Ajahn Mun

The Buddha has been walking all over the middle Ganges Valley, in particular in the holy sites.

And in Bodhgalyana you can still walk right next to the shrine, which actually represents the Buddha's walking path east-west, as Ajahn Man was always insisting.

And maybe you can pick up some of the spiritual footprints that the Buddha left behind.

It's just a fascinating concept I've never before encountered, that by walking we leave behind footprints of our mental state, and even the gloom and worry, we leave that behind.

There are many stories of teachers, monks, and laypeople who train different animals to meditate, to be able to sit still, not give in to their desire to move away or do different things, but just to sit still for a period of time or even walk.

Luang Por Louis, who's considered to be a great Arahant, student of Ajahn Mun.

It's a well-known story of one time he's living in the forest and he managed to train a tiger how to walk meditation.

[laughs] Perhaps it's because tigers, they do love to walk up and down anyway.

You know, it's sort of like the same class of mental state as intention.

So, I mean, you ask a Thai monk or a Western monk ordained in a Thai tradition, what kind of karma is accrued by unwholesome acts such as cigarette smoking? I mean, that's a big one for a Thai monk because one of their most famous monks, one of the most famous monks in modern Thailand is Ajahn Munn.

He's considered almost universally to be an Arahant in Thailand, especially including by Western monks.

But Ajahn Mun was a chain smoker.

It's the mental state, the accompanying mental state that is or is not unwholesome.

And it's just going to depend on the mental state of the individual.

One person can smoke a cigarette, like let's just say Ajahn Munn smokes a cigarette.

He hasn't done anything wrong.

You have some better idea of what's actually going on.

When Ajaan Fuang was studying with Ajaan Mun, his mind was the sort that when he got the mind really still and unified like this, he would see devas.

So he was checking out the devas in the nearby hills.

He happened to mention it to some of the other monks.

Ajaan Mun was very strict with him.

He said, you don't talk about your visions in meditation because you can't guarantee they're going to be true.

You have to test them, and they're basically messages for you, not for anybody else.

Uh, and, uh, [clears throat] so that, uh, having that, that, that sort of example and, and, and, uh, because they had all spent much more time with Luang Por Chah than me, uh, so that they were great supports and, and, uh, uh, encouraging and, and, uh, uh, uh, yeah, and spiritual friends.

And then, and then also because of the position that I was, uh, in as, as abbot, then I got to meet and pay respects and get, get to know other great teachers like disciples of Ajahn Mun.

Um, uh, Luang Ta Maha Bua, uh, Luang Por Ben, um, Luang Por Puth, uh, Luang Por Dune.

Luang Por Dune was incredibly warm and, and, and, uh, supportive of me and came, uh, to, uh, visit at Wat Nanachat and was very, very encouraging.

But of course, Ajahn Chah had passed away in 1991, so long before I even ordained.

So I never met Ajahn Chah personally, but after having that inspiration from the senior Kuba Ajahns in Bodhinyana, I also was reading the famous biography on Longta Maha Bua about Ajahn Mun.

I was reading other transcripts of teaching of Longta Maha Bua, also listening to teachings and translations.

So curiously, when I left Bodhinyana, I was quite disenchanted with Ajahn Brahm, but I had found my faith in the Thai forest tradition there.

And later Ajahn Chah trained with two disciples of Luang Por Mun.

And Luang Por Mun and the Tamayot Forest tradition in Thailand, the basic approach was first to become an avahant and then you start thinking about teaching or being an abbot, particular teaching.

So Ajahn Mun would usually not encourage monks so much to teach.

He would encourage them to be in solitude, practice, and then once they are realized, I mean ideally anybody can start teaching.