# The ghost at the end of the cave

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-cave-villagers-ghost-western-monk
- Themes: acceptance, letting go, humour, monastic life
- Life situations: wanting to escape, repetitive demands, social fatigue

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

On Vesak day at a cave monastery in the north of Thailand, Ajahn Brahm slips away from the abbot's dull talk and is asked by villager after villager the same questions: how many brothers and sisters, what does your father do, where do you come from? After thirty or forty times he pretends to need the toilet, grabs a torch, cushion and water and hides at the end of the deepest cave. Within ten minutes a hurricane lamp appears round the bend; a villager sees him and flees — 'Ghost! There's a ghost at the end of the tunnel!' Heads appear, a debate ensues — ghost or Western monk? — and then a dozen men, also bored by the talk, crowd in. The first one asks: 'How many brothers and sisters have you got?'

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

I was in this monastery in the north of Thailand. And it's a beautiful place in north of Thailand. It's peaceful. It had caves. Good food. Not like the northeast. They don't have really edible food in the north. Nice climate. If you got too hot, you can go up in the mountains. Beautiful place. And so I I was in this monastery in Umphang in the north. And when I Phang Phang province. Just north of Chiang Mai. Between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Around that area. Beautiful lovely mountains. And it was Wesak day. A big ceremony day. And lots and lots of people came. And lots and lots of people they came and we did the food offering and the chanting. And then the abbot gave a talk. And it's a nice abbot. He's very kind but his talk was terrible. So, I decided just to slip off. And when I slipped off, a lot of the people followed me. And they they started ask me the questions. They said, "Can we talk to you?" And I was surprised I could talk, you know, reasonably good Thai at the time. And so they asked started ask me. They said, "Can we ask you some things?" I said, "Yeah, okay. You know, please come and ask me." And I thought noble truths or dependent origination or the how to meditate. And I was I was really interested in in teaching them. But you know, all they wanted to ask is "Why did you become a monk?" And "How many brothers and sisters do you have?" And "What does your father do?" And "Where do you come from?" You don't mind answering questions like that but then you expected to get some deeper questions afterwards. But no, once they got that information and they left. And some more people came. And it was a big day and you know, so many people came and asked the same questions. "How many brothers and sisters have you got?" "What does your father do?" "Where did you come from?" And I got sort of bored with that after about 30 or 40 times being asked the same question. So, I had my strategies how to escape. My strategy was I needed to go to toilet. Well, I didn't need to go to toilet, but it wasn't that desperate. It was enough to get away. So, I went to the toilet and very quickly when I came out after us, I opened the door, made sure they weren't looking. I just snuck into my hut. I knew they'd find me in my hut, so I took a What did I take? My flashlight, a cushion, and a bottle of water. Cuz it was one of the cave monasteries, and I had explored those caves, so I knew the deepest cave. And I went No, I had to actually go up a bit of a ladder, around the corner this way. It was a long, deep cave. Around this bend, around that bend. Once I got to the end of this cave, I thought, "Great. Now I'm safe." Now I can just meditate and have some peace and quiet. You've heard the story before. So, I got there and sat there. Ah, peace at last. And it's only literally only about 5 to 10 minutes. And I heard a sound. The sound was Something else was coming along that cave corridor. And as I could hear the sound heard the sound first of all, then at the bend of the corridor, you could see a light getting light brighter and brighter and brighter. Cuz I realized that whoever was coming into this cave had a a light, like a one of the old hurricane lanterns. So, they could see their way. I thought, "Oh, no. This is the villagers." And at the end of the cave, there was no place to hide. And then I had just one moment of maybe I can get away with this when one of the villagers with the um the hurricane lantern turned the corner. And their face I could see their face. Their face just went so so fearful. And they went back again. And they started saying, "P P." That means ghost. They said, "There's a ghost at the end of the tunnel." Cuz they expected strange things to live at the end of the tunnel, like ghosts of uh uh What is it? Um serpents or something. They said, "There's a ghost at the end of the tunnel." Said, "No, there can't be." Said the other guys with them. "No, there's a ghost at the end of the tunnel." "No, it can't be." And so, my mistake was I should have gone I could pretend I was a ghost, but I can't feel a bit of an eye like that, so then two men's heads came around the end of the tunnel to check. And two men's heads went back quickly. "No, it's not a ghost. It's a Western monk." "No, it's a ghost." "No, it's a Western monk." So, they're having a debate who it was at the end of the tunnel. Then three heads came out. Said, "Oh, it's a Western monk." And then about a dozen men cuz they also were bored with the head monk's talk, and they decided to go and explore the caves and the tunnels in this old limestone monastery. So, they all came there, and they saw me. They weren't afraid at all. It was just a Western monk. And the first one opened their mouth. "How many brothers or sisters have you got?" "What does your father do? Where are you all?"

## Teaching point

You can't escape what life brings; when you stop trying to control it and welcome the 'monster', you can enjoy it.

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

Worn out by villagers' questions, Ajahn Brahm hid at the end of a cave, was mistaken for a ghost, then found a dozen bored men crowding in to ask how many brothers and sisters he had. You can't escape. Stop guarding your private cave. Welcome the monster, answer the question, and you'll enjoy life far more.

## Source

- [How Do We Deal with Deeper Suffering | Ajahn Brahm | 5 June 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFqMQgo36tw) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 37:30 to 43:19: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFqMQgo36tw&t=2250s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Just Do It | Ajahn Brahm | 12 July 2019](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SneCXz51CJw) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 21:42 to 25:52: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SneCXz51CJw&t=1302s
- [Ignorance is Bliss | Ajahn Brahm | 21-05-2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jSwfp5rksc) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 6:13 to 8:45: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jSwfp5rksc&t=373s