Story · Ajahn Brahm
The father in the singlet
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
I can never forget one afternoon at the monastery where I live in Serpentine a man came and he was wearing jeans and a singlet the sort of person you'd know see in a pub and he came to tell me that his wife had just given birth to their first child a daughter and he wanted to do something out of celebration for the birth of his first child and he' heard that we were wanting to build a monastery for Buddhist women and he said I don't know if my daughter will ever become a Buddhist let alone wanted to become a nun but who knows so I want to make a donation for your nun's Monastery and he handed over a check for $250,000 just like that and I've never seen him again I don't know where he came from but if he if he's ever around and he hears this talk please come and say hello and just to see how far that donation has gone and maybe you can make another one but no no no it just to and say hello but it was so inspiring that that sort of stuff can happen they just totally out of the blue not expecting anything and he certainly didn't look like a rich man at all
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 4:52 (to 6:23)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
When the nuns' monastery fund held only a few dollars, a man in jeans and a singlet arrived to celebrate his newborn daughter, and handed over a quarter of a million. Who knows if she'll ever be a Buddhist, he said. Ajahn Brahm never saw him again. Keep your good dreams. Support often comes out of the blue.
In brief (our summary)
When the Buddhist Society had just opened a bank account for a future nuns' monastery, with only a dollar here and five dollars there, a man in jeans and a singlet — 'the sort of person you'd see in a pub' — came to Bodhinyana. His wife had just given birth to their first child, a daughter, and to celebrate he wanted to give to the monastery for Buddhist women: 'I don't know if my daughter will ever become a Buddhist, let alone a nun, but who knows.' He handed over a cheque for $250,000. Ajahn Brahm never saw him again; it remains the biggest donation the nuns' monastery has received.
Teaching point
Keep your ideals; when you have a good dream, support comes, often out of the blue.
When this story may help
- starting a project
- fundraising
- new parenthood
Themes
- idealism
- generosity
- faith
- gender equality
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in What path to take in life? | Ajahn Brahm | 08-02-2013 · 2013-02-10 · ▶ watch from 4:52 to 6:23 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
1 other telling of this story
- New Year's Eve with Ajahn Brahm | 31 December 2022 to 1 January 2023 · 2022-12-31 · ▶ watch from 11:58 to 13:08 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaNYE 2022: Dhammasara start; new father of a girl donates large sum (~$250k).
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