Ven. Acariya Mun - Spiritual Biography + photos

with sincere compassion. As soon as the leader reached the others,
it quickly called out: Goke, hey not so fast! There’s something over
there. It may be dangerous! Hearing this, all the other monkeys
began asking at once: Goke, goke? Where, where? And simultane-
ously, the leader turned his head toward Ãcariya Mun’s direction
as if to say: Sitting over there – can you see? Or something like
that, but in the language of animals, which is an unfathomable
mystery to most human beings. Ãcariya Mun, however, under-
stood every word they spoke.
Once it had signaled Ãcariya Mun’s presence to the group,
the lead monkey warned them to proceed slowly and cautiously
until they could determine exactly what was up ahead. It then
hurried off ahead of the group, warily approaching the front of
the cave where Ãcariya Mun was seated. Being concerned for
the safety of those following behind, it was apprehensive, but also
curious to find out what was there. It cautiously snuck up close
to Ãcariya Mun, jumping up and jumping down from branch
to branch, as monkeys tend to do, for they are quite restless as
everybody knows. The lead monkey watched Ãcariya Mun con-
stantly until it was sure that he posed no danger. Then, it ran
back and informed its friends: Goke, we can go. Goke, there’s no
danger.
During this time, Ãcariya Mun sat perfectly still, constantly
gauging the lead monkey’s inner feelings to judge its reaction to
him. The way it ran back to speak to its friends was quite comic;
yet, knowing exactly what they said, Ãcariya Mun couldn’t help
feeling sorry for them. For those of us who don’t understand their
language, the calls they send back and forth to one another are
merely sounds in the forest, much like the bird calls we hear every