as you are educated. In fact, you are weaker than a woman
with no education at all! You’re a man and a Mahã, so
why all this weakness? When you get sick, you exhibit no
manly characteristics, nor any indication of the Dhamma
you learned. You should take all your masculine equipment
and exchange it for a woman’s, thus completing your met-
amorphosis. Maybe then the fever will abate a bit. Seeing
that you’re a woman, the fever may be reluctant to torture
you so much.“Instead of seeing some reassuring signs of defiance and cour-
age when I visit you, all I see is a weak display of self-pity.
Why don’t you investigate those kammaååhãna in the Pãli
studies you’ve learned? What does dukkhaÿ ariyasaccaÿ
mean to you? Does it mean weakness? When having a fever,
just cry and long for your parents, is that what it means? If
you cannot bear even the painful feelings arising from a fever,
in a truly life-threatening crisis you’ll be overwhelmed and
unable to cope. Even now you can’t manage, so how can you
ever hope to understand the true nature of the Noble Truth
of Dukkha? Anyone wanting to transcend the mundane
world must realize unequivocally the truth inherent in each
of the Noble Truths. But as soon as the Truth of Dukkha
awakens and begins to become a little active, you lie down
and admit defeat. What do you expect to gain from that?”Having given this fiery piece of advice to probe the monk’s char-
acter, Ãcariya Mun paused quietly for a moment. He then noticed
that the monk was sobbing, tears streaming down his face. So