# One-pound bet — sober for a year

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-bet-one-pound-sober-for-a-year
- Themes: alcohol, student life, humour, precepts
- Life situations: giving up drinking, family bets

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

As a student he bets a cousin one pound he can stay sober a year; decades later the cousin still has not paid.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

gave up alcohol as a student even one of my cousins who knew me very well said new won't last you know and I I did a bet with him away to one pound that's all worth a lot of money in those days that I could last over one year of Being Sober not taking any alcohol that's that's over about 60 years ago now he still hasn't paid up

## Teaching point

Some bets you win for free — and never collect.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

As a student, Ajahn Brahm bet a cousin one pound he could stay sober for a year. He won, and the cousin still hasn't paid, sixty years on. He was brainwashed into thinking drink and deceit meant fun, but awareness showed him otherwise. Living the precepts isn't for money. It's simply a happier way to live.

## Source

- [Beginning of Your Spiritual Life | Ajahn Brahm | 17 February 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8VwV58VE-4) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 29:52 to 30:24: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8VwV58VE-4&t=1792s