The strap should not be excessively short, nor excessively long. The bowl should come to about the level of the belt. Sayadaw is especially mindful of the color of the bowl bags. They should not too red, nor too yellow, nor should they be deep purple. He wants them to be the color of ripe jackfruit. For the Buddhist Culture Foundation Course, we make arrangements so that all the novices at the center have the same color robes and sitting cloths.

When one goes outside the center, one can see robes here and there that are excessively red or yellow, or ones that are deep purple. From time to time, some of the monks who come to Sayadaw's places from the Mahâgandâyone Monastery come wearing deep purple robes. When they have left again, he often asks, "Would the late great Mahâgandâyone Sayadaw like this deep purple color? Would he permit it?"

In the past, Sayadaw would come himself every day to inspect the almsround line-up. No matter how hard it was raining, he would come, toting an umbrella. He would have robes taken out from Sanghika (owned by the Sangha in general) storage for those without suitable robes.

Those monks and novices who have lived with teachers who haven't orderly discipline and those have lived with disciplined teachers but couldn't pick up the discipline have a difficult experience when they run into Sayadaw. For those monks who live in a disciplined manner, Sayadaw's discipline is nothing new at all. These are not additional rules particular to Sayadaw. They are the just the Buddha's rules. All he is doing is helping people to be able to personally follow the discipline of the Buddha.

There are some famous Sayadaws among the monks who come to meditate at the center. There are head Sayadaws from study monasteries, too. There are probably those who try implementing the good discipline from this center when they return to their respective places. Of the young monks and novices who will shoulder responsibility for the Sâsana in the future, there may be those who try implementing the good discipline from this center when the become leaders in their own places. In this way, Sayadaw's good discipline could spread all over the place.

We need to have teachers like Sayadaw who work for orderly discipline all over

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