Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

The monkey who wouldn't let go of the banana

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Instead of Attachment | Ajahn Brahm | 04-03-2011

1 min read

Content note: doubtful attribution

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

There is this old Buddhist story and it is a great one which the Buddha told this about how stupid attachments are and how it kills people. It's an old story about how people used to catch monkeys. It is very easy to catch a monkey. All they did was to get a coconut from the forest, hollow it out, you can drink the juice and have the coconut white stuff and then make a little hole in the coconut and they chain or tie the coconut to a tree. And all they did was put a banana inside the coconut and just go home. Of course the monkeys love bananas. So the next day the monkey would find the banana and put his hand in the coconut but the hole is big enough to put a hand in but not big enough to take a hand with the banana in out. So the monkey can't take the banana out. He can take his hand out anytime he wants but not the hand with the banana it's just too big. And the hunter comes along and the monkey sees a hunter and tries even more frantically to get the banana out but he can't and the hunter gets even closer, and the monkey tries everything to get the banana out but he won't that's how the hunter catches the monkey. All the monkey needs to do is to let go the banana, get his hand out and just go but he can't you know why? Because that's my banana. I found that banana, it's mine.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 30:52 (to 32:31)

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

The monkey could slip its hand out of the coconut any time; it only had to drop the banana. But it was its banana, so the hunter caught it. Ajahn Brahm's warning is practical: when holding on is about to hurt you, open your fist. A grudge, a position or a possession can all be the banana.

In brief (our summary)

Hunters hollow out a coconut, cut a hole just big enough for a monkey's hand, tie it to a tree and put a banana inside. The monkey grabs the banana but can't pull out its fist; as the hunter approaches it struggles ever more frantically. All it needs is to let go — but it's “my banana”.

Teaching point

“It's mine” can kill you; when the hunter is coming, let it go.

When this story may help

  • unable to let go
  • clinging to possessions or a relationship
  • stubbornness

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Instead of Attachment | Ajahn Brahm | 04-03-2011 · 2011-03-05 · ▶ watch from 30:52 to 32:31 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

2 other tellings of this story

Caption notes: Manual (volunteer) captions; occasional misspellings kept as is.

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

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