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Analogy · Ajahn Brahm

Why he felt no grief: his father's death and the great concert

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Unresolved Issues | Ajahn Brahm | 04-04-2014

1 min read

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

When my father died, you've heard of this before, this is a beautiful story. When my father died at 16, I never cried, never cried since and I've loved my father very much. I've told many stories about him. The reason I never cried, really, I couldn't understand. I was only 16 years of age. Later on, I contemplated my emotions. Because alone, you've got more time to spend, you know, to contemplate how you feel, what the emotion is, why it is, where it comes from. That's what meditation does, it really gets you very aware of your emotional world and so when I found out what I felt, I realized the emotion I felt of my father's death, funeral and afterwards, was exactly the same as another emot

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 21:49 (to 22:34)

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

Ajahn Brahm loved his father, who died when he was sixteen, and puzzled for years over why he felt no grief. In meditation he recognised the feeling: it was how he felt leaving a great rock concert. Never sad it ended, just lucky to have been there. Meet endings with gratitude. Thank you for being with me so long.

In brief (our summary)

Ajahn Brahm's father, whom he loved very much, died when he was 16, and he couldn't understand why he felt no grief. Years later as a monk he reflected on it and saw the feeling was just like the end of a great concert — Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, early Deep Purple. He never cried after a concert; he felt how lucky he was to have been there. He hadn't lost anything; he had gained all those years with his father.

Teaching point

Endings can be met with gratitude rather than grief: 'Thank you for being with me for such a long time.'

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Unresolved Issues | Ajahn Brahm | 04-04-2014 · 2014-04-08 · ▶ watch from 21:49 to 22:34 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

12 other tellings of this story

Caption notes: Manual (volunteer) captions; occasional misspellings 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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    In brief: A woman who came to the Perth centre always belittled her husband in public — 'George, come over here. George, you stupid man.' Ajahn…

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