# Three smiling bodies in the morgue

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Joke
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-joke-three-smiling-corpses
- Themes: humour, death
- Life situations: needing a laugh

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

A coroner explains three smiling corpses to a policeman: one died of a heart attack with his mistress, one drank himself to death after a lottery win — and the third was struck by lightning: “he thought he was having his photograph taken.”

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

In the autopsy room of the hospital, the coroner has three bodies and all three bodies are smiling. And the police have to be there and he said to the coroner, (is it coroner or pathologist, whatever it is) the coroner said, “What happened to this guy? Why is he smiling?” And he said, “This guy you can see he’s about 70 years of age, he was having sex with his mistress and that’s when he had a heart attack. That explains his smile.” “Fair enough. What about this guy?” “This guy won a thousand dollars in the lottery, went to the pub and drunk so much whiskey, he died of liver failure. That’s why he is got the big smile on his face.” “Fair enough”, said the policeman. “How about this guy?” Said, “This guy was struck by lightning.” “But how come he got a big smile on the face?” “Because he thought he was having his photograph taken.

## Teaching point

('Today's bad joke' — “it's a waste of time trying to cure me.”)

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

A coroner explains three smiling corpses, the last struck by lightning and convinced he was being photographed. Ajahn Brahm calls it his bad joke for the day and says there's no curing him. Then he turns it: some things aren't for fixing, only for caring. Accept the incurable quirks of the people you love, and keep smiling with them.

## Source

- [Why are we here? Why are we born? | Ajahn Brahm | 09-01-2015](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RrCjzi74BA) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 27:40 to 28:41: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RrCjzi74BA&t=1660s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Confidence, Fear and Anxiety | Ajahn Brahm | 28 January 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnYwHoYJID8) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:13:52 to 1:14:20: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnYwHoYJID8&t=4432s
- [Peace, Happiness and Virtue | Ajahn Brahm | 4 February 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Acyfbeyjbk) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 0:20 to 0:53: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Acyfbeyjbk&t=20s