# Meditating through the fever

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-scrub-typhus-fever-meditation
- Themes: illness, meditation, mind and body, healing
- Life situations: long illness, hospital stay, feeling helpless when sick

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Three or four weeks into an undiagnosed fever (later found to be scrub typhus) in a basic Ubon hospital ward, with no energy and nothing working, the young monk feels low and decides to do something useful: meditate. Lying sprawled on the bed, he lets go of the body; despite the noisy ward he hears nothing, smells nothing, and goes into a beautiful mind state. He is sure that is when the fever stopped, and he was very happy afterwards.

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

But I do remember one of the times. And I wish I had been a bit more mindful, but I can understand why I wasn't cuz I had such such incredibly low energy. Never had so much low energy as that time fever of about 3 or 4 weeks. And anyway that uh one day I got sort of depressed but not a depression which was um negative. I don't know that I thought oh this is really awful. Nothing's working. This is terrible. So why don't I do some meditation actually practice know what my teacher would teach me what the Buddha would say do something useful. And this was like three weeks or four weeks into a a very heavy fever and nothing was working, feeling just so exhausted. So I decided to meditate and obviously not cross-legged but just laying on the bed, laying on my back or half on my back, half on this, half on that and being able just to let go of my body. And it was such a wonderful experience just sitting there or not so not sitting. They're laying there with legs all over the place. We've seen people in hospital with a fever. They're not really caring about just how their body is positioned. You're all over the place. But then just going deep inside away from my body, closing my eyes. It was in a a ward of a hospital. So there's lots of noise there, but I couldn't hear anything. No smell. No taste, just going inside to some nice beautiful mind state. Oh, it's just a wonderful time. And I'm really sure that that would be when the fever stopped simply because that's the nature of the mind. It's incredibly powerful and it's so powerful inside. It just stops all this stuff in your body and very happy afterwards.

## Teaching point

The body is sick, not the mind; deep meditation is possible even in sickness, and the powerful mind can help heal the body.

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

Weeks into a fever in a crowded Ubon ward, the young monk decided to do something useful and meditate. He let go of the body, heard nothing, and found a beautiful stillness; he believes the fever broke then. That is his experience, not a medical claim. Still, illness needn't stop you resting the mind. The body is sick; the mind can still be at peace.

## Source

- [The Nature of Your Mind | Ajahn Brahm | 8 May 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilmc6aO6ElM) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 21:48 to 23:57: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilmc6aO6ElM&t=1308s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Gratitude and Expectations | Ajahn Brahm | 9 July 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzT3W1jjTYY) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 28:12 to 31:43: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzT3W1jjTYY&t=1692s
- [Suffering Leads to Liberation | AjahnBrahm | 12 May 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG2ZtMzJo3g) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 11:02 to 11:51: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG2ZtMzJo3g&t=662s
- [Dhammapada First Line (Mind) | Ajahn Brahm | 24 Feb 2017](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLZNr1upgTE) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 57:04 to 58:07: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLZNr1upgTE&t=3424s
- [The Healing Power of Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 26 April 2024](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L29H6tdvTqI) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 24:27 to 33:09: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L29H6tdvTqI&t=1467s
- [Effortless Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 30 October 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrxbtSV3gZ8) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 44:30 to 46:04: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrxbtSV3gZ8&t=2670s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 5 February 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUTw4Y0hm8A) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:07:46 to 1:08:22: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUTw4Y0hm8A&t=4066s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 12th March 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjzNflvPv8Q) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:20:34 to 1:21:51: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjzNflvPv8Q&t=4834s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 31 October 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KWhlHafHFQ) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:04:28 to 1:05:04: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KWhlHafHFQ&t=3868s
- [01. Day 1 - Morning Talk. Ajahn Brahm Retreat at Bandarawela, Sri Lanka 2011](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtnuVoJXWhM) (BSWA Retreats 2011-15 & Media) — watch from 20:41 to 21:26: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtnuVoJXWhM&t=1241s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 1 February 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXsjyO0p9JY) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 8:00 to 8:25: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXsjyO0p9JY&t=480s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 2 December 2017](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pigE64H6EQ8) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 58:16 to 58:42: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pigE64H6EQ8&t=3496s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 18 February 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12jTLXDddZk) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:04:41 to 1:05:02: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12jTLXDddZk&t=3881s
- [Ajahn Brahm's Personal Experience of Grief | Ajahn Brahm | 22 May 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4qA0xho_oM) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 53:46 to 54:24: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4qA0xho_oM&t=3226s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 1 November 2025](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRhT4VNfbH0) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 4:01 to 4:44: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRhT4VNfbH0&t=241s
- [Emboldening the Mind with Fizz & Sparkle (3/14) | Ajahn Brahm & Venerable Canda | 7 December 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQscbNiNQek) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 14:26 to 18:41: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQscbNiNQek&t=866s