Story · Ajahn Brahm
“Pushing the wheelbarrow is easy; thinking about it is the hard part”
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
My teacher Ajahn Chah had just built his hall. And there was lots of earth left over. And instead of paying people or getting earth movers to move the earth, why pay money when you've got so many slaves. Like me, young monks. In those days I was fit, I was healthy, I was handsome. Not fat and old like today. But I didn't mind helping a teacher. It was like gratitude when someone had helped you so much, you just please give me something to do, I just want to help you. And so he asked us to please move this earth, all the leftover earth to put in the place around the back. Now that was not easy. It was three days of hard slog. We'd only eat one meal a day. And you really couldn't even call it a meal. It was just subsistence rations. Just sticky rice with a frog on the top. That was one of the meals. It was rotten fish curry, it stank. It was… that's what we had to eat. Because this is what the villagers ate. There was snail soup. I remember the snail soup that was just so disgusting. Because the snails are so chewy. You know, just it's really hard to break them up. You know like those rubbers you use to erase pencils that's what it was like it reminded me of. That was one of the common ones. Or the fried crickets, the bugs, the ant soup and egg soup was very common. Or buffalo afterbirth. That was vegetarian food. Think about it. It doesn't harm the animal at all. It's just extra. But anyway, really gross food. And then from nine o'clock on till about ten o'clock in the evening shoveling earth into the wheelbarrows, pushing it you know to where it's needed to go. A huge amount of three days work. And it was so hot. It was in the jungle. And there was so many mosquitoes. And it was so tiring. You didn't have time to have dinner. There wasn't any lunch or any afternoon snacks or dinner. We only had one meal a day. Wow! Even prisoners of war never had to work that hard. And I had faith. After three days it was all finished. But you can imagine how dirty you felt, how sweaty. All your robes stank and just, you know you didn't have time for a shower. As soon as you got back to your hut you just collapsed. And you woke up in the morning, alms around, have a quick meal and bound moving the earth again. Three days of really really hard work. But it was finished and when I went to bed after the third day I thought “great! Tomorrow I can have a really good wash and wash my robes and do some meditation, just relax a bit.” but that night my master Ajahn Chah, he went to visit another monastery. Just like I'm doing tomorrow. We do those things. We visit each other, help each other out. And that morning after our breakfast, the deputy monk, he made in the announcement. He said “I've been thinking of where we put that earth. It's the wrong place,” he said. We need to move it. And you know he, that deputy monk, he never pushed a wheelbarrow. Never touched it. He was one of the bosses. You know what bosses are like. They always tell you what to do but they never do anything themselves. All full of ideas but no experience. So three more days of hard work in the jungle pushing those wheelbarrows, shoveling the earth. But I still had faith. After six days it was finished. Because the deputy monk had a point, you know. Well it was almost in the wrong place. And that night, guess what happened? Ajahn Chah came back. And the following morning after breakfast he said “I told you to put it over here. Why'd you put it over there? Move it! And it was at that point I lost my faith. I never became a monk to move wheelbarrows of earth. I came to meditate, become enlightened, you know, learn the Dhamma and… that's what I was a monk for. Not as a laborer. Not as a slave. I got very angry. And you know I did say I think in the book, it's absolutely true. You did start to swear. In English thinking that you know, the Thai monks couldn't understand you. But of course they understood. The body language showed you're really really unhappy. And that I was stressed out. I was angry. For a good reason you're being exploited. You've been taken advantage of. I was so angry and upset. And that's when one of the Thai monks came up to me and he said something which I will never forget which I've shared with thousands of people. One of the great ways of overcoming stress in life. He said to me: “pushing the wheelbarrow is easy. Thinking about it is a hard part.” you know, that was worth all of that torture. Just to learn that. Pushing the wheelbarrow is a hard part. Going to work with a terrible boss that's easy. Thinking about it is a problem. Having to do all of that job being the president of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia it's easy. Thinking about it is a hard part. And of course once I got it straight away you know that the rest of the three days went really quick. And it was fun. You know we'd have races with the other monks, you got there first. And if they beat me you know, just for a bit of revenge you know, shoveling the next bit of earth and it was oh just sorry, sorry that's of I… I didn't get it in the wheelbarrow. Got it all over your face. Shoveling over each other. Just a bit of fun and games playing around. And that was really good fun. After nine days it was finished.
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 12:23 (to 19:07)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
Moving the same mountain of earth three times on one meal a day had a young monk swearing in English, until a Thai monk told him the pushing was easy and the thinking was hard. The last three days turned into races and shovelfuls of mischief. Next time a job feels unbearable, notice how much of the weight is the complaining.
In brief (our summary)
Ajahn Chah asks the young monks to move a mountain of leftover earth; three days of gruelling work on one meal a day. While Ajahn Chah is away the deputy says it's in the wrong place — three more days. Ajahn Chah returns: “I told you to put it over here — move it!” Young Ajahn Brahm loses his faith and swears in English, until a Thai monk tells him, “Pushing the wheelbarrow is easy. Thinking about it is the hard part.” The last three days became fun and games.
Teaching point
Stress comes from complaining and thinking about the work, not from doing it; make the doing fun.
When this story may help
- unfair workload
- difficult boss
- work stress
- feeling exploited
- changing instructions at work
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in How To Not Have Any Stress | Ajahn Brahm | 12 May 2017 · 2017-05-12 · ▶ watch from 12:23 to 19:07 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
11 other tellings of this story
- Success Without Stress | by Ajahn Brahm | 24 February 2012 · 2012-03-01 · ▶ watch from 31:02 to 34:11 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia2012 telling ('to put the story in brief'): no deputy/second move; emphasises jungle heat, mosquitoes, one meal of sticky rice and frogs, senior monks drinking tea; adds the monastery rule that whoever suggests an idea must do it.
- Dealing with Tiredness | Ajahn Brahm | 19 Feb 2016 · 2016-02-20 · ▶ watch from 16:14 to 19:09 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia2016 telling (told within an unfinished story about arriving exhausted at a monastery for a four-hour sit): 9 a.m.–9 p.m. for 3 days each round; mosquitoes; compares himself to WWII forced labourers; afterwards races with the other monks.
- On the Other Side of Anger | by Ajahn Brahm | 31-05-2013 · 2013-06-01 · ▶ watch from 18:44 to 23:23 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaMay 2013 telling, 'in brief': meal of 'frog on rice or a few beetles'; work 9.30 a.m. to about 9 p.m.; he swears in English; an unnamed Thai monk gives the advice; after it, the monks race and joke.
- On Patience | Ajahn Brahm | 26-06-2009 · 2009-07-07 · ▶ watch from 38:27 to 44:45 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia2009 telling: about 13 hours a day for 3 days per move, lanterns at night; the deputy (later abbot) orders the second move while Ajahn Chah is away, Ajahn Chah orders the third; he swears in English so the Thais can't understand; a Thai monk says 'pushing the wheelbarrow is easy, thinking about it is the hard part'; he suspects the two monks planned it together.
- Facing Difficult Situations in Life | Ajahn Brahm | 6 October 2017 · 2017-10-06 · ▶ watch from 35:00 to 43:23 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaOct 2017 Perth telling: 9:30 a.m.–8/9 p.m., one bottle of Coca-Cola or Pepsi; includes the Ajahn Liem 'easy to train' aside (entered separately) and the earth moved three times (nine days); the helpful monk's name is forgotten.
- Discovering and Following Meaning in Your Life | Ajahn Brahm | 3 May 2019 · 2019-05-03 · ▶ watch from 57:52 to 58:50 · Buddhist Society of Western Australiac. 2019, brief telling (Q&A): six days, twelve hours a day of wheelbarrows in the jungle; Ajahn Chah's 'pushing a wheelbarrow is easy, thinking about it is the hard part'.
- How to Deal with Difficulties | Ajahn Brahm | 29 April 2022 · 2022-04-29 · ▶ watch from 48:49 to 52:14 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaApr 2022 telling (Q&A): three days, moved again at Ajahn Liem's suggestion, then Ajahn Chah orders it moved back; he swears in English; an unnamed monk says the line; afterwards wheelbarrow races.
- Learn to be Silent | Ajahn Brahm | 13 April 2018 · 2018-04-13 · ▶ watch from 26:10 to 29:09 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia2018 telling: nine days building the big hall at Wat Pah Pong on one poor meal a day; 'CFMEU — construction forestry monks and union' quip; he had a good degree and felt exploited as cheap labour. The supermarket-graduate joke is nested in this span.
- Just Do It | Ajahn Brahm | 12 July 2019 · 2019-07-12 · ▶ watch from 1:01 to 5:53 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaJul 2019 telling (opening, Just Do It frame): Pepsi Cola joke; wild deer; whisky toes=mosquitoes; hurricane lanterns; first Thai word 'yut' (luck as captioned)=stop; sweaty sleep; gratitude for deep meditation teacher.
- Living With Non-Buddhists | Ajahn Brahm | 21-01-2011 · 2011-01-22 · ▶ watch from 2:02 to 4:46 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaJan 2011 telling: Chah hall earth-moving; deputy moves the pile three days later — wheelbarrows, mosquitoes, sticky heat.
- How To Be A High Flyer | Ajahn Brahm | 6 Mar 2009 · 2009-03-22 · ▶ watch from 8:56 to 9:22 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaMar 2009 telling: junior monks as earth-movers — 50–60 wheelbarrows after the meal.
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