Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

The log that was a crocodile

As told by Ajahn Brahm in The Nature of Suffering | Ajahn Brahm | 10 February 2023

1 min read

Content note: disaster; unverified claim

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

There was a uh a Sri Lankan man who would go every morning to a little lagoon on his way to work with a couple of slices of bread to feed the fish. Then one day a crocodile came. And so he fed the crocodile a slice of bread, too. And this crocodile just came every day from that time on to get a slice of bread from this guy. I don't crocodile alligator, might get that one wrong. But anyway, he went there one morning to feed the fish and this crocodile, and that was when the big wave came. And he got swept out to sea. And he said he tried to hang on to to a chair or something which was floating, but the current was so strong it dragged him the chair away from him. The next thing he saw was a log of wood. He grabbed onto that and he could hold onto it. And he was so incredibly confused. It's a true story. They didn't It took him a while to realize all the other stuff was being swept out to sea, but the log of wood was going the opposite direction to the shore. And it got him so close to the shore he could jump off the log of wood and grab onto the bank and escape with his life. Then he looked at that log of wood. It wasn't a log of wood. It was this crocodile that saved him. Or it could be, for those of you who are cynical, the crocodile realized if that man dies, there'll be no more bread.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 1:14:13 (to 1:15:54)

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

A man fed a lagoon crocodile a slice of bread every morning. When the tsunami swept him out to sea, the log that carried him back to shore turned out to be the crocodile. Or, Ajahn Brahm adds for cynics, it didn't want to lose its bread. Either way, small daily kindnesses have a way of coming back.

In brief (our summary)

A Sri Lankan man fed the fish in a lagoon with a slice of bread every morning on his way to work, and when a crocodile appeared he fed it a slice too, every day. One morning the 2004 tsunami swept him out to sea. He lost hold of a floating chair, then grabbed a log — and while everything else was being swept out, the log carried him back towards the shore, close enough to jump to the bank. Then he looked back: it wasn't a log. It was the crocodile. 'Or, for those of you who are cynical, the crocodile realized if that man dies, there'll be no more bread.'

Teaching point

Among the acts of kindness that came out of the tsunami — kindness returns in unexpected ways.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in The Nature of Suffering | Ajahn Brahm | 10 February 2023 · 2023-02-10 · ▶ watch from 1:14:13 to 1:15:54 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

1 other telling of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned.

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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