# First a flag on the summit, then a coffee shop

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Analogy
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-mountain-summit-flag-then-coffee-shop
- Themes: simplicity, emptiness, nature, consumerism
- Life situations: overcomplicating life, needing less

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

On mountain summits people leave flags, cairns and carved names (he jokes about carving 'Peter Betts was here'); next comes a coffee shop and cable car. Better to leave emptiness alone — care for it, don't 'cure' it by filling it.

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

you get to the top of the mountain and someone's put a flag up there or they put a bunch of rocks up there and they carve on there. My lane name before was Peter Betts. Peter Betts was here. What do you want to say that for? So instead to really respect like a mountain, isn't it best to leave it alone? Cuz what usually happens, you start with putting a flag there. The next thing you put up there is a coffee shop [laughter] which which sells souvenirs. [laughter] That's really terrible. If you get to the top of the mountain, you found out there's a big coffee shop up there and a cable car on the other side of the road which takes you straight up. It takes Why is that not I really objected to that? Because sometimes why do we need all that stuff? Can't we just respect emptiness and nothing and its beautiful nature where nothing is disturbing it is as it was centuries ago, millennia ago. We don't add to it. We don't take it away cuz it's perfect as it already is. We don't try and cure it. We care for it

## Teaching point

Don't fill every empty peak with stuff; emptiness is already perfect.

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

First someone plants a flag on the summit, then a cairn, then carved names; soon there's a café and a cable car. Ajahn Brahm would rather leave the empty peak alone. Not everything needs improving. Some things are already perfect. Look after them as they are.

## Source

- [A Talk About Nothing | Ajahn Brahm | 16 July 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u40j_OlBL2U) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 26:36 to 28:04: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u40j_OlBL2U&t=1596s