Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

He thought the Lazy Boy was heaven

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Dealing With Difficult People | Ajahn Brahm | 09-07-2010

1 min read

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

This person died and he was born. All right. reappeared sitting in this wonderful armchair like one of these lazy boys with his foot out and very nice and soft and comfortable and he was sitting in the armchair just having nice and said this is really good this is a very nice place to be reborn it's so comfortable here but you know after a few hours and it started getting a bit sort of sore and after a couple of days you know it was getting sort of a bit much just sitting in the same armchair for a couple of days and this person came along and this man said well you know this is all very Well, here in heaven, just sitting in this armchair, but can I sit somewhere else sometimes? And the man said, "What do you mean this is heaven?" He thought he was in heaven. He thought this was supposed to be nice, but this is not the case. All things are troublesome. Even the most comfortable armchair, if you stay in there long enough, it becomes troublesome

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 6:08 (to 7:08)

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

A man woke after death in a plush reclining armchair and thought he was in heaven. Days later, sore, he asked to sit somewhere else in heaven. The attendant was puzzled: this isn't heaven. Even comfort turns troublesome in time. Expect that from life, and its troubles hurt less.

In brief (our summary)

A person dies and is reborn in a soft Lazy Boy armchair and thinks this must be heaven. After hours, then days, sitting there becomes sore and he asks if he can sit somewhere else 'here in heaven'. The attendant asks what he means by heaven — this is not heaven. Even the most comfortable armchair becomes troublesome if you stay long enough.

Teaching point

Welcome to life: even comfort turns troublesome; this is not heaven.

When this story may help

  • expecting permanent comfort
  • bored with a good situation

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Dealing With Difficult People | Ajahn Brahm | 09-07-2010 · 2010-07-11 · ▶ watch from 6:08 to 7:08 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'lazy boys' = Lazy Boy recliner.

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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