# Free beer — and the beer-garden roof fell in

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-nyanaponika-beer-garden-fire
- Themes: death, desire, teachers, Germany
- Life situations: peer pressure, reckless fun

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Nyanaponika as a young man in Germany: beer-garden brewery catches fire; friends run in for free beer; the house collapses and many are killed — a formative shock that kept him on the path.

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

he was at a beer-garden. The beer-garden was set around a house somewhere in the beautiful countryside of Germany and they would make the beer there, they'd sell it, and they had all the places on the outside, little benches and tables, where you go with your friends and have some beer and a really good time. They still have those beer gardens in Germany today, but maybe not as rustic as in his day. And he was with some friends having a few beers, having a good laugh, a nice time with his mates, and then the house in which the beer was made and sold caught fire - there was a fire in the cellar. Oh no - it was actually higher up I remember him telling me, and the owners of the beer garden house ran out, and a lot of his friends - young men and young women ran into the house for free beer, and when they ran into the house for the free beer, the top storey of the house collapsed and killed all of his friends

## Teaching point

Chasing a cheap thrill can cost everything when the roof comes down.

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

In his German youth, Nyanaponika saw a burning brewery collapse on friends who had run in for free beer; many died. That shock kept him a monk for life. Worldly happiness is uncertain. When life doesn't go as you planned, Ajahn Brahm says well done: it's teaching you something deeper.

## Source

- [Word of the Buddha (part 2) | Ajahn Brahm | 8 January 2017](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IdrKuwJtCg) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 31:09 to 32:21: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IdrKuwJtCg&t=1869s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Real Happiness | Ajahn Brahm | 22 November 2024](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKpp1Z-6kA0) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 5:11 to 6:22: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKpp1Z-6kA0&t=311s