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Story · Ajahn Brahm

The most beautiful bamboo looked sick after the ride

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Guided Meditation with Q&A | Ajahn Brahm | 18 Apr 2020

1 min read

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

my beautiful clump of bamboo - I just stared at it - it was gorgeous. I didn't move. The delight, because my hindrances were so suppressed I could just look at something and see it's deep beauty, gave rise to the stillness. The ability just to hold the perception, not really hold it, the perception held me, and just be there, enjoying every moment of this, that's where the restlessness disappears

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 16:03 (to 16:52)

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

On retreat in England, Ajahn Brahm thought a clump of bamboo was the most beautiful in the world. Two weeks and some stressful traffic later, it looked dry and sickly. Same plant; tired mind. How beautiful the world looks depends partly on us. Look after your mind, and life looks lovelier.

In brief (our summary)

After a UK meditation retreat he bikes through stressful traffic to revisit his favourite bamboo clump — days earlier the most beautiful in the world; now dry, desiccated, out of place. Same plant; tired mind.

Teaching point

Beauty is in the mind's charge, not only in the plant.

When this story may help

  • post-retreat comedown
  • seeing with tired eyes

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Guided Meditation with Q&A | Ajahn Brahm | 18 Apr 2020 · 2020-04-18 · ▶ watch from 16:03 to 16:52 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

2 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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