# The really dirty monk

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Joke
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-dirty-monk
- Themes: humour, humility, appearances
- Life situations: being judged by appearances, needing humour

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Covered in concrete, Ajahn Brahm is asked by a well-dressed visitor where the abbot is; he sends her to the hall, showers, then meets her as the abbot — and she advises him to do something about a filthy monk she saw.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

Tell the story once with doing concrete work, when you do concrete work, even as a monk, you get it all splashed all over you. So you know just boys being boys, I'm still a boy you know, still just maybe a bit old to be a boy, but I still like getting myself all dirty. So I got all this concrete on top of me, as I was walking back to my hut to have a shower, I passed a Sri Lankan woman and she was in this really expensive sari, she was visiting the monastery. She came up to me and I'll never forget this, she said, "Uh... I've come to see the abbot Ajahn Brahm." I thought very quickly and I said, "Madam, if you go to the hall over there he'll probably be there in about fifteen minutes." That was enough time for me to go to my room, get a shower and get changed into some clean robes. So I went up to the hall, and there she was waiting, and I said, "Oh! I'm Ajahn Brahm," you know she never recognized me. That's how dirty I was. I gave her a nice talk, you know about the monastery and about Buddhism, what we're doing here and she was really impressed, so just before she left she said, "You know you've got a really good monastery, are you're a really good monk, but if you don't mind me saying this, I saw this really dirty monk when I came here and I think you should do something about that." I said, "I'll talk to him later, Ma'am". Which I did.

## Teaching point

(Told to illustrate how hard monks work; no separate moral stated.)

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

Under the concrete, the abbot was just a dirty monk, and a visitor kindly told him to sort that fellow out. He didn't correct her; he enjoyed it. When someone judges you by the mud on your clothes, a laugh serves better than wounded pride, and it's a handy reminder of how quickly we judge others the same way.

## Source

- [Four Ways of Letting Go | Ajahn Brahm | 09-04-2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USC5MJVZLy8) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 25:24 to 26:48: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USC5MJVZLy8&t=1524s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Instead of Attachment | Ajahn Brahm | 04-03-2011](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L50xVM7wwss) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 36:13 to 38:48: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L50xVM7wwss&t=2173s
- [No-Self Esteem | by Ajahn Brahm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXd09oGHD0I) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 30:44 to 32:31: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXd09oGHD0I&t=1844s
- [Changing our attitudes to who we think we are | Ajahn Brahm | 17 Jul 2015](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ldT6MBEP8) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 28:05 to 30:03: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ldT6MBEP8&t=1685s
- [Ownership and Anger| Ajahn Brahm | 14 February 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adpMTYPFELs) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 11:52 to 15:33: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adpMTYPFELs&t=712s
- [Zero Ego | Ajahn Brahm | 6 March 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlZbR1VMHrY) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 3:04 to 3:45: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlZbR1VMHrY&t=184s
- [Is Nibbana Guaranteed? | Ajahn Brahm | 02-03-2007](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpFwlHmG224) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 22:17 to 22:46: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpFwlHmG224&t=1337s
- [阿姜·布拉姆佛法讲座：放下的四种方式 - Four Ways Of Letting Go| Ajahn Brahm|](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVfMlptftvI) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 25:25 to 26:25: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVfMlptftvI&t=1525s
- [Four Ways of Letting Go | Ajahn Brahm | 09-04-2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYS30UBW0gs) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 25:26 to 26:22: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYS30UBW0gs&t=1526s
- [12 Insight Into the Path](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO3bq37SIGY) (BSWA Retreats 2011-15 & Media) — watch from 13:55 to 15:39: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO3bq37SIGY&t=835s
- [Cztery sposoby na to, jak odpuścić - Ajahn Brahm [LEKTOR PL]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXR9emyoJlA) (Sasana.pl) — watch from 25:24 to 26:54: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXR9emyoJlA&t=1524s