Lakshmi's knitted socks on Friday night

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• The trail of blood into Mum's council flat

  In brief: Staying at his mother's London council tower block (a supposed 'hotbed of crime'), Ajahn Brahm is about to walk to a talk when the lift…

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  I remember when I went to visit her and stayed in that tower block for a short while I was going to give a talk in the Sri Lankan Vihara is Chiswick one day and it was not that far from where my mother lived so I wanted to walk. I enjoyed those walks in the streets of London especially in my robes. Because I was always a radical I wanted to surprise and stagger and confront people with my sartorial elegance of brown robes. But I also enjoyed having fun because people would look at me and sometimes not knowing exactly what you were dressed in these robes, these are like what people used to called bed blankets sometimes they are cross the other side of the road but I'll always take pleasure in wishing them Good Morning with a smile to an Englishman when someone actually wishes you 'Good Morning' you have to say Good Morning back. It is psychological torture for them. Being a sadist I enjoyed that. But anyhow on this particular occasion when I in the elevator when I got to the bottom as the door was open I was the only one in the elevator and as the door was opened I was confronted by an old lady who was covered with blood. It was like scene out of a movie I didn't know what had happened to her whether she has been attacked, mugged or whatever but she actually told me that she had fallen down by the flight of steps. She must have been about sixty five or seventy because she could still stand so immediately I forgot about giving a talk at any sort of Vihara it's more important I am kind and compassion; I like to practice Buddhism rather than teach it. So I forgot about the talk and I took this old lady upstairs to my mother's apartment where we bathed her wounds called the ambulance, she did have a broken leg but because of the shock she couldn't feel the pain at the time, so we bathed her, comforted her, called the ambulance but the wonderful thing which happened was that because it was an accident and because I took her into my mother's apartment very quickly, my mother left the door opened and there was a trail of blood which was leading into my mother's apartment and I was so pleased in a matter of five minutes I don't know how many people had come into my mother's apartment to find out what was going on and whether she was alright. And when they found out the reason why one of the tenants in these apartment blocks had an accident, fallen over and was wounded, it was wonderful to see the community coming together and helping one and another I was bathing the wounds because my mother doesn't like blood someone else was going to her house to actually to turn her oven off because she had something in the oven cooking and somebody was going to ring her daughter somewhere else and everybody was working together so well I thought, this is not a hot bed of crime this is a community where people cared about each other.

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• Eye shade for a stranger at Changi

  In brief: At Changi Airport a Western woman could not sleep on a busy bench after an overnight flight. Ajahn Brahm, carrying eye shades for…

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  I was going through Changi Airport and saw this Western woman, she was trying to get some sleep on one of the benches and she was moving out all over the place because she'd obviously done an overnight flight and it was in the middle of the day and so busy, she couldn't get any sleep. And I carry all these —what's it called—eye shades because I get these eye shades, I use them for meditation retreats so people can actually meditate and not see things. I had one in my pocket so I... I'd never seen this girl before in my life, and I said, "You're having a hard time sleeping; try one of these." I just remember the look on her face: it was astounded. What? Someone's being kind to me? I don't even know them. And I gave it to her and said, "Have a nice sleep," and walked away. And I know that I made that woman's... certainly her day maybe her week, her month. Simple thing like that just means so much in this world

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• He only meant to give her lifts

  In brief: After divorce a man rehoming his pedigree dog met an elderly woman who needed rides to doctor and dentist; he happily took time off work…

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  he had used to have this pedigree dog. And being divorced and just staying in a small apartment somewhere that uh he couldn't look after the dog. So, he saw if he could find other owners of a similar breed so he can give the dog to somebody else to be looked after. And that actually got him in contact with the this old lady. And the old lady didn't want the dog, but she said, "Well, if you don't mind uh I don't have any transport and I do have some business every now and again go to see the doctor or going to see the dentist in town and it's just too difficult for me to get the bus." And he said because he was a kind person, he said, "Oh, well, I'll I'll give you a lift whenever you want." He was owning his own business, running his own little show, not making very much, but you know, he's getting by. And he said that one day after maybe a year or two of him giving her a lift, he said, "I always loved serving." He always loved whenever she called and said, "Is it too much trouble?" He said, "No, no, I'm very happy to take time away from the office and take you to where you need to go." You just Have you ever noticed when you are kind, when you just say what you're not for me or for somebody else, you get so much good energy? I always do that because it's not some some of the stuff which I do, I shouldn't really be doing it, but it's a wonderful thing to be able to help someone else and do something else and do something which is sometimes really silly stupid. I mean stupid, but kind. And before I go back to this gentleman and what happened with this old lady, that I remember just sitting here on a Friday night many years ago. And that um just before the uh the talk, I got a call from Singapore that the husband of one of our um supporters had really helped us so many times. Even just when we got John Cowell for our retreat center, we just didn't have enough money to pay the bills. And when I went to over to Thailand, she said, "How much?" And I said, "Here's a check." She did it. And a a little Well, maybe a little thing or big thing like that, I always remember that. People really helped me, got me out of difficult situations. I will never forget you. Her husband died. And they called up I think in the morning of Friday. And said, "Can you come, please, tomorrow for the funeral on Saturday?" I said, "That's impossible. I've got to give a talk on a Friday night. I've got so many things to do. It's a really stupid thing to try and probably won't be able to get a flight." So, I rang up Singapore Airlines and got a flight. Leaving right after the Friday night talk. That's so stupid. I just arrived in Singapore on Saturday morning, sort of really tired, half asleep, but did the funeral for her. I do love doing things like that. It's absolutely ridiculous. I should look after my health, but actually my health was great. Why is that? Even you don't have any sleep, you know, and you've still got full energy. It is because you're getting into a source of energy and power, which is from kindness, from love, from giving, from just doing something for the sake of someone needs you. And so, back to this gentleman who used to come to our Buddhist Society many years ago. This old lady called him and said, "Look, I'm sorry to disturb you again, but I've got to go and see my lawyer and it's just really hard getting sort of the buses and stuff and where my lawyer lives and I'm very old, it's very hard to walk." So, he had no worries. I'm delighted to take an hour off work and then just come and look after you. It's I enjoy it. And so, he took her to the lawyer and he usually parked his car outside. So, he said, "No, I really need you to come in." And I thought to sign some some documents and I'll be a witness or something. And then found the reason why she wanted to have him in the lawyer's office. And he told me this here many years ago. He said it was because she was making him the sole beneficiary of her of her of her will

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• She signed a blank cheque so the refugee could see her dying mother

  In brief: In the Buddhist centre hall a Laotian refugee gets a telegram — mother dying in Oregon — no money to fly. The woman arranging flowers…

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  One of the Laotian refugees had just got a telegram from her mom her her her actually from family members, her mother was dying. But in Oregon, in uh United States. And she was here in Perth, this refugee. She had no means of getting to see her mother for one last time. And so, she was crying her eyes out. And the lady I'm talking about, she was organizing the flowers for the hall. She stopped doing that, reached into her um handbag, took out a checkbook. In those days, we used checkbooks. And just signed a blank check for her. For any amount. You go and see your mom

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