in sharp contrast to the way people act in the world: the heavier
their heart’s burden, the more they add and increase their load.
As for Noble Ones, the lighter their load, the more they relinquish,
until there’s nothing left to unload. They then dwell in that emp-
tiness, even though the heart that knows that emptiness remains
- there is simply no more loading and unloading to be done. This
is known as attaining the status of someone who is ‘out of work’,
meaning that the heart has no more work left to do in the sãsana.
Being ‘out of work’ in this way is actually the highest form of hap-
piness. This is quite different from worldly affairs, where unem-
ployment for someone with no means of making a living signifies
increased misery.
Ãcariya Mun related many differences between devas and
humans, but I’ve recorded here only those which I remember
and those which I think would benefit the discerning reader.
Perhaps these asides, such as the deva episodes, should all be pre-
sented together in one section according to the subject matter.
But Ãcariya Mun’s encounters with such phenomena stretched
over a long period of time and I feel it necessary to follow his
life story as sequentially as possible. There will be more accounts
about devas later; but I dare not combine the different episodes
because the object is to have the parallel threads of the story con-
verge at the same point. I ask forgiveness if the reader suffers any
inconvenience.
What Ãcariya Mun said about devas and humans refers to
these groups as they existed many years before, since Ãcariya
Mun, whose reflections are recorded here, died over 20 years ago.
The devas and humans of that age have most probably changed
following the universal law of impermanence. There remains only
