His senior disciples repeated their reasons and he remained silent,
only to bring it up again later. Time and again he demanded to
know when they would take him to Sakon Nakhon. He said that,
by waiting too long, he would fail to make it in time.
In the end, they asked him to extend his stay at Ban Phu
monastery for a full ten days. By the time four or five days had
passed, he was pressing them constantly to take him to Sakon
Nakhon. Each time, his senior disciples either kept silent or
repeated their previous justifications for staying. Repeatedly he
pressed them, scolding them for waiting so long.
“Are you going to have me die here?! I’ve told you from the
very beginning – I am going to die in Sakon Nakhon. My time is
almost up. Get me there in a hurry! Don’t wait so long!”
During the final three days, his demands to be taken to
Sakon Nakhon became increasingly vociferous. During his last
night there he flatly refused to lie down and sleep. Instead, he
urgently called the monks to his bedside and told them unequiv-
ocally that he could not remain alive much longer. He insisted on
being taken that very night to be sure of arriving in time. He then
had us prop him up, sitting cross-legged in samãdhi and facing in
the direction of Sakon Nakhon. As soon as he withdrew from
samãdhi, he told us to prepare to leave – he was waiting no longer.
We rushed off to call his senior disciples. They informed him that
he would definitely be taken to Sakon Nakhon the next morning.
Following this assurance, his sense of urgency lessened somewhat,
but he still refused to go to sleep, speaking openly about how he
felt:
“My time is almost up, I cannot hang on much longer. It
would be better to leave tonight. In that way, I will be sure to
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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