Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

Between the tiger and the snake: taste the honey

As told by Ajahn Brahm in What to do when everything falls apart | by Ajahn Brahm | 18-05-2012

3 min read

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

that was a story of the man who was being chased by the tiger this is the story which says what to do when everything goes terribly wrong he is being chased by a tiger in the jungle, a man-eating tiger and these two things you should know about tigers. First of all, they can run much faster than you can so if you're being chased you’re in big trouble. And number two, they like human beings for dinner. It's a delicacy, especially fat human beings like monks So anyway this tiger was running after this man in the jungle what did the man do he was really in big trouble the tiger was almost at his at his heels he saw a hole in there in the jungle, an abandoned well. Yes, it's exciting isn't it? (Audience laughed) Thank you for those special effects (Audience laughed) and he had no choice, he took a risk he jumped into that well and as soon as he committed to jumping into the well that's when he realized he made a big mistake. You ever done that? You know you take a risk and you find Oh! Oh! big mistake. Because that well was dry there was no water in the bottom instead of water there was a big black snake coiled up at the bottom of the well. Instinctively he reached to the side of the well and grabbed a root which was poking through the wall of the well that stopped his fall and when he sort of settle down and came to, he looked up. The tiger hadn't given up yet, the tiger was leaning over the well trying to paw him from above but his hand, his hand holding the root was just too low the tiger couldn't reach him and then he looked down the snake had woken up, the snake had lifted its head, had open its hood and hisss… Did I get any of you that way? Look, it's Friday evening you've been at work I need to wake you up somehow, to make this alive. trying to strike his feet but the feet were just too high the snake was stretching couldn't quite hit the guy's feet. So there he was, stuck between a man-eating tiger and a venomous snake and as he was wondering what to do next he saw from a hole in the side of the well two mice crawl out. A black mouse and a white mouse and those mice started chewing at the roots. Just to make it a little bit more scary. So what should he do next? What would you do? You get so anxious and afraid, the the roots getting thinner and thinner, I’ve got Tiger above me, a snake below. Aah! but not this guy. This guy had been to the Buddhist temple many times. He'd read the story “opening the door of your heart” he knew exactly what to do. That's why you come to places like this. If you’re ever in a jungle and this happens to you you know exactly what to do or something similar because what was happening next. The tiger, the tiger was trying to paw him from below and his backside was rubbing against the tree making the tree shakes. On a branch of the tree directly above the well there was a beehive. Don’t worry about the bees they’re okay but as the hive was shaking honey started to drip down and this man put out his tongue to taste the honey and said Mmm, that's so delicious. And that is the end of the story.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 7:40 (to 12:34)

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

Tiger above, cobra below, two mice gnawing the root, and the man tastes the honey: mmm, delicious. When everything seems to be going wrong, there's usually still something sweet within reach, a friend's voice, sunlight, a quiet breath. Tasting it doesn't deny the danger; it gives you the strength to keep holding on.

In brief (our summary)

Chased by a man-eating tiger, a man jumps into a dry well, catches a root and hangs between the tiger pawing from above and a cobra striking from below, while a black and a white mouse gnaw the root. Honey drips from a shaken beehive; he tastes it — “Mmm, that's so delicious.” The story ends there.

Teaching point

When everything is falling apart there is always some honey dripping down — your job is to taste it. (The mice are night and day eating away our hold on life.)

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in What to do when everything falls apart | by Ajahn Brahm | 18-05-2012 · 2012-05-21 · ▶ watch from 7:40 to 12:34 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

5 other tellings of this story

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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