Ven. Acariya Mun - Spiritual Biography + photos

the citta’s behavior is never in harmony with its true nature. Rather,
it expresses itself through the kilesas’ cunning deceits, which cause it
to feel anxious and frightened of virtually everything. It dreads living,
and dreads dying. Whatever happens – slight pain, severe pain – it
becomes afraid. It’s perturbed by even the smallest disturbances. As a
result, the citta is forever full of worries and fears. And although fear
and worry are not intrinsic to the citta, they still manage to produce
apprehension there.
When the citta has been cleansed so that it is absolutely pure
and free of all involvement, only then will we see a citta devoid of
all fear. Then, neither fear nor courage appear, only the citta’s true
nature, existing naturally alone on its own, forever independent of
time and space. Only that appears – nothing else. This is the genu-
ine citta. The term “genuine citta” refers solely to the absolute purity,
or the sa-upãdisesa-nibbãna, of the Arahant. Nothing else can whole-
heartedly and without reservations be called the “genuine citta”. I my-
self would be embarrassed to use the term in any other way.
The term “original citta” means the original nature of the citta
that spins endlessly through the cycle of rebirth. The Buddha indi-
cated this when he said: “Monks, the original citta is intrinsically
bright and clear, but it becomes defiled by the commingling of the
kilesas that come passing through.”
In this sense, “original citta” refers to the origin of conven-
tional reality (sammuti), not the origin of Absolute Purity (parisuddhi).
When referring to the original citta, the Buddha stated: “Pabhassar-
amidam cittam bhikkhave.” Pabhassara means radiant, it does not mean
pure. His reasoning is absolutely correct; it is impossible to argue
against it. Had the Buddha equated the original citta with the pure
citta, one could immediately object: “If the citta was originally pure,
why then should it be born at all?” The Arahant, who has purified
his citta, is one who never comes to birth again. If his citta were orig-
inally pure, why then would he need to purify it? This would be the