Story · Ajahn Brahm
“Whatever those monks are on, I want some”
Content note: named real person (Ajahn Brahm says she won't mind; she wrote about it in her own book)
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
There's - one of our past presidents, she is not here this evening, so she was here about two or three weeks ago, that's Rachel Green. She won't mind me telling her name, because she wrote a little book about, her spiritual story. And the part which I like, well, I got to be honest, it was about me. And it's actually really about how she became a Buddhist. She was suffering from panic disorders and anxiety attacks. Like many of you know, if you actually come and do some meditation, it really helps overcome anxiety disorders and panic attacks. Meditation is a beautiful method of overcoming that. And many people know that, many people actually are sent by their GPs to places like this to learn meditation, so they can overcome their anxiety disorders and panic attacks - and it works very well. But anyway, she came along, just to learn some meditation to overcome her anxiety disorders, and then she saw these monks, and this is the Armadale group, always seem to be peaceful and happy. She wrote in her book, that when she first saw these guys, she thought they're just acting. Just a face you put on in public, and behind the scenes, you know you're just like anybody else - you know, grumpy, arrogant, selfish. So actually, she decided to try and visit our monasteries, and "check us out", to see whether this was real, or whether we're just faking it. And of course, now I really try hard to make everybody open, so you can come and see as many times, see us y'know, when we're off-guard, not in public, and hopefully, I think you'll probably see that as you see us now, is actually as we are at all times. When she saw that, she realized, "I don't know what those monks are on, but whatever they're on, I want some of it."
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 29:49 (to 31:48)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
Rachel came for help with panic attacks, suspected the monks' calm was an act, and dropped in unannounced to catch them out. They were the same. Whatever they were on, she wanted some. When you meet real peace, kindness and joy in someone, notice it; it shows you what you actually want, and it can reorder your priorities.
In brief (our summary)
A past president of the Buddhist Society, Rachel Green, first came only to learn meditation for panic attacks and anxiety. Seeing the Armadale group's monks always peaceful and happy, she assumed it was a public act, and visited the monasteries to check them out off-guard. Finding they were the same behind the scenes, she concluded: “I don't know what those monks are on, but whatever they're on, I want some of it.”
Teaching point
When you recognise real peace, kindness and joy, you know what you really want.
When this story may help
- panic attacks
- anxiety
- searching for meaning
- scepticism about religion
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in What Do You Want? | Ajahn Brahm | 06-05-2011 · 2011-05-08 · ▶ watch from 29:49 to 31:48 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
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