Story · Ajahn Brahm
The temporal bell that woke her from coma
Content note: illness
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
Angie Marksfield was there and her auntie would tell the story when she was in a coma. She went in a coma. She never told me exactly why she was in that coma but really really deep in a coma and obviously she came out of it. But her story of how she came out the first time was fascinating, like a firsthand description of what it's like and what happens. And she said she was in such a dark dark place, a blackness. And what brought her out was like sound. She thought it was a tickling of a of a uh a temporal bell
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 16:28 (to 17:12)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
A friend's aunt described her coma as deep blackness. What drew her out was a sound like a temple bell. Ajahn Brahm notes sound pierces even deep meditation. Then she could hear everything but couldn't move or speak. Speak kindly near the very ill. They may hear more than we think.
In brief (our summary)
Angie Marksfield's auntie describes deep coma as blackness; what brought her out was sound — like the tickling of a temple/temporal bell.
Teaching point
Sometimes it is sound, not force, that wakes the mind.
When this story may help
- illness
- near-death
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in Manifestation of Consciousness and Future Predictions | Ajahn Brahm | 29 December 2017 · 2017-12-29 · ▶ watch from 16:28 to 17:12 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned. 'temporal bell' likely temple bell.
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