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Story · Ajahn Brahm

Food for the dogs — the first Westerner on alms round

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Four Ways of Letting Go | Ajahn Brahm | 09-04-2010

1 min read

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

I remember one occasion going on alms round in the morning, and I was the first white man they'd seen in the village, and so they were putting food in the bowl, and it's a big bowl and but they were looking at me and all the food was falling outside, the dogs were eating it all, thank you very much, because I was the first Westerner they saw.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 49:12 (to 49:35)

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

The villagers were so busy staring at the strange new monk that their rice went to the dogs. Being the odd one out can feel awkward, yet Ajahn Brahm just laughed, settled in, and in time saw the world with Thai eyes. Being new somewhere is a chance to let old views go and learn.

In brief (our summary)

In a remote Thai village where no one had seen a Westerner, villagers stare so hard while offering food that it falls outside his bowl and the dogs eat it.

Teaching point

(Scene-setting for his years in an untouched Thai culture; no separate moral.)

When this story may help

  • being an outsider

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Four Ways of Letting Go | Ajahn Brahm | 09-04-2010 · 2010-04-12 · ▶ watch from 49:12 to 49:35 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

3 other tellings of this story

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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    actually he did learn one word of English when he went to London for a few weeks when he came back we asked him in TI did you learn any English know any English words when you staying in L he said yeah I learned one word what was that cup of tea That's the only word could go pan lond he he that all the day cup of tea you want a cup of tea have a cup of tea

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  • In Vietnam Adam would have eaten the snake

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    if the Garden of Eden where this happened to Adam and Eve it's only a metaphor didn't really happen but if that was Garden of Eden hadn't been in Europe or Middle East if that had been in say China or Vietnam there would never be any problem CU if the Garden of Eden had been in Vietnam Adam would have eaten the snake not the Apple You' been to these oldfashioned Vietnamese restaurants snakes on the menu they would have eaten the Apple

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  • Jamaica drive-in needed a concrete screen

    In brief: Visitor to a Jamaican drive-in wonders why the screen is thick concrete; locals shoot along with cops-and-robbers / Westerns — cloth…

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    Drivin movies now that they used to have I'm not sure if there's still any Drivin movies here in Perth but big screens and you go in the car and you just watch the movie however he was very um surprised to see the screen this huge screen it wasn't like a cloth screen like they have in you know Australia or United States it was a concrete scen scen really thick and it's a huge and he couldn't help asking why have they got a concrete screen you know to show a a movie for people in cars it must have cost a fortune and his host said yeah it did cost a fortune they explained why they had to build this concrete screen cuz Jamaica is a very violent ter a violent country an up country sometimes there's a lot of violence and everyone has guns and apparently this town was noted for its violence and most of the people in the town the sort of movies they like were cops and robers and and Western where there's lots of gunfights but what actually happened that when there was a gunfight on the screen that people in the cars would get their guns out and join in and if they didn't like the sheriff they shoot the sheriff if they didn't like the cop they shoot the cop a true story and the owner of this driving movie theater had gone through so many cloth screens and got all shot up by the audience that in the end he decides to bite the bullet and actually put a concrete screen up there

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  • The villages without grief

    In brief: Living nine years at a Thai cremation-ground monastery, Ajahn Brahm saw villagers bring their dead without grieving, which contradicted…

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    the monastery I was staying most of the time was a cremation ground. So all the villagers in the local area used that place for the funerals. So we'd do the funeral, we'd see all the villagers, they'd come, bring their dead, we'd do all the chanting and the services, we'd see them that afternoon, that evening, the next day. And there was something very strange, there was no grief, they just didn't cry, not just cry, they weren't even sad when somebody died. This was not suppressing their grief because you saw them every day, they just, wasn't there, it was a culture in which grief was absent and that really shocked me, and I was there nine years so this was no just, short visit, and I thought that was impossible because my learning had said that when you lose someone you love you have to have grief. The truth of the matter, there was no grief there.

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