time of the Buddha, a samaõa was considered to embody the ideal of
the wandering ascetic.
- An Anãgãmï, or Non-returner, is a person who has abandoned the
five lower fetters that bind the mind to the cycle of rebirth, and who after
death will appear in one of the worlds called the Pure Abodes, to even-
tually attain Nibbãna and thus never again to return to this world.
The five lower fetters are: 1) personality view (sakkãyadiååhi) 2) skep-
tical doubt (vicikicchã) 3) wrong attitude toward precepts and vows (sïlab-
bataparãmãsa) 4) sensual desire (kãmarãga) 5) aversion (paåigha)
- Paåiccasamuppãda, or Dependent Origination, is a concise state-
ment of how fundamental ignorance (avijjã) conditions the rise of the
whole cycle of repeated existence.
2. The Middle Years
- Ãcariya Singh Khantayãkhamo (1888 – 1961). Ordained in 1909,
Ãcariya Singh first met Ãcariya Mun in 1919 at Wat Burapha in Ubon
Ratchathani. Ãcariya Singh was studying the Buddhist scriptures at a
nearby monastery at the time. He was so impressed by the clarity of
Ãcariya Mun’s discourses and the serenity of his manner that he left his
academic studies to go wandering dhutanga with Ãcariya Mun. He later
became a central figure helping to establish the dhutanga way of life among
monks in the provinces of Khon Kaen and Nakhon Ratchasima.
- Ãcariya Mahã Pin Paññãphalo (1892 – 1946). Ordained in 1912,
Ãcariya Mahã Pin spent the first 10 years of his monastic career stud-
ying the Buddhist scriptures in Bangkok, eventually earning a degree
(Mahã) in Pãli studies. In 1922 he returned to Ubon Ratchathani where
his brother, Ãcariya Singh, convinced him to try the dhutanga life-
style. Ãcariya Mahã Pin was the first scholastic monk of Mahã grade
to become a disciple of Ãcariya Mun.
- Ãcariya Thet Thesarangsï (1902 – 1994). Having ordained as a
novice at the age of 18 with the help of Ãcariya Singh, Ãcariya Thet
took higher ordination in 1922. After living and practicing with Ãcariya
Singh for many years, in 1933 Ãcariya Thet traveled to Chiang Mai in
