# Dying peacefully like Dad (the bus-driver joke)

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Joke
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-bus-driver-father-joke
- Themes: humour, death
- Life situations: fear of death, facing mortality with humour, needing a laugh about death

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

A comedian wants to die peacefully in his sleep like his father — unlike the screaming passengers on the bus his father was driving.

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

He said, "When I die, I want to die in my sleep just like my father. He died in his sleep. Not like the passengers in the bus he was driving at the time, screaming and shouting."

## Teaching point

(Told as an aside; Ajahn Brahm says he 'wasn't going to tell this joke'.)

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

Ajahn Brahm admits he wasn't going to tell this one, then tells it and enjoys it. A joke about dying, told with a grin, loosens the fear a little. He turns straight to kindness toward yourself: relax, allow your mistakes and quirks, and stop being the most difficult person you have to live with.

## Source

- [Dealing With Difficult People | Ajahn Brahm | 28 Nov 2008](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jniaUr_7438) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 44:55 to 45:13: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jniaUr_7438&t=2695s

Other tellings of this story:

- [O radzeniu sobie z trudnymi ludźmi - Ajahn Brahm [LEKTOR PL]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPz6-oAxM7Q) (Sasana.pl) — watch from 44:47 to 45:11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPz6-oAxM7Q&t=2687s