Story · Ajahn Brahm
Yeah, that's right — both monks and neither
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
two monks who were arguing arguing over you know, the truth of rebirth reincarnation. One said it's really important. The other one said it wasn't important. You got to live in the present moment. You're not dead yet. And so they had this argument, so they went to see the the Ajahn, the boss. And the first one went in there and said rebirth is really important. It's part of Buddhism." And he quoted the suttas and they the Ajahn said, "Yeah, that's right." He went and he told his friend. He said, "The boss said I was right." And then the other monk went, "He can't say you're right. This is about present moment awareness. How do you know you haven't died yet?" So, went in there and told the other monk and the head monk said, "Oh, yeah, that's right. You need to live in the present moment." So, the two monks, they got contradictory advice from the head monk. And so, they said, "We better go in there together and find out. You said that I was right." And then you said that he was right. We can't both be right. And the head monk said, "Yeah, that's right."
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 49:10 (to 50:23)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
Two monks with opposite views each got 'that's right' from their abbot. When they complained they couldn't both be right, he said: yes, that's right. Needing to be the only one who's right is foolish. Ajahn Liam joked that he lets monks go whichever way they want. Inspire people instead of controlling them.
In brief (our summary)
Two monks argue whether rebirth matters; each separately gets 'yeah, that's right' from the abbot; together they protest they cannot both be right — abbot: yeah, that's right.
Teaching point
The need to be the only one who is right is its own foolishness.
When this story may help
- theological arguments
- needing to win
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in Importance of Pausing and Reflecting | Ajahn Brahm | 31 December 2021 · 2021-12-31 · ▶ watch from 49:10 to 50:23 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
1 other telling of this story
- Materialisme Intelektual | Ajahn Brahm | 15 Januari 2016 · 2018-06-03 · ▶ watch from 39:19 to 40:53 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaJan 2016: two monks argue whether you must believe in reincarnation; the master tells each, and then both, that they are right.
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