<|endoftext|> aim in this direction. Any directions other than this are all wrong."
Luang Pu once said, "People, as long as they're run-of-the-mill, have their pride and their opinions. As long as they have pride, it's hard for them to see in line with one another. When their views aren't in line with one another, it causes them to keep quarreling and disputing. As for a noble one who has reached the Dhamma, he has nothing to bring him into a quarrel with anyone else. However other people see things, he lets it go as their business. As in one of the Buddha's sayings,
"Monks, whatever the wise people of the world say exists, I too say exists. And whatever the wise people of the world say doesn't exist, I too say that it doesn't exist. I don't quarrel with the world; the world quarrels with me."
On February 21, 1983, when Luang Pu was seriously ill and staying at the Chulalongkorn Hospital in Bangkok, Luang Pu Saam Akiñcano came to visit him in the hospital room. At that time, Luang Pu was resting. Luang Pu Saam sat down near him and raised his hands in respect. Luang Pu responded by raising his hands in respect. Then the two of them sat there, perfectly still, for a long time. Finally, after an extremely long time, Luang Pu Saam raised his hands in respect once more and said, "I'll be leaving now."
"OK," Luang Pu responded.
For the entire two hours, those were the only words I heard them say. After Luang Pu Saam left, I couldn't help but ask Luang Pu, "Luang Pu Saam came and sat here for a long time. Why didn't you say anything to him?"
Luang Pu responded,
"The task is done, so there's no need to say anything more."
During all the many years I lived near Luang Pu, I never saw him act in a way to indicate that he was bothered by anything to the point where he couldn't stand it, and I never heard him complain about any difficulty at all. For example, when he was the senior monk at a function, he never made a fuss or demanded that the hosts alter things to suit him. Whenever he was invited any place where he had to sit for long periods of time or where the weather was hot and humid, he never complained. When he was sick and in pain, or if his food came late, no matter how hungry he was, he never grumbled. If the food was bland and tasteless, he never asked for anything to spice it up. On the other hand, if he saw any other elder monk making a fuss to get special treatment from other people, he would comment,
"You can't endure even this little thing? If you can't endure this, how are you going to win out over defilement and craving?"
Luang Pu was pure in his speech, for he would speak only of things that served a purpose. He never created any trouble for himself or for others through his words. Even when people tried to bait him so that they could hear him criticize others, he wouldn't fall for the bait.
Many were the times when people would come to say to him, "Luang Pu, why is it that some of our nationally renowned preachers like to attack others or denounce society or criticize other senior monks? Even if you paid me, I couldn't respect monks like that."
Luang Pu would respond,
"That's the level of their knowledge and understanding. They say what comes easily in line with the level of their knowledge. Nobody's paying you to respect them. If you don't want to respect them, then don't respect them. They probably won't mind."
Generally speaking, Luang Pu liked to encourage monks and novices to take a special interest in the practice of wandering in the forest to meditate and observe the ascetic practices. Once, when a large number of his students — both senior and junior — came for a meeting, he encouraged them to search for seclusion in the wilderness, living on mountains or in caves for the purpose of accelerating their practice. That way they'd be able to release themselves from their lower states of mind.
One of the monks said thoughtlessly, "I don't dare go to those places, sir. I'm afraid that spirits might victimize me."
Luang Pu shot right back,
"Where have there ever been any spirits who victimize monks? There are only monks who victimize spirits — and they make a big production of it to boot. Think about it. Nearly all the material things lay people bring to donate are for the sake of dedicating the merit to the spirits of their