030 Answering Questioners Rather Than Questions Themselves

    With inner development always his main concern, Phra Acharn Mun always dedicated himself to instructing the people, lay disciples as well as bhikkhus and samaneras. In a sense, his aim was to make a 'human being' out of a man. In his wanderings into villages he often encountered the village wise men who would approach him for the sake of debate and to question him. Some of the popular topics often discussed concerned the existence of ghosts and spirits; the birthplace of men; the cause of love between a man and a woman, and male and female animals; and what school educated man and animals in the affairs of love. The Venerable Acharn's answers to such questions as far as the writer can remember them, will be quoted here briefly.

Are there ghosts or spirits ? In response to this question, the Venerable Acharn said, 'Whatever exists, exists by itself, be it a ghost, spirit or any other thing. Such a thing exists independent of a person's belief or disbelief, which cannot change matters. The causes of one's fear and suffering of ghosts exists in one's own worry and imagination. The mind that doesn't "reach out" for such fearful stories is obviously not troubled by fear. Fear such as this is therefore produced more often than not by one's own imagination, not by real ghosts.'

Do ghosts exist as real entities ? 'Even though there really are such things as ghosts, there is as yet no irrefutable evidence of their existence which will convince the sceptics, because most people cannot bring themselves to admit the truth. The thief who is arrested with stolen property in his possession, for example, will rarely confess his guilt. Even when he is confronted with witnesses and is therefore bound to admit his guilt, he will still try to justify himself in some other way. Asked during imprisonment what crime he had committed and he will most often say he was accused of stealing. In other words, he will still not admit his guilt. Such is the tendency of most people.'[18]

From where was man born ? The Venerable Acharn answered his questioner rather emphatically saying that man was born of his parents, that he didn't "come out of a tree's hole" [a Thai saying meaning that life comes from living things]. He also said that questions such as this should not be asked.

    If one speaks in accordance with reality, man is born of ignorance [avijja--ignorance and tanha--desire, referring to the Law of Dependent Origination], but an answer such as this would have been of no use to the questioners since how many of them would have been willing to learn about it and then to make the effort necessary to reduce that ignorance and desire! It is evident that the questioners wished to test him rather than to know about the truth. However, it should be noted that the cause of each person's birth is in his own mind which is overcome by what are collectively called defilements [kilesa]. If we break these defilements down, they in a sense can be called ignorance, desire, etc., as found in the enumeration as given in the Law of Dependent Origination--through ignorance arises the karma-formations, etc.; through the cessation of ignorance comes the cessation of the karma-formations, etc.[19] Looking at one's own mind will enable one to know where man is born and what is the cause of suffering and troubles in this world. There is no need to ask anyone else, nor is there any need to seek the answer elsewhere. It is thoughts and attentions directed outwards which blind a person to his own nature, affairs, and, most importantly, to his defilements. Such a mind is untamed and untrained, obsessed by its own vanity and obstinacy.

Why, even without conventional education, do men and women come to love each other ? The Venerable Acharn's answer to this question was direct and bold.

    'Lustful desire does not exist in any book, nor does it take its birth in any school, and never has it to be taught by any teacher! Lust exists in the minds of men and women who [think they] are in love, and also in the minds of animals which [we presume] are in "love". Lust makes the people and animals in its power shameless, irrespective of age, caste, race, or nationality. Without any attempt to check or restrain it, society would soon collapse since minds would be overflowing with its tyrannical influence. Much of the world's untold suffering has been caused by this defilement being unduly encouraged and made a god of. A mind overflowing with lust [disguised as love] produces suffering to itself and others more extensively than a river overflowing, its banks can cause a public disaster. What is more important, the internal flood inundates the mind throughout the year, knowing no dry season whatsoever. Lust is the cause of [what we suppose to be] the love between a man and a woman.

    'It is through the dictates of lust that men and women are led to love and take delight in each other. But the guile of lust is subtle. Working one way it produces love; working in another way it breeds, anger, hatred, and other destructive thoughts and moods. At one time it brings a man and a woman together in what seems to be an immortal love; at another time it pulls them apart, setting one against the other until they cannot bear the sight of each other.

    'Haven't you ever experienced this dual aspect of your "love"?' he asked his questioners.

    'Yes, we have,' they admitted. 'To tell you in all honesty, we are fed up with quarrelling amongst ourselves, but we just can't seem to help it. It just seems to happen.'

    'Have you really, in all honesty, tried to help yourselves ? Such a way of life is destructive not only to yourselves, but also to your children who are innocent of your bickering and brawling. When you are influenced by anger and hatred, you must remind yourselves of the time when you experienced love. The result will be an overall view of the two-sided coin of love and hate. In most cases, each of you appears to be a despot or a perfectionist, forgetting what is possible and what is not. This attitude of mind may be compared to "damming the waters of the ocean with one's hands", and is sure to result in bitter disappointment and depression a just reward for an impossible desire. This principle should be extended to other members of the household or to friends and other people as well. If there are those, however, who will not admit this truth and who persist in their desire for the impossible, then it is their own fault and evil. Whoever admits the truth is blessed by it' [that is, by his own ability to admit it].

    Such was the Venerable Acharn's instruction regarding love.

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18. This answer is obviously quite evasive, but in answering questions, the Venerable Acharn followed that method used by the Buddha and his Noble Disciples. Any question can be answered in a variety of ways, depending on the time, the place, and, most importantly, the questioner himself. The Venerable Acharn used the technique of answering the questioner himself, rather than the question asked. If we look at the case at hand, it is obvious how the people at that time were obsessed by belief in the power of ghosts and spirits. Any blunt, detailed answer to the fact that there are such entities would have aggravated the situation which he hoped to improve. On the other hand, to deny their existence would have been a falsehood. He wisely pointed out important facts behind the existence of ghosts and spirits (imagination, etc.) and avoided answering the question directly. Elsewhere, however, he made it clear (when no question was put to him concerning it) that there really exist invisible beings on other planes of existence, be they called ghosts, demons, gods, angels, or whatever. [Go back]
19. See supplementary notes. [Go back]