Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

'Better to die than disrobe'

As told by Ajahn Brahm in How Do We Deal with Deeper Suffering | Ajahn Brahm | 5 June 2020

1 min read

Content note: health claim: fever cured an ulcer (his inference) — not medical advice; Ajahn Chah's harsh 'better to die than disrobe' — he notes 'I don't think you'd get away with it these days'

The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

This monk, you won't mind me mentioning Ajahn Passano, is a very good good monk, a good old friend. And he was over in in Thailand. Eventually went over to United States and started a monastery over there. But this one day, the you know, he always had terrible tummy ache. And when he checked it out with the doctor in Bangkok or somewhere, they found out it was a stomach ulcer. And how can you cure it? And the doctor said, "Well, you know, just the only way you can cure it is probably you have to eat in the afternoon." And that's a no-no for monks. We can't eat in the afternoon. Not allowed to. So he said went to see Ajahn Chah. Said, "Look, I have to eat in the afternoon, otherwise it's not going to heal. It's just really painful." You know what Ajahn Chah said, my teacher? I don't think you get away with it these days. He said "It's better to die than disrobe." He's really tough. It's not what Ajahn Passano wanted to hear. But anyways, I wasn't allowed to. But then uh we got to later, short time later, Ajahn Passano developed the scrub typhus, you know, which all of our monks got in that monastery. Had a very high fever. And when the typhus, you know, healed itself so did the stomach ulcer. He was okay.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 18:19 (to 19:49)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

Told he'd need afternoon meals for his ulcer, Ajahn Pasanno asked Ajahn Chah, who said it was better to die than disrobe. Ajahn Brahm admits you'd never get away with that today. Then a fever came and the ulcer went with it. It's his story, not medical advice. His real point is welcoming pain rather than fighting it.

In brief (our summary)

Ajahn Pasanno, an old friend, suffers constant stomach pain in Thailand; a Bangkok doctor finds an ulcer and says the only cure is to eat in the afternoon — forbidden for monks. He asks Ajahn Chah, who replies: 'It's better to die than disrobe.' Not what he wanted to hear. A short time later Ajahn Pasanno catches scrub typhus with a very high fever, like all the monks there — and when the typhus heals, so does the ulcer.

Teaching point

Fevers can be the body's way of healing; and our reaction to illness matters as much as the illness.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in How Do We Deal with Deeper Suffering | Ajahn Brahm | 5 June 2020 · 2020-06-05 · ▶ watch from 18:19 to 19:49 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned. 'Ajahn Passano' = Ajahn Pasanno.

The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version

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