..续本文上一页ars since my reordination, this was my first encounter with Ajaan Mun. After I had paid my respects, he delivered a short sermon to me on the text, "Khina jati, vusitam brahmacariyanti," which he translated in short as, "The Noble Ones, having freed themselves from the mental effluents, find happiness. This is the supreme holy life." That”s all I can remember of it, but I felt that sitting and listening to him speak for a few moments gave my heart more peace than it had felt all the years I had been practicing on my own.

　　In the end he told me, "You”ll have to come with me this time. As for your preceptor, I”ll inform him myself." That was our entire conversation. I bowed down to him and returned to Wat Sra Pathum.

　　When I told my preceptor about my meeting with Ajaan Mun, he simply sat very still. The next day, Ajaan Mun came to Wat Sra Pathum and spoke with my preceptor, saying that he wanted to have me go with him up north. My preceptor gave his assent.

　　I began to get my necessary belongings together and to say goodbye to my friends and the temple boys. I asked one of the boys how much money I had left for my travel expenses, and he told me, "Thirty satang." That wasn”t even enough to pay for the ride to HuaLamphong Station, which by that time had risen to 50 satang. So I went to inform Ajaan Mun, and he assured me that he would take care of everything.

　　The day before Lady Noi”s cremation, 5 Ajaan Mun was invited to deliver a sermon at the home of Chao Phraya Mukhamontri, and afterwards received the following donations: a set of robes, a container of kerosene and 80 baht. Later, Ajaan Mun told me that the set of robes he gave to a monk at Wat Boromnivasa, the kerosene he gave to Phra MahaSombuun, and the money he gave to people who needed it, leaving just enough for two people”s traveling expenses: his and mine.

　　After a while, when Chao Khun Upali finally let Ajaan Mun return north, we took the train to Uttaradit, where we stayed at Wat Salyaphong, a temple founded by Chao Khun Upali himself. Before getting on the express train at Hua Lamphong Station, we ran into Mae Ngaw Nedjamnong, who had come down to Bangkok — whether it was to attend Lady Noi”s funeral or what, I don”t know. Mae Ngaw was one of Ajaan Mun”s old students, and she agreed to help look after our needs during the entire trip.

　　This was the period when Ajaan Tan was abbot of Wat Salyaphong. We stayed there a number of days, and then went to stay in the groves behind the temple, quite a ways from the monks" quarters. This was a quiet, secluded place, both by day and by night.

　　One day I got into a disagreement with Ajaan Mun and he drove me away. Although I felt riled, I decided not to let my feelings show, so I stayed on with him, attending to his needs as I always had.

　　The next morning — this was in early January, towards the end of the second lunar month — two monks came looking for Ajaan Mun with the news that one of his followers was seriously ill in Chieng Mai. The two monks then continued on down to Bangkok, after which Ajaan Mun and I left Uttaradit for Chieng Mai. When we arrived we went to stay at Wat Chedi Luang (GreatChedi Temple).

　　The ill follower turned out to be a lay man — Nai Biew of San Kampheng district — who had become mentally deranged. His older brother and sister-in-law brought him to Wat Chedi Luang, and Ajaan Mun cured him with meditation.

　　That year I spent the Rains Retreat at Wat Chedi Luang. When we had first arrived, there were quite a number of our fellow meditation monks staying at the temple, but as the rains approached, they left one by one to stay in the hills. At first, Ajaan Mun was going to have me leave for the hills too, but I refused to go. I told him I had my heart set on staying with him and attending to his needs t…

《The Autobiography of a Forest Monk》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…