The Boxer
When Ãcariya Mun accepted a group of monks as his students,
he held regular meetings where he instructed them in the way
of practice. If he noticed that a monk’s attitude was unbecom-
ing, or his behavior offensive, he took the opportunity to openly
rebuke him. While in meditation, knowledge about the unseemly
behavior of his students might arise in his mind as visual images,
or else he might psychically read their errant thoughts. He then
devised some cunning method to bring this to the culprit’s atten-
tion, assuring that greater care and restraint was exercised in the
future.
The visual nimittas that arose in Ãcariya Mun’s citta during
meditation varied according to the overall situation of the person
who was the principal cause of that vision. To give you an idea
of the nature and the scope of his nimittas, there is the story of
the monk who was a rather famous boxer as a layman. Giving up
his profession to ordain as a monk, he developed a strong faith
and decided to practice kammaååhãna. Aware of Ãcariya Mun’s
excellent reputation as a revered meditation master, he set out to
find the place where Ãcariya Mun was staying. But as he set off,
he unwittingly carried ten pictures of boxers in various boxing
poses in his bag. With these photos, he traveled from Bangkok
to Chiang Mai, searching for Ãcariya Mun in that mountainous
region. Finally arriving at Ãcariya Mun’s wilderness retreat, he
paid his respects and explained his reasons for coming. Ãcariya
Mun accepted him without offering any comments.
During the night Ãcariya Mun must have thoroughly inves-
tigated this monk; for, the following morning, when all the monks