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the next life, rebirth in the Brahmaloka. further rebirth.
8. In samatha, only one meditation
subject and two senses are

employed at any one time, such

as the eye and the mind (in the
case of a kasi a), or touch and
the mind (in the case of the breath).
9. The practitioner should
determine which of the six
caritas is most dominant, and
then adopt the appropriate
meditationsubject.
8. In vipassanā, no special
meditation subjects are needed,
and all six senses are employed.
9. The practitioner should determine
which of the four satipa hānas
is most suitable in his case.

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Chapter III
Most Venerable Mun Bhūridatta Thera’s
Method of Practice
3.1 Most Venerable Mun Bhūridatta Thera’s
Biography
3.1.1 His Childhood and Ordination
Most Venerable Mun Bhūridatta Thera (Mun Bhūridatto) was
one of the bestknown
meditationmasters
in Thailand. He was born on
Thursday 20th January BE 2413 (1870 AD) 42 in the village of Ban
Kambong, in the Khongjiam district of Ubon Ratchathani province. His
father’s name was Kamduang Kankaew, whilst that of his mother Jan. He
was the eldest of eight brothers and sisters.

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Two years after his ordination, his father asked him to disrobe,
and to return to lay life in order to help out in the home.
At the age of twentytwo,
feeling the urge to ordain as a monk
and, having received his parents‘ permission, he took leave of them. They
provided him with a complete set of a monk’s basic requisites for his
ordination. On June 12th 1893 43 , he received his bhikkhu ordination at
Wat Liap monastery in the provincial town of Ubon Ratchathani.
His upajjhāya was the Venerable Phra Ariyakawi, his
kammavācariya Phrakhru Sitha, and his anusāsanācariya Phrakhru
Prajakubonkhun.
He was named Bhūridatta as his religious named,
meaning “Gift of the Earth” and “A Gift of Wisdom” 44 , depending on
which of the several meanings of bhūri is adopted. After his ordination,
he took up residence at Wat Liap, in Most Venerable Sao’s vipassanā
meditation centre.

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He chose to live in remote areas in order to devote himself to the
eradication of the defilements. Each year he would, once the threemonth
period of the rains’ retreat (vassa) was at an end, go to some place in the
mountains and forests with a small village nearby where he might seek
his almsfood.
So he spent more time in the Northeastern
region than he
did in any other part of the country.
3.1.2 Most Venerable Mun’s Character
Most Venerable Mun’s primary focus always remained the same:
working tirelessly to improve his meditation practice. He knew that this
was his most important task in life. He disliked involvement in monastic
building projects, preferring to concentrate exclusively on the inner work
of meditative development. He avoided socializing with fellow monks
and avoided civil society as much as possible, much preferring to live

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The Most Venerable Mun’s voice impressed the monks in the
assembly. As the monks sat together, quietly listening, the Most
Venerable Mun’s voice would be the only sound that they heard. The
rhythm of his voice articulating the essence of the Dhamma was at once
both lyrical and captivating. Carried along by the flow of his teaching, his
audience completely forgot themselves, their weariness, and the time that
had passed. As they listened, they were aware only of the flow of the
Dhamma having an impact on their hearts, creating such a pleasant
feeling that they could never get enough of it. Each of these meetings
would last many hours. 46
Venerable Viriyan (Phra Raja Dhammacetiyacharn) states that,
on their very first meeting, he was impressed by the Most Venerable
Mun’s mild manner, and his mode of preaching Dhamma without any
accompanying ceremony. He would preach for four hours at a stretch

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Most Venerable Mun had a special talent for catching “thieves,”
a technique for reading others’ minds and catching stray thoughts, which
kept his students watchful and alert.
His proficiency in chanting the suttas was unrivaled. He chanted
suttas alone for many hours every night without fail. He would chant long
discourses, such as the Dhammacakkapavattanasutta and the
Mahāsamāyasutta, nearly every night.
Most Venerable Mun was convinced of the possibility of
achieving the path, fruition and nibbāna. One question Venerable Kow
once asked was: “At the time of the Lord Buddha, according to his
biography and other writings, there were a large number who attained the
path, fruition and nibbāna and, at that, quickly as well. There were far
more who attained it then, than there are nowadays, for fewer people

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3.1.3 The Influences of his Teachers
Most Venerable Sao Kantasilo
In the early years of his practice, Most Venerable Mun often
wandered in the company of the Most Venerable Sao, a good,
experienced teacher who could lend him support. Yet when he asked his
teacher to advise him on specific problems arising in his meditation, the
Most Venerable Sao invariably replied: “My experiences in meditation
are quite different from yours.” the Most Venerable Sao never gave him
enough concrete advice to really help him, so the Most Venerable Mun
was forced to solve his problems on his own.
Most Venerable Mun described his teacher as someone with a

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utter only a few sentences. Occasionally obliged to give instruction to his
lay supporters, he was nonetheless always very frugal with words. The
little that he did say could be summed up as follows:
You should renounce evil and cultivate goodness. Being fortunate
enough to be born human, don’t waste this good opportunity now.
Our status as human beings is a very noble one; so avoid all
animallike
behaviour. Otherwise, you’ll sink below the animals,
and be much more wretched as well. When you eventually fall
into hell, your tortuous existence there will be far more grievous
than that of any animal. So don’t do evil! 49
It was well known that these two teachers had a great love and
respect for each other. They spent most of the year living together, both
during and after the annual rains’ retreat. In their middle years, they

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