"You are not taking care of it like it's your own monastery," he said.

There is a building at the Shwe Taung Gon Sâsana Yeiktha called the Tha Tun Aung Building. The land for the Shwe Taung Gon Sâsana Yeiktha and the Tha Tun Aung Building were donated by U Than Tun Aung and Daw Ni and family. U Tha Tun Aung is long since deceased. Sayadaw named the building in memory of him. The monastery donor Daw Ni is still alive and living in New Jersey, U.S.A. Previously, Sayadaw lived in the upper story the Tha Tun Aung Building.

There was one old monk at the Mahasi Sâsana Yeiktha who really admired Sayadaw. His name was U Aggavamsa. His practice was good. He practiced ascetic trainings. He respected the Vinaya, too. The great Mahasi Sayadaw gave him the responsibility of sounding the wooden wake-up gong. It turned out that he had given instructions that when he died, his books and bookcase should be given to Sayadaw. After his death, they were brought and offered to Sayadaw, in accordance with his wishes. That bookcase is just outside the door of the room the author lives in. Sayadaw had asked that that bookcase and the great many books be sent to the Hse Main Gon Forest Center, so while the author was out, some people from the office must have come, took the books out of the case, and took some away to pack. Most of the books, though, were set on the floor. A few were set on top of another bookcase, too. I wasn't there while they were doing it. I think I must have come back while they were off moving books. I bet they were going to come back before long to take another load. While I was waiting for them to return, Sayadaw came by and saw the books set out like that. Seeing them, he said,

"Don't you know that if you set books on top of a bookcase like this, the glass is liable to crack? It's definitely a problem. I don't like this kind of ignorance at all. Whoever runs into this kind of thing should say something about it."

Then he spoke the words of admonishment at the beginning of the chapter.

Sayadaw is a bird that has been hit once with a stone; he's once bitten, twice shy, you might say. I heard that Sayadaw once cracked the glass doors on a bookcase by putting books on top of it. He told me that only later. The bookcase on which books were placed that day had glass doors. Then, the top of the bureau was made of three-ply plywood, so it was pretty flimsy. It couldn't take heavy books. As soon as you placed books on it, it would sag. The glass doors were closed. After a while, the glass doors were liable to break. It is very true that 'ignorance is more trouble than poverty'. What Sayadaw said was an understatement. If it were the author, I couldn't help but say it more strongly. As soon as Sayadaw saw the books laid on top of the book case, instead on the floor, it was the author's fault. I though it must be that Sayadaw had been there when they moved the books and Sayadaw was telling me to check it out. That thought

Back to Contents

Continue