for his daily alms food. One night while walking in meditation,
Ãcariya Sitha was visited by a huge Bengal tiger. The tiger crept
in and quietly crouched forward to about six feet from his medi-
tation track, right in between the lighted candles at each end of
the track that allowed him to see as he paced back and forth in
the dark. Facing the meditation track while remaining motion-
less, it sat there calmly like a house pet watching Ãcariya Sitha
intently as he paced back and forth. Reaching that place on the
track opposite which the tiger was crouched, Ãcariya Sitha sensed
something out of place. At once he became suspicious, for nor-
mally nothing was at the side of his track. Glancing over he saw
the huge Bengal tiger crouched there, staring back at him – since
when he couldn’t tell. Still, he felt no fear. He merely watched the
tiger as it sat motionless, looking back at him like a enormous
stuffed animal. After a moment he continued pacing back and
forth, passing each time in front of the tiger – but thoughts of
fear never crossed his mind. He noticed, though, that it remained
crouched there for an unusually long time. Feeling sorry for it, he
directed this train of thought at the tiger: Why not go off and find
something to eat? Why just sit there watching me? No sooner had
this thought arisen, than the tiger let out a deafening roar that
resounded through the whole forest. The sound of its roar left
Ãcariya Sitha in no doubt that it intended to stay, so he quickly
changed tack, thinking: I thought that only because I felt sorry for
you – I was afraid you might get hungry sitting there so long. After all,
you have a mouth and a stomach to fill, just like all other creatures.
But if you don’t feel hungry and want to sit there watching over me,
that’s fine, I don’t mind.
The tiger showed no reaction to Ãcariya Sitha’s change of
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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