Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

Tears at the Sarnath Buddha

As told by Ajahn Brahm in It's OK to Cry | Ajahn Brahm | 5 November 2021

1 min read

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

And that was when we used to go on these pilgrimages to India. And there's one of the places that you know it's just outside of Binaris Finani in the deer park and just outside of the deer park that's where you know the Buddha gave his first sermon. It's one of the important pilgrimage sites for Buddhists. But what I really wanted to do was actually go and see this what they call the Sunat Buddha statue. He's got this big circle in the back of his head and the five um little uh first disciples and it was unearthed, you know, uh by the British when they were doing renovations or just uh looking after that site and it was almost totally undamaged. But it's not like it was just totally undamaged. It was it had some really power to it. And so I've seen that on many many photos and on book covers as one of the great works of art from India concerning the Buddha. And I knew it was in the museum there somewhere, but I never knew where. And there was no guide books and no guides. So when I got into that museum just outside Sat in India, I was just exploring trying to find out where the heck is this and it was just at the end of a corridor and I just was wondering just where is this? [snorts] Turned the corner and saw it at the end of the corridor and my eyes just burst out weeping. Couldn't stop myself. And it's, you know, it it is a very beautiful, it's acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful statues of a Buddha. For some reason or another, it just brings out a sense of peace, kindness, and it is now before we knew about uh the different forms of gender that was just in between. It wasn't male.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 31:07 (to 33:30)

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

Turning a museum corner near Sarnath, Ajahn Brahm saw the famous serene Buddha statue and burst into tears. On later pilgrimages he tried not to, and cried again; eventually he just brought tissues. Beautiful emotions needn't be held back. Too many rules surround feelings. Let the good ones flow.

In brief (our summary)

On pilgrimage near Sarnath (deer park outside Varanasi), he searches the museum for the famous undamaged teaching Buddha with the wheel behind the head. Turning a corridor corner he sees it and bursts into tears — unexpected, unstoppable — at what he calls one of India's great Buddhist artworks.

Teaching point

The best tears come naturally; beauty and peace can open the heart without warning.

When this story may help

  • pilgrimage
  • unexpected emotion

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in It's OK to Cry | Ajahn Brahm | 5 November 2021 · 2021-11-05 · ▶ watch from 31:07 to 33:30 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

2 other tellings of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned. 'Binaris Finani'/'Sunat Buddha'/'Sat' as captioned = Varanasi / Sarnath.

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

  • Australian boys don't cry

    In brief: A ~30-year-old South Australian on his first retreat weeps uncontrollably. Asked when he last cried, he says age 12 or 13 — when his…

    Read full story

    And I remember telling this lady a few minutes ago about this guy. He was an Australian and he's about 30 and he came from South Australia and he came on one of his first retreats and during that retreat he started crying his eyes out. [clears throat] Ah, what's going on? Is something going wrong? I'm crying. And I asked him, "When was the last time you cried before today?" And he went silent and said, "I last cried when I was only about 12 or 13." That's when my father said, "Australian boys don't cry." That's obvious, isn't it? you know that if you suppress that crying there's a lot of tears have to come out you know you build them up for a long time and so he cried and cried and cried what the benefits of crying so much and I mentioned and it was actually true he told me afterwards cuz he was a single guy he said he got lots and lots of uh females on that retreat were very interested in [laughter] It's a very attractive thing to do, isn't it? To cry. So, I don't need to go to to wear fancy clothes. Learn how to cry.

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • Trees give shade to the one cutting them down

    In brief: A forest sign in Sri Lanka: trees are so kind they even give shade to the person cutting them down — kindness that protects even those who…

    Read full story

    Trees are just so kind they even give shade to the person cutting them down.' And that is just a beautiful thing: they're hurting, they're killing the tree, but they still give shade to the people who are destroying them. That's kindness; that's something which is beautiful; that is something which is totally illogical, 100% emotional and just so, so Buddhist: even though someone is cutting you down and killing you, you still give shade to them and protect them. That is the meaning of life

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • The homeless man put his sandwich in the bowl

    In brief: During a Perth conference a young monk skipped the free lunch to walk St Georges Terrace with his bowl; a homeless man stopped him and…

    Read full story

    There was like a homeless man and he had a sandwich which he I don't know where he got his sandwich from. And he saw the monk and he stopped the monk and said, "Please stop and accept my sandwich." And the monk sort of opened his bowl lid and took a sandwich. Cuz when we go on alms round, we never ask for anything. We don't say, "Give me this, give me that." If somebody wishes to put some food into your bowl, they will do. And that's what he ate for his lunch that day. Not much. Where it came from was so wonderful and beautiful. We always feel that if somebody does a wonderful, kind, generous, sometimes you may say stupid act, that homeless man needed the food. No. The homeless man needed the opportunity to be kind. And that was even more he can get another sandwich somewhere. The opportunity to be kind and generous and do something from the heart. To actually to give instead of worrying about getting. Was something which was inspiring to that homeless man and something which that monk would never forget

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • The wild horse that kissed the coffin

    In brief: Gerald in Hong Kong sent a photo-story: a man tamed a wild horse with only kindness and patience — no hitting or starving — until the…

    Read full story

    there was a horse which no one could actually tame a wild horse and he decided to give it a try but not training it by hitting it or starving it or punishing it in any which way but just being patient and being kind and of course it took him a long time but after a while this horse you know would allow him to ride on on the horse's back became like an ordinary horse people thought it could never be they used the word broken that's a terrible word to use to break a horse he just used kindness and patience and this horse you know would always you know be this guy's friend would would greet him you know when he would come home from some other business he would greet him by actually putting his mouth on the on the mouth of this owner was actually kissing him but then unfortunately after so many years the owner died and passed away and this guy in hong kong gerald sent this beautiful photograph with the story of when this guy was in the coffin dead the horse came up and kissed his friend kissed the coffin obviously even that horse recognized that this that was his friend i just gave it one last kiss and this is those sorts of stories

    Open story page·Watch this telling

All stories·Find a story for your situation