# The mosquitoes were my teachers

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-mosquitoes-teachers
- Themes: difficult people, loving-kindness, patience, humour
- Life situations: annoying people, being taken advantage of, conflict at work

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

As a young monk in Thailand, Ajahn Brahm could not include mosquitoes in his loving-kindness chant; when he finally let one bite him out of kindness, it took advantage and bit him several times — and he learned from it anyway.

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

Being in Northeast Thailand, we'd always call the mosquitoes "Ajahn mosquito"... [laughter] ...because I learned so much from those damn mosquitoes. [laughs] That's what I thought at the time, those mosquitoes. Because even when we just do loving kindness. For those of you who are Buddhists, you know that we spread love and kindness to all people, all beings, all genders, no matter what you are or who you are. May all beings be happy and well. However, as a young man being a monk in Thailand, I just could not do that. It's impossible. I did the best I can. I used to chant, "May all beings be happy and well, except mosquitoes." [laughter] Ajahn: "May all beings be free from suffering, but not those mosquitoes. They don't deserve, what they've done to me." [laughs] I'm sure that if ever you spread loving kindness, you've also got exceptions. [laughs] But it didn't work well when I had exceptions, so I learned how to learn from those mosquitoes to be kind to them. Sometimes, I was so kind to those mosquitoes I let them bite me. They would land on my hand. I said, "Come on, mosquito, you can bite me. The door of my heart is open to you. It's only a little bit of blood. I know that you need this to have your dinner. And I like my dinner as well, especially as a monk. I know this is your dinner, so have something to eat. Do you know what those mosquitoes did? Sometimes difficult people and difficult beings are like this. They take advantage of you. They put their nose into the skin, and it's irritating. So you just endure that. It's only a few seconds. But these mosquitoes, that was just an exploratory drill. They took their nose out, walked a few steps, and tried somewhere else. [laughter] Ajahn: They were fussy. You have three or four bites just from one mosquito! They were taking advantage of my kindness. [chuckles] That's just the nature of mosquitoes. It doesn't matter. I have plenty of blood, and I learned a lot from that.

## Teaching point

Ajahn Chah (as relayed): whatever irritates you or troubles you is your teacher.

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

He opened the door of his heart to a mosquito, and it bit him three or four times just to find the best spot. Difficult beings turn up wherever you go, and kindness will sometimes be taken advantage of. That doesn't make kindness a mistake. It costs only a little blood, and you learn a great deal.

## Source

- [Dealing With Difficult People | Ajahn Brahm | 28 Nov 2008](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jniaUr_7438) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 3:57 to 6:14: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jniaUr_7438&t=237s

Other tellings of this story:

- [O radzeniu sobie z trudnymi ludźmi - Ajahn Brahm [LEKTOR PL]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPz6-oAxM7Q) (Sasana.pl) — watch from 4:02 to 6:16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPz6-oAxM7Q&t=242s