# Ajahn Maha Bua said carry on eating

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-maha-bua-carry-on-eating
- Themes: kindness, monastic life, teachers, food, compassion
- Life situations: feeling unworthy, strict environments, receiving unexpected kindness

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Visiting one of Thailand's strictest monks (captioned Ajahn Mahaboor — Maha Bua), where no one may eat after the teacher stops, skinny young Brahm at the end of the line put down his spoon when the others stopped. Maha Bua looked at him — skin and bones from Ajahn Chah's simple food — and said carry on eating. The kindness, not the food, touched his heart.

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

that was this month called ajahn mahaboor he was really strict and he had this ruled in the monastery that only have one meal a day and uh you couldn't start eating before he started eating and when he finished everybody else had to finish that's why all those monks only one meal a day they always ate very fast because sometimes when my boy stopped eating then everybody had to remember on this occasion i just gone there for the first time and i was at the end of the line there i was eating my lunch they told me to be fast and when i he finished everyone had to finish me too i put down my spoon and he looked at me and he said carry on eating honestly i was really thin in those days no skin on bones because the food which i had in ajahn charles monastery was very very lack of nutrition very simple food and so i was skin and bones he saw that and he said carry on eating and that touched my heart wasn't i needed to eat more it was this is kindness so i carried on eating and that was the sort of thing which how you don't break a monk you're kind to them

## Teaching point

You don't break a monk (or a person) into shape; kindness lets them grow.

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

At one of Thailand's strictest monasteries, nobody ate after the teacher finished. Young, skinny Ajahn Brahm put down his spoon too, until the teacher saw his thin frame and told him to carry on eating. The kindness touched him more than the food. People grow through gentleness. Treat your own past kindly too.

## Source

- [Kindness, Generosity and Forgiveness | Ajahn Brahm | 8 July 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLrhGW7GEjM) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 15:10 to 16:48: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLrhGW7GEjM&t=910s

Other tellings of this story:

- [How to Deal with Rejection | Ajahn Brahm | 28 February 2025](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjmkj8NpH7s) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 4:36 to 5:43: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjmkj8NpH7s&t=276s