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Story · Ajahn Brahm

The 'fearless' monk on the burning bus

As told by Ajahn Brahm in The Attitude Of Fearlessness | Ajahn Brahm | 21-11-2008

2 min read

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

In Thailand many years ago when I was there about five years as a monk, that all the buses in the Northeast were very old, 'cause they just tried to use them until they could literally not to run anymore, so they're very old buses. And it happened that one bus caught fire because it wasn't well maintained, and actually people got incinerated inside. I don't know why it was, but one bus after another, it was a whole spate of these buses suddenly catching fire. I know one of the monks I was practicing with in the monastery, he was actually on one those buses, he managed to get out but I think his bowl and his robes all got burnt in the fire and he got some compensation from the bus company. That's how dangerous it was. I was on one of these buses once. As a monk they always put you in the front seat, you know why that is, so that you can stop people having head-on collisions because you've got good kamma, you protect all the people around the back. But .... There was a fire in the back and they shouted out "fire, fire," and the bus driver slammed on the brakes, you almost went through the window but you managed to stop yourself, so he slammed on the brakes, and he was out the window himself. And all the people, they rushed out of the door. And it was actually another monk with me, now as a monk we're not supposed to get in contact with women, and nuns are not supposed to get in contact with men. So there were women on the bus, but this monk sitting next to me, he didn't mind, he was out. But I was a very well-behaved monk and let the other people go out first of all, you know I was brought up in England being a gentleman. [laughter] But most of the reason why I didn't get out was 'cause my Thai wasn't that good, I wondered what all the commotion was about, 'cause I didn't understand "fire," and I hadn't read the newspapers of how many people got killed. So I just sat there quite peacefully and actually I was... I wasn't the last one out, I was the second last one out because it was another man who lingered in the back, and he looked, there was only a small amount of smoke, and he shouted out to the other people, everyone was out except me and this guy, and he said, "It's only a cigarette, it's not a real fire, just cigarette smoke." So when people heard that, they put the cigarette out, and everyone started coming in, I was sitting in the front seat, and they said, "Oh, the saint, the arahant, the holy enlightened Western monk. Oh, you're so wonderful, you had no fear," not like that the other scalawag monk who ran out and touched all of us. [laughter] That was a wonderful moment for me but to be honest, I wasn't a hero I was just stupid 'cause I didn't know what was going on.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 53:54 (to 56:40)

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

The passengers hailed him as a fearless saint, when really his Thai wasn't good enough to understand the word 'fire'. Ajahn Brahm owns it with a laugh: that wasn't courage, just not knowing. Real fearlessness sees clearly what's happening and stays calm, because there's always something you can do. And if someone shouts fire, do get off the bus.

In brief (our summary)

During a spate of deadly bus fires in north-east Thailand, someone on Ajahn Brahm's bus shouts “fire!”; the driver leaps out the window and everyone flees, including his fellow monk, brushing past women. Ajahn Brahm sits calmly — it turns out to be only cigarette smoke, and passengers hail him as an arahant. In truth his Thai wasn't good enough to understand “fire.”

Teaching point

Real fearlessness comes from understanding, not ignorance — “sometimes fearlessness is actually stupidity.”

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in The Attitude Of Fearlessness | Ajahn Brahm | 21-11-2008 · 2008-11-30 · ▶ watch from 53:54 to 56:40 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

2 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

  • The dog, the lion and the monkey

    In brief: A dog wanders too far into an African forest and a lion decides to eat him. The dog finds some bones, sits with his back to the lion and,…

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    once upon a time there was a dog who went for a walk in the forest in Africa and he walked a bit too far because a lion saw him and the lion thought that dog will make a good dinner and a dog heard that. How could a dog escape from a lion? But this dog, he must have listened to some of the the uh YouTube talks from here because he was a very very smart dog. I'm sure he was a Buddhist. So what he did, he managed to find some bones and he sat in front of the bones with his back towards the lion totally unafraid. And as the lion was about to pounce, the dog licked his lips and said, "M, what a delicious meal. These lions are very, very tasty. I wonder when I can get my next lion to eat. And the lion heard that, thought, "My goodness, that must be a really vicious dog. He's eaten another lion. I'm not going to be his dinner." And so the lion turned around and ran away. But there was a monkey and that monkey saw that that conversation and he said, "I'm not going to let the dog get away with tricking this lion." So he went up to the line and said, "You've been tricked. you're a fool. You know, this dog, you know, can't eat lions. You know, he just said this to scare you away. And so the lion got very upset and said, "I'm going to go and eat that dog." And the monkey said, "I can't come with you to watch." So the monkey jumped on the lion's back and the lion went straight towards the dog and the dog saw them coming. So he went in front of the pile of bones again with his back towards the lion and the monkey on the back. And as they came close, the dog licked his lips again and he said, "Where's that damn monkey? He promised he'd bring me another lion.

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  • 'Do you know a famous monk called Ajahn Brahm?'

    In brief: Trying to avoid pride, Ajahn Brahm sits incognito at the back of a Buddhist conference in Vietnam. A Vietnamese monk sits beside him to…

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    So I remember just this is what happens when you get go incognito. I remember being in Vietnam at a conference and I just sitting in the back and when I was sitting in the back in Vietnam at a Buddhist conference this Vietnamese monk came and sat next to me. I knew from experience what he wanted was just to practice his English cuz if those Vietnamese monk Asian monks if they know good English they have many opportunities open to them. So this monk came and sat next to me and he said now who are you? Where are you from? I said I am from Australia. Oh, welcome to Vietnam. And he said what part of Australia? I say I'm from Perth. Oh, I'm not making this up. Okay. And the next thing he said, do you know a famous monk called Ajan Brah? He said that honestly. Oh my goodness. And then I said, "Yes, I know him." And then I I shouldn't have done this. I said, "I am Ajam Brown." Ah, he was kind of shocked. Oh my goodness. What have I got myself into? But instead of getting proud or arrogant or getting afraid and this I said this to the monks whenever you give talks when prasada and any of the nuns you're not giving the talk I went up on that stage and I said the only reason why I'm opening my my mouth and saying these things because of all of the teachings which I had from my teacher, my master Ajancha and all the other great monks which I knew and all the things which I had read and learned from other highly attained monks and nuns and I thought I'm not giving the talk this evening my teachers are. So um you made a mistake there when you said Ajan Charles Ajan Brah's G I almost said it there didn't I when Ajan Brah's giving the talk this evening I never give a talk at the BWA it's all my teachers and all the people who have helped me what that does it takes away any sense of ego any sense of fear any sense of uh personally owning the contents of your talk. Sometimes I do say mistakes and if I say mistakes it's not my fault. It's my teacher. Blame him.

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  • 'Ajahn Chah is giving this talk'

    In brief: The first time Ajahn Brahm gave a really big talk on his own — at the Suntec City convention centre in Singapore, to 3,000–4,000 people —…

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    the one of the tricks which I I did when I first gave a huge talk over in Singapore all by myself there's no B act or no supporting act it was just a bra at Sant city there was the uh convention center there about 3 or 4 thousand people the first time I gave a really big talk and I was afraid afraid not so much of, you know, not giving a good talk, but afraid of also the problems of giving a good talk, becoming too proud and arrogant, thinking you're the the best mug in the whole of the world or whatever. And that's also dangerous. So, how can you get not really worry what other people think of you? It was pretty simple because I knew that whatever talk I gave was only because of the teachers which I'd had especially someone like an agent. So as I was walking to the the chair the chair there lots of flowers everywhere and with all these people about to listen to me I thought I'm not giving this talk. It is Ajancha my teacher was giving the talk. I'd just been trained by him, conditioned by him. So I have nothing to worry about. I didn't there was no fear at all. Because I had no fear, I gave a really good talk and I had to go back again, give another one.

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  • The heart-attack role play

    In brief: Teaching hospital nurses and doctors in Hong Kong, Ajahn Brahm pairs them. At the bell, A pretends to have a heart attack and B responds…

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    i was in hong kong years ago you know that i got people to double up you know you're a b a b a b and all the a no an a and b go together and a is okay it was in a hospital nurses mostly a few doctors when i ring the bell then one of you number a will pretend to have a heart attack because they've seen it many times they work in the hospitals every day pretend you have a heart attack and then b be the first responder and so i rang the bell and then you know they did all the holding their hearts and falling to the ground stuff and then the first responder said keep your eyes open you know stay with me help is coming and then we asked afterwards to the a's what did it feel like they said it was just really intrusive you know it was caused more stress having the first responder trying so hard to keep you alive okay let's turn it around now when i ring the bell bees expect uh pretend to have a heart attack which they did and a's how are you going to respond and when they responded it's okay relax help is coming if you want it it's okay to die it's not a big deal we all die one day anyway it was so much more calmer and it was so much more pleasant when people don't just rush around panicking when you're about to die i'm sure actually that probably kills more patients than the disease itself having all these people rushing around putting tubes inside here and tube inside there and defibrillators and of course other stuff and and injections and stuff crikey can you just die peacefully it's your body why is other people getting so involved in it they're trying to keep you alive but are you or are you hastening the death for that poor person that's a question to ask anyone who's been in hospital seeing that but anyway those doctors and nurses they got the message so they said next time that somebody has a serious incident they're going to be much calmer and not just stress their patients out

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