That's not the dress I bought for her

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• “Monastery” — a word from his mother with Alzheimer's

  In brief: Visiting his mother in London, who no longer recognises him, Ajahn Brahm spends two hours with her; out of the blue she says the word…

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  I was talking about this about my mother in London because she's got you know complete Alzheimer's disease two years ago a year and a half ago when I went to see her she just cannot recognize me she doesn't know who I am I I was with her for two years two sorry for two hours and just talking to her being with her she didn't know who I was although just strangely just out of the blue in two hours with all the talk she said she mentioned the word Monastery which was really weird and my brother picked up on that it was totally out of context with everything else she was saying but there was something in there just obviously uh knew that there was something monastic there you know with a person know she was with

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• Grandmother with dementia still knew the monk

  In brief: Near the end, grandmother has long dementia; in a UK ward she recognises Brahm at once while barely recognising his brother.

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  many years ago now eight nine years ago when she finally passed away she had dementia for such a long time and once she passed away it was a kind of I felt kind of relieved and happy for her. If you ever seen people with like dementia that they can't sometimes they don't remember who you are. I always thought that I don't know there wasn't that many. In fact, I was the only one who went into the the the old people's dementia ward or Alzheimer's ward know with a bald head and a brown robe. I thought at least she can remember me cuz I was different than everybody else. But no, she didn't even remember me at all. But I do recall when my uh my grandmother had dementia too. I remember when I went to go and see her in a sort of a ward in UK just outside of London. When I went in to see her, I went in with her with my brother. My brother lives in London. And so he was looking after her, going to visit her every week. And I'd only go once every three or four years whenever I could get into England because I was in a busy year. I remember just going to see my grandmother and as soon as she saw me, she recognized me straight away

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• The bodhisattva at the bottom of the class

  In brief: As a schoolteacher, Ajahn Brahm hands out report cards; a 12- or 13-year-old reads “30th of 30” and slumps — how will he show his dad?…

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  so he gave the exams and the end of the year this gave out the report cards in my class there's this poor kid when I gave him the report card he read it 30th bottom of a class in a class of 30 and I could see I I saw his face cuz I knew you know who came bottom people who came top they say yeah yeah we came top this poor kid know his jaw dropped his shoulders hunched he look so sad he was really suffering imagine you have to take that report card back to your parents how do you do son bottom dad that's suffering for us you know a young kid he must be about 12 or 13 and so even then I was very compassionate teacher I was kind you can't just ignore a person who's suffering like that so I went up to him and sort of stood by him and he said you came bottom of the class yes sir how am I going to show this to my dad I said look you actually deserve a medal for this I taught him a little bit of Buddhism in Buddhism we got something called a bodic SATA now a bodic SATA is someone who sacrifices everything for other people it's out of great compassion and B saford sacrifice sometimes a whole life for the benefit of others and I think that's what you are you've taken this terrible position in the bottom of the class so none of your friends will have to actually to take this position you've done this so selflessly all the other conceited arrogant people they just want to become top but you've taken the humble position and taken that suffering on yourself so no one else has to enjoy what's coming to you from your mom and dad this evening they said you're such a kind and wonderful person in Buddhism we'd actually praise you for doing things like that and he looked at me as if I was crazy but it stopped him getting sad and upset certainly laughed afterwards

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• The cat that went to heaven

  In brief: From a little book over 100 years old by a Western lady living in Japan (as he recalls): a destitute painter is commissioned to paint the…

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  that book about the cat that went to heaven book. It's one of my favorite little books and I did get the library to purchase a few of them but they all tend to disappear because it's inspiring books. All it is is a story. It's over 100 years old now that book. It says western lady living in Japan about this painter who was really destitute and there was a a competition to actually to do a painting of the Lord Buddha's uh paranana and all the animals who came to worship at the Buddha's feet just before he passed away. That was in the Japanese Buddhist tradition. And this painter got given the contract. It was just a wonderful thing for him. So every day he would meditate and then he would paint. First the Buddha and then an elephant and a horse and a lion. All these animals mentioned in the suitors. But there was also a little cat who would every day sit next to the painter. And every day the cat seemed to get more sad because the cat would never see himself in that painting. And when the pager had finished the very last animal in there, that little cat looked so incredibly sad. He looked at the cat and the cat looked at him. He said, "If I paint you in that painting, you will never be accepted. cat never visited the Buddha. But then he looked at the cat. Oh, what the heck? And he painted the cat in bed. And as soon as the housekeeper saw that he'd broken the tradition and put a cat, you know, in this picture, his housekeeper thought, "We're ruined. You spoiled it all those weeks." But anyway, it was finished. So one of the monks came from the temple, took one look at it. Very well done. What have you done putting a cat in this picture? So the monk said, "We will take it to the temple, but we'll burn it tomorrow morning. We can't use it. It's untraditional." And so the whole little family there. Oh, I should have mentioned as soon as soon as the cat saw its image, the very last um animal on the the line, the cat saw its image on the the painting. It got so happy its heart burst with joy. It died out of happiness, sheer bliss. So they lost the cat. But anyway, the following morning that the the priest and said, "Come to the temple now. You got to come now." When he went to the temple, a huge throng of people there, monks from all the temples in town were there who saw his painting and been burnt. and he saw where he painted the the cat. The cat had vanished. There's no cat at the end of the painting. He followed the line of animals in front of the elephant. The first animal there was the cat and the hand on top of the cat.

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