About This Teaching
In this autobiographical episode, Ajahn Dtun describes his practice after a vision of pus oozing from his own body. He no longer needed the breath or the word Buddho: concentration was continuous. When images of corpses arose, he used mindfulness to break them into the four elements and turned back to his own body, sometimes entering equanimity lasting up to a week. On alms round he saw the monks in front of him as decaying corpses, and he often did walking meditation from about nine in the morning until three in the afternoon, a kettle beside the path.
He spent a rains retreat at a quiet branch monastery in Ubon, where a brief regret over a past bodhisatta vow arose and was cut off, since his practice was now like a large ship in a narrow canal with no turning back. Periods of less peace taught him that calm itself is impermanent. Later he left to avoid heavy building work and travelled toward Chonburi seeking solitude.