Story · Ajahn Brahm

The wet-road skid — crash or swerve

1 min read

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

started skidding. And I remember this moment. I had a choice, a choice of just crashing into the back of the car. I don't know what damage it did to myself. I had enough sort of control to swerve around the car but not stop and just go through the pedestrian crossing without any control, to maybe crashing into the pedestrian. On those moments, you know what I did? I swerved around the car and took my chances. I just missed the pedestrian, thank goodness

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 31:08 (to 31:46)

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

Skidding on a wet road behind a stopped car, Ajahn Brahm had a split second: crash into it or swerve through the crossing. He swerved and just missed a pedestrian. He could have ended up in jail. Remember your own near misses. Others' mistakes could have been yours. Acknowledge, forgive, and learn.

In brief (our summary)

Wet road; car ahead stops for a pedestrian; Brahm skids and must choose rear-end crash or swerve through the crossing — swerves, barely misses the pedestrian, remembers how close jail was.

Teaching point

Split-second choices leave no room for the story you rehearse later.

When this story may help

  • close calls
  • regret

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Speaking From The Heart Without Fear | Ajahn Brahm | 16-05-2014 · 2014-06-27 · ▶ watch from 31:08 to 31:46 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

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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