Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

You can talk — I thought you were brain damaged

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Power Of Slience | Ajahn Brahm | 11 May 2018

1 min read

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

after a few months, Ajahn Chah uh had to go off to Thailand. And so, I was uh I had to look after the Friday night and Saturday afternoon and Sunday program at the temple, the previous one to this. And I started giving a talk. And I do recall this young lady uh I see her here every now and again. She still keeps coming along. She will confirm this anecdote. As soon as I had finished my talk, she came up to me and said, "That was amazing. That was astounding. You can talk. I thought you were brain damaged." He said. She was about 7 or 8 years of age at the time

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 4:14 (to 5:08)

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

After years of silence as the junior monk, Ajahn Brahm gave his first Friday talk. A seven-year-old ran up amazed: you can talk! I thought you were brain damaged. In the West, silence can seem like illness. To him it was health. Quiet people are often listening deeply. Talk less, and you hear more.

In brief (our summary)

After Ajahn Chah left Perth, silent number-two monk Brahm gave his first Friday talk at Magnolia Street. A girl of about seven or eight who still comes to the centre ran up: that was amazing — you can talk — I thought you were brain damaged.

Teaching point

In the West, silence is pathologised; in the training, silence is health.

When this story may help

  • being misunderstood
  • valuing silence
  • first public talk

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Power Of Slience | Ajahn Brahm | 11 May 2018 · 2018-05-11 · ▶ watch from 4:14 to 5:08 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'He said' caption glitch after her quote.

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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