Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 L E T T I N G G O 06them, but my previous resistance had worked them into too much ofa frenzy.They drove me like some poor water buffalo through the forest to theplace where I had hidden the bag. The whole way the blows continued,and even when they had the bag they did not stop. The same man asbefore shouted at me something I did not understand. He pointed at thehollow where the bag had been. He wanted me to get down there, butby then I was too frightened. I thought they might kill me, and if theydid, they would also kill Ajahn Sucitto. So, with my heart in my mouth,I leapt over the cliff and rolled and slid down the scree.It was a long slope, dotted with thorny shrubs that cut me as I slidpast. I ended up against some bushes at the bottom. I pulled myself upand looked back. Two of them were still coming after me, picking theirway down the slope. I was badly cut and bruised. I had hurt my leg, andI stumbled as I tried to run off. I realised my only chance was to hide.They would take longer to get down the slope than me, and I reckonedI had just a few minutes. I limped and stumbled out of sight and thencrawled under a large dense bush. I lay listening, my heart pounding. Atfirst I heard them coming closer. Then nothing. I was terrified—layingthere waiting—in fear of my life. Dampness spread in my crotch. Thefear had made me piss myself.I must have been there for fifteen minutes with nothing happeningwhen I heard Ajahn Sucitto calling my name. I was still frightened anddid not come out of cover, first calling back “Have they gone?” Onlywhen Ajahn Sucitto called out “yes” did I emerge. He was standing atthe top of the slope, bare-chested with just his sarong on, the rest of hisrobes had gone. My trousers and shirt were torn, the shirt so badly thatit was in shreds, and I was covered in blood. Still, what I felt was a floodof relief that we had both survived.2 4 1