ÃCARIYA MUN FOUND the mountains of Chiang Mai to be an ideal
environment for meditation. Heart free and mind unencumbered,
he lived a life of complete ease, abiding sublimely in Dhamma –
Dhamma was the enduring source of comfort in his life. With no
intrusions taking up his time, he was free to meditate whenever
he wished. He lived a very healthy, contented life there. As for
his teaching obligations, the devas, who came only at night, were
beings of a refined nature, so they were hardly a burden. Some-
times in the afternoon or early evening he gave helpful advice
to the local lay community. The monks living under his tute-
lage assembled for instruction in the evening, at about seven P.M.
Most of his students had already achieved a certain level of pro-
ficiency in the practice of samãdhi and in the various stages of
wisdom. Being wholly committed to the practice, they listened to
his teaching, striving to attain magga, phala, and Nibbãna.
When Ãcariya Mun taught a group of monks, whose individ-
ual levels of mental development varied, he always structured his
discourses to encompass all levels of practice, from basic samãdhi
through the higher levels of wisdom to the most subtle level of all –
the realization of Nibbãna. Monks, skilled in meditation, became so
absorbed in the successive stages of his discourse that they lost all
sense of time and place. Practicing monks were usually given a talk
lasting for at least two hours. But the monks were less interested
in the time than they were in the flow of his Dhamma discourse,
as they were able to gradually increase their own understanding
with each successive stage. Consequently, listening to Dhamma
in an attentive, thoughtful manner is itself a valuable meditation
practice, one that is equally as important as other methods. For
his part, the teacher is determined that his audience realize the
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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