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Story · Ajahn Brahm

“What day of the week is it?”

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Facing Difficult Situations in Life | Ajahn Brahm | 6 October 2017

1 min read

Content note: medical emergency (epileptic fit), brief

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

but then the first few months when i came to perth we were staying in a small house in north perth you know lynn knows that she was there at the time and even erica you know you went there there was she's around here somewhere and uh there was a nepalese man who came to visit he had a um you know buddhist background and he had an epileptic epileptic fit just in front of the house so he called the ambulance and then uh first thing the ambulance guy said to him is what day of the week is it and why do you ask that so what if you don't know what day of the week it is they take you away straight away so oh my goodness if you ask me i'd be in big trouble so from that time on i realized i better always at least know what day of the week is

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 19:08 (to 20:07)

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

A forest monk who sometimes didn't know the year learned in Perth that an ambulance officer's first question is what day it is. Fail that, and they take you away, so he resolved always to know. He laughs at how poorly monks fit modern life. Still, there is real freedom in times when the clock doesn't rule you.

In brief (our summary)

As a forest monk he lived without calendars or clocks and sometimes didn't know the month or year. In the first months in Perth, at the small house in North Perth, a visiting Nepalese man has an epileptic fit; the ambulance officer's first question is 'what day of the week is it?' Realising he'd be taken away if asked, he resolves always to know the day.

Teaching point

(Humorous contrast between timeless forest life and modern society.)

When this story may help

  • culture shock
  • adapting to modern life

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Facing Difficult Situations in Life | Ajahn Brahm | 6 October 2017 · 2017-10-06 · ▶ watch from 19:08 to 20:07 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

6 other tellings of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'he called the ambulance' — the caption says 'he', presumably 'we' (not changed).

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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