sonably audacious, nor should we be excessively afraid. Anyone
can make a mistake – the value lies in recognizing our mistakes.
The Lord Buddha made mistakes before us. He realized where
he had gone wrong and strove to correct his errors as soon as he
became aware of them. This kind of intention is noble, but still
through ignorance mistakes can happen. From now on you should
all take care to control yourselves under all circumstances. Using
mindfulness at all times to watch out for oneself is the way of the
wise.”
That was all he said. He just smiled broadly at the monks in
a disarming way and took them on almsround as usual. There was
no meeting later that evening, Ãcariya Mun merely told everyone
to be diligent in their practice. Three nights passed without a
meeting. All during that time the monks and novices were still
scared he would scold them about the well-digging incident. On
the fourth night a meeting was called. But again, no mention was
made of the incident, as though he knew nothing about it.
A long time later, after everyone had forgotten about the
matter, it quite unexpectedly cropped up. No one had ever told
him about the mishap, for the whole affair had been hushed up.
Ãcariya Mun himself never went to the well, which was quite a
distance from the monastery. He began a Dhamma discourse as
he usually did, speaking about various aspects of a monk’s prac-
tice, about being reasonable and about having respect for the
teacher and Dhamma. These, he said, led to the correct behavior
of those coming to train and practice under a teacher. He stressed
that they should especially take the issue of cause and effect very
seriously, for this was the true Dhamma:
“Although you’re constantly under pressure from your desires,
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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