..续本文上一页iting and helping train the people living there.

　　In Chanthaburi there are eleven monasteries I helped to set up. In Nakhorn Ratchasima there are two or three. There”s one in Srisaket, and more in Surin — all are friends in meditation. In Ubon Ratchathani there are many places. In Nakhorn Phanom, Khon Kaen, Loei, Chaiyaphum, Phetchabun, Prajinburi, Rayong, Trat, Lopburi, Chainat, Tak, Nakhorn Sawan, Phitsanuloke are monasteries where I”ve taught on a temporary basis, without setting up any monasteries of my own. In Saraburi I”ve helped set up one monastery. Uttaradit is a place where I”ve trained people while passing through. Lampang, Chieng Rai, Chieng Mai, Nakhorn Nayok, Nakhorn Pathom and Ratchaburi I”ve passed through and taught people, but without setting up monasteries. In Prajuab some friends have begun setting up a monastery in Hua Hin district. In Chumporn there are two or three monasteries I”ve helped set up. Surat Thani I”ve passed through, but haven”t started a monastery. In Nakhorn Sri Thammarat I stayed for a while and helped start a monastery that has since fallen vacant. Phattalung some of my followers have passed through, but as of yet there”s no monastery. In Songkhla there are a lot of forest monasteries. In Yala some of my followers have started establishing a base, and I myself have been there twice.

　　During the dry seasons I”ve made it a point always to go visit old students of my teachers. Sometimes I”ve gone off to meditate on my own. After I was reordained in the Dhammayut Sect in 1927, I spent my first Rains Retreat in Ubon Ratchathani province. I then spent the rains in Bangkok at Wat Sra Pathum for three years, then one rainy season in Chieng Mai, two in Nakhorn Ratchasima and one in Prajinburi. After that I built a monastery in Chanthaburi and spent fourteen Rains Retreats there. From there I went to India, where I spent one rainy season. Returning from India, I passed through Burma and then spent the rains at Wat Khuan Miid in Songkhla province. After that I returned to Chieng Mai for one rainy season, and then spent three rainy seasons at Wat Boromnivasa. Since Somdet Mahawirawong (Uan)”s death, I”ve gone out to spend four Rains Retreats at Wat Asokaram, the fourth Retreat being in 1959.

　　As I dictate this, I”m lying in bed at Somdet Phra Pin Klao Hospital, Thonburi.

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　　Epilogue

　　The thirteen-spired chedi Ajaan Lee mentioned in his plan for the Festival Celebrating 25 centuries of Buddhism was never built during his lifetime. Shortly after the festival, his followers — fearing that he would leave the Bangkok area and return to the forest once the chedi was finished — insisted that Wat Asokaram needed an ordination hall before it needed a chedi, and so arranged to have that built first. After the ordination hall was completed in May 1960, Ajaan Lee held a meeting with some of his major supporters to discuss plans for the chedi, but again they found reasons for not going ahead with the project.

　　Meanwhile, Ajaan Lee”s health worsened. After the end of the rainy season he returned to Somdet Phra Pin Klao Hospital, but realizing that the doctors would not be able to cure his illness, arranged for his release from the hospital in early April, 1961. Soon afterwards, on the night of April 25-26, he passed away in his hut at Wat Asokaram. The doctors" verdict: a heart attack.

　　When the initial funeral services were over, his followers decided to delay the cremation until after they had finished the chedi as their final gift to his memory — much like the story of Khru Ba Sri Wichai that Ajaan Lee mentioned towards the end of his autobiography. However, after the chedi was finished in 1965, a poll of Ajaan Lee”s followers revealed…

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