since trained it not to endanger them. So when Ãcariya Khao
addressed it in a pleasant tone, calling it ‘big brother’, it was hugely
pleased and immediately got out of the way.”
“Did it understand every word that Ãcariya Khao said to it?”
“Of course it did. Otherwise, how could it be trained to
haul logs down from the mountains? If it couldn’t understand, it
would probably have been disposed of as useless long ago. This
kind of animal must be trained until it knows man’s language well
before it can be made to perform various tasks. This particular
elephant is over a hundred years old. Look at its tusks – they’re
almost six feet long. It must have lived among people for a long
time. Its owner is relatively young, yet he’s still able to drive it to
work. How could it not understand human speech? It’s certain to
have no problem.”
“What was it thinking when it turned and stuck its tusks
into the clump of bamboo?”
“Well, it understood the situation, as I said, and so was
giving way to us. It didn’t think of doing anything else.”
“Did you focus on its mind the whole time we were walking
past it? What was it thinking just as we walked by?”
“All I saw was the elephant giving way. It wasn’t thinking
about anything else.”
“The reason I asked: I was worried that as we were walk-
ing past it might have thought it would like to attack us – just for
sport, as animals sometimes do.”
“You have an uncommonly prolific imagination, Mahã
Thong Sak. If you enjoyed thinking and asking probing ques-
tions like this about matters of substance then you could certainly
expect to transcend dukkha one day. But you’re like most people
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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