Analogy · Ajahn Brahm

The past is un-effable

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Flowing with Uncertainty | Ajahn Brahm | 23 April 2021

1 min read

IN-IF-ABLE, you can't IF the past. By that I mean you can't say "IF that, whoever it was, didn't get Covid or if they hadn't traveled or IF there was more tests or IF, you know, I wasn't busy this weekend or if, if, if." The past is "iniffable"

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 41:09 (to 41:36)

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

The past, Ajahn Brahm says, is 'un-iffable': you can't 'if' it. If they hadn't travelled, if my girlfriend hadn't dumped me at nineteen. Who knows what would have happened? It might have been worse. Acknowledge, forgive, let go. This moment isn't perfect, but it's good enough to build a happy life on.

In brief (our summary)

He coins a word-play: instead of 'ineffable' (too deep for words), the past is 'un-effable' — you cannot 'if' your past. Stop rewriting old choices; make them work now.

Teaching point

Regret that says 'if only' is a waste; finished choices are to be lived forward.

When this story may help

regretting a decision

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Flowing with Uncertainty | Ajahn Brahm | 23 April 2021 · 2021-04-23 · ▶ watch from 41:09 to 41:36 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

2 other tellings of this story

Choices | Ajahn Brahm | 22 April 2016 · 2016-04-22 · ▶ watch from 26:39 to 27:27 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
A Talk About Nothing | Ajahn Brahm | 16 July 2021 · 2021-07-16 · ▶ watch from 1:02:10 to 1:03:30 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
Jul 2021 telling: full 'ineffable' / 'un-effable' (captioned 'inifable'/'inable') wordplay; past and future both un-if-able.

Caption notes: Manual (volunteer) captions; occasional misspellings kept as is.

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

Can I have a pineapple, please?
In brief: At poor Wat Pah Pong, requisites were kept in a big water jar and you asked Ajahn Chah for what you needed. Needing soap, the new monk…
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And of course, you know, the first time I learnt the Thai language, many of the Thai people know this story. That very early days in Thailand, all the monasteries were very poor. Wat Pah Pong where Ajahn Chah lived when I first went was really poor. So whenever you got anything, they had a big water jar. And you just put those things in the water jar, maybe toothpaste or toothbrushes, or anything you needed, like a towel. And so if you needed something, you just go and ask Ajahn Chah and say, "I need some toothpaste" and he just look inside there and said, "There is some. " and just give it to you. So this time I needed some soap, obviously you know to wash. But you had to ask in Thai so you know my Thai was not that good. So, the word for "soap" is S̄bū̀, not "S̄ạbpard". It's hardly any differences there, "S̄ạbpard" ,"S̄bū̀" but apparently "S̄ạbpard" means pineapple. So, I asked my great master, "Can I have a pineapple, please?" [laughter] And he said to me, he's very kind, he said, "What do you want the pineapple for?" I said, "To wash!" He never let me forget that. He said, "Oh, you know people in England, you know, they don't use soap like us. They are far more advanced, they use pineapples. [laughter] This Western culture is way ahead of ours."
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Late-night Thai TV in Bangkok
In brief: After flying Perth–Bangkok from a 3.30 a.m. start, Ajahn Brahm is scheduled for a 10.30 p.m. live Thai TV interview. Nested: the Perth…
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It was very, very dodgy when I went to Bangkok all the way from Perth, getting up really early in the morning, to get to the airport, to get on the plane, I got up about 3.30 in the morning, and by the time I got to Bangkok late in the afternoon, I found out they had scheduled me for a TV interview at 10.30 p.m. I just had time for a quick shower and [went] back to the studios, which is not so bad, but it was in Thai. Sometimes you think I'm fluent in Thai, but once - here in Perth - there were some visiting Thai people and they asked for some teaching, so I taught them maybe 15 minutes of Buddhism in Thai. And afterwards they said they were so impressed. "We didn't realize that you could give a speech in Pali." [audience laughing] That wasn't Pali, that was Thai! "Oh", the Thai people said, "really?" In other words, they didn't understand a word of it - not one word. [audience laughing] And here I was on live TV, making an idiot of myself, I thought, speaking in Thai, but I did really well. There were actually two other Thai people there, two Thai monks being interviewed, one was the rector of Mahajula Lukon university Venerable Dammakosaja and he was very good, but the other fellow being interviewed was a Thai monk who was a resident in a Buddhist monastery in Oxford. And apparently, afterwards, my Thai, even though I'm a Westerner, that came across much more fluent than this Thai guy who was staying at Oxford for the last few years. [audience laughing] And I thought "How can that be?" Well, I was from Cambridge and he was from Oxford. Cambridge is always supreme.
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Where's the bog then?
In brief: Ajahn Brahm's Cambridge neighbour, a Yorkshireman from Leeds (he says 'from Ukraine' then corrects), arrives at Emmanuel College and asks…
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One of these friends who was lived next door to me in the student accommodation from Ukraine, but he was actually from from Leeds, Yorkshireman. And as soon as he went into Cambridge University, Emmanuel College, the first thing he said when he arrived was, where's the bog then? If you understand, where's the toilet? But he said it in such a thick accent they looked at him and said, where are you from? You know, what sort of planet are you from?
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The stolen Harley on the wrong level
In brief: An early member owns almost nothing except his prized Harley-Davidson. In a Sydney shopping centre car park he returns to find it gone,…
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I can't pass by this story of one of the people who used to come here in the very early days. The only thing he was ever attached to, the only possession he had was his Harley Davidson, incredibly beautiful motorbike. And those things are worth 50 60 thousand dollars. even more than that. just a bike; it's just worth a huge amount of money. But that was his pride and joy. He just stayed with friends, He just rented houses with people, wore old cloths but he had his Harley. And he told me once, I think he was over in Sydney somewhere, he went shopping and he parked his Harley in the shopping center. Just may be half an hour that's all it took. He went to buy something when he came back to the car park his Harley was gone. someone has stolen it. And he being a Buddhist for a long time. and he thought 'Am I attached to this', can I let it go; someone has stolen it. He wrote to me about this afterwards; and he said he really thought about it ; it is proving what the Buddha kept on telling me what the monks and nuns always said I don't own these things. It's not really mine and he actually let it go. That's what he wrote to me.. he was so proud of himself All these teachings he had been hearing year after year they finally worked. He lost his only possession, the only thing which was really worth anything has been stolen and he could be at peace with it. Ok I let it go, I can live without a Harley And he was so pleased with himself, he could actually do a letting go. Showed him that he wasn't attached. Some karmic forces which is really weird because as soon as he realized he let it go; that he felt the joy that he wasn't attached it was only then he realized he was on the wrong level of the car park. (laughs) You know what it is you have done that sometimes. And of course when he went back to the correct level , there was his Harley Davidson sitting there (laughs) He says it was a beautiful experience for him. It just tested him and now he knew he could enjoy that Harvey Davidson knowing he wasn't attached. Enjoy the extra months and years which he had with his Harley and he knew that when someone eventually stole it or got it crashed or whatever happen he knew he could let it go. He realized yes he can enjoy without being attached.
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The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)