ing to his recommendations. For this reason, dhutanga monks have
always preferred to gather around eminently qualified meditation
masters, such as Ãcariya Mun and Ãcariya Sao. Both of those
great teachers had unusually large numbers of disciples among the
dhutanga monks of Thailand’s Northeast region.
But in Ãcariya Mun’s case, once he moved to Chiang Mai
he resolved to avoid his fellow monks and practice deliberately on
his own, without the added burden of responsibility that teaching
entails. In the beginning, he wanted to accelerate his drive for the
ultimate goal. Later, he found it conducive to living in comfort. All
the same, he had to accept certain obligations to teach monks as
well as lay people, and it’s well known that he had many disciples
all over Thailand. In the period before Ãcariya Mun went off alone
to make his decisive push in the wilds of Chiang Mai, he often
mentioned that, spiritually, he still was not strong enough – either
in his own practice, or in his ability to teach others. So he resolved
to go away and practice with the utmost diligence until no doubts
- of any kind – remained in his heart. From that time on, he never
mentioned anything about lacking sufficient strength.
Big Brother Elephant
Once Ãcariya Mun was wandering dhutanga in the Chiang Mai
mountains with two other monks, Ãcariya Khao of Wat Tham
Klong Phen monastery in Udon Thani province and Ãcariya
Mahã Thongsak of Wat Suddhawat monastery in Sakon Nakhon
province. As they reached a narrow gap in the path leading up
the mountain, they chanced upon a large, solitary elephant whose
