Mun instinctively preferred to analyze the crisis with mindfulness
and wisdom. When he was sick, or when his investigations uncov-
ered some particularly insidious kilesas that he found to be espe-
cially obstructive – these constituted critical situations. Instead
of feeling resigned, his citta responded by circling the problem day
and night until he found an ingenious method to deal with the
crisis, allowing him to overcome it gradually and move on unhin-
dered. From the beginning stages of his practice to the very end,
he invariably experienced good results from this approach.
When the monks living with him became ill, he usually
advised them to develop meditative techniques for relieving the
symptoms so they would not become overly dependent on med-
ications. At the same time, he wanted them to develop those
techniques into methods for investigating Dhamma. Ãcariya Mun
believed that physical and mental pain are direct manifestations
of the Truth of Dukkha; and as such, they should be investigated
until that Truth is understood. He did not expect his monks to
simply succumb to pain as though they had never before received
training in Dhamma.
Ãcariya Mun acquired many techniques from the illnesses
he suffered. He never let the pain of his illness subdue him with-
out probing into the nature of that pain as best he could. At such
times, he believed it imperative to investigate pain to the very
limit of one’s ability in order to determine whether or not mind-
fulness and wisdom can cope with the task at hand. When found
to be deficient, they could be modified and improved until their
performance is deemed satisfactory. When the highly trained
forces of mindfulness and wisdom enter into combat with feel-
ings of severe pain, the heart will not be apprehensive as it con-
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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