Being Mindful Stories

Joke · Ajahn Brahm

Watch out for falling rocks

As told by Ajahn Brahm in How to deal with mistakes | Ajahn Brahm | 10-10-2014

1 min read

Content note: Native American stereotype joke

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

One was the famous Geronimo. The other one was called Fallen Rocks. And he asked the two of them, he said, "You are both great warriors and you are smart. You're both more than capable of being chief of the Comanche tribe. And the only way to decide who will succeed me is giving you a test. I want you to go out for 30 days and capture as many buffaloos as you can. And the one who comes back with the most buffalo skins will be the leader, the chief of the great Comanche tribe. So Gono and Falling Rocks, they go out in different directions. After 30 days, Girono comes back with many, many buffalo skins. Fallen rocks. 30 days, 31 days, 35 days. He still hasn't returned. And according to their tribal customs, they send out search parties for their missing, brave fallen rocks. They search everywhere and they keep on searching and indeed even today they're still searching for him because if you go to that part of United States you'll see many signs along the side of the road. Watch out for falling rocks

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 15:56 (to 17:22)

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

Two braves go hunting; one never returns, and they're still searching, judging by all those 'Watch out for falling rocks' signs. Ajahn Brahm admits his jokes have got worse, not better. Mistakes give life character. Laugh at them, learn from them, and you grow.

In brief (our summary)

A dying Comanche chief sends Geronimo and Fallen Rocks to hunt buffalo for 30 days; Geronimo returns with many skins; Fallen Rocks never does — and road signs still say 'Watch out for falling rocks.'

Teaching point

Told as a joke tested on kids first; laugh at mistakes.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in How to deal with mistakes | Ajahn Brahm | 10-10-2014 · 2014-10-13 · ▶ watch from 15:56 to 17:22 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'Gono'/'Girono'/'buffaloos' as captioned. Geronimo was Apache, not Comanche — unchecked.

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

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