Validación de la experiencia de usuario

he foregoing methods have been used by those Bhikkhus who go to live in the forest, to train themselves, and they have gained satisfying results from them, and the tigers have never harmed any of them.

Here, it is appropriate to relate a story so that the reader may think about what happened in this incident. There was an Ācariya who was a senior fol- lower of Venerable Ajaan Mun, and at this time he was practising the way of Dhutanga while wandering along the bank of the Mekong River on the Laotian side and with him was an Upāsaka — a white-robed lay follower. This

Ācariya was temporarily staying under an overhanging cliff and the Upāsaka

who maintained the eight moral precepts was staying under another such cliff about 120 meters away. This Ācariya who told the story, said that he had stayed there for several months for he reckoned that it was good for the health of both his body and heart, and the practice of the “Dhamma of a recluse”

(Samaṇa–Dhamma) developed smoothly without any obstacles, both for him

and for the Upāsaka. The obtaining of food on the alms round (piṇḍapāta) was not difficult for they were no more than four kilometres from the nearest village where there were about fifteen houses and the villagers did not come out and bother them, making difficulties and wasting a lot of time when they could be developing the practice of Dhamma, for each of them went about their own business accordingly.

One day in the afternoon the Ācariya felt a bit unwell as if he had a slight fever, now hot now cold and the body feeling not quite normal. When the

Upāsaka came to where he was staying he told him to go and boil some water

to mix with some medicine that he thought he would try, thinking that it may effect a cure. A doctor had told him that this medicine could cure malaria and he was afraid that this was the beginning of a bout of malaria. For there was a lot of it about in that district and many people suffered from it as the forest was very thick and people accustomed to living in open country and farmland

were not able to go and stay there. It was also teeming with all sorts of wild animals, tigers and other members of the cat family, and at night their cries and roars were very noisy. It seems that there were also some man-eating tigers in the district which was said to be due to the Vietnamese who make them ferocious and not afraid of people.

As soon as the Upāsaka understood what was required he took the kettle to the place where he was staying, to boil the water. After that the Ācariya did not see him again and he did not bring the hot water back to him. The

Ācariya waited until it got dark, but still he did not come, so he thought that

the Upāsaka may have forgotten about it because he was sitting in meditation and becoming absorbed in the practice and neglecting his duties. Meanwhile the symptoms of the Ācariya’s fever became steadily milder until it went away altogether.

As for the Upāsaka, after getting the kettle he prepared things to make a fire, but however he tried to light it, the fire would not catch, until he started to get angry. Then, forgetting that he was an Upāsaka and a follower of an important Kammaṭṭhāna Bhikkhu, he stood up suddenly and thought with anger:

“I have made a fire here many times, but why won’t it catch this time? Maybe it needs some water. If it needs water I will give it some!”

Thereupon he urinated all over the place where he set the fire until it was all wet and then walked away without saying anything to the Ācariya who waited for some hot water until it was night time. Once the night had fully set in some very strange and unusual things occurred.

Previously, while he had been staying there, nothing much unusual had occurred. But this night about 9 pm, the white-robed Upāsaka was sitting in meditation and contemplating the misdeeds that he had done and his careless attitude towards the Ācariya which was due to his anger which made him stand and urinate over the firewood. In addition he never went to ask the Ācariya for forgiveness so as to rectify his fault and negate his bad kamma. While he was sitting and reflecting on his faults in a restless anxious manner, there was sud- denly a great loud noise from about two yards behind him, the roar of a huge tiger which was crouching and looking at him as if it was just about to leap on him and eat him up. It was also continuously growling softly — enough to test how much courage there was in the anger of a kammaṭṭhāna disciple — and loud enough so the Ācariya could also hear it where he was staying.

While it was growling it also smacked its tail up and down, hitting the ground with a thudding noise and shifting about back and forward as if it was getting ready to spring on the Upāsaka and make fresh food of him right there and then.

As soon as the Upāsaka heard this unusual sound which he had never heard so close to him before he became frightened for the first time since he came there several months previously and he quickly turned round to see what it was. It was about the time of the full moon and he could see this huge tiger crouching there, looking at him, quite distinctly. His blood turned to water, he shook with fear and almost went unconscious. He could think of nothing and his heart turned for refuge to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha as a mat- ter of life and death. He pleaded:

“May the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha protect me and guard me and not let this tiger eat me up tonight for then I would not be able to ask for- giveness for my misdeeds, from Venerable Ācariya — which I did wrong to him this afternoon. May the Buddha help and protect me for the whole of this night and may the Dhamma and Venerable Ācariya have “mettā” and make my “kamma” void for those things which I did wrong. Don’t let it come to the point where I must be eaten by this tiger in punishment for these offences.”

Thus he pleaded, he begged, he repeated “buDDho”, he quivered, shivered,

and he turned around and stared at the tiger, afraid it would leap on him and eat him up immediately. But the tiger, as soon as it saw a man turn round and stare at it, drew back a little while still growling the whole time. Then in a short time it shifted its position and came in from a new direction and then drew back again, going back and forward all the time in this way.

Meanwhile the Upāsaka felt like death, being forced to turn this way and that, nervously following the restless movements of the tiger going back and forth all round his mosquito net without let up. When he took an attitude of staring intently at the tiger it withdrew, and at times it went so far away that it seemed it may be going for good. But as soon as he relaxed a bit and let his attention wander it would come back right up close to him. He could not let “buDDho” and his heart separate and he had to go on repeating it until the

heart became attached to it and he held on to it all the time as his guarantee of life. But as soon as “buDDho” started to slip away a bit the tiger started to

move in closer every time. When he saw that his position had got worse he quickly recollected — “buDDho” and implored the Buddha to save his life.

Then once “buDDho” had become close to the heart, the tiger drew back as

though it was going away for good.

But the characteristics of people are such that they generally need to be forced to do things, so as soon as the tiger drew away some distance, “buDDho”

started to drop away from the heart — thinking that he would not die. Then the tiger began to move in again and prepare itself, as if it were getting ready to jump on him, but it never did anything but to keep on changing the direc- tion from which it approached.

There was no let up in the battle between the tiger and the Upāsaka which went on from 9 pm until dawn with neither of them being ready to admit defeat and the tears of the Upāsaka flowed the whole time because of his fear of death or at least until there were no more tears left to flow. But as soon as the light of dawn came, the tiger slowly drew back to about eight yards and then slowly walked away until it went out of sight.

Although the tiger had gone, the Upāsaka stayed for a long time under his mosquito net watchful and alert, not daring to go out for fear that it was hiding close by. He was afraid that as soon as he relaxed and came out from his mosquito net it would jump on him and eat him up. So he felt compelled to sit and wait and watch the situation from under his mosquito net for a long time until he saw that all was quiet, that it had gone and was not returning. Then he quickly left his net and ran to where the Ācariya was staying, con- fused, quivering, wild eyed and babbling incoherently so that what he said made no sense.

Seeing the Upāsaka’s unusual behaviour, the Ācariya questioned him and managed to find out that he was asking to be pardoned for the offences which he did against the Ācariya the previous afternoon. He explained the reasons for his wrong actions and told him everything including the coming of the tiger and the way it stayed around all night.

But the Ācariya, instead of pardoning him at once, turned and spoke in a menacing manner, thereby increasing his concern, saying:

“What you like you get. If you like what is good you get what is good. If you like what is bad you get what is bad. But in this case you like tigers so you got a tiger. So what’s the use of asking me for a pardon, I cannot pardon you yet. At least you should meet those good things that you like for one

more night. If then, you don’t die from being eaten by the tiger you will at least have learnt a long lasting lesson which you can reflect upon. The tiger is better than the Ācariya, so I shall let the tiger teach and train you. What do you think about that, shall I hand you over to the tiger tonight? If you don’t listen to its teaching I shall let it take you away for food once and for all, for I’m tired of teaching you. What do you say, is that what you want? Meeting the tiger and listening to its teaching all last night was quite appro- priate to the circumstances, and tonight I will have it come and teach you again. If after that you are still obstinate I will let it take you and turn you into sustenance for its wanderings. Its belly would be well filled for several days. Well, what’s it going to be? Say quickly and don’t dawdle! Who is the better, the Ācariya or the tiger? Answer now, don’t hesitate or in a moment I shall call the tiger to take you away and make use of you, which it will do in a far more effective way than this Ācariya.”

After saying this he acted as if he were calling the tiger, saying:

“Where has that tiger gone to now? Come back quickly and take him away now, don’t wait about. I’ll turn him over to you to be your follower, so come quickly and take him away.”

At this point the Upāsaka cried out loudly and wept, completely losing his composure and implored the Ācariya, saying:

“I am very afraid and I implore Venerable Ācariya not to call the tiger here or I will die right now. Last night I thought I was about to die at one time, but I recovered and came around enough to retain consciousness, so I have come quickly to Venerable Ācariya for help. But you keep calling it back again, and where would I get enough spirit to stand up to it. So Venerable Sir, I implore you to tell it to go away and not come back again.”

After weeping and imploring Venerable Ācariya not to call the tiger again; after prostrating and pleading for his life, conceding his fault in what he did and saying that he would be more self-controlled and careful in the future; after promising that he would never do such an act again while the dread of the lesson he had learnt was still before him; and after coming to implore the

him forgiveness and taught him and spoke to him mildly and soothingly, saying:

“It was nothing but your own evil kamma which brought that tiger to you. If you still don’t accept the blame for your evil deed, you will see it more clearly tonight! For as soon as night falls that tiger will come and take you away and it won’t come back again. It won’t speak nicely and act playfully as it did last night.”

“When you have been hurt you remember it, for good and evil are always there in the world and nobody can get rid of these two aspects of nature. If

it were possible for kamma to have been put under the power of any being or principle anywhere, such an authority would be sure to have eliminated both of those aspects of nature long ago so that there would be none left to come down to us now. But the fact is that good and evil kamma are still here and this is because kamma does not depend on any special being or power, but only upon each individual who makes his own kamma.”

“In this instance you made evil kamma yesterday afternoon and you must see your own evil kamma. But if you are still not ready to see your fault, it is quite certain that tonight the striped and tawny lord of kamma will come to take you away for you to see the results of kamma quite clearly for yourself.”

Having admonished him the Ācariya told the Upāsaka to return to the place where he was staying, but he did not want to go, for fear that the tiger was hiding in wait for him and would jump on him and maul him and take him away and eat him. So the Ācariya had to coerce him by making him frightened once again.

“Just now you said that you accepted and saw the evil of your obstinacy and that you would not do this again. But you have hardly finished saying this and you are being obstinate once again. Why is this? If that’s the case you can go on being obstinate if you can really stand up to that tiger.” Then the Ācariya called out to the tiger once again to come, saying:

“Tiger! You who are the Ācariya of this Upāsaka, where are you? Come here quickly to take away this obstinate Upāsaka and teach him a bit will you. I’m tired of teaching him. Hurry! Come quickly!”

As soon as he had finished speaking, the Upāsaka began to weep again and promised saying: “I will go back right away now but please don’t let the tiger come at all, I am very afraid of it and last night I almost died.” Then he hur- ried back to where he stayed without thinking any more about being afraid or about death.

It is very strange and wonderful how from that day on there was no sign of that tiger prowling about in the district, right up to the time when they moved away from there, which was several months later. In the normal way of thinking it would seem that there must have been something which influ- enced that tiger to come out and torment the Upāsaka who was bold, stupid and evil enough to act in wrong and improper ways, such as standing and urinating all over firewood. Even an ordinary person who is not interested in practising the ways of moral behaviour and Dhamma would not normally do such a thing.

For such a person there is not much that can keep him under control — except for a large tiger which is his equal and can torment and train him. From then on, the Upāsaka was completely subdued and the Ācariya said that afterwards he never displayed any obstinacy. It was very effective, for tigers are very able to torment and teach people and to instil a fear into them which lasts a long time.

here, i shoulDlikeToDigressa biT, ToinserTapersonalcommenT. For, I

would like to get a tiger to come and live in the vicinity of Baan Taad Forest Monastery to help me by taking over some of my responsibility when the Bhikkhus, Sāmaṇeras, Theras, Nuns or any others become lazy in their practice and spend their time sleeping. It would help to rouse some effort in them, for even if they didn’t actually see it, but it only helped by the sound of its roar, it would probably be enough to open their eyes and ears and make them get up and do some practice so that they did not indulge in sleeping too much.

On the other hand, if a tiger came to stay here many of the village dogs