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Story · Ajahn Brahm

The Ananda method of enlightenment

As told by Ajahn Brahm in 1. Relaxing the Body & Mind - Ajahn Brahm

1 min read

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

But Ananda, he was a He was the attendant of the Buddha, the chief No, the chief disciples of the Buddha, and when the Buddha passed away, Ananda was still not enlightened. And he thought, "If I can't be enlightened after being with the Buddha for 25 years, almost every day, listening to all of his teachings, being one of the greatest masters, and I've blown it. 25 years, I'm still not enlightened. What chance do I have now?" But there was a big meeting of all the great monks. 500 monks were meeting together. 499 of them were perfectly enlightened with psychic powers, all except this poor Ananda guy. Imagine the peer pressure. Imagine. So, he stayed up all night meditating and meditating and meditating. Now, that's the reason why he didn't get enlightened. Trying. Trying to get enlightened, trying to achieve something. But then when he got to dawn, he was absolutely nowhere, hopeless. You'll have that feeling sometimes. You're meditating and meditating, nowhere, absolutely hopeless. So, what did he do? He decided to go and take a nap. So, as he lay down, according to the legend, just before his head hit the pillow, he became fully enlightened with psychic powers as well. Brilliant. So, we call that the Ananda method of enlightenment.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 56:27 (to 57:56)

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

Ananda strove all night to become enlightened before the great council and got nowhere. He gave up and lay down for a nap, and just before his head touched the pillow, he awoke. Ajahn Brahm calls it the Ananda method. Be kind to yourself on the first day, and rest if you're tired. Letting go of trying opens doors.

In brief (our summary)

After the Buddha's death, Ananda — his attendant for 25 years — is still not enlightened, while 499 of the 500 monks gathering for the great council are arahants with psychic powers. Under that pressure he meditates all night, trying and trying, and by dawn has got nowhere. So he decides to take a nap; just before his head touches the pillow he becomes fully enlightened.

Teaching point

Striving blocks awakening; letting go, even of trying, opens it. On the first day of a retreat, rest if you're tired.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in 1. Relaxing the Body & Mind - Ajahn Brahm · 2012-01-31 · ▶ watch from 56:27 to 57:56 · BSWA Retreats 2011-15 & Media

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; 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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