# He gave the robe he was wearing

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-monk-gave-robe-to-poor-man
- Themes: generosity, monastic life, integrity
- Life situations: charity, walking the talk

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

A monk gives the only robe he has on to a poorer man and walks back naked under monastic rules' logic; others ask if he was robbed — he says he gave it away. The monastery sees someone who practices what he preaches (later telling notes scammers can exploit robe-gifts).

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

this monk gave the robe he was wearing to a poor man now that is really a good spiritual leader the problem was though that the mark that's all he had on and now a lot of you ask you know what have you got underneath my robes I don't want to show you because you know I get arrested there's nothing underneath and so this Mark went back to the monastery totally naked and as soon as he know went into the door you know they they said get out of here you know this is a monastery not a place for deviant know naked people like you you know we don't like weirdos in our Monastery and he said look it's me I'm one of your monks yeah sure where's your robe and they started to recognize his voice and they realized it was one of the monks and they said took him and so what happened to you did he get robbed did he get assaulted You've Lost Your Rob he said no I just gave it away to a person more poor than I was and all the other monks in that Monastery thought wow that is someone who actually practices what he preaches

## Teaching point

Real leadership sometimes means giving away even what you are wearing.

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

A monk gave the only robe he wore to a poorer man and walked home naked; the monastery admired him. Then word spread among beggars, and he lost a robe three times. The abbot praised the first gift and scolded him for the rest. Generosity is lovely, but it needs wisdom so others don't exploit it.

## Source

- [The Art of Listening | Ajahn Brahm | 11-04-2014](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sylr4u_stxY) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 16:02 to 17:16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sylr4u_stxY&t=962s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Factors of Enlightenment | Ajahn Brahm | 3 July 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMrqHgqN_vQ) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 54:33 to 55:17: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMrqHgqN_vQ&t=3273s