..续本文上一页e area, we went by train down to Bodhgaya. Getting off the train, we took a horse carriage through the streets of the town to the resthouse run by the Maha Bodhi Society. The town is broad open and very pleasant, with hills and a river — the Neranjara — flowing near the market. Although the river is shallow, it has water flowing all year around, even in the dry season. A ridge of hills lies across the river, and in the middle of the ridge is a spot where the Buddha once stayed, named Nigarodharama. The remains of Lady Sujata”s house are nearby. Further along is the Anoma River, which is very broad and filled with sand. In the dry season, when the water is low, it looks like a desert with only a trickle of water flowing through.

　　We turned back, crossed to the other side of the Neranjara and went on a ways to a chedi surrounded by a clump of flame trees. This spot — called Mucalinda — is where the Buddha sat under the shelter of a serpent”s hood. In the area around the Bodhi tree where the Buddha gained Awakening are scores of Buddha images and tiny old chedis carved out of stone, which people of various sects still go to worship.

　　After staying a fair while in Bodhgaya, we returned to Calcutta for a short stay at the Nalanda Square Buddhist Temple. I then took my leave of all my good friends there and got on the boat at the Calcutta docks. This was March, 1940. The fumes of the coming World War were growing thick and nearing the combustion point in Germany. I saw a lot of battleships in the Indian Ocean as our boat passed by.

　　After spending three days and two nights out on the ocean, we reached the docks in Rangoon. We went to stay at the Schwe Dagon Pagoda, visited our old benefactors, and after a fair while took the train, heading back to Thailand. At that time there were no commercial flights, so we had to return by the route we had come. When we reached Mae Sod, I was feeling weary from having crossed the mountains, so we bought tickets for the Thai commercial flight from Mae Sod to Phitsanuloke. There we caught the train down to Uttaradit, where we stayed at Wat Salyaphong. After visiting the lay people and my old followers there, I went down to stay for a while at the Big Rock at Sila Aad (StoneDais), and then took the train to Bangkok. There I stayed at Wat Sra Pathum before returning to spend the rains, as usual, in Chanthaburi.

　　* * *

　　Altogether I spent 14 rainy seasons in Chanthaburi, to the point where I almost came to regard it as my home. At present there are eleven monasteries that I founded in the province:

　　1) Wat Paa Khlawng Kung (Shrimp Canal Forest Monastery), Chanthaburi district;

　　2) Wat Sai Ngam (Beautiful Banyan Monastery), Baan Nawng Bua, Chanthaburi district;

　　3) Wat Khao Kaew (Chinese Boxwood Mountain Monastery), Chanthaburi district;

　　4) Wat Khao Noi (Little Mountain Monastery), Thaa Chalaeb;

　　5) Wat Yang Rahong (Stately Rubber Tree Monastery), Thaa Mai district;

　　6) Wat Khao Noi (Little Mountain Monastery), Thaa Mai district;

　　7) Wat Khao Jam Han, Laem Singh district;

　　8) Wat Laem Yang (Rubber Tree Point Monastery), Laem Singh district;

　　9) Wat Mai Damrong Tham, Khlung district;

　　10) Wat Baan Imang, Khlung district; and

　　11) Samnak Song Saam Yaek at the Agriculture Experimental Station near the waterfall on Sra Baab Mountain.

　　All of these place have monks living on a regular basis. Some of them are full-fledged monasteries, while the others are officially still just "monks" residences."

　　In 1941 the war with the French and the Second World War broke out. During the war and after, I wandered about in various provinces until 1949. With the war finally over, I thought of going back to India again. So in November of that year I got ready to apply for a new passport.

　　Going to India this time turned out…

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