conduct, plus what little wealth we do possess, will be sufficient
to keep us happy.
Clever people manage their lives in a way that is conducive
to peace and security. They don’t feel the need to rush around
trying to make vast sums of money in order to maintain a sense of
happiness in their lives. Wealth may bring a measure of happiness,
but those who enjoy a moderate amount of wealth, righteously
acquired, will inevitably be far more contented than those who
acquire their wealth by unscrupulous means. Though its actual
ownership is not disputed, dubious wealth doesn’t really belong to
its owner in any genuine sense. For under the laws of true justice,
kamma condemns such gains, bestowing fruits of misery as just
rewards for the future. Wise people view this prospect with great
trepidation, but we, of lesser intelligence, still prefer to scramble
headlong after our desires, selfishly indulging in pleasures that
come along without ever getting enough to satisfy our appetites.
No matter how hard we try, we never seem to experience the kind
of contentment that we long for.DURING HIS YEARS in Chiang Mai, Ãcariya Mun received numer-
ous letters from Chao Khun Dhammachedi of Wat Bodhisom-
phon monastery in Udon Thani province. In his letters, Chao
Khun Dhammachedi, who had been a disciple of Ãcariya Mun
since his youth, always invited him to return to Udon Thani.
Ãcariya Mun never replied to those letters, nor did he accept the
invitation. Then in the year 1940, Chao Khun Dhammachedi
traveled from Udon Thani all the way to the isolated region where
Ãcariya Mun lived to invite him personally, and thus gave him a