# He laid the top bricks himself

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-laid-the-top-bricks-himself
- Themes: building, courage, monastery, work
- Life situations: building projects, leadership by example

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Building a hall: bricklayer refuses the shaking scaffold at the top; Brahm crawls the unsupported edge and lays the corner bricks himself.

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

scaffold we had to build up and of course the monks did all that scaffold work and when he got to the very top there the brick L refused to go up because you know it was shaking this way and that way and this way and that way but we managed to coax him to go up there and and you could have seen some of the last bricks especially on the big Corners the top I laid those bricks myself because no one else would go up there

## Teaching point

Sometimes the abbot is the only one left willing to crawl the edge.

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

Building the monastery hall, Ajahn Brahm laid the highest corner bricks himself, crawling along an unsupported wall with cement in one hand and a brick in the other, because nobody else would. People say Buddhism never spread through blood; he jokes he shed plenty on those buildings. Give yourself fully to good work.

## Source

- [Building Hearts Not Halls | Ajahn Brahm | 01-01-2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpJLYVTqnUY) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 5:34 to 6:03: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpJLYVTqnUY&t=334s