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Story · Ajahn Brahm

The wine gums

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Sex and Booze | Ajahn Brahm | 01-07-2011

1 min read

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

even when I was a young monk, it was Christmas time, and it was these four monks, actually they're all really famous monks now. I won't tell you who they are. I wouldn't embarrass them. But their parents for Christmas sent them some wine gums. Now, wine gums are just sweets. And they just got the name wine, but they thought, "No, there'd be no wine in these." And so, the four of them, you know, from Canada, they sort of ate them together, just the four of them. They never gave any to me. And it's a good job because I would've taken them, too. And actually had real wine in them. And the monks didn't think there was any such They they haven't had alcohol for for years. So, they were actually ultra-sensitive. So, we had four drunk monks in the monastery to look at.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 26:42 (to 27:29)

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

Four monks shared a Christmas packet of wine gums, assuming they were just sweets, and the monastery had four drunk monks. Ajahn Brahm admits he'd have eaten them too if they had shared. After years of clarity, even a little can tip the mind. Know what you're putting into yourself, and laugh kindly when someone gets caught out.

In brief (our summary)

One Christmas when Ajahn Brahm was a young monk, four (now famous, unnamed) Canadian monks receive wine gums from their parents. Assuming they're just sweets, they eat them together — without sharing, luckily. They contain real wine, and after years without alcohol the monastery has four drunk monks.

Teaching point

After long abstinence even a little alcohol affects the mind strongly.

When this story may help

  • offering food to monks
  • abstinence

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Sex and Booze | Ajahn Brahm | 01-07-2011 · 2011-07-05 · ▶ watch from 26:42 to 27:29 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

1 other telling of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, 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

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