Tarantula tickly feet — spider monk

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• The tiger that was a mouse

  In brief: Meditating alone at night deep in the Thai jungle, Ajahn Brahm hears rustling. As a Cambridge-trained scientist he assesses it: a small…

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  so I was meditating in the jungle really dark no lights had a sort of flashlight but it was you know had to conserve the power and there was no mobile phones no one took court if there was any danger there deep in the jungle alone meditating now the jungle can be really peaceful at first especially you know when they see Carters you know start to die down after Sunset you'll be very peaceful and very cool you know Tyler is a very hot country but in the forest the shade of the trees maybe it's just the oxygen which they give up gives a beautiful atmosphere it's really cool and very peaceful and so secluded hardly any disturbances at all so I was getting into some really nice deep meditation until I heard a sound there's always something in the jungle crawling around and so I was mindful as you know I've been practicing this for years I was very mindful I didn't need to open my eyes if I did I couldn't say anything it was pitched dark I just listened and and assessed I was brought up as a scientist in Cambridge University so I did some like assessment gather some data and use some reason and by the sound of this animal it was only just you know not really crushing leaves it was just a little bit of rustling in the leaves so I assessed it and said oh it's only maybe a small little animal just you know walking through the jungle nothing to be afraid of so then I started meditating again but then after another couple of minutes I realized it was coming much closer and as it was closer I could hear it more clearly and I realized no no it's not a small animal it's a medium-sized one you could tell by the way it was actually crashing the leaves and breaking the Twigs but still nothing to be really afraid of and then when it got really close wow that's not a medium-sized one that's a big one because the way it was making a noise it must be something really heavy to actually to break not tweaks but like almost like small branches and crushing the leaves on the forest floor because you can't walk in the forest without any noise there's too much undergrowth and too much leaves litter on the ground this was a big animal that was dangerous and I got really scared and I picked up my flashlight and you know the waste of time for that really was a tiger that just tell you the tiger where you were but that's how stupid you are you pick up your flashlight and you look for it where's the big tiger and then I saw it I saw it just not that far in front of me this tiny Mouse about this big that's what it was and that tiny Mouse had been making us more noise but it was my fear with an exaggerated that sound into thinking it really was a tiger

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• Ray-Bans on the meditation demon

  In brief: Early in his practice a blood-dripping, skull-necklaced demon appears in Ajahn Brahm's deep meditation; knowing the mind creates it, he…

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  This is one story from my life Many years ago I think I was in Thailand when this happened I was meditating nice and peacefully and then got some nice deep meditation and I got this image in my mind right in front of me was this demon with big bulging eyes like they are coming out of the sockets (Ajahn gestures with hands covering his face) the teeth were all jagged and dripping blood. (Ajahn gesturing to the amusement of the audience) And skulls around its neck I forget what else ... really angry eyes and the tongue was coming out (Ajahn putting his tongue out and making a scary noise) Is this on the camera by the way? And it looked very very frightening But I had enough wisdom to know that this is just a creation of the mind That all it is. These negative images you create them and you can mess around with them. So that's what I decided to do; to mess around with them So just like I used to do as a naughty school kid I blacked out a few of its fangs so it had these big holes in its teeth and instead of these big scary bulging eyes I put a pair of like sunglasses RayBans on, looked really cool And on top of its spiky head I put a straw hat with a flower coming out And I messed around like that until this demon was so funny was so ridiculous, I laughed I totally humiliated that demon and it never came back again

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• The kung fu pose

  In brief: Walking from his mother's flat in Acton to give a talk at the Sri Lankan temple, Ajahn Brahm takes the short way past a block of flats…

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  I told him the story of when I was uh over in London visiting my mother and that's where I grew up in London in West London Actton. part of that area was very rough and I just in the afternoon I was walking from my mother's house or rather flat apartment to the Sri Lankan temple to give a talk that evening and I decided to go the shortest way which was also past this block of flats for poor people which was known as a hot bed of crime. Basically, it was like a nogo area unless you knew who you were and where, you know, and the other people knew you. So, I was walking along the street minding my own business. And this gang, maybe first of all, a dozen or maybe 14 or 15 guys came out just to meet together to, you know, find out what business they were going to get up to that evening. And as they saw me coming towards them, just walking peacefully, minding my own business, then they realized I was a Buddhist monk cuz they started chanting Buddha. Budda, Budda, Buddha. As I got closer, it became louder and faster. Buddha, Budda, Buddha, Buddha. They were trying to intimidate me. But even I was alone and these were many young you must call them thugs just they were waiting for me chanting louder and louder Buddha Buddha. I had a choice. I could turn around and just go back and go another way. I could cross the road to the other side of the street. That is not my character. My character was that I walked towards him calmly. When I got to within about five or six meters of them, they're really chanting loud now. Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, and I raised my arms in a kung fu pose. At least what I saw on the TV as a kung fu pose. You know, sometimes I actually did that sometime. I don't know if it was stupidity or courage, but I don't know, but it worked. and and I just walked the same pace with my arms like this [laughter] and they parted and let me right through. They didn't hit me at all or harm me at all. They could have wasted me so easily.

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• Root canal without anaesthetic

  In brief: As a young monk at the first Perth centre in North Perth, Ajahn Brahm goes to a free dental clinic and is assigned a trainee dentist — the…

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  And even telling that story, uh just you know, one of uh uh vice presidents years ago. I remember uh Sit Oh, now what was his name? Uh Dr. Chan. This was a time when we first opened this place up with um uh the Premier Gordon Reid. But anyway, his son, Sing How. Um it just happened that uh uh Dr. Chan, he was a uh a dentist. And his son had joined in the the uh family sort of trade as dentists. He started off like almost like being an apprentice, learning his stuff. And in those days, you had to work in these like free dental clinics. And there was one in North Perth. And I was just around the corner from our first Buddhist center in Back in Audley Street in North Perth. So when I needed some medical attention, I just went there even not really knowing him. Sort of you know, I was assigned to him as my dentist. And he had a look, and because I was a monk, he said, "Well, best one of your teeth is not really good. Best to do a root canal." So I guess to do a root canal. And I saw him about 2 or 3 months ago. He came to Bodhinyana Monastery. It was the anniversary of his mother's death, and she's in uh her ashes are in the wall of Bodhinyana Monastery. And I just happened to see him, and I went to say hello and just just hadn't seen him for years. He said, "Ah." And he said to his friend, "This is Ajahn Brahm, and I did his root canal when he was a young monk." And he said I was so impressed because he refused to take any any anesthetic. He said, "Even as he was doing my root canal without anesthetic, even though tears were coming out of my He said, "Ah, it's okay. It's only tears." And just have my root canal without anesthetic. And he asked me what type of like crown do you want on that root canal? I said, "Oh, the cheapest one. You know, no need to anything flashy or something." And apparently the cheapest one was gold. And monks aren't supposed to to own gold, especially on your teeth. So I said, "I can't take gold. It's It's wrong. It's It's against my precepts." He says, "Well, I have to give you the expensive one." So anyway, he didn't mind giving me the expensive one anyway cuz he was a Buddhist, and his I think his father helped out.

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