Story · Ajahn Brahm

The runny nose before live TV

As told by Ajahn Brahm in The Importance of Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 07 Nov 2017

1 min read

Content note: health claim (meditation stopping cold symptoms)

what happened in career a couple of years ago having a a cold woke up in the morning as -15° snow everywhere and my nose was dripping you know no snot I don't know what the correct word for it is but that's how I grew up with that just with the stuff in your nose so nasal fluid mucus whatever you call it to be polite so all this stuff was coming out of my nose and only had one half an hour and I was going on live TV for an interview in NKT that was South Korean TV and it's very it's so basically not done to go on TV we're stuff coming out of your nose so I had half an hour so what did I do sit down meditate focus on the irritable sinuses focus on them not force the scientist spinal fluid to stop but just be kind to it opening the door of my heart to this irritating we really like my imagining my mother kissing a wound to just a real eye sit let it be be kind be compassionate there knows everything will be okay and it works

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 20:45 (to 22:15)

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

Half an hour before live Korean television, with a streaming cold, Ajahn Brahm meditated on his sinuses kindly, the way his mother used to kiss a scraped knee, and the dripping stopped. That is his experience, not a remedy. But fighting an irritated body often makes it worse; gentle attention can help it settle.

In brief (our summary)

In Korea, at −15°C with snow everywhere, Ajahn Brahm wakes with a cold and a dripping nose — and has half an hour before a live interview on South Korean TV, where a running nose just isn't done. He sits and meditates on his irritated sinuses, not forcing them to stop but being kind to them, like his mother kissing a wound: “everything will be okay.” It works.

Teaching point

Mindfulness with kindness relaxes the body's overreaction; he has used it often to perform in public.

When this story may help

illness before a performance
public appearances

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in The Importance of Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 07 Nov 2017 · 2017-12-13 · ▶ watch from 20:45 to 22:15 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'career' = Korea; 'NKT' TV channel name garbled; 'scientist spinal fluid' = sinuses' fluid (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

The meditator twisted into a knot
In brief: On a retreat someone interrupts his meditation: a woman is twisted into an extreme, contorted posture. Afterwards he asks if she's all…
Read full story
There was this one lady once on a meditation retreat and uh she was twisted around into such a contorted posture that I can't show you what it looked like. If I did, you'll have to take me to hospital too. And somebody actually interrupted my meditation. Ajam brah look at that lady and she was really really heavily twisted and I was concerned for her too. I thought you know if you do that to a person with against their will that would just really torture them. So I waited for her to come out of a meditation. And when she did, I took her aside and said, "Excuse me, but when you were meditating, you were really twisted around in such an extreme position. I feel okay." She said, "Yeah, I didn't know I was twisted around so much. I felt great." And then I felt stupid. Ajan Brahmy should have known better. So the next question I asked was, "Where did you have your uh car accident?" I remember her response there was a bra at last I've got proof you have got psychic powers. I never told anything about that. And of course they didn't have psychic powers. All it really was is just you knew that that was the most common injury to your back. And somehow or other she had a very bad she told me about it very bad car accident. She was happy to get out alive and she obviously went to hospital many times and then she started twisting around against it. Didn't know what she was doing. She was in a meditation. She didn't understand that she was twisting around. Her body did it all by itself. When it twisted around that allowed the energies to flow to actually to heal some of those places in her body which the doctors couldn't get to. That's why she said she felt tremendous afterwards.
Open story page·Watch this telling
“When did you have your accident?”
In brief: A retreatant reports that as she grew still her back became very hot, not painfully. Ajahn Brahm asks when she had her accident;…
Read full story
Few years ago a person in the retreat in North Perth came up to me and said she had a very strange experience during her meditation. She was getting quite still but her back became very hot. It was like on fire. not unpleasantly so, not painfully, but like an information was occurring there and she did not know why. So she came and saw me afterwards and say, "What's going on?" I was meditating there and suddenly got really warm and hot. So I asked her, "When did you have your accident?" And she looked at me and bra you read my mind had a car accident a few years ago. Yes. And you injured your back and shoulders. Yes. How do you know? Look, it's not psychic powers. It's just you told me because this is what happens.
Open story page·Watch this telling
Relaxing into food poisoning
In brief: About fifteen months earlier, several monks at Bodhinyana get food poisoning, Ajahn Brahm included. He skips a meal for the only time in…
Read full story
with that physical pain of the food poisoning I just gave that food poisoning kindness; "Thank you for coming to visit me" even though I was in agony with cramps in my cave down at Serpentine. And it took only 20 minutes for that food poisoning to disappear
Open story page·Watch this telling
Nandivisāla the ox
In brief: A poor farmer, cheated year after year by the village merchant, sits depressed under a tree when his ox, Nandivisāla, nuzzles him with a…
Read full story
a story I hadn't told for years it's a very beautiful story of nandi we saddle the Ox this comes from one of the Buddha's Jataka tales there's lots of stories which the Buddha told know centuries ago some of them are quite boring but some of them had just have a beautiful meaning behind them and this was one of my favorite stories in that collection dandy we silo the Ox there was a very very poor farmer this was set in India so it's all about farmers is a very very poor farmer he had an ox called nan de Sala and he worked so hard trying to make ends meet but being a farmer you know sometimes that the rain ever came sometimes that you know that sir the seed wasn't good enough and more often than not when he did have a good harvest the local merchants in a village just ripped him off you know that's what the merchants were in those days looking after their own profits and just exploiting the people actually supplied the goods of poor farmers so dis after another sort of very difficult year the farmer was quite depressed it is so hard just working his back off trying to make ends meet for his family so he's sitting under a tree becoming depressed and he felt a wet nose on his face there was his ox and his ox said master I can help you what and helps can speak in those days ox is could speak just like in Walt Disney so the RCI can speak now look I've been serving you for such a long time pulling the plow for you and I'm getting tired too and I don't want to spend the rest of my life you know putting the plow to make ends meet I want to sort of retire too and I've got a plan and a plan is this you know I'm a very very strong ox I what I want you to do is that merchant who's been ripping you off for years I want you to go to that merchant and bet him $10,000 $10,000 that not that you're Arc's that's me Andy Masada can pull 100 ox carts all tie together and all full of stones rocks and the farmer said look you can't do that said yes I can and I'm a very very strong I know what I can do now you go and bet $10,000 and if I'm said but I haven't got $10,000 you don't need $10,000 you're going to win it so the farmer he went to that merchant and said I bet you $10,000 the my ox can pull a 100 carts tied together all full of rocks and I Mirta said I don't be stupid no oz can do that my else can $10,000 and the Merton says this these farms are so stupid it's just easy money I know he hasn't got $10,000 but I can these take his land and that's worth quite a bit so he said okay deal and because they needed 100 carts they had to borrow cars from everybody in the village so everybody was out watching to see whether this ox could be so strong and support 100 cars full of stones and once they tired all those carts together and they loaded and full of stones and rocks they tired the big ox to the front cut and the farmer went up there and said right pull those carts and the Ox didn't move kanya stupid ox pull those carts and the ox was stationary he got up a stick and he hit that ox come on pull those carts I'm going to lose everything and the ops couldn't do it everybody started to laugh the farmer started to cry no one could pull such a heavy weight so the farmer was devastated totally destroyed lost everything he sat under the tree and started to weep a few minutes later he felt the wet-nosed in his face why you crying said 90 whistle of the ox because of you you said you could pour 100 carts and you can't OSA 10 no you can't I can then why didn't you because master you shouted at me and then you call me stupid and then you hit me that's no way to treat a friend doesn't matter said the Ox I've got a plan you go back to that virgin and you bet him twenty thousand dollars but I'm nan de Sala can pour those cuts but this time treat me kindly and the father was smart enough to understand so he went back to that merchant I said I bet you twenty thousand and nobody said that's a very stupid farm okay the cars are still there twenty thousand done and they tired the Ox to the first cards and anybody was out watching this stupid farmer and then this time he said dear ox kind ox now if it's not too much trouble for you would you mind just try to pull those little carts a little bit but if it's too much don't bother and then that ox strain every muscle his eyes were like bulging out he pulled and he struggled you know what happened nothing it was too heavy el oscar pull that much so the father said oh look don't worry about it you know just stop here and then the ox tried even harder he pulled and he struggled until the sweat was coming out he know what happened nothing and the the farmer said look stop it you're going to kill yourself it doesn't matter if we're destitute and poor we've got each other and we love each other as well Auguste leave it alone don't try to I don't want to hurt you and because the farmer loved that looked so much that ox pulled every muscle not just in his body but also in his heart and he pulled like no other ox has ever pulled because of the love his master showed him you know what happened Greek when the first excellent and once the first actual moves once he gets started once the friction lessons and all the other cart started to move until in a very short time the first the last cut stood where the first cut had one stood the man one whose bet he had $10,000 which was enough for him and the ox to retire and live happily
Open story page·Watch this telling

All stories·Find a story for your situation

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