they even considered the possibility that someone could be privy
to their thoughts, which they indulged in unrestrainedly. Ãcariya
Mun focused his attention on everyone who came. As was to be
expected of a reconnaissance party, he discovered that they were
primarily looking to find fault with him in some way. Instead of
taking precautions against such findings, Ãcariya Mun responded
with great compassion. He knew that a majority of the villagers
were subject to the corrupting influence of a small minority.
Ãcariya Mun remained at this site for many months; yet,
the villagers persisted in trying to catch him at suspicious doings.
Their sole purpose was to find him doing something that would
confirm their worst fears. Although they were sincerely commit-
ted to this, they never tried to chase him away: they merely took
turns spying on him. The villagers must have been surprised that
despite their consistent surveillance for months, they still couldn’t
catch him doing anything wrong.
One evening while sitting in meditation, Ãcariya Mun
became psychically aware that the villagers were assembled for
a meeting concerning his case. He could hear the village head-
man questioning the others about the results of their surveillance:
What had they been able to determine so far? Those, who had
taken turns observing the two monks, said the same thing: they
could find no evidence to confirm their suspicions. They were
worried that their suspicious attitude might be doing them more
harm than good.
“Why do you say that?” The headman wanted to know.
They replied: “As far as we can tell, there’s nothing in their
conduct to confirm our assumptions about them. Whenever we
go to check them out, either they are sitting still with their eyes
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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