Joke · Ajahn Brahm
Nudist colony — slow down — naked chicks
Content note: mild sexual humour
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
This is the story of the chicken farmer. Another chicken farmers story, of course, this is a joke of course but this is today's funny story. A chicken farmer had trouble with all his chicks wandering into the road and people were driving so fast down this road they kept on killing all the chicken, chicks especially, so he asked the local council, who are very supportive of local business, to say can we sort of put a speed sign up so people drive slower so they won't see my chicks and kill them all. So the local council said yeah we can do that for you, so they put a sign up you know 50 km an hour, but being a rural area no chance for any police to be there, people didn't heed the sign at all, they kept on speeding right past this poor guy’s farm and all these free-range chicks were still slaughtered. So after three days he rang them up again, “the sign is not working can you try something else?”. So they changed the sign to say “children crossing - well you know, chicks they're young-slow down”. And after three days he had to ring up the council again saying “look they're paying no attention, they're still speeding and all my chicks are dying" and he said “look can I put up a sign.” You know, my own kamma, instead of waiting for someone else to do things, waiting for the council to do things, you know what happens. But he got permission and he put up his own sign. After a couple of weeks the council rang him up “so how's it going with your sign?” He said “ perfect - I haven't lost any chicks ever since I put up this sign.” “So what sign did you put up?” and he said "I wrote up the sign “nudist colony - slow down - naked chicks.” (laughter) Everyone slowed down. [laughter] See, it works, isn’t it. Would you slow down even, if you're a Buddhist?
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 22:35 (to 24:51)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
A farmer whose chicks kept getting run over put up his own sign: nudist colony, slow down, naked chicks. Everyone slowed down. The monks' retreat site now warns that trespassers will be converted. Taking action is what kamma really means. Be creative with your problems instead of waiting for someone else.
In brief (our summary)
A chicken farmer's council speed signs fail to stop cars killing his free-range chicks. Taking kamma into his own hands, he puts up his own sign: 'Nudist colony — slow down — naked chicks.' Everyone slows down.
Teaching point
(Joke about taking initiative — nested lead-in to the trespassers sign.)
When this story may help
- needing a laugh
- solving a stubborn problem
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in Meditation Kamma | Ajahn Brahm | 06-06-2008 · 2008-07-17 · ▶ watch from 22:35 to 24:51 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
Caption notes: Manual (volunteer) captions; occasional misspellings kept as is.
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