Mrs. Calm and Mr. Insight climb the hill

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• “Why?” — Ajahn Chah's answer: nothing

  In brief: After an inspiring talk by Ajahn Chah, the young monk skips attending him at the sauna and sits two blissful hours in meditation behind…

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  He did have psychic powers sometimes. He could read people's minds. I remember he read my mind once on a retreat. You want to hear this story? Yeah. Come on. Because this is a deep part of this talk. Many of you heard it on retreats. But when people give really good talks, I mean very deep talks, they're inspiring. And on this occasion, Ajan came to the monastery where I was staying and he gave a talk and that day really hit the spot. everything being explained so beautifully and just oh your your mind is so inspired and peaceful and joyful and then know we had actually built a sauna for him you know sauners were not invented in uh Sweden or wherever they had sauners in Buddhist monasteries in India from the very beginning they talk about it in the ancient books you know sauners for the monks and nuns And [gasps] uh so we built him a sauna and he came over. So he gave a talk. I was so inspired. Achanta went off to the sauna and I was basically so inspired. There's so many other monks looking after acha. I decided just to go around the back of the hall and sit quietly meditating. I just I didn't want to waste that beautiful energy. cross my legs two hours. Oh, just blissing my head out. Beautiful meditation. So deep, so peaceful. And of course, when you go in deep meditation, you just don't know how long, but [snorts] you know, 2 hours it was. When I came out of that meditation afterwards, the first thought was you got lots of joy and peace and happiness is to do something good for your teacher. So I decided, well, I'm probably too late. Let's go and walk see if I can be of any service to him. So off I went walking towards the sauna and I was too late because he'd already finished the sauna. He was walking back with his driver and another Thai man. And we would cross the path and as we were about to cross you he looked at me and he l you know sometimes like only great teachers can really look at you just looking right into you. And for once, for once I didn't mind him looking into my mind. Other days, no. [laughter] I'd be embarrassed. But that day, my mind was, you know, just after a very deep, beautiful meditation, so pure and so peaceful, so bright. And it's very hard for me to uh to make you believe this, but many [snorts] of you know that I'm honest. I don't gain anything out of these stories, but you can actually feel him. This is my perception which I remember very clearly inside your mind just having a look just checking around like going in somebody's room or house and just having a walk around and I just yeah please come in for once I don't mind you having looking around today is is quite [snorts] clean and peaceful and beautiful inside and then when he emerged out this is just how I felt okay his body didn't disappear and just go up my nostrils or I think this was just you know his mind coming into my mind and reading everything and afterwards he looked at me very you can't say kindly you can't say fiercely was some other expression on his face just grabbing your attention eye to eye and of course my name is Ajan Brah but the full name is Brahma so he looked at me and said Brahma quite fiercely but kindly And then he said, "Why?" And he looked at me with so much kindness but strength. Why? And I was still only a young monk. And my answer was, "I don't know." And he laughed his head off. These stupid Western monks. [laughter] He was trying his best to try and enlighten me. He saw I was very peaceful and give it a shot anyway. But whenever you do something stupid like that, idiotic, you know, as far as wisdom is concerned, a child just burst out laughing. Our idiotic responses and behavior cause him so much pleasure, so much laughter. I think that's why he had so many western monks in his monastery to entertain him. No, there's a lot of kindness there too. But then he became serious again and he looked at me once more. He said, "Broma, I'll tell you the answer." And wow, I was really excited. This great monk was giving me a personal teaching just after come out of a deep meditation and he asked me the question why I got it wrong. But he wanted to tell me what the answer was. the answer to the question why from Achan he looked at me I'll tell you the answer I was so excited and he said my me I any Thai people here oh yes you know what that means he said there's nothing there's nothing. And then he looked at me and said, "Bamsa, do you understand with a lot of kindness?" I said, "Yes." And he looked at me again and said, "No, you don't." [laughter] And he went away. Oh, that really hurt. [laughter] But what a beautiful lesson that was. Just when he gave me that wonderful answer, what's the answer to the question? Why? Why? Answer is is nothing. Do you understand? No, you don't. [laughter] But one day you will. Seeds have been planted.

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• “I don't think I deserve so much happiness”

  In brief: An Australian nun ordained in the UK visits Perth and comes right to the edge of the jhānas — immense bliss and power. Ajahn Brahm keeps…

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  And the classic story was of this wonderful nun, many years ago, who was staying at Bodhinyana monastery. It was during a Rains Retreat, I can't remember exactly, because it's a long time ago. And she was a brilliant nun, a great meditator. And because - I was like giving her interviews - and when her meditation got really hot (that was almost every day), she was coming out to me seeing incredible Nimittas, these beautiful lights which you see in your mind, it's really beautiful. And you're so close to the deepest of meditations. She was so close, but she couldn't get through to the next brilliant stage, the Jhānas. Really just going for it. And I was giving every piece of advice which I could, and it came to this - ‘Well I don't know why, I can't understand why it is you're not just going to these beautiful, blissful, freeing states of mind’. And then, on one interview, she told me. And it's almost like - I felt like I should burst out crying. She said her major problem was she thought she didn't deserve such happiness.

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• The wall that disappeared

  In brief: As a young theoretical physicist, Ajahn Brahm sits at a Zen monastery in the north of England, in a converted cowshed, told to meditate…

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  I usually bring up this experience I had when I was a lay person. when I was meditating wherever I could find a place to meditate and this was in a Zen monastery in the north of England and in this Zen monastery I didn't know what I was supposed to do they just you know in the little hall which is a converted cow shed that we sat down and we had to meditate with our eyes open it one of the first times I'd meditated with my eyes wide open I didn't know what I was supposed to do but I just meditated. But because I'd done some meditation before and I knew how to be in the present moment and stop this inner speech, as I was just with my eyes open, just being very peaceful, very calm, a strange thing happened. One of those weird experiences which show you there's more to this world than you'd thought. And at this time I was a theoretical physicist when I just looked at this wall just a whitewashed wall. Then suddenly without warning the wall disappeared. It vanished. It just wasn't there anymore. Which was so weird. One minute there was a wall solid and now there was nothing there. And of course instead of getting scared or think I was going crazy I used know what we do in Buddhism called insight. What's happening? And it soon became very clear to me that this is just the nature of the physical senses especially the sense of seeing sight. If you watch something, put your full attention on watching and what you observe doesn't move or change. It disappears. The sense of sight turns off.

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• Brian Josephson found it in meditation

  In brief: Physicist Brian Josephson (quantum tunnelling / supercomputers) won a Nobel; as Ajahn Brahm tells it, the breakthrough came not from more…

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  briyan Josephson won a Nobel Prize in physics for understanding the essential thing which supercomputers now rely upon similar thing to a a transistor but working at close to absolute zero temperatures Innovative incredibly remunerative supercomputers and he got a Nobel Prize as well in physics he discovered that not through thinking about it through meditating

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