Analogy · Ajahn Brahm

The meteor's last blaze

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Our Mind and Our Health | Ajahn Brahm | 7 July 2023

1 min read

It's like you are one of these uh meteors around the solar system going round and round and round. Not just three times but hundreds of thousands of times millions of times going round and round the solar system round and round and round and round. That's like sabsar and the many births. But then once you manage to hit the atmosphere of the earth and as you this meteor as it goes through the atmosphere of the earth it gets hotter and hotter and explodes in this beautiful uh meteor this like star in the sky. It can light up whole cities and then it just disappears forever. You go out in a blaze of happiness.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 57:34 (to 58:29)

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

For countless rounds a meteor circles the sun; then it meets the atmosphere, burns brighter and brighter, lights up whole cities, and is gone. That, Ajahn Brahm says, is the end of the path: not grim effort but growing happiness. If your practice is making you miserable, it's heading the wrong way.

In brief (our summary)

Simile for enlightenment: you're a meteor circling the solar system round and round, millions of times — samsara, many births. Then you hit the earth's atmosphere, grow hotter and hotter and explode in a beautiful blaze that can light up whole cities, and disappear forever: going out in a blaze of happiness.

Teaching point

The path is getting happier and happier until the happiness explodes and you're gone.

When this story may help

fear that Buddhism is sad
questions about enlightenment

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Our Mind and Our Health | Ajahn Brahm | 7 July 2023 · 2023-07-08 · ▶ watch from 57:34 to 58:29 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'sabsar' = samsara (not changed).

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

The door prize
In brief: Imagine tonight's door prize is a first-class trip to Dharamsala for a private lunch with the Dalai Lama, then three days in a six-star…
Read full story
I remember telling this to imagine that at the end of this talk a special occasion that we were going to give a door prize and the door prize today was a free trip to say let's say um okay because many of you are Buddhists a free trip to India to Dam Salah on a first class uh trip, all expenses paid to see his holiness of Dalai Lama, have a private even uh lunch with his holiness of Dal Lama. And on your way back, you know, through um Singapore, is that a good idea? Singapore. Okay. Through Singapore, you can have uh three days and the six car six-star hotel with a thousand uh sing dollars a day spending money, whatever you want, on your way home. first class all the way and that was the door prize today. Now imagine hypothetically if you won that how would you feel? Would you be excited? you know, would you really be looking forward to actually having a private audience with this Holiness of Dal Lama? Would you? And this wonderful trip and if you said, well, it's going to be in about, you know, 4 months time. Would you be counting down the days, you know, 3 months, only two months to go, one month? Come on, can we get it quicker? And the day before you'd be so excited now, what's what's the difference? What's better? going to see his holdings the Dalai Lama and all expenses paid or going to heaven a great heavenly realm where you don't need money to spend anything you want you just get and you not just see the dollar you can see even all the great monks and the bodhic sattas and I'm going to say the Buddha but people get upset at me so say they can't see 11 but anyway see all these wonderful people up there not just the 14th alam the 13th the 12th 11th the whole series of dalas Wouldn't that be better, go to heaven? So why is it when people got a terminal disease, they think and the doctor says only about 3 months to live. Can I say can you make it quicker please? I want to go to heaven.
Open story page·Watch this telling
“That monk, he's on the gear”
In brief: At a Buddha-statue installation in an English open prison, Ajahn Brahm is beaming as he circles the statue; one watching prisoner tells…
Read full story
One time, I was visiting a prison in UK You know, we spend a lot of time in prison as monks, I often tell people: Visiting prisons, I always would keep a log of how many hours and minutes I spent doing community work in prison to be used as credit, in case I ever got sentenced for something (Laughs) look, I've already done about... the equivalent of about two or three months you should take that off (Laughs). But anyway, I was inside this jail, cause it was a ceremony, somebody had sweet talked the British government into putting a Buddha statue In the middle of an open prison, a big one! And you know, it's very easy for people to sponsor a Buddha statue especially inside a prison, wow, it's amazing! And so we did a installation ceremony. And for those who ever come and see some of the Buddhist rituals, one of the favourite ones is actually we go around three times flowers, candles and incense, we go around It's like an act of worship, reverence you know, it's interesting, where this comes from we don't know but they also do that in Mecca, when they go around the, whatever it's called ...the Kaaba, always go three times around, wearing white this is incredible similarities between our different traditions where they came from I don't know, but it's... that's Buddhist Anyhow... There we where, going round three times, and I was inspired I was happy, Amazing, something good being done in a prison! Not just locking people up and reenforcing how guilty they should feel but no, just something which is inspiring and I was just so happy with a big smile on my face much more than I usually have cause, you know, more inspiration and at the corner of my eye I saw these two prisoners they just got nothing to do, nothing was on the TV that night so they just hung out to see what the hell was going on with these crazy people with brown robes and a Buddha statue so just, you know, having a quick look and then I heard them, one looking to me... looking at the other prisoner and pointing to me he said: "That monk, he's on the gear" (Laughs) If you don't know what gear means you know, it's like, some sort of drug cause that's the only thing they could explain the happiness from just some medication; it's not medication! you know, it's meditation, not medication
Open story page·Watch this telling
The razor wheel in hell (Borobudur)
In brief: Shown a Borobudur carving, Ajahn Brahm tells of a man who pushed over his mother and, out of guilt, is reborn in hell, where a razor wheel…
Read full story
it was an old Buddhist story of a guy who had actually pretty good guy but he did one bad act he pushed over his mother and she injured herself and of course he felt so guilty about that that when he died he got born in this hell realm and he he went down to meet this guy you in this terrible realm and he saw this fellow you know having his head cut with a razor wheel you know just cutting into his head continuously you know obviously without him dying and he's in great pain but this guy said at last you've come because when I got this wheel it was 600 years ago cuz I hurt my mother and I was told that in 600 years time another guy will come cuz he also hurt his mom and when he comes the wheel will leave my head and I'll be free of this torture and it will go into this other guy's head and here you are here's a wheel so the wheel left this other guy and the guy sort of know vanished from this torture and he went into this new guy's head and he was cutting his head in an incredible Agony but this fellow this new guy he had thoughts of kindness of compassion and he said I'm going to take this wheel not for 600 years but for 3,000 years so the next four or five guys don't have to bear this I'll take their punishment for them and that kind thought the wheel shattered and he was taken away from this hell realm and reborn in the heaven realm Just one thought of kindness and compassion did that
Open story page·Watch this telling
She came back to see what her husband was up to
In brief: A retreat participant tells how, dying in hospital while her husband raced to reach her, she was out of her body having a blissful time —…
Read full story
I just remember one lady saying, "Oh, it was just so blissful and beautiful being out of my body," she was in a hospital with some terrible sickness. Her husband was racing to the hospital to try and catch her before she died, but she had already died, she was away having a wonderful time, but then she came back when she was wondering what her husband was up to. [laughter] I mean in a good way, I'm not saying that he was playing around, but you know whether he was worrying about her, whether he was coming, that brought her back. She told us afterwards, "That was the most wonderful experience of my life." I said, "Yeah, probably you like everybody else who's had those experiences are no longer afraid of death." "Yes," she said "I'm not afraid of death. Why should you be afraid of death when you know it's gonna be nice?
Open story page·Watch this telling

All stories·Find a story for your situation

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