Story · Ajahn Brahm
“I never stopped loving you, George”
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
Just one which comes to my mind. This man, he was a good friend. He used to come to our monastery. He’s a bit of a Cockney. I was the only one who could really understand him when he came to our monastery. And, you know, after a while he decided he wanted to leave his wife. And he found another a girl much younger than him and he divorced his wife, went to live with this other girl. You know, he broke up. His wife was devastated. But later on, you know after three or four, five years, he was a good guy, you know he sort of split from this second wife. And about that time his first wife got very sick. And he went to visit her in hospital and held her hand when she died. She said “even though you left me, I never stopped loving you, George. I’d always forgive you.” And when I heard that, I thought, wow, that wife you had and he said, “I was so wrong to, to have, left you. I was stupid. I didn’t realise just how beautiful your love was. It was unconditional, even though I caused you pain. And just after about 40 years of marriage, I decided to, you know, go with somebody else.” I know the other girl, she’s a really good girl. You know you can’t really criticise people. But, that woman he married first of all, she was, she understood what love was, totally unconditional and forgiving.
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 19:22 (to 21:00)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
George left his wife of forty years for a younger woman; years later he held her hand as she died, and she told him she'd never stopped loving him and would always forgive him. Her love didn't depend on being treated well. Forgiveness like that isn't weakness or approval. It is love that has outgrown keeping score.
In brief (our summary)
A Cockney friend of the monastery leaves his wife of about 40 years for a much younger woman; his wife is devastated. Some years later, split from the second partner, he visits his first wife as she is dying in hospital and holds her hand. She tells him, “Even though you left me, I never stopped loving you, George. I'd always forgive you,” and he admits how wrong he was.
Teaching point
Real love is unconditional and forgiving, even after being hurt.
When this story may help
- divorce
- infidelity
- spouse dying
- reconciliation
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in Why are we here? Why are we born? | Ajahn Brahm | 09-01-2015 · 2015-01-11 · ▶ watch from 19:22 to 21:00 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
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