ther, and his mental state could waver to the extent that he misses
the excellent rebirth he can expect now. Disappointment is a very
harmful emotion in this respect.”
Several days later, that monk’s condition suddenly took
a turn for the worse. He died calmly at about three A.M. This
prompted me to consider how Ãcariya Mun must have investigated
the circumstances that lay behind every incident that appeared to
him during meditation, pursuing them all until he clearly under-
stood their significance. Then he simply let go, allowing them to
follow their natural course.
One morning, a disciple of Ãcariya Mun, who was running
a very high fever due to malarial infection, decided to forgo alms-
round and fast for the day. He used his investigative skills to battle
the intense pain from early morning until three in the afternoon,
when the fever began to abate. Feeling completely exhausted in
the middle of the day, he drew his attention to and concentrated
solely on those points where the pain was most intense, but with-
out making an effort to probe and analyze the pain with wisdom.
At midday, Ãcariya Mun momentarily sent out the flow of his citta
to check how the monk was coping with the pain. Later in the
afternoon, while visiting Ãcariya Mun, he was surprised to hear
Ãcariya Mun immediately question his mode of practice.
“Why were you investigating like that? How can you expect
to understand the truth about the body, the pain, and the citta, if
you merely concentrate your mind on a single point? Instead, use
your intuitive wisdom to analyze all three of them. In that way,
you discover the true nature of each. Yours is the kind of con-
centration one expects from a yogi: it has all the single-minded
intensity of a dogfight! It is not the right practice for a monk
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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