# Is Ajahn Mun's arahant story in his biography fake? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Theravada topics\ **Created:** [May 2, 2026, 8:00pm UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/is-ajahn-muns-arahant-story-in-his-biography-fake/2379 "2026-05-02T20:00:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 2
**Author:** ![renaldo](https://classicaltheravada.org/user_avatar/classicaltheravada.org/renaldo/32/2033_2.png) [@renaldo](https://classicaltheravada.org/u/renaldo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/is-ajahn-muns-arahant-story-in-his-biography-fake/2379/2 "2026-05-02T20:54:59Z")
> [@orthodox](#): > > This seems absurd. It’s completely absurd. You should read it sometime. It is, however, a perfect example of what happens when the _Abhidhamma_ and Commentaries are not taken seriously, as they were in the Thai Forest tradition that he came from. The Thai Forest tradition started off as an extremely noble undertaking, with monks trying to actually attain _nibbāna_, when many had given up on this goal or thought it no longer possible. Yet we can see that within about 4 generations it became overtaken by wrong views, complete with eternalist saints and mythological stories like the one you referenced. It really didn’t take long for that to happen. Ajahn Sao started teaching Mun sometime around the 1890’s, if I am not mistaken. The biography was first published in 1971, in Thai. So within about eighty years (or 4 generations) we see this fully hypostatized. Now, whether Mahā Boowa’s accounts of Ajahn Mun’s life and experiences are actually reflective of what Mun claimed himself, or are mostly developed by Mahā Boowa, I can’t say for certain, but we can see what happened nonetheless. Mahā Boowa also implied that he was an _arahant_ himself—one who proclaimed public political views and who used money, and so on, which is also ridiculous, of course. It’s not very different from what happened after the Buddha’s _parinibbāna_. All the schools that did not honor the _Abhidhamma_ fell into wrong views, and they either don’t exist anymore or were absorbed into schools with wrong views that developed much later. Only the _Theravāda_ has remained until now (for a total of 2,500+ years, or 125+ generations). This is simply because it insulated itself from all those wrong views by its rigorous adherence to the _Abhidhamma_ and Commentaries. You might also enjoy this thread: > [@Acharn Mun biography - and the debate between World fellowship of Buddhists and Nyanaponika](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/acharn-mun-biography-and-the-debate-between-world-fellowship-of-buddhists-and-nyanaponika/603/1): > > **World Fellowship of Buddhists Magazine** > VolXIII no1 (BE2519/1976) > **From Nyanaponika Mahathera** > Forest Hermitage Kandy, Ceylon > Commenting on the bio of A.Mun. R --- _[View the full topic](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/is-ajahn-muns-arahant-story-in-his-biography-fake/2379)._