Being Mindful Stories

Joke · Ajahn Brahm

Pasta lives

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Facing Difficult Situations in Life | Ajahn Brahm | 6 October 2017

1 min read

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

somebody actually wrote on the question a couple of days ago i don't i wonder two days ago that they had a dream one of these because we're talking about reincarnation and their vivid dream was that in one of their lives they're a piece of ravioli weird but you know you've got to respect people's you know views and things it's really disgusting when people say you're crazy no no find out what do they mean this could be something really interesting and they said the night before they dreamt of another weird experience they were a strand of spaghetti and they asked me in the question is this an example of pasta lives

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 27:38 (to 28:27)

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

Someone dreamed of a past life as ravioli and another as spaghetti: pasta lives. Ajahn Brahm tests jokes this bad on Friday afternoon visitors first. People groan, then repeat it to their friends. When life feels heavy, a little silliness works like a circuit breaker on stress. Let yourself enjoy a terrible pun.

In brief (our summary)

On a retreat where rebirth is discussed, a written question reports two vivid dreams — in one life they were a piece of ravioli, in another a strand of spaghetti. Is this an example of pasta lives?

Teaching point

(A pun; he defends bad jokes as a circuit-breaker for heaviness.)

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Facing Difficult Situations in Life | Ajahn Brahm | 6 October 2017 · 2017-10-06 · ▶ watch from 27:38 to 28:27 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

2 other tellings of this story

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

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