from another as the living area of the forest would allow. A large
tract of forest allowed spacing of at least 120 feet with the thick
foliage in between each platform acting as a natural screen. If the
area was relatively small, or a large group of monks lived together
in an area, then the spacing might be reduced to 90 feet intervals,
though the minimum distance was usually 120 feet. The fewer
the number of monks living in a particular area, the farther apart
they were individually – being close enough to one another only
to hear the distant sound of a cough or a sneeze. Local villagers
helped each monk to clear a walking meditation track approxi-
mately 60 feet in length, which was located beside his sleeping
platform. These tracks were used day and night for practicing
meditation in a walking mode.
When monks fearful of ghost or tigers came to train under
Ãcariya Mun, he usually made them stay alone, far from the rest of
the monks – a severe training method designed to draw attention
to the fear so that the monk could learn to come to grips with it.
He was required to remain there until he became accustomed to
the wilderness environment, and inured to the tigers and ghosts
that his mind conjured up to deceive him. The expectation was
that, in the end, he would achieve the same good results as others
who had trained themselves in this way. Then he wouldn’t have to
carry such a burden of fear indefinitely. Ãcariya Mun believed this
method accomplished better results than simply leaving a monk
to his own devices, and to the very real prospect that he might
never find the courage to face his fears.
Upon arriving in a new location, a dhutanga monk had to
first sleep on the ground, collecting various kinds of leaves, or in
some places straw, to make a crude mattress. Ãcariya Mun said
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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