Ven. Acariya Mun - Spiritual Biography + photos

When it came time to go on almsround, Ãcariya Mun found an
excuse to address the monk.
“I can see how earnest you are in pressing on with your med-
itation practice, so you needn’t go on almsround today. The rest
of us will go, and we will share our food with you when we return.
Providing food for one extra monk is hardly a problem. Go and
continue your meditation practice so that the rest of us may share
the merit you make as well.”
He said this without looking directly at the monk, for
Ãcariya Mun understood the monk better than the monk under-
stood himself. Ãcariya Mun then led the others on almsround
while the monk forced himself to do walking meditation. Since
the problem arose due to a chance encounter and not an inten-
tional one, it had been impossible to prevent. Realizing that,
Ãcariya Mun did what he could to assist him. He was well aware
that the monk was doing his utmost to solve the problem; so, he
was obliged to find a clever means of helping him without further
upsetting his mental state.
When they returned from almsround, the monks shared
their food with the monk, each putting some in his bowl. Ãcariya
Mun sent someone to inform the monk that he could take his
meal with them or alone in his hut, whichever he preferred. Upon
hearing this, the monk quickly went to eat with his fellow monks.
Ãcariya Mun ignored him when he arrived, but, later spoke gently
to him in order to soothe his injured psyche and mitigate his sense
of remorse. Although he sat with the other monks, he ate only a
token amount of food so as not to appear impolite.
Later that day, the other monk, who had also bathed at the
rock pool – the one who would later tell this story – became sus-