Ven. Acariya Mun - Spiritual Biography + photos

owner had released it and then wandered off someplace. All they
could see there was a gigantic elephant with huge six-foot tusks
searching for food – quite a fearsome sight. They conferred among
themselves about how to proceed. This was the only path up the
mountain, and it allowed no room for going around the elephant.
Ãcariya Mun told Ãcariya Khao to speak with the elephant, which
was eating bamboo leaves at the side of the path. Standing about
twenty yards away with its back to them, it had yet to notice their
approach. Ãcariya Khao addressed the elephant:
“Big brother elephant, we wish to speak with you.”
At first, the elephant didn’t clearly hear his voice, but it did
stop chewing the bamboo leaves.
“Big brother elephant, we wish to speak with you.”
Clearly hearing this, the elephant suddenly swung around
to face the monks. It stood stock-still, its ears fully extended.
“Big brother elephant, we wish to speak with you. You are so
very big and strong. We’re just a group of monks, so weak and
so very frightened of you, big brother. We would like to walk past
where you’re standing. Would big brother please move over a bit
so that we have room to pass by? If you keep standing there,
it really frightens us, so we don’t dare walk past.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the elephant immediately
turned to the side and thrust its tusks into the middle of a clump
of bamboo, signaling its intention to let them pass, unharmed.
Seeing it facing the clump of bamboo, Ãcariya Mun told the others
that they could continue on as it would not bother them now. The
two monks invited Ãcariya Mun to walk between them, Ãcariya
Khao walking in front and Ãcariya Mahã Thong Sak following
behind. They walked past in single file only six feet from the ele-