# The teacher who woke in a drowned boy's body

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-teacher-reborn-in-drowned-boy
- Themes: rebirth, consciousness
- Life situations: curiosity about rebirth

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

A now-famous meditation teacher (unnamed, still alive) was, it seems, reborn into the body of a village boy who had drowned in a lake and lain under the water for hours. When found, the boy came alive again; the teacher's first memory is a brilliant light and gaining consciousness in that boy's body.

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

that happened to a great teacher it seems i won't say the name because they're still alive was born in the body of a drowned boy the boy had died in a village lake and he's been under the water for hours when they find him he came alive again and the person who he eventually became is quite a famous meditation teacher and he said that was his first memory this brilliant light and he gaining consciousness in the body of this young boy

## Teaching point

The time between death and rebirth can be almost anything — even taking over a still-viable body.

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

Ajahn Brahm passes on a remarkable claim: a well-known teacher's first memory is of waking in the body of a drowned village boy. He can't prove it, and neither can we. What he stresses is how to weigh such experiences, from a mind that is clear and free of wanting, not from hope or fear.

## Source

- [Out of Body Experiences | Ajahn Brahm | 1 July 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsyT2OaS2Tw) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 52:33 to 53:08: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsyT2OaS2Tw&t=3153s

Other tellings of this story:

- [DN9 Potthapada Sutta - States of Consciousness (part 2 of 2) | Ajahn Brahm | 24 June 2018](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcQ0IBin9Ik) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 17:01 to 17:54: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcQ0IBin9Ik&t=1021s