Being Mindful Stories

Joke · Ajahn Brahm

Hell will freeze over — Freo won

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Buddhist Air Conditioning | Ajahn Brahm | 16 December 2022

1 min read

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

these couple of Australians from Freo. And they went to some hell realm. And it was really hot. But they were used to it. And they were working very hard, but they were used to it. They were laborers on a building site before. And then this little devil fellow saw these two working very hard and thought, "They're enjoying this." So, he decided to turn the temperature up and make it even hotter. And these two Australians enjoyed it even more. They said, "It's like working up in in the Pilbara, in the mines. It's really hot up there." And so, the devil thought, "I'm not getting through to these two guys. So, I'll really turn it up to maximum temperature." And they thought, "Oh, wow. This is like working in Southeast Asia." He said, "I'm not getting through." So, he decided, "Let's try the very cool um hell realm." So, he turned the temperature right down. So, everything became ice, really cold. And these two Australians, they were just jumping up and down for joy. "Yay! Yay!" And the devil was just so amazed. "How come that these people, you know, from Fremantle, how come that they're so happy? And it's really frozen now." So, he had to go and ask them, "How come you just you enjoyed it when it was hot and you now enjoy it when it's cold?" He said, "Because we made a resolution many years ago that hell will freeze over before Fremantle won the the cup final

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 1:32 (to 3:05)

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

Two Fremantle labourers enjoyed hell when it got hot, used to the Pilbara. When the devil froze it over, they cheered even louder: they'd vowed hell would freeze before Freo won the flag. Heaven or hell doesn't depend on the temperature. It depends on how you relate to what's around you.

In brief (our summary)

Two Fremantle labourers enjoy hotter and hotter hell (Pilbara, SE Asia); devil freezes it — they cheer: resolution was hell freezes over before Freo wins the cup — so Freo must have won.

Teaching point

Attitude, not temperature, makes hell or heaven.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Buddhist Air Conditioning | Ajahn Brahm | 16 December 2022 · 2022-12-16 · ▶ watch from 1:32 to 3:05 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

2 other tellings of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned. 'Freo' = Fremantle.

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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