Ven. Acariya Mun - Spiritual Biography + photos

they had to rely on the ‘therapeutic qualities of Dhamma’ instead.
This meant investigating painful feelings as they arose with an
intense, incisive degree of mindfulness and wisdom. Otherwise,
they had no effective means of alleviating the pain. If successful,
they reduced the fever, thus effecting a cure much quicker than
could normally be expected.
A courageous monk who succeeds through the power of
mindfulness and wisdom to overcome the painful feelings caused
by illness, creates thereby a solid base of support that will serve him
well in times of good health as well as in times of sickness. Ulti-
mately, at the time when death is imminent, he will not feel weak
and disheartened, and thus not be overwhelmed. Having suc-
ceeded in establishing total mastery of the truth about dukkha, he
boldly faces the natural process we call ‘death’. Mindfulness and
wisdom have taught him to recognize dukkha’s intrinsic nature,
so he never again worries about pain. He always maintains the
firm basis of truth he achieved through his investigations. Later,
when a critical situation does arise, the mindfulness and wisdom
that he has trained to proficiency will come to his rescue. He
can utilize their investigative skills to override the pain, allowing
him to immediately reach safety. Thus trained, mindfulness and
wisdom will not abandon their duty, leaving him simply to wallow
in misery as he did before he came to realize the true nature
of dukkha. On the contrary, they will immediately engage the
enemy. His external manifestations of illness will resemble those
of any other sick person: that is, he will appear just as weak and
exhausted as anyone else. But internally, mindfulness and wisdom
will manifest within his heart like soldiers preparing to do battle.
Then no amount of pain will affect his state of mind. His only