Being Mindful Stories

Joke · Ajahn Brahm

The penguin funeral (“Freeze a jolly good fellow”)

As told by Ajahn Brahm in What Happens After You Die? | Ajahn Brahm | 08-04-2011

1 min read

Content note: death humour

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

even Penguins they have this beautiful sense of social cohesion and they have their own ceremonies when one of their members dies and apparently what happened is this penguin died and as soon as it died all its friends came around it to grieve but then after grieving for a little while they actually dug a hole in the snow in the ice and they put the dead penguin in the snow in the ice and they covered him over with the freezing ice and then afterwards they did a little ceremony for for the dead penguin their friend they sang a song free the jolly good fellow

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 58:01 (to 58:48)

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

Ajahn Brahm calls this one of the worst jokes he has ever told, and told it anyway, at the end of a talk about death. Even the penguins grieve a little before they sing. Lightness about dying isn't disrespect; having fun with whatever life asks of us, endings included, is a way of meeting it without so much fear.

In brief (our summary)

Penguins grieve a dead friend, bury him in the ice and sing at the ceremony: “Freeze a jolly good fellow.”

Teaching point

(A self-described 'terrible joke' showing his attitude: have fun with whatever you must do, including death.)

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in What Happens After You Die? | Ajahn Brahm | 08-04-2011 · 2011-04-09 · ▶ watch from 58:01 to 58:48 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: 'free the jolly good fellow' = 'freeze a jolly good fellow' (the punchline; mis-hearing; not changed).

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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