Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

Surrounded in Burma: “Sit down and make a cup of tea”

As told by Ajahn Brahm in What to do when everything falls apart | by Ajahn Brahm | 18-05-2012

4 min read

Content note: health claim (cancer remission) told as anecdote

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

It was a story of the guy who was a soldier in Burma during the 2WW. This was a fellow school teacher in the one year I was a school teacher. This guy told me this story is very old about to retire. Because he had been drafted into the British Army during the Second World War and sent to Burma to fight Japanese and he wasn't a military man, he was like just a schoolteacher. Everybody had to join up in those days. So he found himself fighting a war in a foreign country which he didn't really understand with real bullets and he was very very afraid and what happened one day he told me that his fear got reached its peak. When he was out on patrol in the jungles with a small group of fellow British soldiers. And the captain or other Scout came back to tell them the news that they had stumbled into a huge number of Japanese troops. They were vastly outnumbered and now they were surrounded and there was no way out. He thought he was going to die. This was war, surrounded by the enemy, outnumbered, about to die. Now those of you have ever known people who've fought in wars or battles you will know from the tales of soldiers that no one ever knows who's going to be the hero and who's going to be the coward. These big strong guys sometimes in those terrible situations they just fall apart where these little guys you know you never think will be the hero stand out for the occasion and they become tall they're the heroes and this was this guy he said he had all this great heroism coming through his system, he decided to be the hero. He told the captain ''let's fight our way out''. the chances of anyone surviving, a zero but who knows sometimes you know somebody might survive, they certainly survive in the movies but against all the odd. Who knows? And anyway, even if we do all die we take some the enemy with us into death. That's the heroic thing to do that's what real men do. So he wanted to fight his way out. But his captain said no, we will not fight our way out. That's an order. and they had to follow that order instead said the captain I order you to all sit down and make a cup of tea and I often say at this point. It was the British army after all. And he couldn't believe this order ‘make a cup of tea ‘ when we're surrounded by Japanese troops at war, outnumbered, about to die. How could you think of having a cup of tea but an order was an order they had to follow it, he thought this was the craziest thing he'd ever done in his whole life. It was to save his life because what happened by the time even before they'd made their cup of tea the Scout came back whispers something in in the captain’s ear and the captain got all the troops together and said the Scout has said the enemy has moved there is a way through, put your stuff away quickly we can crawl through this gap and all escape and of course they all did. Which is why he could tell the story and he said he'd owe his life not just once but many times the wisdom of that captain when there's nothing to do when you're surrounded and about to die what should you do? Sit down and have a cup of tea, if you prefer coffee, coffee will do. I don't care, sit down and enjoy some honey because you know that things change the surrounding army never stays still they move and when they move if you have a scout called mindfulness awareness it will see gaps in the surrounding forces it will see a way through which wasn't there before, a way to escape. And if you've waited you'll find that gap and you will escape. The trouble with most people when surrounded by the enemy about to die when things are really going wrong. we just lose it, we get upset, we get angry, we get depressed. We don't know how to have a cup of tea and enjoy ourselves just before we're about to die and then we find we don't die. We enjoy ourselves, we wait situation changes and then we can make our move and escape with our life he said later on he had cancer, terminal cancer. He thought he was about to die, he remembered that story about when he was a soldier surrounded by the enemy, no hope by these tumors or whatever else he had. He didn't tell me what cancer it was and what did he do. Just relax and had a cup of tea and didn’t worry about anything. That's what he learnt in the jungles of Burma. Maybe because he didn't worry because he had tea and I know that tea has lots of T cells and T cells are supposed to (inaudible) you know it’s tea and T- cells. Okay, I'm not a doctor or medicine man. (Laughter) Why, the doctors are going crazy but no, he had a cup of tea just relaxed because he didn't worry the cancer vanished he saved his life he found a way through.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 34:48 (to 41:09)

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

When you feel surrounded — grief, money worry, a broken heart — and there is nothing useful to do yet, sit down and have a cup of tea. Rest, keep a calm watchful mind, and enjoy whatever honey is still there. When something can be done, give it everything you've got.

In brief (our summary)

An older fellow teacher tells young Ajahn Brahm how, as a frightened WWII conscript in Burma, his patrol was surrounded by Japanese troops; he wanted to fight out heroically, but the captain ordered everyone to sit down and make tea. Before it was brewed the scout found a gap and they all crawled to safety. Decades later, facing terminal cancer, he remembered, relaxed with a cup of tea — and the cancer vanished.

Teaching point

“When there's nothing to do, then do nothing … If there's something to do, give it everything you've got.” Situations change; a calm, watchful mind sees the gap.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in What to do when everything falls apart | by Ajahn Brahm | 18-05-2012 · 2012-05-21 · ▶ watch from 34:48 to 41:09 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

5 other tellings of this story

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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    that was a story of the man who was being chased by the tiger this is the story which says what to do when everything goes terribly wrong he is being chased by a tiger in the jungle, a man-eating tiger and these two things you should know about tigers. First of all, they can run much faster than you can so if you're being chased you’re in big trouble. And number two, they like human beings for dinner. It's a delicacy, especially fat human beings like monks So anyway this tiger was running after this man in the jungle what did the man do he was really in big trouble the tiger was almost at his at his heels he saw a hole in there in the jungle, an abandoned well. Yes, it's exciting isn't it? (Audience laughed) Thank you for those special effects (Audience laughed) and he had no choice, he took a risk he jumped into that well and as soon as he committed to jumping into the well that's when he realized he made a big mistake. You ever done that? You know you take a risk and you find Oh! Oh! big mistake. Because that well was dry there was no water in the bottom instead of water there was a big black snake coiled up at the bottom of the well. Instinctively he reached to the side of the well and grabbed a root which was poking through the wall of the well that stopped his fall and when he sort of settle down and came to, he looked up. The tiger hadn't given up yet, the tiger was leaning over the well trying to paw him from above but his hand, his hand holding the root was just too low the tiger couldn't reach him and then he looked down the snake had woken up, the snake had lifted its head, had open its hood and hisss… Did I get any of you that way? Look, it's Friday evening you've been at work I need to wake you up somehow, to make this alive. trying to strike his feet but the feet were just too high the snake was stretching couldn't quite hit the guy's feet. So there he was, stuck between a man-eating tiger and a venomous snake and as he was wondering what to do next he saw from a hole in the side of the well two mice crawl out. A black mouse and a white mouse and those mice started chewing at the roots. Just to make it a little bit more scary. So what should he do next? What would you do? You get so anxious and afraid, the the roots getting thinner and thinner, I’ve got Tiger above me, a snake below. Aah! but not this guy. This guy had been to the Buddhist temple many times. He'd read the story “opening the door of your heart” he knew exactly what to do. That's why you come to places like this. If you’re ever in a jungle and this happens to you you know exactly what to do or something similar because what was happening next. The tiger, the tiger was trying to paw him from below and his backside was rubbing against the tree making the tree shakes. On a branch of the tree directly above the well there was a beehive. Don’t worry about the bees they’re okay but as the hive was shaking honey started to drip down and this man put out his tongue to taste the honey and said Mmm, that's so delicious. And that is the end of the story.

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  • The wild horse that kissed the coffin

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    there was a horse which no one could actually tame a wild horse and he decided to give it a try but not training it by hitting it or starving it or punishing it in any which way but just being patient and being kind and of course it took him a long time but after a while this horse you know would allow him to ride on on the horse's back became like an ordinary horse people thought it could never be they used the word broken that's a terrible word to use to break a horse he just used kindness and patience and this horse you know would always you know be this guy's friend would would greet him you know when he would come home from some other business he would greet him by actually putting his mouth on the on the mouth of this owner was actually kissing him but then unfortunately after so many years the owner died and passed away and this guy in hong kong gerald sent this beautiful photograph with the story of when this guy was in the coffin dead the horse came up and kissed his friend kissed the coffin obviously even that horse recognized that this that was his friend i just gave it one last kiss and this is those sorts of stories

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  • The monk who laughed at his cancer diagnosis

    In brief: Dr K. Sri Dhammananda, the 'chief priest of Malaysia' and author of 'How to Live Without Fear and Worry', was, his doctor said, the only…

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    One of the monks who has been here before, but he died maybe about a year ago. He was the - we used to call him the chief priest of Malaysia, Dr K. Sri Dhammananda. He has got a few books in our library, like How to Live Without Fear and Worry is one of his famous ones. It's easier to write a book, isn't it? But can you do it? When he was diagnosed with cancer, terminal cancer, his doctor said he's the only person he ever met who, when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, burst out laughing. Now, that's a monk!

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  • She came back to see what her husband was up to

    In brief: A retreat participant tells how, dying in hospital while her husband raced to reach her, she was out of her body having a blissful time —…

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    I just remember one lady saying, "Oh, it was just so blissful and beautiful being out of my body," she was in a hospital with some terrible sickness. Her husband was racing to the hospital to try and catch her before she died, but she had already died, she was away having a wonderful time, but then she came back when she was wondering what her husband was up to. [laughter] I mean in a good way, I'm not saying that he was playing around, but you know whether he was worrying about her, whether he was coming, that brought her back. She told us afterwards, "That was the most wonderful experience of my life." I said, "Yeah, probably you like everybody else who's had those experiences are no longer afraid of death." "Yes," she said "I'm not afraid of death. Why should you be afraid of death when you know it's gonna be nice?

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