Being Mindful Stories

Joke · Ajahn Brahm

Not until it cries

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Get Real | Ajahn Brahm | 12-06-2009

1 min read

Content note: age-related memory humour; IVF in later life

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

this 65y old girl you know she she never got married married and so she was a business career woman and now getting to the end of her life she realized she'd missed something in life and I was having a child and being quite wealthy she went to this a very expensive doctor in a gynecologist who referred her to a fertility clinic had got a sperm donor and it's amazing what medic Med medicine can do these days she actually conceived and gave birth to a healthy baby at 65 years of age amazing isn't it and once she came back home from hospital and her friends this is a joke by the way when she came home from the doctor but there's a point to the joke when she came home of course her friends and her relations came to visit her and had a cup of tea and said no we've come to see the baby and she said not yet so they had a cup of tea and after they finished a cup of tea and can we see the baby now not yet said the 65 old so I had another cup of tea and a biscuit and said can we see the baby now she said not yet I said why not yet said oh you can't see the baby until it starts crying why they said because I've forgotten where I put it

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 28:23 (to 29:54)

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

A mother of sixty-five tells visitors they can't see her new baby until it cries; she's forgotten where she put it. After the laugh, Ajahn Brahm gets real. He takes funerals for people of every age, and what matters is not how long a life lasted but how well it was lived. Make today's years good ones.

In brief (our summary)

A wealthy 65-year-old career woman, never married, has a baby through a fertility clinic. Friends visit to see the baby; she keeps saying 'not yet' over cups of tea and biscuits. Why not? 'You can't see the baby until it starts crying — because I've forgotten where I put it.'

Teaching point

A joke about denial of ageing — get real about where you are in life.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Get Real | Ajahn Brahm | 12-06-2009 · 2009-07-07 · ▶ watch from 28:23 to 29:54 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly 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

  • George Burns on worrying

    In brief: At 96, comedian George Burns still stays out at nightclubs, drinks whisky, smokes and eats fatty food. Asked if he isn't worried about his…

    Read full story

    This is one of my favourite quotes. He is real scallywag but you could admire this person, he was very smart, that comedian George Burns. He is dead now but when he actually said somewhere when he was 96 or 97 birthday. And those of you who know this American Comedian; he was a scallywag all his life. Now at 96 he was still going to night clubs ok;. staying out till 2 or 3 in the morning drinking lots of Whisky, smoking as well eating KFC and all these fatty foods. And they asked him (probably healthy foods at KFC I have to be careful they would sue me or the Buddhist Society) but anyway you know what I mean. I don't need to criticize any food any way eating really sort of unhealthy food and the interviewer asked him 'aren't you afraid of your health, aren't you worried with your lifestyle , you smoke you drinks alcohol, you eat fatty food, you are out late at night ; aren't you worried about your lifestyle? And his reply was 'no I am not worried about my lifestyle my wife was worried about my lifestyle and that's why she died 20 years ago.

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • “I feel like a newborn baby”

    In brief: One old man complains that ageing is terrible — aches everywhere, can't do what he used to. His friend of the same age says it's…

    Read full story

    It reminds me of that story of the two old men sitting down and talking to one another and they were in their sort of 70s or 80s and one said to the other, "Oh, just it's so terrible being old. You know, I just ache all over the place and just, you know, I can't do things like I used to do. life is so difficult being old. And the other friend who was just about the same age said, "What do you mean?" Said, "It's wonderful. I feel I feel like a newborn baby said, "How is that?" He said, "Well, look at me. I've got no hair, no teeth, and I've just wet my pants again cuz that's what it's like when you get old. You keep doing the same old things again and again and again.

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • Monk at Centrelink: prove you exist

    In brief: Applying for a Commonwealth seniors card, Ajahn Brahm is asked to prove who he is. Forty-three years of trying to find out who he is, he…

    Read full story

    i thought it's about time i applied for a commonwealth seniors cut to get some more respect we already get meals on wheels every day people bring down the for us so i went in there to the center link and they said okay can you prove who you are and i thought you know for 43 years i've been trying to find out who i it's a am difficult question so i said no no no not metaphysically have you got your passport you know that's i think that's a certain number of points and i said okay let's see your your your bank accounts or your bank card i've got that have you got marriage license no have you got your your ownership of your house no your rental agreement no your driving license no we are so difficult to prove we exist that's why we believe in oneself we're just not here

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • The glasses on top of his nose

    In brief: Halfway down Kingsbury Drive on the way to a Friday talk, Ajahn Brahm tells his driver to turn back for the glasses he needs for committee…

    Read full story

    this was some years ago, you know when I started wearing glasses. Amandus wrote this in I think my biography book. I was leaving Bodhinyana monastery to come here on a Friday night. And it was halfway down Kingsbury drive and I said Amandus was my driver. I said you gotta turn around. I looked in my bag I left my glasses in the monastery. You've got to turn around. I need that you know read all the documents for the committee. And he turned to me and said “Ajahn Brahm, have you checked on top of your nose?” I looked in my bag, I looked in the glove box, I looked everywhere. Except where my glasses actually were: on the top of my nose.

    Open story page·Watch this telling

All stories·Find a story for your situation