Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

'I claim my prize!'

As told by Ajahn Brahm in 1. Relaxing the Body & Mind - Ajahn Brahm

1 min read

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

I actually think it was actually Ajahn Sujato told me that he was walk Was it Ajahn Sujato? I think it was Ajahn Sujato. He was walking through Sydney. And one of the radio programs, they had this promotion. If you catch the the guy wearing the funny suit through Sydney, he'll give you a special prize. And this this guy came up to him and said, "I claim my prize." And I just And I just said, "What are you talking about?" He said, "You're the guy from, you know, the 2 AX or something." "What are you talking about?" So, "Aren't you the fellow who's dressed in a funny suit and I ask the question and then I get the prize." I said, "No, I'm not. I really am a monk." See, that actually happened, you know.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 40:46 (to 41:28)

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

A radio station offered prizes for spotting a man in a funny suit walking through Sydney, so someone ran up to a robed monk to claim his prize. No, he said, I really am a monk. Ajahn Brahm laughed when he heard it. Monks look odd in shopping centres. Being thought ridiculous now and then is good for us.

In brief (our summary)

Ajahn Sujato (he thinks) tells him: walking through Sydney in his robes, he is stopped by a man claiming his prize. A radio station is running a promotion — catch the guy in the funny suit walking through Sydney and win a prize. 'Aren't you the fellow dressed in a funny suit?' 'No — I really am a monk.'

Teaching point

Told as a light aside on how out of place monks look in the modern city.

When this story may help

  • being misjudged
  • standing out

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in 1. Relaxing the Body & Mind - Ajahn Brahm · 2012-01-31 · ▶ watch from 40:46 to 41:28 · BSWA Retreats 2011-15 & Media

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned. 'the 2 AX or something' = a radio station name as captioned.

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

  • The naughty hour from three to four

    In brief: As a young monk in a silent forest paradise (one car a week) he fights thoughts — including old girlfriends — until exhausted. At the…

    Read full story

    so that was Paradise for me and so I thought wow this is it I'm going to have a really lovely time and it was a lovely time for the first week or two and then I started thinking and I was only a young mik at the time so you know I didn't really know how to deal with this you know what I did when I started thinking I started to try and stop the thoughts come on stop it watch the breath come on watch your breath and that just made the thoughts worse and worse and worse and they kept going faster and stronger and more weird and soon I was starting to think I don't mind telling the story I started to think of old girlfriends I wonder if she's still available now shut up a bom you're a monk wonder where she is now oh watch your breath and all these really weird thoughts now I like being a monk but you know like you want to meditate but still these thoughts come in and you know they're Uninvited and get out of here and they come in even stronger do you know what I mean you know you're trying to get rid of those thoughts which come into your mind all sorts of stupid ones but you know you can't get rid of them and I was fighting and fighting and fighting until I just got exhausted and you was so frustrated now if ever you come across that frustration during this Retreat remember this is what you're supposed to do I just couldn't stand in the WR I didn't know what to do I just could not get these stupid thoughts out of my head so I went to there's no other monk there to talk to and I was too embarrassed to talk to the late people about what I was thinking so I went into the shrine bowed to the Buddha statue and just asked for some sort of inspiration and the inspiration came and it was do a deal make a make a an agreement and the agreement was this that I would meditate on my breath you know for most of the day but I would give myself a time like a naughty monk time 3: to 4:00 p.m. every afternoon I could think whatever I wanted I was not going to try and stop it or criticize it sexual fantasies romance anything I would let happen from 3: to 4 so I thought okay M if you want to do that 3 to 4 is your your your naughty time if you want to call it that whatever you want to think about you can think about it and I won't stop you I would let you let it happen I I promise to the Buddha I won't stop it from 3: to 4: but the rest of the time you behave now you know that sounded so reasonable and logical to me at the time and I tried that you know it was just still such a fight you know trying to sort of keep these thoughts out and so when it got to 3:00 I was really tired so I just lent against the wall you know and put my feet out cuz they were just aching and I said right now I'm going to keep my bargain mine for the next hour you can think anything you want and I won't try and stop you at all the weirdest sexual fantasies old girlfriends whatever you want to think about off you go and for the next hour no joke no exaggeration the next hour I watched every breath without missing one and I couldn't believe it

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • Londoners laughed at the robes

    In brief: Walking London streets in robes; strangers laugh at his appearance before he understands why — until he turns a corner and sees himself as…

    Read full story

    walking down the streets of London and know a lot of times because they didn't know what the heck I was, you know, wearing brown robes and bald head, no socks. That was weird enough. But then you would uh people would never ever say hello to you. But on Christmas day, everybody would say hello to you without exception. You know, there's also that one time I recall that, you know, that just the it's amazing the different cultures, but you wear these robes wherever you go because that's all you have. So anyway, when I was uh visiting like Stoke on Trent, that's where where my mother was born and so a lot of family up there. So I was visiting one of my friends or cousin and over there and going for a walk in the morning, a nice little bit of exercise. And as I was walking down the the streets, everybody was pointing at me and laughing. And I I don't mind actually creating some happiness in the world and joy in this world. It's a wonderful thing to make people laugh, but I really couldn't understand why. I wasn't telling any jokes. It was just, you know, just my appearance was sometimes making them laugh

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • Bangkok walking meditation — my name from miles away

    In brief: On walking meditation in Bangkok years ago, Brahm hears his ordination name Brahmavamso as if from miles away. Paying attention, he finds…

    Read full story

    walking meditation uh this was in Bangkok many years ago that I heard this sound like it was a long distance away like miles away and it was it was my name no I don't promise another the name I'm known as now but the real name is Brahma wongsa and I heard this sound like from a really long distance brahmawang so Obama Wong so and I thought this was really weird because it felt so distant for me but then I just paid attention to it instead of my feet walking and I found out it was another mug was shouting in my ear hole

    Open story page·Watch this telling

  • A monk costs less than a dog

    In brief: When monks of the tradition first went to England, supporters worried whether they could afford one. The head of the trust, an economist…

    Read full story

    when the monks in this tradition first went to England, the people there were a bit concerned, I mean, can we... this was in the early days when there wasn't so many supporters. Now, can we afford to look after a monk? You know, how much does it cost to look after a monk and there was this guy he was, he became the head of this trust, which looked after our monastery in England. He was an economist, and he was actually on the board of the Bank of England. He was a professor at one of the universities in England. So you know, he really knew his stuff about economics, so he decided to work out before they invited any monks to their place. How much does it cost to look after a monk? And surprise, surprise, he found out that it's much cheaper to look after a monk or a nun than to look after a dog. Dogs are far more expensive.

    Open story page·Watch this telling

All stories·Find a story for your situation