# Super Monk and the death ray

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-super-monk-cartoon
- Themes: kindness, humour, seeing the good
- Life situations: dealing with hostility, conflict

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

An art student who watches his videos (from Czechoslovakia, he thinks) makes a cartoon of 'Super Monk' based on his stories. The villain has built a death ray to destroy the world; instead of fighting, Super Monk admires his technical brilliance — “That's the first time anybody's complimented me” — and offers to help him find a job that doesn't destroy the world. When the police come to arrest him, Super Monk reminds them: “Let go, let go” — so they let the bad guy go.

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

the biggest franchise if everybody really wants it anyone knows anyone in the movie industry 'I said this to somebody last Saturday, sort of, I saw this, a bit of a steal from a cartoon I saw in a Thai newspaper when I was a first-year monk, and stopped soon afterwords. It was Supermonk. Now, not Superman, not sort of Iron Man, not sort of Batman, but Supermonk. Because the Supermonk was the great character in the cartoon 'cause he can fly through the air, he had all this psychic powers, and stops all these great tragedies and terrorist attacks, but in the end, he wouldn't sort of like the other Superman throw people in jail, just give them five precepts, and they become Buddhist monks, and they live happily ever after. It's wonderful ending, just with a bit of a spirituality, and a bit of the argy-bargy necessary in movies so anyone who knows anyone in the movie industry, Supermonk would be a great one to franchise, something new they haven't seen before. And the Buddhist Society would get 10% of the revenues.

## Teaching point

The real superpower is kindness: see the good in someone and they can't do harm.

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

A fan drew Super Monk, who defeats a villain by admiring his brilliance and helping him find a better job, then tells the police to let go. Ajahn Brahm would love the franchise. Monks aren't superheroes. They feel pain like anyone, but learn to pull out the mental arrow and let suffering teach them.

## Source

- [The Negativity of Positivity | Ajahn Brahm | 23-04-2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FjmTHULtrM) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 36:45 to 37:51: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FjmTHULtrM&t=2205s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Develop Your Heart | Ajahn Brahm | 2 Dec 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqwCXGkmSy0) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 51:22 to 52:58: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqwCXGkmSy0&t=3082s
- [Being Afraid | Ajahn Brahm | 16 March 2018](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYHTHj4PGPU) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 4:22 to 7:28: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYHTHj4PGPU&t=262s