..续本文上一页 sacred Buddha image, a little less than a meter across at the base, and very beautiful. Someone had brought it from the middle of the jungle.

　　After two nights in Kok River Village, we said goodbye to the villagers and set out across a large tract of virgin forest. We walked for three days before coming across another village. As soon as the people in Kok River Village had learned that we were planning to go, they tried to dissuade us because there were no places in the forest where we could go for alms. So I said, "That”s all right. It”s only two days. I can take it. All I ask for is enough water to drink." The morning of the day we were to leave, just as we were returning from our alms round in the village, we met a man who informed us that he was going to leave for Chieng Saen that day, and so would be able to accompany us through the forest.

　　Before we left the village, an old man came to warn us: "On your way through the forest," he said, "you”ll come to a spot where there are a lot of spirit shrines. If it isn”t yet dark when you reach there, don”t stop. Go on and spend the night somewhere else, for the forest spirits there are really fierce. No one who spends the night in that area can get any sleep. Sometimes it”s a bird, sometimes a tiger, sometimes a deer — always something to keep you awake all night."

　　So the three of us — Phra Khien, the lay man and myself — set out across the forest. And sure enough, along the way we came across the spot the old man had mentioned. Phra Khien, who had heard the old man”s warning, said to me, "Than Ajaan, let”s not stop here." But I told him, "We”ve got to. Whatever”s here, we”ll find out tonight." So we stopped and pitched camp by the spirit shrines. I had the lay man tear down all the shrines and set them on fire. "I”m not afraid," I said. "I”ve never seen a spirit who was any match for a monk" — but glancing over at Phra Khien, I could see his face turn pale.

　　Night fell. We built a fire and chanted the evening service. Then I said, "We all have to believe firmly in the virtues of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha." I made a vow to look for no more shelter that night than the shade of a tree, and found a piece of wood to use for my pillow. I was going to be tough with myself, and not shrink from any hardship. I ordered that we sleep fairly far apart, but close enough to hear if one of the others called out. "Don”t be too intent of getting any sleep tonight," I said.

　　After that, each of us entered his umbrella tent, feeling really exhausted from the long day”s journey. I sat for a while, doing some more chanting. The lay man slept. Phra Khien lay snoring and mumbling in his sleep for a while and then fell quiet. I began feeling really tired and so lay down too. After a moment, though, a sound like someone whispering came to me and said, "Get up. Something”s going to happen."

　　I got up with a start and, sure enough, heard a rustling noise about ten meters from where Phra Khien was sleeping. Lighting a candle, I called out to the others to get up. I then lit a fire and we sat there — the three of us, in the middle of the vast, silent forest — saying our chants. A moment after we started chanting there was a very peculiar-sounding birdcall. The old man in the village had said, "If you hear this sort of birdcall, don”t lie down. Otherwise a spirit will come and suck your blood dry." So we all went without sleep, sitting up until daybreak.

　　In the early morning darkness, the lay man fixed rice porridge for us, and after we finished eating we went out for a look around. We found tiger tracks, marks of its digging, and a fresh pile of its dung. Nothing else happened that night.

　　We waited until it was bright enough to see the lines on our palms, and then set out through the forest. We walked …

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