Story · Ajahn Brahm
The silent German monk who finally gave a talk
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
this monk would He was another German monk. He would never give a talk to anybody. And Bhikkhu Bodhi said, "Just go in there and pay respects." It took an hour before I came out. [laughter] And he sat me down and gave me a nice Dhamma talk. And at that time, I said that was the best Dhamma talk I'd ever heard. Even beat Ajahn Chah's teachings
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 1:16:27 (to 1:16:51)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
In Sri Lanka, Ajahn Brahm visited a German monk known for never giving talks. An hour later he emerged having heard the best Dhamma talk of his life, while Bhikkhu Bodhi, who lived there, had never been given one. You can't plan where wisdom comes from. Stay open to hearing it anywhere.
In brief (our summary)
In Sri Lanka with Bhikkhu Bodhi: a German monk who never gives talks is visited; an hour later Brahm emerges calling it the best Dhamma talk he had ever heard — better than Ajahn Chah's; Bodhi is astonished the recluse spoke.
Teaching point
The one who never talks may still hold the talk you needed.
When this story may help
- meeting teachers
- travel
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in Word of the Buddha (Part 1) | Ajahn Brahm | 22 January 2023 · 2023-01-22 · ▶ watch from 1:16:27 to 1:16:51 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned.
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