# The nun who hit the jackpot

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-nun-wins-jackpot-buys-round
- Themes: humour, unexpected, gambling, mindfulness
- Life situations: gambling, unexpected situations

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Driving a famous Buddhist nun to Heathrow after a retreat, her driver puts spare coins in a pub fruit machine and, saying the nun has better kamma, asks her to pull the handle. In a moment of unmindful compassion she does — jackpot, coins pouring over her though she may not touch money. The bar falls silent, the barman rings a bell and announces the unbreakable rule: the winner buys a round for everyone. “The first time in 2,500 years a Buddhist nun had to buy whiskeys, beers and gin and tonics.”

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

there was a famous Buddhist nun uh who uh was teaching a Meditation Retreat in England and after she finished teaching the retreat she went down to um to hro airport and on the way they stopped for something to eat it was was a lunchtime so they stopped in one of these restaurants which was next to a pub if ever you been to London or not to London sorry to England a lot of the places where you can get something to eat on a journey they got a pub next door so you have to go in the front of the pub to get into the restaurant so they they went through the front of the pub to get into the restaurant and had their meal I know the person who told me this story because she's from Sydney and she validated this was a real story it happened when they the driver came out of the pub she had a few English coins spare so she decided to put them in one of these slot machines the Poke machines just to get rid of the coins because you know the few little coins you can't change at the uh the currency exchange it's too small you know you change about6 and you have to pay10 commissions so you end up sort of losing on the deal but anyhow she put a few coins in the slot and she had one in the slot when the Buddhist nun came out from her meal and she said to the Buddhist nun you have got much better Karma than I have you pull the handle and in one moment of lack of mindfulness just on the spur of the moment sometimes you're thinking of something else people ask you out of compassion you just do it and that's what she did the Buddhist nun pulled the handle and the wheels went round and round and round and then first one stopped jackpot second one stopped jackpot third one stopped jackpot ding ding ding ding ding ding ding and all this money started pouring out of the machine and we monks and nuns were not even allowed to touch the stuff and she couldn't afford it was falling all over her she'd won the jackpot now you may think that's now lucky but it's not lucky cuz what happened next was all the patrons in the bar went silent this Buddhist nun in a strange Rob had won the jackpot and the next thing which happened was a b man took a little bell and rang it and announced to the nun that it was the tradition it was the rule which could not be broken that whoever won the jackpot had to buy a free round of drinks for everybody in the bar and it was the first time in 2,500 years that the buddist none had to buy a whiskey a beer gin and tonics for all the people in that's what happens

## Teaching point

(Told as why he never goes near gambling machines, and that life is full of the unexpected.)

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

One absent-minded pull of a pub fruit machine, done to please her driver, left a Buddhist nun showered in coins she couldn't touch and obliged to buy the whole bar a round. Life loves a surprise ending. Hold plans loosely and keep a sense of humour; the day rarely goes to script, and that hurts less once you stop expecting it to.

## Source

- [Loving our sufferings | Ajahn Brahm | 30 Nov 2012](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo9-6qQ9tyI) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 7:39 to 10:48: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo9-6qQ9tyI&t=459s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Gaming Not Gambling | Ajahn Brahm | 16-11-2012](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pry4ilLMMNY) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 5:59 to 8:40: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pry4ilLMMNY&t=359s
- [Mencintai Penderitaan Kita Sendiri | Ajahn Brahm | 30 Nov 2012](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiGZvMANUgY) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 7:41 to 10:46: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiGZvMANUgY&t=461s