# She never went to lectures and scored near-perfect

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-melbourne-med-student-perfect-memory
- Themes: memory, meditation, study, mindfulness
- Life situations: exam stress, studying

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

A Sri Lankan woman in Melbourne did a medical degree without tutorials or lectures — reading with a quiet meditative mind she remembered perfectly and scored near-perfect exams. Brahm says he checked her story.

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

she went to university to do a medical degree and she never went to any tutorials. She never went to any lectures. She read the books and she could read them so so well that she had so much free time. She never went to university lectures or tutorials supervisions and she always got like almost perfect scores in every exam. She had the great ability to be able to read something and remember it perfectly. All of you kids who have to go to school and you have to have all this homework, you have to read this and read that and remember so much. Isn't that a bit of a pain? Do you enjoy doing that studying and homework? How many kids here enjoy doing homework? There's a few kids here. But this lady, she would just read with a quiet mind. She was a great meditator because she read with a quiet great mindfulness, great peace. Whatever she read, it went straight in. She didn't try to remember it. It was recorded. It's just like people who have memories of traumas in life. When you remember the things which you can't forget, why is it that they are almost indelibly ingrained into your mind? The reason is because at that time often it's because of danger or fear but other times it's other things which are happening. You're perfectly still. There's no static coming in. There's no noise and you can remember so easily. And there's a few times in my life you can remember so easily what was said, when it was said, how it was said. And I remember just how you could use uh experiences like that to do well at school without any effort. You didn't have to try to remember things. You just sat and read. You can remember the whole lot easily

## Teaching point

A quiet, mindful mind records without strain.

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

A woman in Melbourne told Ajahn Brahm she got through medical school mostly by reading with a calm, quiet mind, and remembered nearly everything. He loves teaching students this. Strain makes learning harder. Settle down before you study. A peaceful mind takes things in easily.

## Source

- [Relax the Mind | Ajahn Brahm | 13 June 2025](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_HZAqnmAYM) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 35:10 to 38:01: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_HZAqnmAYM&t=2110s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 5 June 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqElgBkQxb0) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 5:33 to 7:23: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqElgBkQxb0&t=333s