Thai lady grabbed the tea towel

Related stories

• Holy water by the bucket — then she sold it

  In brief: Thai member Poonsup Wong, always sick, asks Ajahn Brahm for holy water by the 11-litre bucket each week. A Chinese man later rings wanting…

  Read full story▾▴

  some years ago, there was a Thai lady who married to a Chinese man. Many of you may remember her. Her name, I don't mind saying this, Poonsup Wong. Her husband was called George. And Poonsup, she was a Thai lady, but always she was always very sick. So much so that, you know, once she asked me, "Can you make me some holy water?" You know, this nam mon which, you know, sometimes you sprinkle people with. I said, "Yeah, sure." She said, "No, not a little bit. Can you make me by the bucket?" You know, like 11-liter buckets, plastic buckets. So, once a week, I'd make her a whole bucket of holy water, cuz I thought she was very sick. I'm a very kind monk. [laughter] So, that's what you want, that's what I'll give you. And that for weeks she was having this holy water by the bucket load. And then I found out what she was up to. Cuz I got a telephone call at Bodhinyana Monastery from a Chinese gentleman. He said, "I want to purchase some of your holy water." I said, "We don't purchase it. We give it away for free. This is like monks. We're not business people." He said, "No, no, no. You sell it." I don't. "It's very good." I said, "I don't sell it." And then uh something started to click in my mind. "What are you talking about?" He said, "I get mine from Mrs. Poonsup Wong. I want to cut out the middle white man or middle woman and get it direct from source, cheap." And I found out what she was up to. The bucket of holy water, 11 liters, she was taking it home and just dividing it up and then just it selling it a odd. She had a nice little order there. So as soon as I told her that was the end of that game.

  Open story page·Watch this telling

• Mango orchard planted by the Buddha

  In brief: First-year monk puzzled — no mango trees at Wat Pah Pong. Ajahn Chah: the monastery is a mango orchard planted by the Buddha himself,…

  Read full story▾▴

  Wat Pah Pong was a mango orchard." I remember this simile the first year when I became a monk and stayed with him. I didn't see any mango trees in Wat Pah Pong in those days. I said, "What is wrong? There's no mango trees in Ajahn Chah's monastery." And he said, "This is a metaphor. There are so many mango trees in Ajahn Chah's monastery and they've all been planted by the Buddha himself. This is getting weird. Cuz the Buddha actually never visited Thailand. And would the Buddha actually go to this this forest in the northeast of Thailand and not other places? So anyway, he carried on. It was planted by the Buddha. And now all of those mango trees which the Buddha planted and now full of ripe sweet mangoes. And I got interested because I don't know about you, but I love the mangoes in the northeast of Thailand. They were really tasty. And there was something which you could eat when the only alternative was to eat things like frogs. Honestly. That was often part of the meal for the day. One meal of the day, frogs and sticky rice. But in the mango season, you had these beautiful delicious mangoes. So anyway, when I heard there were mangoes in Wat Pah Pong planted by the Buddha according to Ajahn Chah's statement, I thought I'd like to try some of those. And then they were delicious. But then I realized what Ajahn Chah actually was saying. What he was saying was the mangoes, they represent the wisdom of the Buddha

  Open story page·Watch this telling

• Ajahn Chah stopped breathing — medic takes blood samples

  In brief: After Ajahn Chah's stroke, a royal medic freaks when Chah stops breathing for hours. Monks say he's meditating. Compromise: frequent blood…

  Read full story▾▴

  stopped breathing and the medic on duty you know because the king of Thailand he the uh the former King he sort of paid for a medic to be on duty eight hour shifts and the medical Duty that night got freaked out when agent Charles stopped breathing and now I leave him alone he's only meditating he said no he's not breathing that's death if you don't do something quick there's no Oxygen going to the brain you get permanent break and he's already got Strokes I don't know what more you can do but he will die and so freaking out and it's very hard for monks to explain to doctors you know what's really happening and this was like a very highly trained medic and he was paranoid you know you get in trouble with the king of Thailand if you're the agent child die so they came to this wonderful compromise it was very interesting he wasn't breathing for a couple of hours so the medic would take blood sample

  Open story page·Watch this telling

• Ajahn Chah's Buddhamus — Christmas as peace and love

  In brief: Ajahn Chah asks what Christmas is about; the Western monks say peace and harmony to all beings. He says why not — and every 25 December…

  Read full story▾▴

  Ajancha asking us what is this Christmas business all about? And we said straight away that peace and harmony to all beings, peace and love. He said, "Okay, we can celebrate that. Why not?" So every 25th of December in our monastery in Thailand, he would come there to celebrate Buddhamus

  Open story page·Watch this telling