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Story · Ajahn Brahm

The Australian anjali

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Relax. Everything's out of control! | by Ajahn Brahm | 26 June 2015

1 min read

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

so with the nuns I said look I'm an Australian Monk sort of instead of doing this Anjali it's called do the Australian form eventually kangaroo so all these photographs with all his senior nuns like tanzan Palmer why not don't get fed up with doing this so have a bit of fun funny guys it's much better than you know rabbit ears

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 48:54 (to 49:26)

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

Tired of posing for photo after photo with palms joined, Ajahn Brahm got senior nuns to make kangaroo paws instead. Someone probably thought it went too far, and he'd accept that. Fun needs a little freedom from the fear of getting it wrong. Where life has gone stiff and formal, try a small, harmless bit of play and see what happens.

In brief (our summary)

At an international bhikkhuni conference, fed up with endless photos with palms joined, Ajahn Brahm suggests the senior nuns — Tenzin Palmo among them — do 'the Australian form', kangaroo paws instead, and they have fun with it.

Teaching point

Letting go of control makes room for fun and creativity — even if someone says the joke went too far.

When this story may help

  • public attention
  • tedious obligations

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Relax. Everything's out of control! | by Ajahn Brahm | 26 June 2015 · 2015-06-27 · ▶ watch from 48:54 to 49:26 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

1 other telling of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'tanzan Palmer' = Tenzin Palmo; 'bikinis' = bhikkhunis (not changed).

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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