Dad walks into the spud-gun battle

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• “Thank you for the car park”

  In brief: After lunch at Bodhinyana a stranger turns out to be the Serpentine-Jarrahdale Shire building surveyor who signed off all the monastery's…

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  that over in Bodhinyana monastery, over in Serpentine, I was just sitting there after lunch receiving guests, and this gentleman came up I’ve never seen before (but I remembered his voice for a strange reason), and I find out after he told me that he was the local building surveyor at the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale. So every building which we applied for permission for, he'll be the one who looks at it and checks that it fulfils all of the regulations and ticks it off. And I asked him: 'What are you doing here' and he said that he's not come to check up on anything, because this was his last day at work in that job, he was retiring that afternoon - but he said he came here to thank me for the car park. I felt really weird, ‘thanking me for the car park, what are you talking about?’ And he said to me that he wasn't a Buddhist, he didn't know how to meditate - but - every time he got stressed out at work, he simply got into his car, drove to the monastery in Serpentine and parked his car in the car park, and just sat there maybe 15 minutes or half an hour. And then, afterwards, he felt so much better, he went back to work

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• The pickaxe mum whose son won Iron Chef

  In brief: An early Bodhinyana disciple helped smash rock for the ablution-block plumbing with a pickaxe, raised four kids who did poorly at school…

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  she was one of the first disciples she was always bringing Danna to the first monks know a and Ja and myself and whenever we're doing any building work she'll come come up and help I remember that first building we did down at bodana Monastery the ablution block and very stupid Builders at that time we built It On Solid Rock and we tried to sort of break the rock up you know to put places for the plumbing and there she was you know this 30 40 year old mother with a pickaxe attacking this rock she was such a tough lady and she had four children and none of them did well at school but they're brilliant kids in life and they still come and see me from time to time and every time they come I just so impressed how well they've done in life and one of those kids uh you may get to know who he is but I'm trying to sort of keep these stories Anonymous he is the the head chef of scotch college and about a year ago sort of he entered iron chef competition on TV and apparently he's the only person ever to have won it and I I knew he'd do that because the way he was brought up his I went to see his mother when she was just before she was dying in her home and she had this big queen bed I've never seen a bed that big you know you had to squeeze past it to get in the room it took you know 80% of the room and I asked this was about how many years ago about 15 years ago now they said why you got such a big for it's so for my son so when he brings his girlfriend home he's got somewhere to stay with her and I was really shocked you know it's only 17y old boy uh son he said no he's going to do that anyway so in home give him a good bed and that was this boy one M Iron Chef brilliant sort of motherhood CU he understood her kids and said okay if you a girl you know quite likely they're going to have sex before marriage so make sure that you know they you understand that accept that and just make sure they've got the protection and say that Mom and Dad are here you know if anything goes wrong you know you don't have to be embarrassed just tell your mom what's happened I won't criticize you I won't shun you I won't be ashamed of you because you know in my community you're not supposed to do that no please never make your children feel ashamed or don't be ashamed of your children for whatever they do

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• White knuckles on the first bicycle

  In brief: Young Ajahn Brahm's father saves up for his first bicycle; he keeps falling off until he notices his white knuckles and plank-stiff body —…

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  This story I remember when I was young. I was young and my father, I begged him, and he saved up, I think, for a birthday or a Christmas. I can't remember what. He bought me a bicycle. The first bicycle I ever had. And, of course, being a kid with his first bicycle, you get on that bicycle and try to ride it and keep falling off. And I kept falling off and I never realised why until I looked at myself. I was holding on to those handle bars with so much fear that my knuckles went white. I was so afraid of falling off and my body was as stiff as a plank. And because I was so stiff, I was holding on too tight. Whenever the bike would move to the left, I would never be able to compensate. My body was too stiff to bend and to accommodate, which is why I kept falling off. It was fear that kept pushing me over. And it was only later on when I just relaxed, I found that I could stay on that bicycle with more ease. In fact, when you're really relaxed, you didn't fall off at all.

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• “This is my son, the monk”

  In brief: On his first visit home after seven years as a monk, when monks in London were seen as weirdos, Ajahn Brahm asks to join his mother on her…

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  My own story, it’s my own mother’s love for the kid. I went to visit my mother for the first time after seven years as a monk, that’s thirty three years ago, what year would that be, 1980 something and you know, this was time in London when monks weren’t cool. You know, we were just weirdos, real strange people. And so when I went to visit my mother, her weekly routine was, on a Saturday morning doing her shopping, (she was working as a secretary), so she hadn’t time to get sort of the groceries and other stuff while looking after the apartment. So Saturday morning, will be shopping time. Saturday afternoon going to the hairdressers, you know, routine. And I went all that way to spend time to hang out with my mother, haven’t seen her for seven years. So I asked, “Can I come with you, you know, on your shopping on a Saturday morning?” And I thought I was ready for her to say no because she might be ashamed to be seen with this son, dressed like a girl, brown robes, bald head, that was really weird. And of course, she said, “No, no, come.” And so, when we walked to the shops again, I thought she would, like teenagers walking a couple of metres in front of mom and dad, couple of metres behind, you know, I’m not associated with these, moms and dads aren’t cool. But no, she was right beside me. And then for those people who know London, the streets are very narrow, full of traffic, and they have a small side walk. And in order to protect the pedestrians on the pavement, the side walk from the traffic, they have railings and it’s the railings where, people when they enter the shops, they usually leave the prams with the kids inside and they tie the dogs there, and I thought that’s where my mother would leave me, [laughter] with the dogs and the babies, you know, not to take me inside the shop because I think these are her friends she sees every week. They know each other and she’d be embarrassed to see me, but no. She dragged me into the first shop, the news agents, where she got me some weekly magazines. And to my surprise, she introduced me “This is my son, the monk.” [laughter] She was proud of me and that was something I never expected because I never knew just the love of a mother for the son was what we call unconditional.

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