'Goodnight, Paul'

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• The convict who left his body to watch football

  In brief: A meditation student at Karnet Prison Farm tells Ajahn Brahm that as a boy of five or six, having surgery in what was then Yugoslavia, he…

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  Oh, this one case was of this young man. There was a boy about five, six, seven years of age. He told me this story at length and he was having some operation. This was many years ago in Yugoslavia when Yugoslavia was this one country and he was having an operation and he died on the operating table and he described just how he was floating out of his body and he could see that the doctors who were operating on him were looking at the wrong place. They weren't seeing where the problem was. And so he said that's where he was like dying or was actually dead outside of his body. And then he said all he did a five or six year old boy that's how old he was. He just thought the doctors you know he couldn't speak outside of his body but just thought doctor don't look over here look over there. And immediately that's what the doctor did. And he shouted out hey here's a problem. And because they could see what the problem was that they um solved the problem and he was fine again. He he recovered. But he said to me and he told me this story. He was one of my students meditating in Caret Prison Farm many years ago. He was a a convict in the jail. And he said but he didn't really mind being a convict. He said because ever since that time he came back into his body but whenever he wanted to leave his body he could he could do the old astral traveling make up a mind-made body as we say in in Buddhism and he could leave his body. So he said whenever he wanted to watch a football match didn't matter what prison they put him in he just leave his body and go and watch. he wanted to if he wanted to go and see a a concert by someone in Perth, he didn't even need to to book tickets, he just go there in his astral body and just get, you know, front seat view. And the way he said it and all the other information he gave me, he said, "Yes, okay. I think that's pretty accurate what he was saying.

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• The teacher who woke in a drowned boy's body

  In brief: A now-famous meditation teacher (unnamed, still alive) was, it seems, reborn into the body of a village boy who had drowned in a lake and…

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  that happened to a great teacher it seems i won't say the name because they're still alive was born in the body of a drowned boy the boy had died in a village lake and he's been under the water for hours when they find him he came alive again and the person who he eventually became is quite a famous meditation teacher and he said that was his first memory this brilliant light and he gaining consciousness in the body of this young boy

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• The prankster ghost and the three leaves

  In brief: Two young English friends share a house in Perth; one dies young of cancer, promising to come back and haunt his mate. Pranks follow: the…

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  one of our members he's got a great Ghost Story one of his friends let's go back for earlier his friend I moved to to Australia to Perth from England two young men they were friends so they shared a house together as they shared a house there two guys you know they weren't gay or anything they're just um to uh say on R when out had a great time but one of them developed cancer very young he died but before he died he always says I'm going to come back and Haun you you know like what some young people say I'm going to come back and Haun you and apparently he did and he was you know what you call those Lans always like doing practical jokes and so the other fellow who kept the house you know his girlfriend moved in after his mate died and little things would happen like be in the shower and it would turn from the hot to cold so you turn the hot on and it' be boiling little silly things like that but he said and he's quite sure about this one day he went out to work when he came home all the furniture from the landro was in the garden and there was just silly little things but sometimes you know if it's a a mate a friend they do this little jokes on you and his wife apparently could see him his wife wife never knew him and could see this Spectre in the in the house and described he said oh yeah that's him and so they just after all I just accommodate to these people but this member of our Buddha Society I better not say who it is he went to visit his friend I don't believe in ghosts she's just making it up and he was having coffee with his friend at the time and his friend said look he's he's around I'm sure he's around and he asked his friend come and prove to this visitor that you exist there's a pot plant on the table a leaf fell off that pot plant floated horizontally and then went down on the edge of the table half on half off and the visitor said no that's just it's just a wi just [Applause] coincidence and then another Lea fell off horizontal and then went vertically down exactly on top of the second Leaf no no no no just Charles thirdly exactly the same hor is onto straight down on the edge of that Lea and our friend who comes here said I've got to go and just jumped in his bed and just put the foot on the acceler just w didn't run away H you can have nothing to be afraid of it's just ghost playing around

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• Charlie's mark on the heel

  In brief: A healthy Thai woman's first baby, Charlie, is stillborn after turning in the womb days before birth. Ajahn Brahm conducts the funeral;…

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  the story of a Thai couple who come here - just making sure they're not here, they may be embarrassed if I tell you this; but no, they're not here. When this lady - years ago now - when she got pregnant (this was a normal pregnancy), and just five days before birth she had an ultrasound. And when the birth happened - stillborn. A tragedy. Because they had everything expected for a baby, and they were just so excited, the first kid they were gonna have. And apparently, the doctors found out it actually turned in the womb and it cut off the blood supply in the umbilical cord. And she didn't know that, five days before - ultrasound - everything was going perfectly, and stillborn. So I did the funeral for them, just up the road here. And I always remember that funeral, because the baby was fully formed. They gave it a name, Charlie. I better not say too much. Charlie was his name, and they dressed it up, and they had the family photograph. And I was in the family photograph, and Charlie was as well. I was almost like honoured to be included in that family photograph, at the birth of Charlie who died at birth. But then, what I didn't see them doing - I know it's common in Thailand to do this, but what I didn't see - they took a pen, a biro pen, when no one was watching, and on the heel of Charlie, they drew a line. With a ballpoint pen. Just a line. And then of course, the baby was cremated. She was a healthy woman. So, few months later, she became pregnant again. When she became pregnant again, this time the doctors really gave her a VIP treatment, because they didn't want a tragedy to happen again. She's a healthy woman, she gave birth - this time - to a girl. And that girl has a birthmark on its heel, a line - exactly where they'd written the line on there. And they all knew Charlie came back. Didn't quite make it the first time, but had another go. Next time, got through. And they told me that story. And of course, you probably would be interested, how did the new kid turn out. First of all, it was a girl, and it was called Annie. And I was watching it - used to be like many kids, they play here, running around there, the kids are offering food to the monks or the nuns, and the kid is running around all over the place. But this Annie would always run with the boys and would beat up the girls. It was really a tomboy, little Annie. And of course, you understand why. She was a boy before. But anyway. That was a wonderful story, that when people have these emotional problems - just give a bigger picture. The kid didn't get there the first time, well have another go. And - a lot of times I’ve seen this - they don't make it the first time, they get an upgrade. [laughter] Become a girl. Is that an upgrade? [chuckles] But anyway. That was the story of Charlie and Annie.

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