Ajahn Mun Bhuridatta

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Ajahn Mun Bhuridatta ( Thai : หลวง ปู่ มั่น ภูริ ทัต โต , RTGS : Luang Pu Man Phurithatto, pronunciation: [ lŭaŋ pùː mân pʰuːríʔtʰáttoː ]; * January 20, 1870 in the Ubon Ratchathani province , Thailand ; † November 10, 1949 ibid) was a theravada - Buddhist monk who, together with his teacher Ajahn Sao Kantasilo Mahathera, is considered to be the founder of the Thai forest tradition that spread in Thailand and later also in western countries.

Life

Early years as a novice and monk (1870–1901)

Ajahn Mun was born on Thursday, January 20, 1870 in a farming village called Ban Kham Bong, in what is now the Amphoe Khong Chiam in the Thai province of Ubon Ratchathani, the oldest of nine children. Ajahn Mun was 15 years old for novices ( Samanera ordained), but with 17 (in 1888) again laicized to help his parents. He received the bhikkhu ordination on June 12, 1893 at the age of 23 . He received the ordination name Bhuridatta ("Blessed with wisdom").

After his ordination, Ajahn Mun learned from 1893 to approx. 1901 with Ajahn Sao at the Wat Liap monastery in Ubon Dhamma , Vinaya and meditation . Outside of the rainy season retreats, he practiced with Ajahn Sao in remote forests along the Mekong.

Alone in Dhutanga and Bangkok (1901–1911)

Ajahn Mun spent most of the time between 1901 and 1911 alone on a Dhutanga hike in remote areas of northeastern Thailand ( Isan ), Burma and Laos . In 1912 he went to Bangkok , where he spent some rainy seasons in what is now Wat Pathum Wanaram with his childhood friend Than Cao Khun Upali, a high-ranking monastic scholar and meditator, to study Pali and suttas .

Central Thailand and Isan (1911–1929)

Ajahn Mun then traveled to Lop Buri in central Thailand to meditate intensively in various caves such as the Phaikwang Cave, the Singho Cave and in the region of the mountain Khao Phra Ngam. In 1913 he spent in Sarika Cave in what is now the Khao Yai National Park , where he achieved a major breakthrough in his practice and , according to the biography written by his student Ajahn Maha Bua , threw off the five lower of the ten fetters of existence (samyojana) and became a non- returnee (anāgāmi) . Today there is a chapel near the cave, which is visited as a place of pilgrimage. After his return to Bangkok he wrote his main written work, Khandhavimuttisamangīdhamma (about "The Ballad of Liberation from the Khandhas").

In the period between 1915 and 1929 Ajahn Mun stayed again in northeastern Thailand, either in improvised "forest monasteries" or on wanderings. During this time, 70 monks and lay students joined him to practice with him, including Ajahn Dun Atulo, a well-known teacher of the Thai forest tradition .

Northern Thailand (1929-1940)

In 1929 Ajahn Mun was appointed abbot of Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai . Since he realized that his teaching and his office was a hindrance to his further realization, he left the monastery to practice in seclusion and stayed again in remote forests and in the mountains. According to Ajahn Maha Bua's biography, during this time he succeeded in loosening the five higher fetters of existence and becoming an arahant .

Back to Isan (1940-1949)

In 1940, at the insistence of his student Than Chao Khun Dhammacedi, now abbot of Wat Photit Somphon in Udon Thani province, Ajahn Mun returned to Isan at the age of 70 , where he lived in the monastery of Wat Boghisamphon (Udon Thani province) and who lived there spent the following rainy season in the monastery Wat Non Niwet. He then visited the region around the village of Ban Nong Nam Khem, the region in which he grew up. Despite his old age, he was able to fend for himself and live in the wild. From 1944 he lived in the forest monastery near Ban Nong Phue for 5 years, the longest period of sedentary life in his monastic life. In 1946 he informed his students, including Ajahn Maha Bua and Ajahn La Khemapatto, that he would only live three more years.

In March 1949 Ajahn Mun fell ill with tuberculosis of the lungs , so he had himself taken to the city of Sakon Nakhon after the rain retreat so as not to overload the small village of Nong Phue with organizing its cremation festivities. There he was taken to the Wat Suddhavasa monastery, where he died on November 10, 1949. More than 1000 monks and novices and tens of thousands of lay followers attended the cremation ceremony. After a few years, crystal relics ( sarira ) were found in the bones .

Posthumous appreciation

Wihan for Ajahn Mun (Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai)

Ajahn Mun only became an icon of the Thai monastic tradition posthumously. With a few exceptions, he was rather suspicious of representatives of the established hierarchy of the Thammayut-nikai as a “vagabond” forest monk and it was not until the mid-1960s that Ajahn Mun became a figurehead with the recognition of masters of the Thai forest tradition by the Thai king. A small Wihan with a wax figure was dedicated to him in Wat Chedi Luang .

Act

Students of Ajahn Muns: (from left to right) Chob Thanasamo, Khao Analayo, Lui Candasaro and Bunpheng Khemabhirato. The picture was probably taken in front of the old main sala of the Nong Phue Na Nai monastery in Sakon Nakhon.

With his secluded, determined and strict practice, Ajahn Mun was a model for the monastic life, who strictly adhered to the Vinaya and followed all 13 Dhutanga exercises, for example eating only from the alms bowl, restriction to one meal per day and that Life in the forest. In doing so, he inspired many monks who became his students. Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Maha Bua are among them the most famous in the West and most revered in Thailand. As the founder of the Thai forest tradition, he exerted significant influence on Buddhism in Thailand and, through Ajahn Chah, who had many Westerners as students, also on the spread of Theravada Buddhism, the founding of monasteries and the establishment of (Theravada) monks Order in the west.

Known students

  • Ajahn Chah Subbhado
  • Ajahn Chob Thanasamo
  • Ajahn Dun Atulo
  • Ajahn Khao Analayo
  • Ajahn Kinari Candiyo
  • Ajahn La Khemapatto
  • Ajahn Li Dhammadharo
  • Ajahn Maha Bua
  • Ajahn Waen Succinno

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Short biography, summarized in " A Heart released ", by the translator, Ven. Bhikkhu Thanissaro [1]
  2. ↑ The Ballad of Liberation from the Khandhas by Phra Ajaan Mun Bhuridatta Mahathera translated from the Thai by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, including a short introduction and story (German translation), here ascribed to the early 30s.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Mun Bhuridatta, Ajahn
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ajahn Man Bhuridatta
BRIEF DESCRIPTION buddhist monk
DATE OF BIRTH January 20, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH Ubon Ratchathani
DATE OF DEATH November 10, 1949
Place of death Ubon Ratchathani