Story · Ajahn Brahm

The deliberate mistake on the blackboard

1 min read

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

Blackboard and we pointed out that's wrong you know he made a mistake they said exactly I put that on there on purpose to make sure you were all paying attention you know that the deliberate mistake to keep you all awake

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 32:52 (to 33:08)

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

Caught in an error on the blackboard, a schoolteacher insisted he'd put it there on purpose to keep the class awake. We dodge mistakes because they feel like a personal failure. Ajahn Brahm respects people who admit them. Think better of those who say, I got that wrong, and give yourself the same grace.

In brief (our summary)

School maths teacher, caught in an error on the blackboard, claims he put it there on purpose to check the class was paying attention — 'well done' — modelling how hard it is to admit a real mistake.

Teaching point

Pride invents 'deliberate mistakes' rather than saying 'I was wrong'.

When this story may help

  • admitting error
  • workplace pride

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Entanglement | Ajahn Brahm | 17 March 2017 · 2017-03-17 · ▶ watch from 32:52 to 33:08 · 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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