Being nearly seventy acres, Hse Main Gon Forest Monastery is very good for walking. For that reason, Shwebo Sayadaw U Nanda and I usually go for a walk in the evening. Yesterday evening , the 7^th day after the full moon of Wakaun, 1996, when I went to call the Venerable U Nanda for a walk he was in the dining hall talking with a group from Kyauktan Village led by Daw Kyi Kyi who were to offer this morning's breakfast of mohinga. So I came in and sat down to join the conversation. I didn't say much, just listened to their talk. After a little while, U Nanda said, "Okay…keep on talking," got up and left. I didn't know what to say, but there were some things I wanted to ask Daw Kyi Kyi in connection with Shwe Taung Gon Sâsana Yeiktha Sayadaw. I was considering whether or not it would be suitable to ask her, as it occurred to me that she and the group may have many things to do to prepare for the breakfast they were going to offer. When I asked, they said, "There isn't any work to be done. Everything is ready." I thought, "If that's so, it should be all right to ask." Then I thought, "I wonder if they will be interested in answering my questions."

I asked, "You have been holding the Kyauktan Village retreat for twenty-five years now, haven't you?"

"Yes, Bhante. This being the twenty-fifth year of the Kyauktan Village retreat it's the Silver Jubilee. And the Mahâbodhi Forest Sect Vinaya Examination has been held now for fifty years, so with regard to the Examination it is the Golden Jubilee," Daw Kyi Kyi replied. Her enthusiastic reply made me eager to go ahead and continue to question her.

"Shwe Taung Gon Sâsana Yeiktha Sayadaw started this Kyauktan Village retreat, I heard. And you are the daughter of Sayadaw's sponsors on entering the monkhood. Is that right?"

"That's right, Bhante. My father was U Hpo Han. My mother was Daw Thaung, Sir."

"In that case, how did Sayadaw start this retreat?"

"The big, sixteen-acre Mahâbodhi Forest Monastery had become a big forest, since there hadn't been a single monk or novice living there in thirty years. Thirty years previously, Sayadaw and others had lived there. Because of damage sustained during the war with Japan, the monks and novices weren't there any more. Thirty years later Sayadaw was living at Mahâsi Sâsana Yeiktha. A woman from Kyauktan Village, Daw San Kyi, who was doing sundry tasks for Sayadaw, told us that Sayadaw was going to return to Kyauktan Village to practice meditation at the Mahâbodhi Forest Monastery. When we heard this, we told Daw San Kyi, "Ma Ma San Kyi, please tell Sayadaw not to

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