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Story · Ajahn Brahm

LAX bomb scare — LAPD with machine guns

As told by Ajahn Brahm in How To Be A High Flyer | Ajahn Brahm | 6 Mar 2009

1 min read

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

bomb scare that was actually wonderful having a bomb scare because it's very boring going on this aircraft we have a bomb scare and wow wonderful it wakes you up it's better than a cup of coffee and it was it got a lovely story for me which I mentioned here at the time because as I was going from one terminal cuz a Canadian aircraft came in one time I had just to walk only a couple hundred meters so without in the single Airlines terminal M was walking a police car you know an LAPD police car right in the movies came screaming down with it Sirens flashing and zooo it really exciting and it screeched to a hul right in front of me like put on the brake stand and went kind of halfway up the pavement and I thought my God they're going to arrest me what have I done they weren't interested in me instead these two cops came out and they didn't have guns they had like semi automatic machine guns I thought wow this is really in

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 14:31 (to 15:37)

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

During a bomb scare at Los Angeles airport, two police officers leapt from their car with machine guns, raced up the stairs, and stopped at the first landing, out of breath. Ajahn Brahm's fear dissolved into laughter. On long journeys he takes one minute at a time. Staying present keeps you from exhausting yourself.

In brief (our summary)

Los Angeles airport bomb scare wakes him better than coffee; Canadian-terminal walk; LAPD car screeches up with sirens; cops emerge with semi-automatics — not for him.

Teaching point

Even a bomb scare can be more interesting than the in-flight movie.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in How To Be A High Flyer | Ajahn Brahm | 6 Mar 2009 · 2009-03-22 · ▶ watch from 14:31 to 15:37 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'single Airlines'/'hul' = airline terminal / halt.

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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    what happened to me last week when I went to Thailand to teach a Meditation Retreat this is know how a monke is patient cuz I landed at the airport and it was a 220 km uh ride to the uh Retreat Center I was giving my retreat so it usually takes about 4 hours hours so what does a monk do for 4our Journey I'll tell you what I did I got police escort we we we we only took me 2 hours that's what happens when you're a patient monk you get there faster than anybody it's very fun being a monk having a police escort but I was very disappointed when I came back to Perth where's my police car actually once when I was in Sri Lanka that was given a police escort down the G a very busy road and so you know I had a policeman in front of me in the car with the cers waiting and I was sitting in the back with know a friend who was a driver and the driver's one I think his brother passed him on the other side of the road he didn't realize he was taking a monk to sort of an important engagement and his his brother seeing his uh uh this know the friend seeing his brother behind a police car sort of rang him on his mobile phone are you in trouble do you want a lawy is anything I could do so that's one of the problem troubles if you follow uh if you're following a police car think people think youve broken the law

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