Story · Ajahn Brahm

He punched the art teacher for smiling — then called him a friend

1 min read

Content note: violence

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

one of these artists who used to come to our Armadale group so many years ago, he was an art teacher at Claremont, I think it was. And he said one of his colleagues was just a bad person, and this art teacher was quite a spiritual guy, he smiled at this colleague one day and the colleague just punched him in the nose and flattened him for smiling. And he met the guy years later— he had to leave the school after that— and met him years later and this friend came up and said, "We were such good friends in those days," and the teacher said, "What? You flattened me!" He said, "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that." His perception of the relationship was totally different than the other person's relationship; the guy who hit the art teacher was going through some very, very difficult time, but recognized the art teacher was actually trying to be kind to him. And even though he couldn't express that he'd recognize this, and even just it looked like he was angry at this art teacher, it is still the kindness had got in there somewhere, and it stayed with him for all those years

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 29:16 (to 30:29)

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

An art teacher smiled at a troubled colleague and got knocked flat for it. Years later the same man greeted him warmly as an old friend; the punch was forgotten, the kindness remembered. Sometimes all we seem to get back is criticism. Keep being kind. It lands more often than you think.

In brief (our summary)

An Armadale-group artist who taught at Claremont smiled at a difficult colleague; the man punched him and flattened him. Years later the same man greeted him as an old friend and had forgotten the punch — the kindness had got in somewhere even when it looked like anger.

Teaching point

Kindness can land even when the first response is violence; people may remember the friend, not the blow.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in How to Keep Giving Without Reward | Ajahn Brahm | 02-05-2014 · 2014-05-04 · ▶ watch from 29:16 to 30:29 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: Manual (volunteer) captions; occasional misspellings kept as is.

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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