Leaving home

When I was a young girl about 11 or 12 years old, my father came home drunk one day. He was so drunk that he fell asleep on the ground outside the house while the rest of the family slept inside. In disgust, my mother called him a "sparrow" (a Thai expression for a worthless person) that leached off her wealth. My father angrily asked all the children if we heard her abuse him. Innocently, I said that I did not think she had insulted him. He became so enraged that he cursed me to deafness for 500 lifetimes. I was very frightened of his curse! On the day he died, I was out in the rice field. By the time I returned home, he had already passed away, so I missed my opportunity to ask him for forgiveness. I thought surely his curse would come true. I became determined to somehow find him in the afterlife to ask for his forgiveness. When I learned about Luang Por Wat Paknam, I knew there was a way. So as soon as I was sure my family could support themselves, I left home.

June 7, 1981