Story · Ajahn Brahm
The jealous husband's astral visits
Content note: paranormal claim (unverified); identifiable private individuals (name disguised by Ajahn Brahm)
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
There was this uh Burmese gentleman many many years ago and he told me just how he had this job in air conditioning um and you know just uh doing contracts. He had a job in Darwin. So he was in Darwin and his English wife was in Canning Canington somewhere and you know he was you know he really loved his wife. He's a very good man. was incredibly jealous. So, every [laughter] now and again he was over in Darwin and he'd come and visit his wife, you know, his his astral body just to check up that she wasn't misbehaving and she didn't have no none of those powers or anything, but she would know because he was the husband. He would know, okay, it's I can't say it. Say it was Simon. That wasn't his name. He had another name, but I don't want to give the game away who this was. Oh, he said, "Simon, look, I'm faithful to you. Go back to Darwin and go back to work." And it was true, you know, he sort of tell her afterwards that he was actually visiting just to check it out that she was okay.
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 48:27 (to 49:38)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
A jealous husband in Darwin, the story goes, checked on his wife in Perth out of his body, and she told him to go back to work because she was faithful. Ajahn Brahm laughs at it and draws a plain line. Even if you could watch someone unseen, you shouldn't. Trust is kinder than surveillance, and lighter to carry.
In brief (our summary)
A Burmese man working on air-conditioning contracts in Darwin, deeply in love with — and very jealous of — his English wife in Perth, would visit her now and then in his astral body to check she wasn't misbehaving. She had no such powers but knew when he was there: “Simon” (not his real name), “look, I'm faithful to you. Go back to Darwin and go back to work.” He later admitted he'd been visiting to check on her.
Teaching point
Even if you could watch people unseen, it would be an invasion of privacy; virtue matters more than powers.
When this story may help
- jealousy in a relationship
- long-distance relationship
- trust issues
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in The Nature of Your Mind | Ajahn Brahm | 8 May 2020 · 2020-05-08 · ▶ watch from 48:27 to 49:38 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
2 other tellings of this story
- Out of Body Experiences | Ajahn Brahm | 1 July 2022 · 2022-07-01 · ▶ watch from 9:58 to 11:19 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia2022 telling: the wife told Ajahn Brahm herself that she could feel him there; she says 'Keith, Keith, I'm being faithful' (the 2020 telling used the pseudonym 'Simon'); Cannington.
- Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 3 November 2018 · 2018-11-03 · ▶ watch from 1:01:49 to 1:02:47 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaNov 2018: Burmese AC engineer Darwin — astral check on English wife in Perth.
Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'Canning Canington' = Cannington (not changed).
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