# The wobbly VIP chairs and the fist under his nose

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-marquee-chairs-drunk-worker-fist
- Themes: violence, non-reaction, fearlessness, kindness
- Life situations: facing aggression, angry customers or workers, threat of violence

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

For the opening of the Nollamara centre the Governor of WA, Sir Gordon Reid, accepts the invitation. Ajahn Brahm orders the best marquee and chairs from a top Cottesloe hire firm; they arrive filthy, and they hose and wipe them — but none of the ten VIP chairs has legs of equal length. He phones the manager, who orders her men back from the pub. A worker jumps from the moving truck, fist clenched, red-eyed and beery: 'Where's the bloke in charge?' Ajahn Brahm says he is, and simply looks at him peacefully and kindly. The man, confused, can go neither forward nor back for three or four minutes, until his boss says 'let's unload the chairs' — and Ajahn Brahm helps them.

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

When we first came to this suburb, when we first opened this centre here, it was about twenty years ago now, forget exactly when, maybe twenty three years ago, this hall wasn’t built yet, we had the community hall next door. And we just moved into this new centre, so we had an opening ceremony. And we thought – never know your luck – we invited the then Governor of Western Australia, Sir Gordon Reid. The Reid Highway is named after him. And just to our delight, he accepted. We never thought the Governor would accept to come to a small place like this. But he accepted and he came. We were so thrilled. And even though we were struggling for support, nevertheless, it was going to be a big day. So our treasurer at that time told me: “Look, we wanna make a really good show of it.” My job, my little piece of the action there was to order the marquee and the chairs, the marquee outside and the chairs for our people and our guests. And so, because I was told by the treasurer, it didn’t matter how much it cost, we wanted the very best. I range around for the top hire companies in Perth, I got one in Cottesloe, which hired out the marquees. for Peppermint Grove and Dalkeith And I said: “Look, we going to get the Governor, we really wanted to put a show. Buddhist have come to town, we wanna show we’re here. We don’t want to have a small thing, we want to impress people. So can I have a really nice marquee, and some really good chairs? We’ve got the Governor of the state coming.” And so the lady who took the call said: “Yes,yes, yes, it would cost you..” I said: “It doesn’t matter, the treasurer said, we wanna put on a good show.” Okay, the deal was made. And a Friday afternoon, coz we were going to have the ceremony on a Sunday, so we had to set up on a Friday, before people stop working. The Friday afternoon when the truck came with the marquee and the chairs I was a kind monk, I was helping someone else with their jobs. So I never actually saw them unload. But when I checked, the marquee which they had was absolutely filthy. And all this red dust, they must have had it on some agriculture show. And I was very upset coz I asked for something good. But, you know, instead of complaining, “Rather light a candle than complain about darkness”, we got a hose out, we hosed it down. We had a couple of days for it to dry. And then I saw the chairs, and they were also really dusty. So I had lots of helpers, we got wet clothes, we started cleaning the dust off the chairs. That could be done. But then I saw the ten VIP chairs. And this is no exaggeration: of those ten chairs, not one of those chairs had legs the same length… They all wobbled, a lot. And that was just too much. You can wipe down the chairs, you can hose down the tent, but you can’t fix those wobbly chairs. So I ran to the phone, in the room over here, and I managed to catch the Manager the lady I talked to, as she was closing the office late on Friday afternoon. And I said: “Look, this is what you’ve delivered. Don’t you remember I asked for the best? We’ve got the Governor of Western Australia and his wife coming. We can’t have them falling over, because the chairs have got legs with not equal sizes.” The lady was very apologetic. She said: “Look, there must be some sort of mistake. I’ll get them changed immediately.” Thank you. But what happened was this. The men had already knocked off for the weekend. They were down at the pub, starting their evening drinking when the manager came in and said: “The Buddhists need some new chairs. Get back to work!” So you can imagine how they felt. But this time I was waiting for them just in front of the building here. And as that truck turned the corner, it came half way down Nanson Way, you know what I’m talking about just from Constance Street to this, what is about – about 200 metres, halfway, a man jumped out of the truck. it must have been going about 20-30 km/h. He jumped up and came running towards us, with his fist clenched “Where is the bloke in charge?? I want the bloke in charge!!” So I went up to him and said: “I’m the bloke in charge.” And his eyes were red, just like the monster’s in the Jakata Tales of Buddhist. And you could smell just on his breath how much beer was he been drinking. And I sniffed it in. That’s the most beer I’ve ever imbibed in 34 years as a monk, (laughter) coming from his breath. And his fist was right in front of my nose, like this. And everybody stopped what they were doing, they stopped all the work and they just looked. Not one of them came to help me. (laughter) Thanks a lot! But they didn’t need to. It’s amazing, when you are a meditator, when you know what to do, it’s so easy not to be violent. All I did was just make my mind really peaceful, not at all afraid or scared, and I just looked him in the eye peacefully, kindly. That was one of the most amazing experiences in my life as a monk. He had his first this far from my nose, breathing all this alcohol into me, red eyes. But he could go no further. Because I wasn’t reacting in the normal way, his brain basically fused. It did, he did not know what to do next. And it’s one of those moments when you had him, you had him completely in your control and power. He couldn’t go backwards, he couldn’t go forwards. It’s a wonderful experience, holding a person like that -just because you were peaceful and you were kind. And he was completely confused. Now, in that three or four minutes when I held him there - it wasn’t just a couple of seconds, it was quite a long time – the truck had parked, and one of the other, probably the boss of the gang, came out, walked towards us and put his hand on this guy’s shoulder and said: “Come on, let’s unload the chairs.” And I said: “Yes, I’ll help you.” And we unloaded those chairs together.

## Teaching point

When you're not afraid and are kind and calm, a third option appears beyond fight or flight; peace protects you.

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

A beery hire worker jumped off his truck with his fist under Ajahn Brahm's nose, met only a calm, kind gaze, and froze until his boss suggested unloading the chairs. Ajahn Brahm helped. Between fight and flight there is often a third way. It's less about what you decide and more about how: calmly, kindly, without fear.

## Source

- [Decisions, Decisions, Decisions | Ajahn Brahm | 9 May 2008](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOJVD0Lh-ZU) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 47:40 to 54:46: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOJVD0Lh-ZU&t=2860s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Power of Kindness | Ajahn Brahm | 22 October 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHXlaUjymZU) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:15:43 to 1:21:40: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHXlaUjymZU&t=4543s
- [Happiness Industry: Joy At Last! | Ajahn Brahm | 27-07-2007](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex5a4a40k6s) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 42:52 to 50:44: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex5a4a40k6s&t=2572s
- [Is religion no better than Prozac? | Ajahn Brahm | 06-06-2014](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPhlS0bllPU) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 40:18 to 46:45: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPhlS0bllPU&t=2418s
- [Peaceful Activism | Ajahn Brahm | 18 October 2019](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRO0U6bURws) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 20:27 to 22:01: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRO0U6bURws&t=1227s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 26th March 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm2gkl9-7Yc) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:08:52 to 1:09:28: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm2gkl9-7Yc&t=4132s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 3 December 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-bQuKnxxX4) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 12:30 to 12:56: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-bQuKnxxX4&t=750s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 3 December 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-bQuKnxxX4) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 13:57 to 14:37: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-bQuKnxxX4&t=837s