5
Should he become the Lord of the Land, would he not have all the monks across the Country don their robes as the Mon? I fear that this might displease members of the royalty and ministry. Therefore, I permit [the succession] to be dealt with in any manner everyone pleases, as long as it is their consensus. In the time to come, you are the only one I see capable of serving as leader in chief. I think there will be no more war from the Vietnamese and the Burmese, but the Westerners. Let us be on our best guard and give them no chance to outwit us. Let us follow whatever work of theirs that we find we should study, but not to the point of complete veneration or obsession. These days, I am trying to relieve myself of chief worries. The only concern which remains concerns the grand monasteries I have erected as some of them are still not finished, and once they have gone to wrack and ruin, there will be no one to help take care of them. The money left in the Treasuries after spending upon the government affairs of the State is 40,000 chang. Let me have around 10,000 chang. Please tell anyone who would become the Lord of the Land that I ask for this amount of money and ask him to help take care of ruined monasteries and of the unfinished monastic projects until they are completed.” Having received the royal command, His Grace, Phraya Sisuriwong, shed tears and retired from the audience.
