..续本文上一页et it to settle down, sometimes not. Seeing that things didn”t look promising and that I could only lose by staying on, I quickly left.

　　In coming from Nakhorn Ratchasima to Udorn Thani, my purpose had been to catch up with Ven. Acariya Mun, who had spent the rains at Wat Noan Nives, Udorn Thani. I didn”t reach him in time, though, because he had been invited to Sakon Nakhorn before my arrival, so I went on to stay at Wat Thung Sawaang in Nong Khai for a little more than three months.

　　In May of that year, 1942, I left Nong Khai for the town of Sakon Nakhorn, and from there went on to the monastery where Ven. Acariya Mun was staying in Baan Khoak, Tong Khoam Township, Muang District, Sakon Nakhorn Province. When I reached the monastery, I found him doing walking meditation in the late evening dusk. ”Who”s that

　　” he asked, so I told him who I was. He then left his meditation path and went to the meeting hall -- he was staying in a room there in the meeting hall -- and conversed with me, showing a great deal of kindness and compassion for the incredibly ignorant person who had come to seek him out. He gave me a sermon that first evening, the gist of which I”ll relate to you as far as I can remember it. It”s a message that remains close to my heart to this day.

　　”You”ve already studied a good deal,” he told me, ”at least enough to earn the title of "Maha." Now I”m going to tell you something that I want you take and think over. Don”t go thinking that I underrate the Dhamma of the Lord Buddha, but at the present moment no matter how much of the Dhamma you”ve studied, it will serve no purpose in keeping with your status as a scholar other than simply being an obstacle to your meditation, because you won”t be able to resist dwelling on it and using it to take the measure of things when you”re trying to calm your heart. So for the sake of convenience when fostering stillness in your heart, I want you to take the Dhamma you”ve studied and put it away for the time being. When the time comes for it to benefit you, it will all come streaming in to blend perfectly with your practice. At the same time, it will serve as a standard to which you should make the heart conform. But for the time being, I don”t want you to concern yourself with the Dhamma you”ve studied at all. Whatever way you make the mind still or use discernment (pañña) to investigate the khandhas, I want you first to restrict yourself to the sphere of the body, because all of the Dhamma in the texts points to the body and mind, but the mind doesn”t yet have any firm evidence and so can”t take the Dhamma learned from the texts and put it to good use. The Dhamma will simply become allusions and labels leading you to speculate elsewhere to the point where you become a person with no foundations, because the mind is fixated on theory in a manner that isn”t the way of the Lord Buddha. So I want you to take what I”ve said and think it over. If you set your mind on the practice without retreating, the day will come when these words of mine will impress themselves on your heart.” Of what I can remember him saying that day, this is all I”ll ask to tell for now.

　　I felt an immediate sense of faith and conviction in him as soon as I saw him face to face that night, both because of my conviction in the Dhamma he was so kind to teach me, and because of the assistance he gave in letting me stay under his guidance. I stayed with him with a sense of contentment hard to describe -- but also with a stupidity on my own part hard to describe as well. He himself was very kind, helping me with the Dhamma every time I went to see him.

　　My practice when I first went to stay with him was a matter of progress and regress within the heart. My heart hardly ever settled down firmly for a …

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