Joke · Ajahn Brahm
Face to face with a tiger — in the zoo
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
I came so close to a tiger, a big tiger, he was only about four feet away from me. That's absolutely true this huge tiger, I was only four feet away and I wasn't all afraid. Is that amazing? Is that impressive? It was in the zoo! (laughter) There were big iron bars between me and the tiger
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 19:51 (to 20:21)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
Asked for jungle adventures, Ajahn Brahm boasts he once stood four feet from a huge tiger without fear. It was in the zoo, behind thick bars. Then he turns serious: fear tenses the body and multiplies pain. Kindness dissolves fear. Stay in the present instead of dreading what might come.
In brief (our summary)
Asked about jungle stories, Ajahn Brahm says he once stood four feet from a huge tiger and was not scared at all — because the tiger was in the zoo, behind bars.
Teaching point
(Joke / deflation of the macho jungle-monk image.)
When this story may help
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in How to deal with chronic pain | Ajahn Brahm | 04-07-2014 · 2014-07-06 · ▶ watch from 19:51 to 20:21 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
2 other tellings of this story
- How to deal with abusive relationships | Ajahn Brahm | 13-03-2015 · 2015-03-14 · ▶ watch from 49:05 to 49:48 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
- Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 9 June 2018 · 2018-06-09 · ▶ watch from 1:04:59 to 1:05:19 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaJun 2018: huge tiger four feet away — zoo bars = safety space for memories.
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