# The principal who heard the three questions

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-principal-resigned-street-kids
- Themes: compassion, listening, education, three questions
- Life situations: career change, working with at-risk youth, homelessness, finding purpose

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Invited to an education seminar 'for the free breakfast', he's greeted by a woman: 'Do you remember me?' He doesn't. A year earlier at a Gosnells school he told Tolstoy's three questions: the most important time is now, the most important person is the one in front of you, the only thing to do is care. That night she resigned as principal and went under Perth's bridges to the homeless underage kids — dealing drugs, selling sex — listening without fear or agenda. She learned what they needed, won Education Department funding for a tailored program, and the seminar celebrates its success: a boy she found under a bridge speaks of his place at university next year.

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

I was invited to give this uh seminar once on on an education day over I think the eastern suburbs education department or something. They were having a seminar. They had a nice hall. They said, "Ajent, if you come, we give you a free breakfast." That was good enough for me. So, I went over there for the free breakfast. And of course, as soon as I walked in, I'm not really sure why I was invited. They never told me. And it was like an education seminar. And the lady came up to me and said, "Thank you, Ajam Brown, for coming. Do you remember me? That's why this story comes up." I said, "No, I haven't got a clue who you are." And actually she told me the story that about six months earlier or maybe a year earlier I've been invited to give a a talk uh in Gossnol's uh I think it was a primary school you know that I go to all these places to give talks I don't really get much feedback but I went to this school and gave a talk and one of the uh stories I told was the old emperor's free question story now is the most important time, the one in front of you, the most important person in the whole world, the only thing to do is to care. And that really hit her very hard just like it actually meant so much to me when I first read it as a student. I remember first reading in this book by Leo Toltoy. And after I read that, wow, I mean, that was powerful. And I just got up from my room and just went walking around Cambridge for an hour just wow. It really blew my mind literally. So anyway, did the same to her. She was a principal of a school, a very successful teacher. That night, she told me after hearing me talk about that story, she resigned. She gave it up a job instantly. And then what she did, she knew that Gossnos is was a low socioeconomic area at the time. There were many kids had left school at a very young age and she wanted she kind of knew what had happened to them. They run away from home, boys and girls, dealing drugs, prostitutes living on the streets underage. And she thought, I can't just ignore this. So what she did was um now is the most important time. She had to do it straight away. And she went, you know, to these places in Perth, under the bridges, the places where homeless people hang out, especially underage, and she went to talk to them. But when she was talking to them, she didn't feel fear. Instead, she felt, "You are the most important person in the world to me. You underage prostitutes. You kid on drugs or selling drugs. And the only thing I'm going to do is care. How that care works out, I don't know, but just be kind." And she felt that she could now communicate with these people who were in immense social difficulties. And it was actually some of those kids were at this conference or which I went to and they were telling me just how it was the first time someone was listening to them. They didn't have an agenda. They didn't want to try and get them back to school or anything. They just wanted to listen and give these little kids importance instead of discriminating against them or just just trying to reject them or bung them in a school in a prison somewhere. She was listening. And when she was listening and get that connection with these underage prostitutes and drug dealers and kids, 14, 15 year olds, she connected so well with them. She learned what they the kind of things they needed, what kind of things they would need to bring them back into the school system. Not just an ordinary school, but being able to have times when they can come when they feel they want to come. and to have lessons or education tailored for them so they could feel that they were part of the education system not something just given to them but they were contributing towards it and she got the funding from the education department even when she went to see these people behind the desks in East Perth still that she remembered now is the most important time and the person behind the desk is the most important person in the whole world for her. And she really cared and that came out and she got the funding. And this little seminar was actually um celebrating the success of that program. I gave a talk, but my talk was totally overpowered by the next boy who gave a talk. He told where he'd come from and the pain and difficulties which he'd gone through in his life. And then just under the bridge somewhere in Perth, this lady came up to him and was the first person who did actually listen to him, not judging him. Never made him felt afraid. What do you need? What can I get for you? You know, I I have the resources to make sure that we can, you know, get you some food, a place to stay, get off the drugs, get a career. and he gave this very eloquent talk and he said he's got a place at university next year. When he said that, it's amazing where he'd come from and where he got to. I said, "I can't match that. Whatever I talk, that was a real person who'd been really down, had bad luck all his life, and somebody actually cared, listened, gave him that sense of importance, and now he was going to university. He's got his life back. And that was just one out of many. A girl talked next and she was just as good.

## Teaching point

Now is the most important time; the person in front of you is the most important; the only thing to do is care.

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

A principal heard Ajahn Brahm tell Tolstoy's three questions and resigned that night to sit under Perth's bridges with homeless teenagers, listening without an agenda. A year later one of those boys was heading to university. Now is the time, whoever you are with matters most, and the thing to do is care.

## Source

- [Our Mind and Our Health | Ajahn Brahm | 7 July 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irCk-DJXisM) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 22:51 to 29:23: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irCk-DJXisM&t=1371s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Why? Is an Important Question to Ask | Ajahn Brahm | 1 January 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3v0vceM7-0) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 23:35 to 29:48: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3v0vceM7-0&t=1415s
- [The Three Most Important Things - Ajahn Brahm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2bXP2o6mD4) (BSWA Retreats 2011-15 & Media) — watch from 28:25 to 29:43: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2bXP2o6mD4&t=1705s
- [The Joy of Helping Others | Ajahn Brahm | 28 July 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJEFCmolcXo) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 16:48 to 17:26: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJEFCmolcXo&t=1008s
- [Spirituality | Ajahn Brahm | 3 March 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIXzLo69-Hc) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 39:58 to 42:26: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIXzLo69-Hc&t=2398s