..续本文上一页birth and death, until I came to the word avijja — unawareness. Unawareness of what

　　 What kind of knowing is the knowing of unawareness

　　 What kind of knowing is the knowing of awareness

　　 I considered things in this manner, back and forth, over and over until dawn. When it all finally became clear, I left concentration. My heart and body both seemed light, open and free; my heart, extremely satisfied and full.

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　　We left Chieng Dao Cave three days later and then split up for a night, one of us staying in Paak Phieng Cave, the other in Jan Cave. These were very relaxing places to stay. No incidents. After that we set out for Fang, to stay at Tab Tao Cave, which at that time had no villages nearby. There we met an old monk, Grandfather Phaa. Reaching the base of the hill, we found banana and papaya orchards and a clear-flowing stream. There were two large open caves and one long narrow one. In one of the open caves were rows and rows of ancient Buddha images, and another enormous Buddha image that Grandfather Phaa was building himself.

　　When we first went to his quarters, we didn”t find him, so we then went east, following the stream up the mountain. We came across an old man wearing maroon shorts and a maroon short-sleeved shirt. He had a large knife in his hand, with which he was cutting back the forest. His movements were vigorous and strong, like those of a young man. We walked towards him and called out, "Do you know where Grandfather Phaa is

　　" When he caught sight of us, he came quickly towards us — with the knife still in his hand. But when he sat down with us, his manner changed into that of a monk. "I”m Grandfather Phaa," he said. So we paid him our respects.

　　He led us back to his quarters, where he changed from his shorts and shirt into a dark set of robes with a sash tied around his chest and a string of rosary beads in his hand. He told us the stories behind each of the caves. "If you want to spend the Rains Retreat here with me, you can, seeing as you”re students of Ajaan Mun. But you can”t take me as your ajaan, because at the moment I”m growing bananas and papayas to sell in order to raise enough money to finish my Buddha image." 6 Still, he ate only one meal a day.

　　That evening he showed us around the banana and papaya groves, which he had planted himself. "If you feel hungry," he said, pointing to the trees, "you have my permission to take and eat as much as you like. Ordinarily, I don”t allow other monks to touch them." It hadn”t occurred to me that I”d want any of his fruit, but I appreciated his kindness. Every morning before dawn, he”d send one of his disciples to where we were staying with bananas and papayas for us to eat.

　　I noticed a lot of strange things about the area. The peacocks in the forest weren”t at all afraid of Grandfather Phaa. Every morning doves would come to where he”d be eating, and he”d scatter rice for them to eat. Sometimes they”d allow him to touch them. Every evening monkeys would descend in hordes to eat the papayas he had spread out for them. If any villagers happened by on their way to worship the Buddha images, though, the animals would all run away.

　　To enter the long narrow cave, we had to light a lantern and climb up and down a narrow, crooked passageway. After about 30 minutes, we came to a small chedi, deep in the cave. Who built it, or when, no one knows.

　　After we had done what we felt was enough cave-exploring, we set out across the jungle and stopped at Kok River Village. This was a good-sized village with a tall hill to the east. At night it was very cold. All you could hear were the roars of tigers passing back and forth along the side of the hill. The village had no temple, but it did have a…

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