39. No trouble through his words

Luang Pu was pure in his speech, for he would speak only of things that served a purpose. He never created any trouble for himself or for others through his words. Even when people tried to bait him so that they could hear him criticize others, he wouldn’t fall for the bait.

Many were the times when people would come to say to him, “Luang Pu, why is it that some of our nationally renowned preachers like to attack others or denounce society or criticize other senior monks? Even if you paid me, I couldn’t respect monks like that.”

Luang Pu would respond,

“That’s the level of their knowledge and understanding. They say what comes easily in line with the level of their knowledge. Nobody’s paying you to respect them. If you don’t want to respect them, then don’t respect them. They probably won’t mind.”