To Be Your Own Teacher
September 03, 2008
Once when I was in Thailand, I happened to attend a funeral for Ajaan Kokaew, who had been a student of Ajaan Sao. During the funeral I met a monk who mentioned to me that he knew he couldn’t live with any ajaan. He was too bullheaded and would get into a lot of trouble. He wanted to go off and stay in the forest by himself. So he had gone to Ajaan MahaBoowa and asked him, “How can I make sure that my practice doesn’t go off course?” And Ajaan MahaBoowa responded with a standard teaching in the Canon about three practices that can’t go wrong: restraint of the senses, moderation in eating, and wakefulness.