Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

“Why did you call me a …?” — the surgeon's outburst

As told by Ajahn Brahm in What Happens After You Die? | Ajahn Brahm | 08-04-2011

1 min read

Content note: coarse language (bleeped in captions); unverified claim

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

one of my favorite stories was of the very wealthy person in London Lon who was having a minor operation and because she was wealthy she had I think a doctor from Harley Street very expensive but she wanted the best if you got money why not get the best and fortunately she actually did need it because during the operation she died for a few minutes and if ever you get an expensive doctor you'll probably find he's always very polite to you but during the operation the doctor lost it you know this lady was dying and he was panicking and during the operation apparently he said he shouted out even though this lady was unconscious don't give up on me now you [ __ ] that's what he said be careful if you're a doctor or a nurse cuz what happened next was when he came around after the operation they saved her life they found out the and fixed it so she was fine but on the first visit of the surgeon after the operation he said in his very polite voice Madam we came Jolly close to losing you that time yes she said I know but why did you call me a [ __ ] which you can imagine what the doctor thought said you were dead at the time how'd you know that and then of course she told she wasn't dead well she was dead but she was conscious

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 20:51 (to 22:30)

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

The polite surgeon panicked and swore at a patient he thought was beyond hearing, and afterwards she asked him about it. Whatever you make of near-death reports, the practical lesson is simple: speak kindly around the unconscious, the dying and the sleeping. They may hear more than we assume, and gentle words cost nothing.

In brief (our summary)

A wealthy London woman with an expensive Harley Street surgeon dies for a few minutes on the table; the panicking surgeon swears at her. At his polite post-op visit she asks why he called her that name — she heard everything while clinically dead.

Teaching point

Near-death accounts suggest awareness can continue when the body has stopped (told as evidence and for laughs).

When this story may help

  • surgery
  • caring for someone unconscious
  • working as a doctor or nurse

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in What Happens After You Die? | Ajahn Brahm | 08-04-2011 · 2011-04-09 · ▶ watch from 20:51 to 22:30 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: '[ __ ]' is YouTube's bleep of a swear word in the captions; left 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

  • The woman who refused to go back

    In brief: A woman who dies on the operating table meets a spirit telling her it isn't her time; she refuses — she's having too good a time — until…

    Read full story

    there's this one lady who died on the operating table and so she left her body looking at her body over there just a mess so off she went but apparently that she described it as meeting some Spirit and the spirit saying you know it's it's not your time you know you got to go back and she said no way I'm having too good a time I don't want to go back sorry and the spirit said but you have to go back I don't care about that I'm not going you know like people are pretty independent these days and you know you don't actually do what you're told by your parents or by the government or by God or anybody so Spirits you know go and get lost I'm having a good time so that degree of Independence know she didn't want to sort of go anywhere until eventually having this argument you you got to go back no way apparently she described because obviously she did go back that's why she could tell this story this Spirit sort of got hold of her and threw her back into her body and it just had all this aches and pains and heaviness again and she was really pissed off of that spirit I mean really big time so when she gave this interview said now when I die next time of course I would die eventually I'm going to find that guy and I you do know what I'm going to do to that guy what he did to me that's how you described it

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • She came back to see what her husband was up to

    In brief: A retreat participant tells how, dying in hospital while her husband raced to reach her, she was out of her body having a blissful time —…

    Read full story

    I just remember one lady saying, "Oh, it was just so blissful and beautiful being out of my body," she was in a hospital with some terrible sickness. Her husband was racing to the hospital to try and catch her before she died, but she had already died, she was away having a wonderful time, but then she came back when she was wondering what her husband was up to. [laughter] I mean in a good way, I'm not saying that he was playing around, but you know whether he was worrying about her, whether he was coming, that brought her back. She told us afterwards, "That was the most wonderful experience of my life." I said, "Yeah, probably you like everybody else who's had those experiences are no longer afraid of death." "Yes," she said "I'm not afraid of death. Why should you be afraid of death when you know it's gonna be nice?

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • The meditator taken to hospital as dead

    In brief: A member of the Perth community meditates so deeply at home that his wife finds no signs of life; paramedics and hospital doctors find a…

    Read full story

    this was a person who got into such a deep meditation at home I'll tell it very briefly that his wife was concerned he died and so called the ambulance and it got taken to S Charles Garden the hospital it was on a weekend he was just an ordinary person meditating in his bedroom he was meditating for too long and his wife checked him up could find no signs of life so call the ambulance ambulance could find no signs of life so took him to Charlie Gardner's hospital where they put ECG and EEG on him both were flat the guy had died at least so the instrument said now ECG there was no heartbeat for long time EEG no brain activity the brain was not working and he was just in a meditation I told the story elsewhere so I won't elaborate on it after giving him defibrillators and many electric shocks nothing worked but eventually he came out of his meditation he just decided I've had enough now I come out just like you do and as soon as he came out of meditation both machines worked perfectly ECG and EEG started beeping in the proper way and he felt fine he just wondered what the hell he was doing in hospital he was in his bedroom and gave him a quick uh uh sort of check over the doctor nothing wrong with the guy so he actually went home he walked home and obviously didn't live that far away from s charar g Hospital in Netherlands he walked back home he was that fit but during that whole time he was perfectly alert perfectly conscious but not of his uh body or his surroundings he was deep inside so he's having a wonderful time one of the best experiences of his life

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • The 'fearless' monk on the burning bus

    In brief: During a spate of deadly bus fires in north-east Thailand, someone on Ajahn Brahm's bus shouts “fire!”; the driver leaps out the window…

    Read full story

    In Thailand many years ago when I was there about five years as a monk, that all the buses in the Northeast were very old, 'cause they just tried to use them until they could literally not to run anymore, so they're very old buses. And it happened that one bus caught fire because it wasn't well maintained, and actually people got incinerated inside. I don't know why it was, but one bus after another, it was a whole spate of these buses suddenly catching fire. I know one of the monks I was practicing with in the monastery, he was actually on one those buses, he managed to get out but I think his bowl and his robes all got burnt in the fire and he got some compensation from the bus company. That's how dangerous it was. I was on one of these buses once. As a monk they always put you in the front seat, you know why that is, so that you can stop people having head-on collisions because you've got good kamma, you protect all the people around the back. But .... There was a fire in the back and they shouted out "fire, fire," and the bus driver slammed on the brakes, you almost went through the window but you managed to stop yourself, so he slammed on the brakes, and he was out the window himself. And all the people, they rushed out of the door. And it was actually another monk with me, now as a monk we're not supposed to get in contact with women, and nuns are not supposed to get in contact with men. So there were women on the bus, but this monk sitting next to me, he didn't mind, he was out. But I was a very well-behaved monk and let the other people go out first of all, you know I was brought up in England being a gentleman. [laughter] But most of the reason why I didn't get out was 'cause my Thai wasn't that good, I wondered what all the commotion was about, 'cause I didn't understand "fire," and I hadn't read the newspapers of how many people got killed. So I just sat there quite peacefully and actually I was... I wasn't the last one out, I was the second last one out because it was another man who lingered in the back, and he looked, there was only a small amount of smoke, and he shouted out to the other people, everyone was out except me and this guy, and he said, "It's only a cigarette, it's not a real fire, just cigarette smoke." So when people heard that, they put the cigarette out, and everyone started coming in, I was sitting in the front seat, and they said, "Oh, the saint, the arahant, the holy enlightened Western monk. Oh, you're so wonderful, you had no fear," not like that the other scalawag monk who ran out and touched all of us. [laughter] That was a wonderful moment for me but to be honest, I wasn't a hero I was just stupid 'cause I didn't know what was going on.

    Open story page·Watch this telling

All stories·Find a story for your situation