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Story · Ajahn Brahm

Ajahn Chah: you're leaving in two hours

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Life Is A Series Of Unexpected Events | Ajahn Brahm | 3 March 2017

1 min read

The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

I was brought up like that by my teacher ajanta you know you never knew what he was going to do next you never knew where you're going to stay next I was telling this to the monks you'd be happy in a monastery just meditating nice and peaceful and then agent child my teacher would this is how we were trying to come up to you and say oh you're going to the other part of time I'm sending you to another Monastery I'll say well next week no two hours and before I knew it I was in another Monastery the other side of Thailand it had no possibility of preparing yourself you had to be totally open to anything happening totally prepared for the unexpected

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 22:06 (to 22:56)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

Ajahn Chah would tell a monk he was moving monasteries, not next week but in two hours, across Thailand. No preparation possible. That training taught Ajahn Brahm to be open to anything. Life is unpredictable and death can come at any time. Accept that, and every moment feels more alive.

In brief (our summary)

Training under Ajahn Chah, a peaceful monastery stay could end with him saying you are going to another monastery — not next week, in two hours — with no chance to prepare.

Teaching point

Resilience is learning to meet the unexpected without collapsing.

When this story may help

  • sudden change
  • relocation

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Life Is A Series Of Unexpected Events | Ajahn Brahm | 3 March 2017 · 2017-03-03 · ▶ watch from 22:06 to 22:56 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned.

The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version

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