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Story · Ajahn Brahm

A dog called Chemo

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Kamma without Belief | by Ajahn Brahm | 06 January 2012

1 min read

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

there's one of my friends over in Melbourne, now that's Priya Mendes [?] and she’s got this big dog and it was Labrador wasn’t it, and when I saw it, I said “what's its name” and she gave it the name, she's a doctor, she gave it the name “Chemo”. Chemo the dog, that's a really weird name, why do you name it Chemo? She said “because I'm training this dog to be one of these dogs who goes into wards with people who are very, very sick, because we all know that if you take a little dog or a cat or a rabbit into a ward where people are very sick, just being able to pet that dog, to stroke it, have this beautiful soft animal in there, the compassion which a small animal or even a big animal generates amongst human beings has a very strong positive effect on people's recovery. They actually get better. Having a beautiful dog to play with in the ward, it makes you sort of, gets up all your, what's it called, the, not serotonin, all these endomorphines, all this beautiful health things in your body, you all know better than I do... but you know it really works. So that's why she called her dog Chemo because it was short for chemotherapy, that was a little joke, she's a good student of mine, has got a stupid sense of humor just like me. [laughter] So Chemo, Chemo the dog, and of course that dog went into so many wards in its life, healing people, helping people, that dog must have made huge amounts of good karma just by generating compassion in other beings.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 50:40 (to 52:23)

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

A doctor trained her gentle Labrador, Chemo, to visit hospital wards, where stroking him helped very sick people heal. That dog must have made enormous good karma. Animals trust and forgive so easily, even after a missed meal. Ajahn Brahm wonders why partners can't do the same. Let your pets teach you kindness.

In brief (our summary)

A doctor friend in Melbourne has a big Labrador she named 'Chemo'. She was training it to visit hospital wards, because stroking a gentle animal helps very sick people recover — 'Chemo' was short for chemotherapy, a joke. The dog went into many wards in its life, helping people heal, and so must have made a great deal of good karma.

Teaching point

Animals make good karma through kindness, love and trust — and remind us to do the same.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Kamma without Belief | by Ajahn Brahm | 06 January 2012 · 2012-01-07 · ▶ watch from 50:40 to 52:23 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: Manual (volunteer) captions; occasional misspellings kept as is. The friend's name is marked uncertain in the captions.

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

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