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Story · Ajahn Brahm

Cough once, get eight bottles of medicine

As told by Ajahn Brahm in The Importance of Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 07 Nov 2017

1 min read

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

this happened once when I was in Australia I coughed in public the beginning of a talk by the end of the talk there was about eight or nine bottles of medicine in front of me and people said you must take this this is Ayurvedic it's very good this is homeopathic it's much better this is horrible you have to take this I took this this is no usual medicine you've got to take that had so many medicines and now being compassionate and watching people to you know to make merit I said yeah I'll take that I'll take that so I had to take every of those bottles of medicine and that really made me sick

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 22:23 (to 23:09)

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

One cough at the start of a talk, and by the end eight or nine well-meant remedies were lined up in front of him. Ajahn Brahm took every one so everyone could make merit, and that made him sick. Kindness sometimes overflows. Accept care gracefully, and laugh when it gets out of hand.

In brief (our summary)

Once in Australia Ajahn Brahm coughs at the start of a talk. By the end there are eight or nine bottles in front of him — Ayurvedic, homeopathic, 'horrible but you must take this'. Compassionately letting everyone make merit, he takes every one — and that's what really makes him sick. Now he relaxes his throat so he doesn't cough.

Teaching point

(A light aside on kindly relaxing an irritable throat.)

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in The Importance of Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 07 Nov 2017 · 2017-12-13 · ▶ watch from 22:23 to 23:09 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

1 other telling of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned.

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

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