Trickster…interesting.
I shall relate a true account of my own. It happened to me personally. Last year I visited Sri Lanka. My guide is also a buddhist. So, we have common topic to talk about. At some point we were talking about how Buddhism has deteriorated over the years and that some monks are not really serious practitioners of the path. e.g. they use mobile devices that seem like luxury items to lay people. As he was driving, I saw a monk from afar by the roadside. He was talking on a mobile phone. My first reaction was to point out to my guide, “See! Another monk using mobile phone.”
Nothing spectacular happened until we checked into a resort style hotel that day. I went to my room, unpacked my things and settled down. When night came, I did my evening chanting and meditation. Before I went to bed, I have this habit of switching my mobile phone to airplane mode and placing it far away from my bed on a table. In the middle of the night, I woke up to visit the toilet. Then, I looked at the time on my mobile phone and drink some water to quench thirst. I clearly remembered I placed my mobile phone back on the table after I was done with it. I would never take it with me to bed. And then I went back to sleep. I could not recall for how long I had slept. Suddenly, my feet felt there was an object underneath the quilt. I tried to use my feet to feel what was that object. To my surprise, it was my mobile phone! I got up and saw with my very eyes that it indeed was my mobile phone. I was thinking, how could this be? I was dead sure I did not bring my mobile phone to bed and play with it until I slept. So how did the mobile phone land itself underneath the quilt at the end of my bed? The quilt was fully tucked over the mattress and there was no opening at all! The only reasonable reason I could think of was the thing that I said during the day – accusing the monk who was using a mobile phone to be ill-disciplined. To be honest, I did not freak out. I just found it amazing. After the episode was over, I placed my mobile phone back onto the table and continue sleeping. Of course I did not tell my guide about what happened that night as I did not want to freak him out. I strongly believe some non-human must be trying to teach me a lesson for being disrespectful to a monk. There are Dhamma-protectors who we just cannot see. Why my mobile phone and not my digital camera? Or any other objects that I brought along? To this day, I still find it inconceivable whenever I think of it. I value this kind of experience because it actually helps me strengthen my belief in Buddha Dhamma.
During this trip I got to know a bhante in a monastery. He recommended his student bhante to me and if I have any queries on Dhamma, I can consult him. When I returned back to my country, I did message the bhante and ask him some Dhamma questions. There were times he would even called me to discuss Dhamma over the phone. If someone like me before were to see this bhante using a mobile phone, will he/she be too quick to judge him? I knew I was too quick to judge and was taught a lesson to watch my mannerism.