Ven. Acariya Mun - Spiritual Biography + photos

nious being that is so wondrous as to be indescribable. This is the
advanced stage of samãdhi.
Arahant: A “fully enlightened one” or “pure one”. A person who, by fol-
lowing the Buddha’s Path to Freedom, has totally eradicated his
mental defilements (kilesas) and thus possesses the certainty that all
traces of ignorance and delusion have been conclusively destroyed,
never to arise in his heart again in the future. Having completely
severed the fetters that once bound him to the cycle of repeated
birth and death, he is no longer destined for future rebirth. Thus, the
Arahant is the individual who has attained Nibbãna; and though the
physical and mental components of personality (khandhas) remain
intact until his death, his citta – being free of all defiling elements
whatsoever – is absolutely pure. At death, body and mind disinte-
grate, leaving only the unconditioned, absolutely pure nature of the
citta – which is wholly beyond conventional description.
avijjã: Fundamental ignorance. This ignorance is the central factor in the
delusion about the true nature of oneself and therefore the essen-
tial factor binding living beings to the cycle of rebirth. Avijjã exists
entirely within the citta (the one who knows). Being an integral part
of the citta’s conscious perspective since time-without beginning, it
has usurped the citta’s “knowing nature” and distorted its intrin-
sic quality of simply “knowing” by creating the false duality of the
“knower” and the “known”. From this individual viewpoint spring
right and wrong, good and evil, heaven and hell, and the whole mass
of suffering that comprises the world of saÿsãra. Thus avijjã is the
seed of being and birth, the very nucleus of all existence. It is also
the well-spring from which all other mental defilements arise. Far
from appearing dark and menacing, avijjã is the epitome of all the
mental and spiritual virtues that living beings hold in the very high-
est esteem. This is its beguiling allure, the reason why living beings
cannot see it for what it actually is – the great lord and master of
birth and death. Appearing at first to be the ultimate in virtue and
happiness, the citta’s true abiding sanctuary, when wisdom finally