# Old treasurer — migraine into the dark room

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-treasurer-migraine-dark-room
- Themes: meditation, illness, pain, army
- Life situations: illness, work

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

An old BSWA treasurer, not yet Buddhist, learned in the army to beat migraine attacks by sitting 15 minutes in a quiet dark place and going so deep he could not feel his body — classic meditation before he had the name for it.

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

old treasurers of all things he passed away some time ago old fellow but he used to go into these deep meditations when he was even in the army he was just uh he didn't really wasn't a buddhist at the time but he just had these terrible um migraine attacks and the only way he'd get through those migraine attacks is finding a quiet dark place and sitting in that quiet dark place for 15 minutes and going deep inside and he said he can go deeper inside enough that he could not feel his body anymore

## Teaching point

Pain sometimes teaches the path before doctrine does.

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

An old treasurer of the Buddhist society learned in the army to get through migraines by sitting in a dark shed and going so deep he couldn't feel his body. Once, soldiers lifted him into a truck and he never noticed. Pain taught him meditation before he knew the word. It's no substitute for medical care, but stillness can help.

## Source

- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 9th April 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NITqiRQ5VTE) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 3:36 to 4:16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NITqiRQ5VTE&t=216s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 10 February 2024](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_v2ur-tRI8) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 4:37 to 5:46: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_v2ur-tRI8&t=277s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 4 February 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FGyruwsFIw) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:09:13 to 1:09:54: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FGyruwsFIw&t=4153s
- [2023 April (3/19) | 9 day Retreat | Ajahn Brahm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPllNABzV_A) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:29:03 to 1:30:58: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPllNABzV_A&t=5343s