Hungry Ghosts
Giving helpful advice to nonphysical beings from many diverse
realms of existence was a serious responsibility that Ãcariya Mun
continued to fulfill right up to the time of his death. He was in
constant communication with such beings wherever he lived, but
more so in the mountain regions. There, in remote wilderness
areas, far from human habitation, one group or another visited
with him almost every night. Even hungry ghosts, awaiting offer-
ings of merit dedicated to them by their living relatives, came to
seek his assistance. It was impossible to tell how long they had
been dead, what family or nationality they had once belonged to,
or even whether or not those ghosts had any living relatives left
at all. In contacting Ãcariya Mun they hoped that, out of com-
passion, he would assist them by finding their living relatives and
telling them to make donations, dedicating a portion of the merit
to the dead to help lessen their torment and suffering and make
their lives more bearable. Many of them had already suffered un-
speakable miseries in hell for such a long time that it was im-
possible to calculate the length of their stay in terms of human
existence. When they were finally able to rise clear of the hell
realms, they still could not evade such misfortune sufficiently
to experience some measure of comfort; instead, their suffering
continued unabated. For beings who are stuck with the conse-
quences of their evil kamma, it matters little which state of exist-
ence they are born into, since very little changes to help allevi-
ate their suffering.
Hungry ghosts used to tell Ãcariya Mun they had no idea
how long it would take them to work their way through the con-