97. A safe shortcut

On January 20, 1973, just before Luang Pu was to leave Chulalongkorn Hospital, his students decided to donate a saṅghadāna to dedicate the merit to the past generations who had built the hospital and had since passed on.

When the ceremony was over, a number of doctors and nurses came to pay their respects to Luang Pu and to express their happiness that he had recovered. They commented in a friendly way, “Your health is still good and strong. Your face is bright, as if you hadn’t been sick at all. This is probably the fruit of your good powers of concentration. We don’t have much spare time to practice concentration. Are there any methods that are simple or quick?”

Luang Pu responded,

“Whenever you have time, use that time to practice. Training the mind, examining the mind, is the quickest, most direct method of all.”