The Cavendish warren

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• Saturn's rings after 2001: A Space Odyssey

  In brief: After watching 2001: A Space Odyssey as a student, he cycles with friends to an old Astronomical Society observatory; the dome opens and…

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  2001 A Space Odyssey is a really freaky film. And after seeing 2001 A Space Odyssey, then I was a member of the Astronomical Society. And they had all these old observatories, just like you see in the movies, these big domes with incredible powerful telescopes. And because I was a member, I told my friends, "Hey, we can just go and have a look." That was no part of being a member. So we cycled and cycled. I was very healthy in those days. Cycled out outside to the observatory. And that was the thing they found Pluto, Uranus on that observatory, but it was just out of date now. But anyway, we got in there, we uh somebody said, "Oh, yes, a really good time." This is 11:00, 12:00 at night after the movie. And they said that you can see Saturn was up there. And so you could go in this this chair and this huge long telescope and just the the hemisphere dome of the observatory would open. And it just had atmosphere. I know there's some people have these tiny telescopes, you can see much more, but that's got no atmosphere. This was like something out of a science fiction movie. You could actually see Saturn with its rings in huge magnification

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• Omega equals one — from a T-shirt

  In brief: Science talk of Omega equals one (nothing excess; coming from nothing and going back) — Brahm notes how such insights arrive in unexpected…

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  Omega equals one." In science they always have these numbers and figures, and symbols for stuff so that is the case. There is nothing here, no universal life energy, but that is just a device of division. Then coming from nothing and going back to nothing, wow, I think that is really cool. One of the reasons why it's amazing just the insights and understandings which you get in the most unexpected places. This one I got from a T-shirt

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• Cambridge Botanical Gardens — first bamboo clump

  In brief: Student days near Baitman Street, Cambridge: first day in the Botanical Gardens he finds a bamboo clump so beautiful he stares 10–15…

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  Cambridge Botanical Gardens. It was only about 5 minutes walk from where we had our retreat center. And do you know, I don't remember my girlfriend's name. I remember the place where we had our retreat in Baitman Street in Cambridge. My memory of those times was so powerful. Still is. If you really enjoy something, it becomes easy to remember. So just down the road from Baitman Street in Cambridge, we had the botanical gardens and I went in there the first day and just when you went through the entrance [snorts] on the right hand side there was this clump of bamboo and I couldn't believe it. That was the most beautiful clump of bamboo that I've ever seen in my life. I'm not exaggerating. And I kind of thought that isn't that what happens? Bamboo is such a beautiful plant. It's in most of the Chinese water colors you see in museums throughout the world. They always have a clump of bamboo there. If you look at the bamboo stems, they're slender and they have the little joints, the color changes and then the next stem and it gets thinner and thinner and as it does, it bends under its own weight as it curves through space and then you have its branches and leaves which are also very slender. And I'd always say from that time, please excuse me, I'm a monk. Sensuous, soft and slender, coming to a point. And I looked at that first clump of bamboo and it was incredibly beautiful. That I remember very easily. So much so that I just stared at it for about 10 or 15 minutes. When you see something which shocks you, which is really beautiful, you do end up just staring. But I had enough introspection to realize in those days, I think it was 1970, many students took drugs. I never did, but I thought if somebody sees me, [snorts] they call the police, have me arrested or tested or something and disturb my solitude. In those days I had hair and I tell people the hairstyle which I had was such a big curly hair on the outside. Very different than what I've got now. And that went all around the top of my head and where it finished that's where the beard started. Very thick beard. It was very useful to endure the cold. And when people asked what was it, it was like the donut look. You could see my face in the middle and around the outside was all hair. That kind of describes it. And so if someone had seen me and semi staring, you know, entranced by a clump of bamboo, they would have thought the wrong things. So what I did, I just there was a bench close by and just sat on that bench and stared at the clump of bamboo for as long as I could

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• Giving up beer at 18

  In brief: As a young Buddhist student who loved beer, Ajahn Brahm was told by his teacher that he shouldn't drink. He tried giving it up and felt a…

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  that's what I did, when I was a young man, I was a Buddhist and my teacher kept on telling me: ‘You shouldn't drink alcohol’. I liked my beer, I didn't like the other stuff, but beer, I used to love beer. And he said: ‘No, you can't take that anymore, you're a Buddhist, you meditate. ‘Do I really have to?’ He said: ‘yes, you do’, so I said: ‘okay I'll give it a try.’ And as soon as I tried it, just giving up beer, I felt this great sense of power inside of me. It was like I had the choice and I was exercising the choice. I could take it or leave it, I was proving to myself I could leave it. And I could go into a party and still enjoy myself and have… Actually, I found out it was more fun when I was sober. Okay, I was only 18-19 at the time. The best time at a party, when you find a nice girl, you’re in the corner, messing around… when I used to have beer and alcohol, I didn't remember that part. [laughter] And that was the best part. And when I was sober, I had much more fun. And so little things like that, ordinary things, meant you started to enjoy yourself more. Which meant, what's the point of going back to alcohol? And I was a student at the time it cost so much money, I had so much more money to use for other things.

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