# Come have some sake — the old man on the train

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-train-sake-not-a-fight
- Themes: conflict, compassion, alcohol, Japan
- Life situations: public conflict, grief

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Martial-arts student on a crowded Japanese train is about to fight a drunk who shoved a pregnant woman; an old man offers the drunk sake, speaks kindly of his late wife — the drunk weeps; his own wife had died; violence ends.

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

Japan studying martial arts and of course real martial arts should only be used after training out of compassion not sort of using aggressively and he was in a crowded train and he knew I forget what particular martial arts it was Taekwondo or when it was karate but anyway he was highly sort of skilled in that art but you know had some restraints only use it for kindness or for personal training but he saw this drunken Japanese guy come on the train and just push his way past the pregnant woman the pregnant woman fell on the floor and he thought that this now is a justification he can actually show off his martial arts so he went up to this guy and this guy sort of squared up to him and you know he said you shouldn't do that and he said I'm going to teach you some manners and it's about to be a fight and this Old Gentleman in the back of the the train so came up touched this drunken man on the shoulder and said come and have some sake with me had a little bottle with him and so the drunkard you know would always like some more sake so he left the American the martial arts expert alone and sat down on a chair with him and he started saying something like you know my wife who passed away some time ago we always used to sit out in the afternoon in the late evening having little sake together it said it with much kindness and this drunken man started to cry and he said his wife too had died only a few months ago and he was so depressed and upset he'd lost his job and that's why he took solace in alcohol and saying the story there why the violence started finding another way of dealing with it

## Teaching point

Kindness can disarm what skill was about to escalate.

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

On a Tokyo train, a young martial artist was itching to fight a drunk who had shoved a pregnant woman. An old man beat him to it, offering the drunk sake and gentle talk about his late wife. The drunk wept: his own wife had just died. Violence ended with understanding. Look for the cause before you raise a fist.

## Source

- [How to Resolve Conflicts | Ajahn Brahm | 9 June 2017](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hwuhdzIEso) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 25:51 to 28:07: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hwuhdzIEso&t=1551s