Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

Number one, above Harry Potter

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Give Yourself Peace, Kindness and Forgiveness | Ajahn Brahm | 29 January 2021

1 min read

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

So in Indonesia - and in the Gramedia bookshop in Jakarta, I remember going there, they said: ‘Oh, your book's on sale here’. Oh, let's see how it's going. And they had – you know how they do have in bookshops, 10 best sellers, number two was Harry Potter. Number one was – [moves head] [laughter] It's true! My first book. I’ve got a photo of it somewhere. They didn't just change the order just to take the photograph, then changed it back again - it was true. [laughter] And even - I don’t know if you’ve seen that, Indonesians here, in that bookshop, they even had a cardboard cut-out of me, for advertising. I didn't believe that, because you go in a bookshop, you’re just looking for books, and there's me. "What am I doing over there?" It's a cardboard replica of me

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 28:32 (to 29:36)

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

In a Jakarta bookshop his first book sat at number one, above Harry Potter, beside a cardboard cut-out of himself. Life is weird, he says. He hadn't chased any of it; he'd relaxed and let things happen. Do your work well, drop the craving for results, and see what turns up.

In brief (our summary)

In the Gramedia bookshop in Jakarta he is shown the top-ten bestsellers: number two is Harry Potter, number one is the Indonesian edition of his first book — he has a photo — and there's even a cardboard cut-out of him advertising it.

Teaching point

Life is surprising when you relax and don't chase success.

When this story may help

  • unexpected success

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Give Yourself Peace, Kindness and Forgiveness | Ajahn Brahm | 29 January 2021 · 2021-01-29 · ▶ watch from 28:32 to 29:36 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

2 other tellings of this story

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

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  • The nun who hit the jackpot

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