that the new monk had the ten pictures of boxers in his posses-
sion. After looking at them, his friend became convinced that they
were the cause of all the trouble. He advised him to either throw
them away, or burn them. The boxer monk agreed, and together
they burned the whole lot. After that, everything returned to
normal and this matter never surfaced again.
The former boxer was diligent in his practice, always con-
ducting himself admirably. He lived contentedly with Ãcariya
Mun from then on. Ãcariya Mun was always especially kind to
him – never again did he allude to his past. Afterwards, when the
opportunity arose, his fellow monks teased him about that inci-
dent. Referring to his scolding from Ãcariya Mun, he said, “I was
half-dead and in such a daze I didn’t know what was what, so I
answered him like a half-dead idiot.” Addressing the monk who
helped him, he continued, “If you hadn’t been so kind, I’d probably
have gone hopelessly mad. But Ãcariya Mun was remarkably clever
- as soon as he saw I was losing my wits, he quickly put a stop to
the whole affair, acting as though nothing had ever happened.”
This is an example of the type of visual nimitta that might
arise in Ãcariya Mun’s meditation. He regularly used the knowledge
he gained from such visions to teach his students – a means no
less significant than his ability to read the thoughts of others.^4
ÃCARIYA MUN HAD MORE sensational experiences while living in
Chiang Mai than during any other period of his life. Some of these
phenomena appeared exclusively within his citta; others surfaced
in the world around him. They included many amazing, stimulat-
ing insights – knowledge of a kind never occurring to him before.
