# Tolstoy's screaming patient falls quiet

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-tolstoy-dying-man-lucid
- Themes: death, dying, clarity of mind
- Life situations: caring for a dying loved one, terminal illness, fear of a painful death

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Ajahn Brahm recalls a Tolstoy story read as a student: a wealthy man in constant pain screams day and night for weeks, no therapy helps, and then the house suddenly goes quiet — for five or ten minutes before he dies he is free of pain and lucid.

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

there was a story of a person quite a wealthy person in his country house who had his sickness and who was uh in to in pain constantly moaning and screaming literally 24 hours a day would not sleep and it was driving all the people in the house crazy imagine you're in a house and there's someone moaning and screaming in pain and there's nothing you can do about it being wealthy they tried to get all sorts of therapists homeopaths allopaths everything but nothing could relieve this person's pain and there were tolto when a beautiful writer was describing the emotions of the people who had to deal with this for many weeks but at the end of the story he mentioned that everything suddenly went quiet in the house but the man hadn't died yet for 5 or 10 minutes he was free of pain clear Lucid before he passed away

## Teaching point

In the last moments of life the mind can separate from the failing brain and become clear.

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

After weeks of screaming pain, Tolstoy's patient fell quiet, clear and lucid for a few minutes before he died, and Ajahn Brahm says he has seen the same at bedsides. If you sit with someone near the end, it's a gentle reason to stay present and keep speaking kindly; those moments may matter. It's a story, not a medical promise.

## Source

- [What Happens After You Die? | Ajahn Brahm | 08-04-2011](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZZupDuprhU) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 13:05 to 14:10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZZupDuprhU&t=785s