# The jealous husband's astral visits

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-jealous-husband-astral-visits
- Themes: jealousy, trust, privacy, humour
- Life situations: jealousy in a relationship, long-distance relationship, trust issues

## Synopsis (editorial 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.

## 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.

## Teaching point

Even if you could watch people unseen, it would be an invasion of privacy; virtue matters more than powers.

## 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.

## Source

- [The Nature of Your Mind | Ajahn Brahm | 8 May 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilmc6aO6ElM) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 48:27 to 49:38: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilmc6aO6ElM&t=2907s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Out of Body Experiences | Ajahn Brahm | 1 July 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsyT2OaS2Tw) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 9:58 to 11:19: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsyT2OaS2Tw&t=598s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 3 November 2018](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlpuLGdf3i0) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:01:49 to 1:02:47: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlpuLGdf3i0&t=3709s