Being Mindful Stories

Joke · Ajahn Brahm

Twenty-six sheep — ten die — how many survive?

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Relax the Mind | Ajahn Brahm | 13 June 2025

1 min read

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

26 sheep in a field. 10 10 die. How many survive? 16. No, you're no good at math. Sorry, everybody fails this one. 26 sheep in the field, 10 die. How many survive? I'll say it again. Listen carefully. That's an important part of meditation. You got to be really mindful. 20 sick. Just keep my fault. So you can tell that to your math teacher when you go to school. Sick. Yeah, that's what I said. That's why they die. They were sick

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 1:04:30 (to 1:05:21)

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

Twenty-six sheep in a field, ten die; how many survive? Twenty, sick. Ajahn Brahm says listen carefully; mindfulness matters. His riddles catch us assuming we know what we heard. Slow down and really listen. It's a fine way to practise awareness, and good fun besides.

In brief (our summary)

Math riddle: 26 sheep in a field, 10 die — how many survive? Not 16 — twenty sick sheep.

Teaching point

(Listening riddle.)

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Relax the Mind | Ajahn Brahm | 13 June 2025 · 2025-06-13 · ▶ watch from 1:04:30 to 1:05:21 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

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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