Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

Dig a hole, boil the water

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Wisdom and Stupidity | Ajahn Brahm | 04-02-2011

3 min read

Content note: mental illness / psychosis framed as possession; threat of harm used as a ploy — needs framing, not a model to imitate; he says no medication was needed (health framing)

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

One example, which I will never forget, this is about my master was a person who came to his temple possessed. At least that's what the villagers said, Just early in the morning, the Headman and his assistant came into the monastery, and told Ajahn Chah that there was a woman in their village, who've been possessed by some spirit, by some demon the night before. And they were totally crazy. They'd been trying to deal with her all night and they could not. So they were bringing her to see this Great Monk Ajahn Chah. Now, of course, in Thailand, they don't have a PET (Psychiatric Emergency Teams) team, they don't have psychiatrists. It's actually the monks who are the psychiatrists in those days. We're the ones, who have the psychological wherewithal to deal with such problems. And so they were bringing this lady into this monastery. And as they were bringing her in, you could actually hear her screams, even though it was a long way away. When people are crazy, I mean, they scream in such a loud voice. And they screamed profanities, even in like a temple and you know how devout Thai people are among their monks in their monasteries. But this lady was out of her head. And of course, what did Ajahn Chah , a great master do? He just ordered these two novices, "Dig a hole, I want a big hole dug." And another couple of novices, "Boil some water, I want some boiling water, lots of boiling water." And I began to wonder who was the mad person, This lady being dragged to the monastery or Ajahn Chah because I couldn't understand what the heck he was doing. You don't sort of treat a person, who's mad by digging a hole and boiling some water. What's he going to do? Give her a cup of tea? (laughter) And as she was coming closer, Ajahn Chah was very sort of fierce with the novices. "Come on, I need the hole dug quickly! And I need more water, lots of water. Boil heaps of water!" And again, we didn't know what he was up to. I couldn't figure this guy out. And when they brought this woman to him, it was this classic case. She was literally foaming at her mouth. And she was so crazy, and so powerful with her madness, You know, these were, you know, tough northeast Thai farmers and had about three or four of them holding her down. And they were just, that's all they could do to keep her from sort of lunging at Ajahn Chah. And then he led on what he was up to. He told the villagers, "This is a very, very dangerous demon who's got into this woman. The only thing we can do to help her is put her in this hole, pour boiling water over her, heaps and then bury her alive. It's too dangerous a demon." And that's what he said. He was going to pour all this boiling water over this lady and bury her alive. Now, you think that people just don't do this. But Ajahn Chah was so eccentric, so unique. I thought actually he might do this. And certainly, this girl thought he might do this. And she started calming down, before the water was boiled and the hole was dug, she was sitting in front of him as calm as anything, receiving the Buddhist precepts, exhausted. And after giving the precepts, they calmly took her home.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 21:34 (to 25:12)

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

Faced with a villager in a wild state, Ajahn Chah ordered a hole dug and water boiled, and she calmed down before either was ready. Ajahn Brahm admires the insight but stresses it can't be copied; anyone in crisis today needs proper care. Wisdom answers the situation in front of you, not a manual.

In brief (our summary)

Early one morning a village headman tells Ajahn Chah a woman has been possessed all night; villagers bring her in, screaming profanities and foaming at the mouth, held down by three or four farmers. Ajahn Chah orders novices to dig a big hole and boil heaps of water, then tells the villagers the demon is so dangerous the only cure is to pour boiling water over her and bury her alive. She calms down before the water boils, sits quietly to receive the precepts, and is taken home. Ajahn Brahm explains: self-preservation — wisdom that fits one moment and can't be repeated.

Teaching point

Real wisdom responds uniquely to the situation in front of you; it can't be copied from a manual.

When this story may help

  • crisis situations
  • caring professions
  • dealing with disturbed people

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Wisdom and Stupidity | Ajahn Brahm | 04-02-2011 · 2011-02-05 · ▶ watch from 21:34 to 25:12 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

1 other telling of this story

Caption notes: Manual (volunteer) captions; occasional misspellings kept as is.

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,…

    Read full story

    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.

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • The man whose thoughts ran away

    In brief: As a monk of one or two years in Thailand, Ajahn Brahm watches a man who comes to the monastery every morning grow more disturbed over…

    Read full story

    I remember seeing that happen once in this fellow who over space of 4 or 5 days when I was a young monk in Thailand, maybe 1 or 2 rains as a monk, 2 years as a monk, he would come to the monastery every morning and you could see he was going more and more crazy. There's no way nothing I could do about it. I didn't know what I was doing. I was observing at the time. He started talking and he wouldn't stop and the talking got more and more quick, more rapid, more incoherent and eventually just completely lost it. You can see that that thought was just going completely out of all bounds. The more he tried to control it, the worse it would get.

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • A Buddha to stop bullets

    In brief: A long-time supporter of Ajahn Chah, drafted into the Thai army, begs him for a blessed Buddha amulet to protect him from bullets — after…

    Read full story

    even ajahn Chah the great master is this great story when one of his disciples had been around a long time was drafted into the Thai Army and there's always a lot of problems being in the army sometimes the skirmishes on the border or down the south of Thailand people actually get killed when he joined the army so you've got drafted in the army and he waited to see the very teacher said look can you please give me something to protect me from harm especially from bullets he said I know that you've got these amazing powers I'm sure if you could give me some amulet to wear around my necks a little Buddha to wear around my neck I'm sure that that will protect me from bullets so though we don't get into that you know this is not what a monk is supposed to do we're supposed to teach you how to live a good life and how to look after yourself and take responsibility for yourself you know to keep out of harm's way sort of being mindful being learns when you're in the army because a lot of times people get injured because of stupidity he said no you know there's always things go on go on I might be unlucky I didn't I please give me a Buddha statue and I've been looking after you for such a long time I come to the temple I give all these dollars in a donation box I give you food come on I'm only asking for them for Buddha to wear around my neck you could do that so the great brass said Oh Hey I will give you a Buddha statue to wear around your neck and he said I guarantee they were protected from bullets 100% and they thought wow this great monk with all his powers can bless a little ambulance a bullet a bullet proof ambulance and there was a movie about that bulletproof monk or something but anyway this was a real story I much probably bulletproof mic was was based on I'm not sure I never seen that movie but anyway he said okay I'll give you a Buddha to wear around your neck which will protect you from bullets oh thank you thank you thank you where is it and now John shall see that Big Buddha like the one behind me over here in the main hall put that around your neck and I guess it will stop any bullets

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • The general's holy water

    In brief: At a time when generals were the power behind the Thai government, a major general comes to Ajahn Chah's hut in Ubon asking for holy…

    Read full story

    aent think I told that story when this General asked for holy water aent child would very rarely give holy water and one day agent child was a joker but sometimes I thought you really go too far cuz this day this General came up to him and I was there at his H so you know you hang around cuz it's great entertainment sometimes to see what aent child was going to do next and it's major general you know that now again like the generals were in power in Thailand this was a time when they were always in power they had I think a uh lay government but the generals were the power behind the scenes and so this big Major General came up to see aan sha in uban to ask for some holy water I said I Haven got any holy water said no please that child poor they called please some holy water so bow okay bow down and that he spout all this saliva in his General's head and rubbed it in and I thought my goodness you've gone too far this time magenta you really have and this General bought it he said oh s s s I've got real holy water know from the how stupid could you be that's what he did

    Open story page·Watch this telling

All stories·Find a story for your situation