he was convinced that nothing could possibly harm him.
With this serene Dhamma filling his heart, he resumed his
trek through the forest, practicing walking meditation as he hiked
along. His two tiger friends were still fresh in his mind and he
often thought about them. He felt that, were he to see them again,
he could easily walk up and playfully stroke their backs as if they
were pets, though it’s questionable whether they would ever allow
it.
Ãcariya Chob walked the rest of that night in peace and sol-
itude, buoyed by a joyful heart. When day finally broke, he still
had not reached the end of the forest. It wasn’t until nine o’clock
that morning that he emerged from the forest to arrive at a village
settlement. Putting down his belongings, he put on his outer robes
and walked through the village for alms. When the inhabitants
saw him entering the village with his alms bowl, they called out
to one another to come and offer him food. Having placed food
in his bowl, some of them followed him back to where he had left
his belongings and asked where he had come from. These being
forest people who knew the ways of the forest, when they saw
him emerging from that vast wilderness at an unusual hour, they
wanted to questioned him about it. He told them that, having
begun at the southern end, he trekked all night through the forest
without sleeping and now intended to continue wandering north.
Astounded by this statement, they wanted to know how it was
possible, for it was common knowledge that passing through there
at night meant almost certain death in the jaws of a tiger. How
had he managed to avoid the tigers? Had he come across no tigers
during the night? Ãcariya Chob admitted he had met some tigers,
but said he hadn’t been bothered by them. The villagers were
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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