A private concert with Rod Stewart

Related stories

• The duck that tried to nest in his afro

  In brief: Young Brahm with a big curly Hendrix-style afro lies down in a London park; something tugs his hair — a duck harvesting nesting material.

  Read full story▾▴

  Somebody pulling my hair." It was a big f like, you know, my icon at that time was Jimmyi Hendris. I I have changed a lot since that time. Like a big afro hair hairstyle. That's what I had. 60s or 70s. And someone was putting my hair and I turned around. You know what it was? A duck. True. This duck saw my hair. That's really good nesting material

  Open story page·Watch this telling

• Green velvet jeans at the Isle of Wight

  In brief: Going to the 1970 Isle of Wight rock festival, young Ajahn Brahm wears green velvet jeans to be rebellious and individual — and finds…

  Read full story▾▴

  remember going to the the Isle of Wight rock festival 1970 So the famous rock festival and I had to be cool, so I had green velvet jeans When I went down there I found I thought I was being rebellious, I thought I was being individual I thought I was just just rebelling against convention setting a new style And when I went down there I found thousands of other people had green velvet jeans It is another type of uniform

  Open story page·Watch this telling

• How the donkey caught the carrot

  In brief: A stubborn donkey is driven by a carrot dangling on a string from a stick tied to its own back — always two feet ahead however fast it…

  Read full story▾▴

  It's a story, one of my favourite stories of the donkey and the carrot. Those of you who know the story because you've been on the retreats, it's also in the book of "Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond." You know that donkeys are very stubborn animals, that's why they say in English - as stubborn as a donkey. You hit them with a stick, they won't move. So the only way you get donkeys to move, is you tie the stick to their back, so the front of the stick is about 2 feet, in front of the donkey's head, at the end of the stick you put a string, on the end of the string, a carrot. So there's this donkey, seeing this carrot 2 foot in front of it , craving is what drives the donkey, not fear of punishment. So there the donkey moves forward to try and get the carrot but because this carrot is on the end of the stick, and the stick is tied to the donkey, it doesn't matter how fast the donkey moves forward, the carrot goes at the same speed so it's always 2 foot in front of the donkey's head. But it's stupid enough to think, well, if I run a bit faster I might catch that carrot. You understand the simile - that's called your life [laughter] chasing a carrot. Do you ever get it? Now it's always 2 foot in front, you almost get it, sometimes, just perfection you know, happiness, even deep meditation, it's almost there, and you just go a bit further, and it goes further away from you. But many donkeys have actually heard my talks on YouTube. [laughter] And they now know how to catch the carrot! How to find meaning in life. You know how you do that? The donkey's already been running really fast, and the donkey hears the word, "stop", stop chasing that carrot, "stop" so the donkey stops. You know what happens when you stop? The carrot moves further away than its ever been before. If you've got patience and trust and faith, you've heard Ajahn Brahm, you actually believe he may be on to something, so you stop. And as soon as it's 4 foot away from you, twice as far as it's ever been you get a little bit of doubt, is this going to happen, is it true? But then something amazing happens, the carrot starts coming towards you. And soon it's in its normal position, 2 foot in front of your mouth, but now it's coming at great speed [laughter] towards you, you don't have to do anything, you just sit there, And just at the right moment, you remember the most important phrase, "The door of my mouth is now open to you, carrot" [laughter] And the carrot gets into your own mouth!

  Open story page·Watch this telling

• The frozen forest and the sacred silence

  In brief: On his first visit home after seven years in Thailand, Ajahn Brahm stays at a new, unheated monastery in Sussex in a winter so cold the…

  Read full story▾▴

  I still remember one of the amazing times of my life one of the mornings which I will never forget when I was staying in England The ..Veriliam.. Monastery, one of the first monasteries which our tradition built in England, in Sussex That was a winter time about now I have gone to visit my family I think it was the first time after seven years that I went after living in Thailand that I went to visit my family for Christmas and this monastery has just been established and it was one of the coldest winters in England at that time in a typical British news-sheet it showed me the headlines -26 degrees centigrade even the beer froze But that following morning even though it was just so cold I went out for a walk in the forest early not many people were up let alone outside of the houses in such cold weather I remember that walk in that forest even now because as I walked in the fresh snow fall you look down in the freshly fallen snow and there were no prints of any animals, let alone human beings the snow has fell the night before and I was like the first person on earth to walk in that forest and as I walked nothing moved there was no wind or even breeze not even the leaves fluttered when I stopped, the whole world stopped moving all the animals were hibernating nothing stirred It was so silent and of course my own mind went silent when you are faced with such profound and deep and powerful peace your mind can't resist resonating with that peace as if the peace gets right inside of you just like the cold can do But this was not unpleasant you became one with that peace. It became one of those magic experiences of my life just walking and then stopping and enjoying the power of silence.

  Open story page·Watch this telling