Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

The trail of blood into Mum's council flat

As told by Ajahn Brahm in The Secret | Ajahn Brahm | 30 Dec 2007

2 min read

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

I remember when I went to visit her and stayed in that tower block for a short while I was going to give a talk in the Sri Lankan Vihara is Chiswick one day and it was not that far from where my mother lived so I wanted to walk. I enjoyed those walks in the streets of London especially in my robes. Because I was always a radical I wanted to surprise and stagger and confront people with my sartorial elegance of brown robes. But I also enjoyed having fun because people would look at me and sometimes not knowing exactly what you were dressed in these robes, these are like what people used to called bed blankets sometimes they are cross the other side of the road but I'll always take pleasure in wishing them Good Morning with a smile to an Englishman when someone actually wishes you 'Good Morning' you have to say Good Morning back. It is psychological torture for them. Being a sadist I enjoyed that. But anyhow on this particular occasion when I in the elevator when I got to the bottom as the door was open I was the only one in the elevator and as the door was opened I was confronted by an old lady who was covered with blood. It was like scene out of a movie I didn't know what had happened to her whether she has been attacked, mugged or whatever but she actually told me that she had fallen down by the flight of steps. She must have been about sixty five or seventy because she could still stand so immediately I forgot about giving a talk at any sort of Vihara it's more important I am kind and compassion; I like to practice Buddhism rather than teach it. So I forgot about the talk and I took this old lady upstairs to my mother's apartment where we bathed her wounds called the ambulance, she did have a broken leg but because of the shock she couldn't feel the pain at the time, so we bathed her, comforted her, called the ambulance but the wonderful thing which happened was that because it was an accident and because I took her into my mother's apartment very quickly, my mother left the door opened and there was a trail of blood which was leading into my mother's apartment and I was so pleased in a matter of five minutes I don't know how many people had come into my mother's apartment to find out what was going on and whether she was alright. And when they found out the reason why one of the tenants in these apartment blocks had an accident, fallen over and was wounded, it was wonderful to see the community coming together and helping one and another I was bathing the wounds because my mother doesn't like blood someone else was going to her house to actually to turn her oven off because she had something in the oven cooking and somebody was going to ring her daughter somewhere else and everybody was working together so well I thought, this is not a hot bed of crime this is a community where people cared about each other.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 36:09 (to 39:27)

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

Stepping out to give a talk, Ajahn Brahm found an elderly neighbour bloodied from a fall, so he skipped the talk and helped. Within minutes the supposedly crime-ridden tower block had filled his mother's flat with helpers: one bathed wounds, one turned off her oven, one rang her daughter. Neighbours who share a cramped lift become insurance money can't buy.

In brief (our summary)

Staying at his mother's London council tower block (a supposed 'hotbed of crime'), Ajahn Brahm is about to walk to a talk when the lift opens on an elderly neighbour covered in blood from a fall. He skips the talk, takes her to his mother's flat and calls an ambulance. The trail of blood brings neighbours in within minutes: one bathes wounds, one turns off her oven, one rings her daughter — a real community.

Teaching point

The real wealth and real 'health insurance' is people who care for each other.

When this story may help

  • neighbour emergency
  • living in social housing
  • loneliness in cities

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in The Secret | Ajahn Brahm | 30 Dec 2007 · 2008-04-03 · ▶ watch from 36:09 to 39:27 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

2 other tellings of this story

Caption notes: Volunteer transcript: contains editorial annotations such as '(audience laughs)' and occasional misspellings ('bugler', 'tample'); 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

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