Being Mindful Stories

Joke · Ajahn Brahm

There's a nasty bug going around

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Energy in our Body and Mind from Inspiration | Ajahn Brahm | 2 November 2018

1 min read

Content note: violence humour

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

Uh somebody told me a story, which was recently here in Perth. It's about doctors. About this gentleman who answered the door, knock on the door one afternoon. You won't believe it. There was this big 6-ft cockroach at the door. And he punched this man in the nose. And the man was just slammed the door as soon as he could. And what the heck was He wasn't badly injured. And the next day, another knock at the door. Open the door, it's a big 6-ft cockroach again. Gave him a headbutt. That really knocked him out. But you know, I'm just Who would actually believe that, you know, that happened? So, he just abandoned himself up and just the next day knock on the door. He answered it a third time. It was that same big 6-ft cockroach. And this time he had a knife, and he stabbed the guy. So, you know, he couldn't sort of forget that. Had to go to hospital, get patched up. And the doctor, you know, he said, "What happened?" And when he said what happened, 6-ft cockroach had assaulted him three times, he said, "Oh, that's to be expected." There's a nasty bug around. A nasty bug going around. That came from [laughter] this monk this afternoon. He told me the nasty bug going around story.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 30:37 (to 32:07)

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

Attacked three days running by a six-foot cockroach, a man is told by his doctor it's to be expected; there's a nasty bug going around. A fellow monk's joke. Ajahn Brahm muses on why gentle therapies sometimes help. At the least, someone is being kind to you for half an hour. Kindness itself heals.

In brief (our summary)

A man is punched, headbutted and stabbed on three successive days by a six-foot cockroach at his door. In hospital the doctor says that is to be expected — there's a nasty bug going around. A fellow monk told Ajahn Brahm the joke that afternoon.

Teaching point

(Joke; nested digression while talking about doctors and 'quack science'.)

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Energy in our Body and Mind from Inspiration | Ajahn Brahm | 2 November 2018 · 2018-11-02 · ▶ watch from 30:37 to 32:07 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; 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

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