# It's not the cough that carries you off

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Joke
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-joke-cough-not-the-coffin
- Themes: humour, death, illness, family
- Life situations: needing a laugh, illness

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Mother's line: it's not the cough that carries you off — it's the coffin they carry you off in.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

cough that carries you off. It's the coffin they carry you off in. Haven't you heard that before? I thought that's a really neat one a long time ago. There's only a cough that's all. Sorry. Only a sneeze

## Teaching point

Even a cough can carry a coffin joke.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

It's not the cough that carries you off, his mother joked, it's the coffin they carry you off in. Ajahn Brahm calls his cough healthy exercise. Look at it positively, and a cold seems shorter. Then he turns to a young doctor crushed by guilt after losing his first patient. Some things are no one's fault. Let go of that guilt.

## Source

- [How to Deal with Sickness | Ajahn Brahm | 29 June 2018](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R620ONlGW2M) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 29:31 to 29:58: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R620ONlGW2M&t=1771s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 27 June 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1pxkcA_Szw) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 0:48 to 1:23: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1pxkcA_Szw&t=48s