Story · Ajahn Brahm
The toilet frame with no hole
Content note: toilet humour
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
I remember there was this one girl, this one girl came from England. She was like 18 or 19 years of age, came to visit our monastery. And you know the squat toilets we have in Asia where you squat down on them? So some people have a hard time squatting down on the toilets. You know, they fall over and that's not such a good thing when you want to go. So instead of actually down, we built, especially, out of compassion for all these visitors from places like England and Australia, we built like a frame so you can put it over the squat toilet and actually sit on it. You know, because most people use the squat toilet, so we just put this frame just to the side. And that's the toilet which this girl used. It just had no hole in the bottom. No water. It was only a frame. But she sat on it and did her business and it went all on the floor. [laughter]. Exactly! That's what you did. That's what Ajahn Chah did. That's what I did. I thought it was terribly funny. "Oh thank you for doing that. You gave me another story!
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 45:23 (to 46:38)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
A young visitor used a toilet frame with nothing underneath, and Ajahn Chah laughed as hard as anyone. It's exactly the kind of moment we'd hate to have retold. Yet embarrassment shrinks when we join in the laughter, and the mishap becomes a gift to others. Just be careful what you confess to a monk who gives Friday talks.
In brief (our summary)
For Western visitors, the monastery made a sitting frame to place over squat toilets. An 18-year-old English visitor sits on a frame standing to the side — with no toilet under it. Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Brahm find it terribly funny: “Thank you … you gave me another story!”
Teaching point
Laugh at mistakes and the world laughs with you, not at you.
When this story may help
- embarrassing mistake
- fear of embarrassment
- travel mishaps
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in Letting Go of Fear | Ajahn Brahm | 22-05-2009 · 2009-06-12 · ▶ watch from 45:23 to 46:38 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
1 other telling of this story
- The Fault Finding Mind | Ajahn Brahm | 7 May 2021 · 2021-05-07 · ▶ watch from 38:56 to 40:13 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaMay 2021 telling: her father headed the English Sangha Trust; an 18th-birthday trip; the frame was in storage in the corner of the lay guest building he had built.
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