# The blind elephants who felt a man

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Joke
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-blind-elephants-feel-a-man
- Themes: humour, perspective, politics, leadership
- Life situations: team conflict, leadership, disagreements

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

At a leadership conference on Hayman Island with Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and others, Ajahn Brahm retells the seven blind men and the elephant — then inverts it: seven blind elephants decide to find out what a man is by each feeling one. When they compare notes, they all agree a man is flat. He jokes that's probably why Gillard later squashed Rudd — 'my fault, sorry'.

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

one gig I went to some years ago was to go to this resort island on Hayman Island now that is really a Top Resort and I was invited there all expenses paid flown over to the Gold Coast oh no the Great Barrier Reef you know it's a it's almost like a six-star hotel and that was quite a few years ago because it was a leadership conference and that that leadership conference there was Kevin Rudd was there and Julia Gillard and Swan and and the uh Anna Blythe from Queensland she was a premier there and the premier of Victoria was there and all these big shots were there not his big business people were there and it was really interesting and I was teaching them how to meditate and how to actually to uh to give them a bit of wisdom about how to live in harmony together that didn't really work anyway I tried actually I remember the story I did tell them which they thought was funny was you know the old I'm just going off in a tangent no Odell story The the elephant and the seven wives the elephant and the Seven Blind Men many of you know that story every blind man felt different part of the elephants and you know because of that that sort of they argued elephant is like a tree trunk elephant's like a fly whisk who felt the tail elephants like a plow felt the who felt the task and they all argued what an elephant was they were all right but they should have actually combined their knowledge and I decided to do a a an alternative of that one and that is of the the story The Great Buddhist story with the seven blind elephants and they always heard about a man what's a man we've heard about a man but what is a man and I heard about the you know seven Blind Men the only way you can find out is find another find an elephant set of seven Blind Men feel it and instead of archery and who's right combine your knowledge don't argue combine so the seven blind man figured out an elephant so big rock on four tree trunks with a fry Whisk on the back a water pot on the top on the middle of the water pot is a big snake two plows on either side of the snake and two big fans on either side of the water part of the years and that's not a bad description so when the elephants blind elephants heard about this they thought that's how we can find what a man is let's all find a man each feel the man come back and we combine our experience but unlike the first part of the story when the blind elephants all they all found a man each and when they came back to compare experiences they all agreed a man was flat that's the only way an elephant could feel anybody squashing it and I remember telling that to Kevin right and I think that's probably why uh Julia Gillard squashed him it's my fault sorry

## Teaching point

Combine perspectives instead of arguing (with a joke on blame).

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

Seven blind elephants felt a man each and agreed that men are flat. Ajahn Brahm told it to political leaders and later joked that he caused a famous leadership squashing. A businessman there called mistakes 'forward failing': it didn't work, so learn and grow. Blame stops your growth. Learning keeps it going.

## Source

- [How to deal with blame and criticism | Ajahn Brahm | 18 Nov 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39mEezTbMcc) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 36:39 to 39:52: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39mEezTbMcc&t=2199s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Gratitude and Expectations | Ajahn Brahm | 9 July 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzT3W1jjTYY) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 24:23 to 24:45: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzT3W1jjTYY&t=1463s
- [What Is Truth? | Ajahn Brahm | 26-02-2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qulM37mcksA) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 16:53 to 17:51: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qulM37mcksA&t=1013s
- [Arguing | by Ajahn Brahm | 17 April 2015](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bSZL8edEiQ) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 22:00 to 23:10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bSZL8edEiQ&t=1320s