The citta had no other choice but to travel around the many parts
of the body and probe into them. When it was time for him to
lie down, the investigation continued inside his mind until he fell
asleep.
He meditated like this for several days until he felt ready
to sit in samãdhi and try to attain a state of calm with his newly
discovered method. He challenged himself to find out what state
of calm the citta could attain. Deprived of peace for many days
now, and having begun the intense training associated with body
contemplation, his citta ‘converged’ rapidly into a calm state with
unprecedented ease. He knew with certainty that he had the cor-
rect method: for, when his citta ‘converged’ this time, his body
appeared to be separated from himself. It seemed to split into two
at that moment. Mindfulness was in force during the entire time,
right to the moment that the citta dropped into samãdhi. It didn’t
wander and waver about as it had previously. Thus, Ãcariya Mun
was convinced that his newfound method was the right one for
the preliminary work of meditation practice.
From then on, he continued to religiously practice body
contemplation until he could attain a state of calm whenever he
wanted. With persistence, he gradually became more and more
skilled in this method, until the citta was firmly anchored in
samãdhi. He had wasted three whole months chasing the disk and
its illusions. But now, his mindfulness no longer abandoned him,
and therefore, he was no longer adversely affected by the influ-
ences around him. This whole episode clearly shows the disad-
vantages of not having a wise teacher to guide one. Misjudgments
occur without timely advice and direction in meditation. Ãcariya
Mun was a perfect example of this. Having no teacher can lead
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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