his thoughts had not passed into oblivion, but could return again
to haunt him. He was made aware of his mistake so that in the
future he could exercise more restraint in his thinking.
Sometimes, in order to inspire his disciples in their practice,
Ãcariya Mun gave a fiery discourse in which he offered himself as
living proof of what could be achieved through perseverance and
courage in the face of death.
“If you allow the fear of death to stop you from practicing
meditation with uncompromising diligence, you will be
obliged to come back and die time and time again in future
births. Those who can overcome their fear of death will be
able to reduce the number of future births until eventually
they transcend birth and death altogether. Never again will
they return to bear the burden of dukkha. While persever-
ing unflinchingly in the face of excruciating pain, I myself
passed out three times – yet I did not die. I managed to
survive and become your teacher. None of you have ever
persisted in your efforts to the point where you passed out,
unconscious. So, what makes you so afraid of dying? If you
don’t actually experience what it’s like to die, it is unlikely
you’ll ever see the wonders of Dhamma. Whether you believe
it or not, this is the method I used to realize Dhamma. So
there is no way I can teach you to merely take it easy: Eat a
lot, sleep a lot, and be lazy – then the kilesas will take fright.
I cannot teach that because that’s not the way to instill fear
in the kilesas. Such an attitude will only amuse the kilesas:
‘We thought these monks had come to be diligent, so why
are they lying around like breathing corpses? These breath-