..续本文上一页bout medicines that can cure disease because they had studied nature by training their minds the same way we do.

　　Similar lessons can be learned from water, earth and air. Realizing this, I”ve never gotten very excited about medicines that cure disease, because I feel that good medicines are everywhere. The important point is whether or not we recognize them, and this depends on us.

　　In addition there is another quality we need in order to take care of ourselves: the power of the mind. If we are able to keep the mind quiet, its ability to cure disease will be tens of times greater than that of any medicine. This is called dhamma-osatha: the medicine of the Dhamma.

　　All in all, I can really see that I”ve gained from living in forests and other quiet places in order to train the mind. One by one I”ve been able to cut away my doubts about the Buddha”s teachings. And so, for this reason, I”m willing to devote myself to the duties of meditation until there is no more life left for me to live.

　　The gains that come from training the mind, if I were to describe them in detail, would go on and on, but I”ll ask to finish this short description here.

　　* * *

　　Coming now to the present, I”ve begun work on making Wat Asokaram a permanent base for people yet to come. On December 5, 1956, while staying at Wat Asokaram, I was given a rank and a title — Phra Khru of the first order, with the title, "Phra Khru Suddhidhammacariya" — without my having known or even thought about it beforehand. In December, 1957, I learned that, again without warning, I had been given the rank of Chao Khun, with the title, "Phra Suddhidhammaransi Gambhiramedhacariya," so I have decided to spend the rains at Wat Asokaram ever since.

　　In 1959 I started feeling ill in the middle of the rains. Thinking of my illness, I began to grow discouraged about living on. There were days when my thoughts would turn away from my followers and be concerned only with myself alone: I would see places where I could find quiet and solitude as the highest form of happiness. Sometimes my illness would recede; sometimes I”d be sick all night long, but I was able to bear with it. I had sharp pains in my stomach, and there was one day when I ran a very high fever for many hours. So when the rains were over I came to rest at Somdet Phra Pin Klao Hospital.

　　My first stay was for three days — November 2-5, 1959 — but after returning to the Wat I had a relapse, and so I re-entered the hospital on Tuesday, November 10. Since then my illness has slowly subsided.

　　One day, lying in bed, I thought to myself: "I want the fact that I”ve been born to be useful both to myself and to others. Even if I were to be born into a world where there is no sickness, I”d want to be of use both to the world and to the Buddha”s teachings all of my life. But here I”m sick, so I”d like my sickness to be of use both to myself and to others." With this in mind, I wrote the following letter:

　　Concerning my food, I don”t want anyone to worry. The hospital has everything I could want. So if anyone feels inspired to bring food, I ask that he or she take the cost of the food and the amount of money it would cost to bring it here, and use the money to make merit in some other way, e.g., to compensate for all of the hospital”s medicine I”ve used or, if there is money left over, to help pay for the poor and destitute who need hospital care. Wouldn”t that be a better way to think

　　The building where I”m staying is a special building. It hasn”t yet been opened to other patients. The doctors have given me the best possible care and attention, without asking for even a single cent. Therefore, whoever has good intentions should think this over.

　　In conclusion, I”d like to donate some beds to the hospital as a memento. Whoever would …

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