Story · Ajahn Brahm

Strawberry ice cream on spaghetti bolognese

1 min read

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

And just all in one bowl, all gets mixed up. I say, that's amazing. When you see the way we eat, and sometimes you just get these things. You tried to separate them, I must admit, but was this one occasion, I had strawberry ice cream on spaghetti bolognese. [laughter] There's spaghetti bolognese and it was in one part. There's some ice cream. And the person who took my bowl up just must have just went over the lid. Oh my goodness. So you're getting bolognese and the strawberry ice cream was on top of it. Have you ever had that? [laughter] Why do you think it's nasty? Why do you think it's terrible? Actually it is nasty and terrible.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 10:30 (to 11:26)

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

Monks eat from one bowl, and once someone tipped strawberry ice cream onto Ajahn Brahm's spaghetti bolognese. Yes, he admits, it was nasty. But a child would find it interesting, try it, and tell their friends. Meet life's mix-ups with that kind of curiosity, and even hard work can become fun.

In brief (our summary)

Monks eat everything from one bowl. Once, the person serving Ajahn Brahm tipped strawberry ice cream straight on top of his spaghetti bolognese. Why think it's nasty? — though, he admits, it actually is. The fun of monastic life is treating such things like a child would: interesting, let's try it, and tell your friends afterwards.

Teaching point

Meet life's mix-ups with a child's curiosity instead of a fault-finding mind.

When this story may help

  • things not going as planned
  • food

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in The Fault Finding Mind | Ajahn Brahm | 7 May 2021 · 2021-05-07 · ▶ watch from 10:30 to 11:26 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

1 other telling of this story

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

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