Thirty men washing one man’s feet! - Phra Ajahn Sumedho

“Another experience I learned from was the custom of washing the feet of the senior monks when they returned from the almsround. After they walked barefoot through the village and rice paddies, their feet would be muddy. There were foot baths outside the dining hall. When Ajahn Chah would come, all the monks - maybe twenty or thirty of them - would rush out and wash Ajahn Chah’s feet.

When I first saw this I thought, ‘I’m not going to do that - not me!’ Then the next day,thirty monks rushed out as soon as Ajahn Chah appeared and washed his feet - I thought, ‘What a stupid thing to be doing - thirty monks washing one man’s feet. I’m not going to do that.’

The day after that,the reaction became even more violent...thirty monks rushed out and washed Ajahn Chah’s feet and....’That really angers me, I’m fed up with it! I just feel that is the most stupid thing I’ve ever seen - thirty men going out to wash one man’s feet! He probably thinks he deserves it, you know - it’s really building up his ego. He’s probably got an enormous ego, having so many people wash his feet every day. I’ll never do that!’

I was beginning to build up a strong reaction, an over reaction. I would sit there feeling miserable and angry. I’d look at the monks and I’d think, ‘They all look stupid to me. I don’t know what I’m doing here.’But then I started listening and I thought, ‘This is really an unpleasant frame of mind to be in. Is it anything to get upset about? They haven’t made me do it. It’s all right; there’s nothing wrong with thirty men washing one man’s feet.

It’s not immoral or bad behaviourand maybe they enjoy it; maybe they want to do it - maybe it’s allright to do that....Maybe I should do it!’ So the next morning, thirty-one monks ran out and washed Ajahn Chah’s feet.

There was no problem after that. It felt really good: that nasty thing in me had stopped. We can reflect upon these things that arouse indignation and anger in us: is something really wrong with them or is it something we create dukkha about?

Then we begin to understand the problems we create in our own lives and the lives of the people around us.”