4
The Chiang Mai Years
v
enerable Ãcariya Mun wandered dhutanga in the north-
ern province of Chiang Mai for many years, spending the
annual rains retreat in a different location each year. He
spent one rains retreat in each of the following places: Ban Chom
Taeng in the Mae Rim district, Ban Pong in the Mae Taeng dis-
trict, Ban Kloi in the Phrao district, Ban Pu Phraya in the Mae
Suai district, and Mae Thong Thip in the Mae Sai district of
Chiang Rai province. He also spent rains retreats at Wat Chedi
Luang in the city of Chiang Mai; in the mountains of Mae Suai
district; and in the neighboring province of Uttaradit. Outside of
the retreat period, he wandered extensively through the provinces
of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai for a total of eleven years, making
it impossible to give a strict chronological account of all the vil-
lage communities he passed through on his travels. In the follow-
ing account, I shall mention by name only those villages having
a direct bearing on the story as it unfolds.
Except for his stay at Wat Chedi Luang monastery, Ãcariya
Mun always wandered in solitude, staying in the wilderness, moun-
tainous areas where danger was ever-present. It is the exceptional
nature of his wandering dhutanga practice and the many insights