"When the great Mahasi Sayadaw first gave me the responsibility of giving Dhamma interviews, I was not adept at it at all. I was just like a child first learning to swim, he goes swimming though he may not be good at it. With the stroke of a arm and the kick of a leg, it's stroke, kick, stroke, kick. He really has to put out effort not to sink. After going swimming many times, he becomes able to swim. He become a proficient swimmer.

To say it another way, it's like a hunter and a deer. When a hunter first starts tracking in the woods, he is not yet skilled at it. As he keeps tracking the deer, he gains skill. It's as if the deer has taught him how to be a skillful hunter. In the same way, while one is doing one's work, one will doubtless become trained. Just by doing the work, one becomes proficient at it.

Do the work with lovingkindness and goodwill. Do it with just the wish that the yogis gain the Dhamma, that is, do it with mettâ. Giving interviews is not difficult. In accord with the dictum, 'What arises, what is noted, what is perceived: three vital aspects,' give interviews employing just those three, what arises and what is noted and what is perceived. Give interviews two days a week and Dhamma talks two days week. Take care of your health," he said.

Those were Sayadaw's words of direction for the author while he was at the airport waiting for his plane to depart for a teaching trip abroad to present the virtues of the Dhamma. He had directed me to do the Dhamma talks and interviews for the foreign yogis here. He gave me the technique for interviewing, and he gave me inspiration to keep my mental energy up even when I met with difficulties. It's definitely one to remember.

The author is more enthusiastic about teaching academics than giving interviews or Dhamma talks. Nonetheless, I couldn't avoid or evade giving Dhamma talks and interviews, so I had to do it. The author been given this responsibility for giving talks and interviews for the foreign yogis once or twice in the past. I had said, "The Nâyaka Sayadaws, being older and longer in the Order, have more experience, so it would be more fitting just for them to do it. The foreign yogis would probably be more satisfied and get greater benefit. The next year when he went abroad again, he gave it to me again. Since I was teaching the scriptural study classes, I gave that gave that excuse. I was able to avoid it. The next two or three times after that Sayadaw went abroad the responsibility for teaching the foreign yogis did not come around in the author's direction. Thus the author stayed free of this responsibility, comfortable and carefree.

This time when he gave me the job, before he had left to go abroad, he called me to his room. When I arrived, he started in directly with this responsibility. The author even declined the offer. Sayadaw, though, was speaking abruptly and tersely so that the

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