seeing an end to the kilesas, from the most vulgar ones to the most
refined, should never overlook the dhutanga observances, think-
ing them incapable of doing the job.His Final Illness
Ãcariya Mun had already lived for five years at Ban Nong Pheu
monastery when, in March of 1949 – precisely on the four-
teenth day of the fourth lunar month – his body began exhibit-
ing signs indicating the approaching end of his life. By then, he
was 79 years old. On that day there appeared the first symptoms
of an illness that was to worsen until it finally brought to a close
his long life^10 – a day that sent tremors through Ãcariya Mun’s
body elements and shock waves through the community of his
close disciples. Initially there was a light fever, accompanied by a
slight cough. But as the days passed, the symptoms steadily wors-
ened, never showing the slightest improvement. Obviously abnor-
mal, the constant decline in his health worried us all. But Ãcariya
Mun himself clearly knew that this was to be his final illness – an
illness no type of medical treatment could cure. He informed his
disciples of this from the very beginning and from then on never
showed any interest in medicines. On the contrary, he seemed
annoyed when someone brought him medicines to take. This he
expressed in no uncertain terms:
“This is the illness of an old man who has reached the end
of the line. No matter what kind of medicine I take, it will never
be cured. All that’s left is the breath in my body, biding its time,
awaiting the day it finally ceases. I’m like a dead tree that’s still