just as important as any other dhutanga practice. He gained numer-
ous insights while contemplating the food he was eating each day.
Throughout his life he strictly observed this ascetic practice.
Investigating the true nature of food mixed together in
the bowl is an effective means of cutting off strong desire for the
taste of food. This investigation is a technique used to remove
greed from a monk’s mind as he eats his meal. Greed for food
is thus replaced by a distinct awareness of the truth concerning
that food: food’s only true purpose is to nourish the body, allow-
ing it to remain alive from one day to the next. In this way, nei-
ther the pleasant flavor of good foods, nor the unpleasant flavor of
disagreeable foods will cause any mental disturbance that might
prompt the mind to waver. If a monk employs skillful investiga-
tive techniques each time he begins to eat, his mind will remain
steadfast, dispassionate, and contented – unmoved by excitement
or disappointment over the taste of the food he is offered. Con-
sequently, eating directly from the alms bowl is an excellent prac-
tice for getting rid of infatuation with the taste of food.
Wearing only robes made from discarded cloth is another dhu-
tanga observance that Ãcariya Mun practiced religiously. This
ascetic practice is designed to forestall the temptation to give in
to the heart’s natural inclination to desire nice, attractive-look-
ing robes and other requisites. It entails searching in places, like
cemeteries, for discarded pieces of cloth, collecting them little by
little, then stitching the pieces together to make a usable garment,
such as an upper robe, a lower robe, an outer robe, a bathing cloth,
or any other requisite. There were times, when the dead person’s
relatives were agreeable, that Ãcariya Mun collected the shroud
used to wrap a corpse laid out in a charnel ground. Whenever
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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