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Story · Ajahn Brahm

The monk in the front seat of the bus

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Develop Your Heart | Ajahn Brahm | 2 Dec 2016

1 min read

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

this happened once accurate story I was traveling from chury to Bangkok not a long distance only 2 hours thank goodness cuz as soon as I got in this big bus the bus driver smiled he didn't want to take any money he just put me right in the front seat about that far from the wind screen because there was a movie on that bus which he really wanted to to watch but he was scared of crashes so he always had to pay attention to the road now I was there taking care of crashes he could watch the movie as much as he wanted and I was watching all these big trucks and cars just hurtling towards our buz as was going over the road to the other side fortunately we survived so it's obviously it was true but I tried that once when I was flying in tight Airways I was in economy class and I told the flight attendant you know sometimes uh aircraft crash into mountains so why don't you put me up front and then I can protect everyone behind because you know up front is first class on his business I thought it was a very strong argument but they wouldn't accept it so so I had to stay in economy

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 7:29 (to 9:00)

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

Put in the front seat to protect the bus from crashes while the driver watched a movie, the young monk survived two hours of oncoming trucks, which proved the theory. Thai Airways weren't persuaded to seat him up front. Customs can be lovely and slightly absurd at once. Enjoy both, and when someone's care becomes too much, ask to walk.

In brief (our summary)

Thais believe a monk's good karma protects those behind him, so monks are seated at the front of buses. Travelling from Chonburi to Bangkok, the young Ajahn Brahm is waved on free by a smiling driver and put in the very front seat, inches from the windscreen — so the driver can watch the movie on board while the monk 'takes care of crashes'. Ajahn Brahm watches trucks hurtle towards them for two hours; they survive, 'so it was obviously true'. Later he tries the same argument on Thai Airways — put me up front to protect everyone from mountains — but they keep him in economy.

Teaching point

(A humorous aside on Buddhist customs of serving monks.)

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Develop Your Heart | Ajahn Brahm | 2 Dec 2016 · 2016-12-02 · ▶ watch from 7:29 to 9:00 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

2 other tellings of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'chury' = Chonburi; 'tight Airways' = Thai Airways (not changed).

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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