find some measure of relief and hope of recovery in the practice of
moral virtue. More than that, it may just effect a complete cure.
Out of his compassion, Ãcariya Mun used to instruct lay
people on both the merits of moral virtue and the faults of having
no moral standard. These instructions went straight to the heart
and were so impressive that, in hearing his advice to lay people,
I found myself thinking that I too would like to keep the five
moral precepts – forgetting that, as a monk, I was already observ-
ing 227 monastic rules! I was overcome with enthusiasm to hear
him talk and lost my mindfulness for a moment. When I finally
came to my senses, I was rather embarrassed, and did not men-
tion it to anyone for fear that other monks might think me a bit
crazy. In fact, I was a little bit crazy at that time since I forgot my
own shaved head and thought about keeping the layman’s five
precepts. This is a problem we all face: when thinking in ways
that are wrong, we end up acting wrongly in that manner as well.
Therefore, we should be aware of our thoughts at all times – aware
of whether they are good or bad, right or wrong. We must con-
stantly rein in our own thoughts; otherwise, they can easily spin
out of control.
Meditative development means training the mind to be clever
and unbiased with respect to basic principles of cause and effect,
so that we can effectively come to terms with our own inner pro-
cesses, and all other related matters as well. Instead of abandon-
ing the mind to unbridled exuberance, we rely on meditation to
rein in our unruly thoughts and bring them into line with what
is reasonable – which is the path to calm and contentment. The
mind that has yet to undergo meditation training is similar to an
untrained animal that cannot yet properly perform its appointed
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
#1