peace, serenity, and loving compassion that have long been my
heart’s abode.”
The nãga didn’t make any comment as Ãcariya Mun ex-
plained these various aspects of Dhamma, but it did experience
the rise of some salutary thoughts while listening: This monk
talks a lot of sense. But right now I’m unable to do as he says, being
still too content with my old ways. Perhaps I’ll have more interest
in my next existence. This monk has many awesome qualities – he
even perceives things that should be unknowable. How can he know
my private thoughts? I live in a hidden world, yet somehow he sees
me. Over the years, many monks have come to stay in this cave, but
none have known about my existence, much less my thoughts. I’ve
even forced some of them to flee because I couldn’t stand having
them around.^28 But this monk knows everything, including my
thoughts. Even while sleeping he remains aware. Later, he can
tell me exactly what I was thinking, as if he hadn’t been asleep
at all. Why am I so opinionated that I can’t take what he teaches
to heart and put it into practice? Like he said: I must surely have
some very grave kamma. Despite knowing the despicable nature
of my mind, he still makes an effort to explain how his daily
activities are not intended to bother me. My present state of exist-
ence is certainly unfortunate. He’s right when he says that I’m quite
capable of distinguishing between good and bad. Yet I’m hampered
by my wretched conceit, meaning that my next life will probably be
just as unfortunate as this one – and so on indefinitely.
After a short pause Ãcariya Mun asked the nãga if it had
managed to understand any of his explanations on Dhamma.
The nãga replied: “I understand everything you so kindly
explained to me. But unfortunately, I’m burdened by some very
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
#1