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Story · Ajahn Brahm

Sixty mosquitoes on one arm

As told by Ajahn Brahm in The Process of Rebirth | Ajahn Brahm | 03-04-2009

2 min read

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

going back to the the mosquitoes there sometimes when you're meditating in that jungle there's no mosquito nut so we don't need to actually sleep out of the mosquito n the rest of the time we be outside and we do these old group sittings group meditation usually in the evening I don't know why our teacher had to sit about 6:00 p.m. was just the time when the mosquitoes came out they came out for their dinner and I was there dinner and as I've mentioned here before think about it again sort of as a monk you've got more Exposed Skin we have a bare shoulder we have no hair so literally it's more seats at the dinner table for the mosquitoes that's number one more importantly this we were some of the first westerners in that area I went I remember many villages which are where I went people have never seen a white man before I remember just going on arms round and when people go MKS go on arms around people put food in the bowl they're supposed to do it mindfully but these people they never seen a white man before so they're just looking at me and all the food dropped outside the bowl so I went hungry this very disappointing said don't worry about what I look like I'm hungry but imagine the mosquitoes as well that was the first time there was Western food in that Forest so you know what it's like when there's a new Cuisine then know everybody wants to try it out so all these mosquitoes were trying out the new Western Cuisine and they knew that it was safe because we're not even allowed to swap them it's really unfair they take advantage of our compassion so so it seriously it was very very tough to bear and was with another Monk we used to count the mosquitoes on our arm and head and he gets to somewhere like 60 or 70 at once and you could not count because they were too close together you couldn't distinguish one all you could do is hear this slurp slurp slurp as your blood was being drained from your body that of course was my imagination but the only way I could cope was actually by really meditating properly in other words I didn't have any opportunity to be dull or to lose my mindfulness and to be restless in think of all sorts of things because if my mind went away from my meditation object which was a breath straight away you'd feel your irritating really itchy arm with so many mosquitoes on it so you could really taught me how to meditate and go deep enough you could let go of your body so you couldn't feel it anymore you'd be deep inside now with your mind and you couldn't feel or hear or you know have any of the senses left you were going deep in meditation and as those meditations taught me about what this actual mind is and its energy and how it is really independent of your body

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 20:31 (to 23:51)

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

Sixty mosquitoes on one bare arm, and monks may not swat, so the only escape was to meditate so deeply the body faded away. Hardship pushed him into stillness. You can't always remove what irritates you. Sometimes it becomes the very push that teaches you to settle and let go.

In brief (our summary)

Evening group sittings in the Thai jungle start at 6 p.m., exactly when mosquitoes come for dinner — and bald, bare-shouldered Western monks are a new cuisine, protected because monks may not swat. With another monk he counts 60 or 70 on an arm. The only way to cope is to meditate properly: the moment his mind leaves the breath he feels the itching, so he learns to go deep enough to let go of the body altogether.

Teaching point

Hardship forced him into deep meditation, revealing the mind as independent of the body.

When this story may help

  • physical discomfort
  • difficult conditions

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in The Process of Rebirth | Ajahn Brahm | 03-04-2009 · 2009-04-25 · ▶ watch from 20:31 to 23:51 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

3 other tellings of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'MKS'/'arms around' = monks / alms round; 'swap' = swat (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

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