"There are many people whom I should thank in this world. Among them there is even one woman whom I planned to kill with a knife." Shwebo Sayadaw U Nanda was speaking surreptitiously about himself to the author.

"That you would get angry enough kill is really frightening, isn't it? What did the woman say to you?" The author was very surprised by the monk's anger and interested in the woman as well.

The monk continued his story. "After I had meditated for about one month at the Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha under Sayadaw U Pandita's guidance, he instructed me to practice mettâ meditation. From that time onward, in every aspect of my life, I became able to put mettâ in the place of anger. My gratitude to Sayadaw is very great."

"Hmm…as far as the incident with this woman is concerned, it happened when I was a student studying at the Payakyi Monastery in Mandalay. This woman was a volunteer at the monastery where I lived. She was a spinster. Some visitors from lower Myanmar came to stay at the monastery. I was friendly with them. Among them there was a young girl. I was friendly with her too. It was just simple friendship. This spinster went and told the Sayadaw. Of course, I heard about it. At that time I went so far as to consider killing this woman.

My sponsor in Yangon came to know about the situation. At that, she invited me to come to Yangon and arranged for me to meditate. That's how I came to meditate under Sayadaw's guidance. Later, when I thought it over calmly, I found myself feeling grateful to that woman who had accused me of misbehaving with the girl. And I remembered from time to time the story about Nga Khon Sayadaw."

"Nga Khon Sayadaw was very well known. But that's about all I know about him. I don't know much about his life. Please go on."

"Nga Khon Sayadaw was truly a learned person. He was a great writer. He was someone upon whom the king himself relied. And like me he had someone to thank -- the young woman he had once courted."

"When he was young he had become a novice. But at eighteen or so, he wasn't happy with his life as a novice anymore and he left the order. When he returned to lay life, he thought he should get married. He thought about which village girl he should court. He had a tic in one eye, and he was ugly. He figured that if he sought a beautiful girl, it wouldn't be suitable, so he decided to pursue someone who was as unattractive as he. Having decided on a woman, he proceeded to beautify himself. He put on a red-

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