Story · Ajahn Brahm
The Buddhist fly went round three times
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
This fly landed on my nose. It didn't go up my nose. It went around. And I got the understanding that this part of your mouth on the the edges is much more sensitive than underneath or on top. So once it got past this part, I was okay. But then it got it started to approach the corner again. Oh my goodness, am I going to make this? And it went round. So I was very mindful of it cuz I couldn't ignore it. And then it went round again. I wonder what it was up to. Why does it want to go around twice? It's already experienced that, explored that. And then it went around a third time. And that's when I understood that was a Buddhist fly. It was in a Buddhist center. Of course, it was a Buddhist fly. And if ever you come to any of our ceremonies, we always do what we call a circumambulation. If you have a bodhi tree out there on ways we went around three times. You see that often a stuper a bodhi tree or anything you always walk around three times. Even once I remember when Ajancha was alive even I saw I think they must have got into trouble with this. One of the helicopters from the army base close by. They came over the temple. They went around once, round twice, around three times before flying off. That's how you pay respect and waste a lot of fuel. So, I'm glad the aircraft don't do that. I think that's why sometimes aircraft crash. Maybe they're doing circumambulations. I don't know. But I don't want to try it. I say that because I'm flying out tomorrow morning. Please. No. Singapore. No, no circumambulations as you fly over Thailand or whatever. Otherwise, I'm dead. But anyway, that's how the fly would circumambulate around my mouth
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 19:51 (to 22:12)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
Mid-talk about leaving flies alone, one landed on Ajahn Brahm's face and circled his mouth three times, like pilgrims walking round a shrine. He let it, laughing. Then he recalls Thai mosquitoes queuing for a bald, white monk who wouldn't swat. Small irritations make good practice. Meet them with humour.
In brief (our summary)
Teaching on camera about leaving blowflies alone, one lands on his nose and circles the mouth three times — a circumambulation, like around a Bodhi tree or stupa (and once even an army helicopter around Ajahn Chah's temple).
Teaching point
Even an irritating fly can be met with mindful humour instead of reaction.
When this story may help
- meditation interruptions
- staying composed on camera
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in Relax the Mind | Ajahn Brahm | 13 June 2025 · 2025-06-13 · ▶ watch from 19:51 to 22:12 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
2 other tellings of this story
- Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 17 July 2021 · 2021-07-17 · ▶ watch from 1:07:40 to 1:09:13 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaJul 2021: community-hall fly circumnavigates mouth three times then leaves.
- Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 9 November 2019 · 2019-11-09 · ▶ watch from 8:12 to 9:42 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaNov 2019: after telling people to leave Australian flies alone, one lands on his mouth on camera; it circles three times — circumambulation — and he also discovers the edges are the most ticklish.
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