Story · Ajahn Brahm
Jeremy Horner — overnight monk, Pali Text auntie
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
from Singapore he went North into Thailand and in Bangkok he met a couple of English people who were working in the refugee camp of ubor in Northeast Thailand so why didn't it come up here not many people come up here so they he went up to there with these doctors and when he was in this this place there was no other westerners about around except in this Monastery there's a few Western monks in this Monastery I was one of those Western Monks at that time so he said no I'll just go for a look so he went for a look and he would like to enough he asked the Abbott can I spend the night so he got permission to spend the night he wasn't a Buddhist you know he was just a student a Backpacker he spent the night there in the morning he shaved his own head and begged to be a monk isn't incredible experience just no preparation at all and 12 hours after he first came into a Buddhist mon the first Buddhist he ever saw you know he wanted to become a monk and now he's been a monk for about 30 years now and interestingly sort of it comes from a very interesting family because I remember his lay name Jeremy horer and they said Horner CU I knew that name it was the head of the Pary Tech Society Pary is a Buddhist language and there's this professor over in camb was translating all these Buddhist books and I said are you any relation of hers he said no I've never heard of her when he went home he checked out with his father and it was his father's sister his auntie and they never said anything about her cuz she was like a black sheep of the family
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 38:10 (to 39:45)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
A backpacker stayed one night at a Thai monastery and next morning shaved his head and begged to ordain. Thirty years on, he's still a monk. His surname matched a famous translator of Buddhist texts. Never heard of her, he said, but she turned out to be his aunt, the family's black sheep. Life holds surprising connections.
In brief (our summary)
Backpacker Jeremy Horner visits a NE Thailand monastery where Brahm is staying, asks to spend one night, and next morning shaves his own head and begs to ordain — 12 hours after meeting his first Buddhist; still a monk ~30 years later. His lay name Horner rings a bell: I.B. Horner of the Pali Text Society turns out to be his father's sister, the family's unspoken black sheep.
Teaching point
A single honest night can rewrite a life — and a family name can carry a hidden lineage of Dhamma.
When this story may help
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in Buddhism and Teenagers | Ajahn Brahm | 27-06-2014 · 2014-07-06 · ▶ watch from 38:10 to 39:45 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
2 other tellings of this story
- Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 8 May 2021 · 2021-05-08 · ▶ watch from 1:07:02 to 1:09:02 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaMay 2021: Ajahn Ñāṇadhammo/Amaravati origin — Jeremy Horner overnight ordination; aunt I.B. Horner unknown to him; family rift.
- Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 30 December 2017 · 2017-12-30 · ▶ watch from 1:05:56 to 1:10:30 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaDec 2017: Jeremy Horner — overnight ordination; I.B. Horner auntie reunion before she died.
Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'horer'/'Pary Tech Society' = Horner / Pali Text Society; 'ubor' = Ubon.
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