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Story · Ajahn Brahm

Walking off with everything he owned on his back

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Instead of Attachment | Ajahn Brahm | 04-03-2011

2 min read

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

One of my most memorable experiences in my training as a monk after 5 years being a monk in these monasteries in Thailand you are expected, encouraged to actually leave the monastery, just go wondering on foot. Its a great opportunity to visit other teachers' You have been in a one monastery and to see how the other teachers teach To get a wider experience or may be go and find some solitude in the jungles or the mountains That was after five years--what would that be 1979 or something; somewhere around then. I left the monastery; and the rule was you couldn't store anything there. You can give it away but once you gave it away nothing would be kept for you. So everything which was yours you had to carry with you. And of course if you are walking especially through the hot tropics carrying lots and lots of stuff is just really really unpleasant. It was reminding you how much a burden your possessions were. So after a couple of days, you gave this away and you gave that away and you are down to the absolute minimum you needed Once you got down to that minimum, my goodness it was so light. You can imagine the experience. Just put yourself in that experience that everything you own you are carrying on your back and it's light. And you can dance, there is hardly any burden there at all. Because as a monk we knew that, there are monasteries everywhere any place you go you can get a bed for the night. If you don't get a bed for the night you can sleep under a tree. Its the tropics, it is easy to do. You can go anywhere, you get something to eat, not delicious food but enough to keep you going through the day, there is waters in the well. There was this total sense of freedom freedom from possessions. And that was just like being in heaven. You didn't have any worries at all. You had cloths to wear, you had this little mosquito net umbrella which you could park anywhere to sleep at night. And the best thing about it; you had no appointments. Your future was blank. I could go anywhere I wanted. Every cross road, you can go left, go right, turn around, go forward, stay still No one was asking you to go anywhere, to do anything or be anything. That was one of my wonderful experiences of being free from attachments at all.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 6:11 (to 8:51)

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

Wandering on foot through the Thai heat, young Ajahn Brahm gave away whatever weighed him down until his bundle was so light he could dance. A bed or a tree for the night, enough food, no appointments: it felt like heaven. Most of us can't live like that, but imagine carrying everything you own on your back, and notice what you'd happily leave behind.

In brief (our summary)

After five years as a monk in Thailand (around 1979) Ajahn Brahm leaves his monastery to wander on foot. Nothing can be stored, so he must carry everything; in the tropical heat it is a burden, so he gives things away until he is down to the minimum — and it is so light he could dance. With a bed or a tree for the night, food and well-water, and no appointments, every crossroads is free: like being in heaven.

Teaching point

The less you have, the freer you feel; possessions are a burden we carry.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Instead of Attachment | Ajahn Brahm | 04-03-2011 · 2011-03-05 · ▶ watch from 6:11 to 8:51 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

5 other tellings of this story

Caption notes: Manual (volunteer) captions; occasional misspellings kept as is.

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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