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Story · Ajahn Brahm

“What do you guys get out of this?” — the free talk

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Four Ways of Letting Go | Ajahn Brahm | 09-04-2010

1 min read

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

There was somebody rang me up once from here, it was a Polish lady, actually I remember her, and she rang me up and said, "Are you giving a talk tonight?" I said, "Yeah, I'm given a talk tonight" here in this centre. She said, "How much do you have to pay to get in?" I said, "Nothing, you don't have to pay anything to get in," you all know that, and she stopped awhile and she said, "You don't understand me, how much money do you have to pay to get through the door?" I said, "Madam, you don't have to give any money to go through the door. You just come in and listen, if you don't like it you go out again." Then she paused again, she said, "LISTEN, how much dollar and cents do I have to cough up to come listen to your talk?" I said "Madam, you don't have to cough up anything. You don't have to pay any money to go in, you don't have to pay any money to go out, we don't give you sort of brochures and propaganda, you know, which would ask you money afterwards, it's totally for free, just come in and listen and you go out again afterwards." And then she paused, I always remember this pause because I knew that she was really surprised, and then she asked with utmost sincerity, "Well, what do you guys get out of this then?"

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 37:21 (to 38:43)

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

She kept asking for the hidden price, because so much in life comes with one. Some things are simply given. Try it with something small today, an hour of help or a kind word, and expect nothing back. You'll find the giving was never a cost; it was the pleasure.

In brief (our summary)

A caller keeps asking how much she must pay to attend Ajahn Brahm's talk; told repeatedly it is free, she finally asks in disbelief what the monks get out of it.

Teaching point

“She couldn't believe that you can do something expecting nothing back in return, you just give.”

When this story may help

  • feeling unappreciated
  • transactional relationships

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Four Ways of Letting Go | Ajahn Brahm | 09-04-2010 · 2010-04-12 · ▶ watch from 37:21 to 38:43 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

1 other telling of this story

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

  • The cat that steals the milk

    In brief: Every morning a cat takes Ajahn Brahm's milk and walks off without thanks; he gives anyway because he loves giving.

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    every morning when I'm having my breakfast the cat comes up to steal my milk. So you know usually I've got enough but sometimes I go without, at least I have half instead of the whole which I usually have. So the cat, so I give to the cat, do I get anything back in return for the cat? No, licks its thing, sniffs and goes away, never says "thank you", not even a meow from the cat, you know what cats are like, so proud. But anyway who cares whether the cat lets me pat it or stroke it or whatever, I don't care, I just love giving.

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  • Paying for the timber: the builder's discount

    In brief: Building Bodhinyana in the early days, Ajahn Brahm collected a lot of timber in a rush from a timber yard on Brookton Highway and realised…

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    I'll just mention this um today when the one of the first times when I was building Bodana Monastery that uh we this was um I don't mind I mention it was Collie and Sons they had a a timber yard down Brookton Highway went there one day to get some timber to build a cooty or something and it's a lot of timber I was in a rush when I got back I said oh my goodness we we there's some stuff we hadn't paid for. So I went back on the next day and had the I said look you know we got some timber from you yesterday and just in a rush with no intention we hadn't paid for it you know can we sort of pay the difference and a fellow looked at me as if I was like from Mars or some alien planet somewhere and he said just hold on a moment and he went up to see the big the big manager and then he said okay you can pay for the extra timber But now you're on a builder's discount. And we're not builders. Well, not really professional builders, but you know that he gave us a builder's discount. And just the amount of money, you know, the monastery paid just for that bit of timber, maybe $10 or $15. We made that back 10, 20, 100 times probably by getting the builder's discount from that place. He said, because it's weird. Not many people do that. Not many people are honest and trustworthy.

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • Holy water by the bucket — then she sold it

    In brief: Thai member Poonsup Wong, always sick, asks Ajahn Brahm for holy water by the 11-litre bucket each week. A Chinese man later rings wanting…

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    some years ago, there was a Thai lady who married to a Chinese man. Many of you may remember her. Her name, I don't mind saying this, Poonsup Wong. Her husband was called George. And Poonsup, she was a Thai lady, but always she was always very sick. So much so that, you know, once she asked me, "Can you make me some holy water?" You know, this nam mon which, you know, sometimes you sprinkle people with. I said, "Yeah, sure." She said, "No, not a little bit. Can you make me by the bucket?" You know, like 11-liter buckets, plastic buckets. So, once a week, I'd make her a whole bucket of holy water, cuz I thought she was very sick. I'm a very kind monk. [laughter] So, that's what you want, that's what I'll give you. And that for weeks she was having this holy water by the bucket load. And then I found out what she was up to. Cuz I got a telephone call at Bodhinyana Monastery from a Chinese gentleman. He said, "I want to purchase some of your holy water." I said, "We don't purchase it. We give it away for free. This is like monks. We're not business people." He said, "No, no, no. You sell it." I don't. "It's very good." I said, "I don't sell it." And then uh something started to click in my mind. "What are you talking about?" He said, "I get mine from Mrs. Poonsup Wong. I want to cut out the middle white man or middle woman and get it direct from source, cheap." And I found out what she was up to. The bucket of holy water, 11 liters, she was taking it home and just dividing it up and then just it selling it a odd. She had a nice little order there. So as soon as I told her that was the end of that game.

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  • The tourist whose car Bill Gates fixed

    In brief: Remote northern California: a tourist's car fails with no mobile coverage; a farmer stops and fixes it. Later the tourist learns the…

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    tourist in the north of California who broke down. Not in uh busy traffic, sorry. This was breaking down in some of the more remote parts of northern California. And he couldn't fix his car. And then when he managed to get uh he tried everything but couldn't fix it. There's no mobile coverage. He had a mobile phone there. He was quite tech savvy the the driver of the car, but he couldn't fix his car. And a farmer came by and the farmer fixed his car for him. A simple thing because farmers have to know that. Because there's no one else to fix the car for the farmers. So the farmer fixed his car. They shook and they left. Thank you very much, said the driver. And it was just a few few weeks later that the farmer he had a letter from his bank saying that all the debts for his farm had been paid off. And for his equipment and a quite a large sum of money had been deposited to his credit in the bank. Because the the driver of that car who broken down was apparently Bill Gates

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