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　　At the end of my first Rains Retreat there, I got news from home that my father was very ill, so I made plans to return home to visit him. Before I left, Khun Amnaad Amnueykit invited me to give a sermon at his home. This was the eighth day after the end of the rains (October 12). At about five in the evening, before I left for Khun Amnaad”s house, there was a peculiar incident. A swarm of more than 100 squirrels came running into the monastery and gathered on the porch of the hut belonging to one of the monks, Phra Yen. Nothing like this had ever happened since my arrival in Krathoag, so before leaving the monastery I called all the monks and novices to my quarters for a meeting. "There”s going to be an incident tonight, so I want you all to be on your toes. After you”ve finished the evening chanting,

　　(a) you are to return to your quarters, sit quietly and meditate. Don”t sit around talking. Each person should keep to himself.

　　(b) If you have any personal business to take care of, like sewing robes, save it for another night."

　　I then left for the District Official”s house. At seven that evening, after I had been on the sermon seat for half an hour, preaching to the District Official, civil servants and other townspeople about the virtues of the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha and one”s benefactors, two lay men from near the monastery came looking for me, but since I was sitting there preaching with my eyes closed, they didn”t dare interrupt. After the sermon was over they informed the District Official that someone had tried to stab Phra Yen, but he had received only a surface wound.

　　On hearing this, the District Official called his assistant and a number of policemen, and they went to see what was up at Bong Chii Cemetery Monastery. I went along with them. The officials were able to trace the suspect — a man named Nai In — to a village where they found him hiding out in a friend”s house. The District Official had the police take both Nai In and his friend into custody.

　　The police continued to investigate the matter for several days, while we at the monastery ran our own investigation. We learned that since my coming to spend the rains there at Bong Chii Cemetery Monastery, the way I and the other monks in the monastery had conducted ourselves had received a great deal of praise from the District Official, civil servants, townspeople and most of the people in the nearby villages. Other temples in the area had become jealous as a result and, not wanting us to stay on there, had laid plans to frighten us away by doing us bodily harm.

　　As for the police, they tried to interrogate Nai In, but didn”t get anywhere because he wouldn”t confess. So finally the chief of police came and told me, "Whether or not he confesses, I”ll still have to keep him behind bars for a while, because he”s in my custody. Tomorrow I”ll take him to the provincial prison."

　　Hearing this, I felt sorry for Nai In. To tell the truth, he was a scoundrel from way back, but I had had him run a number of errands for the monastery, such as helping us find firewood, so in a way he was a follower of mine. I thus asked the chief of police to bring Nai In and his friend to see me later in the day.

　　At about three in the afternoon the chief of police brought the two of them to the monastery. I said to Nai In, "If it”s true that you”re involved in this, I don”t ever want you to do it again. No matter whether it”s a case of a monk or a lay person, I want you to stop. If it”s not true that you”re guilty, then it means you”re a good person. So today I”m going to ask the chief of police to give me Nai In. From today onwards I”ll ask Nai In not to cause the monastery any trouble. May the chief of police please let Nai In go, so that there”ll be no more animosity between us.…

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