been adapted to refer to extended periods of wandering in the countryside, where monks will take one or more of these ascetic practices. During these periods monks will live off of whatever is given to them by laypersons they encounter during the trip, and sleep wherever they can. Sometimes monks will bring a large umbrella-tent with attached mosquito netting known as a crot (also spelled krot, clot, or klod). The crot will usually have a hook on the top so it may be hung on a line tied between two trees. Teachings Original mind The mind (Pali: citta, mano, used interchangeably as "heart" or "mind" en masse), within the context of the Forest Tradition, refers to the most essential aspect of an individual, that carries the responsibility of "taking on" or "knowing" mental preoccupations. While the activities associated with thinking are often included when talking about the mind, they are considered mental processes separate from this essential knowing nature, which is sometimes termed the "primal nature of the mind". Original Mind is considered to be radiant, or luminous (Pali: "pabhassara"). Teachers in the forest tradition assert that the mind simply "knows and does not die." The mind is also a fixed-phenomenon (Pali: "thiti-dhamma"); the mind itself does not move or follow out after its preoccupations, but rather receives them in place. Since the mind as a phenomenon often eludes attempts to define it, the mind is often simply described in terms of its activities. The primal or original mind in itself is however not considered to be equivalent to the awakened state but rather as a basis for the emergence of mental formations, it is not to be confused for a metaphysical statement of a true self and its radiance being an emanation of avijjā it must eventually be let go of. Ajahn Mun further argued that there is a unique class of "objectless" or "themeless" consciousness specific to Nirvana, which differs from the consciousness aggregate. Scholars in Bangkok at the time of Ajahn Mun stated that an individual is wholly composed of and defined by the five aggregates, while the Pali Canon states that the aggregates are completely ended during the experience of Nirvana. Twelve nidanas and rebirth The twelve nidanas describe how, in a continuous process, avijja ("ignorance," "unawareness") leads to the mind's preoccupation with its contents and the associated feelings that arise from sense-contact. This absorption darkens