Ven. Acariya Mun - Spiritual Biography + photos

a deep state of samãdhi where he remained for about two hours.
Then, his citta began withdrawing gradually from that state and
paused at the level of upacãra samãdhi instead of returning to
normal, waking consciousness. Immediately, he became aware of
certain events.
A huge elephant appeared. Walking up to Ãcariya Mun, it
knelt before him, indicating that it wanted him to mount. Ãcariya
Mun promptly climbed up onto its back and sat straddling its
neck. Once he was settled on the elephant, he noticed two young
monks following behind him, both riding on elephants. Their ele-
phants were also very large, though slightly smaller than the one
he was riding. The three elephants appeared very handsome and
majestic, like royal elephants that possess human-like intelli-
gence and know their master’s wishes. When the two elephants
reached him, he led them toward a mountain range that was vis-
ible directly ahead, about half a mile away.
Ãcariya Mun felt the whole scene to be exceptionally majes-
tic, as though he were escorting the two young monks away from
the world of conventional reality forever. Upon reaching the
mountain range, his elephant led them all to the entrance of a
cave that was situated on a hill a short distance up the mountain-
side. As soon as they arrived, it turned around, placing its rear to
the entrance. With Ãcariya Mun still straddling its neck, it backed
into the cave until its rear was touching the back wall. The other
two elephants with the two young monks astride walked forward
into the cave and each took a place on either side of Ãcariya
Mun’s elephant, facing inward as he faced outward. Ãcariya Mun
then spoke to the two monks as if he were giving them his final,
parting instructions.