Story · Ajahn Brahm

I don't hit sleepy meditators — I send them to bed

1 min read

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

there's a Zen Monastery It's A Hai Monastery over in Japan it used to founded by this monk doen about 700 almost 800 years ago now 750 years ago and uh that was supposed to um get them um awake stop their sloth and toper I totally disagree with that I remember just when I was teaching uh some of the prisoners I showed them that documentary oh they were really upset said if if you tried that on me A J rob you'd be you'd be minc me you'd be dead don't wor you don't really need to do that I think that too harsh you know sometimes of Buddism they are too harsh like kindness is much better so if you know and many of you who've been meditating Retreats with me if somebody is that sleepy I don't hit them on the back what I do is say if you want to sleep go to bed

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 57:06 (to 58:05)

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

Asked about monasteries that strike sleepy meditators, Ajahn Brahm disagrees; on his retreats, if you're sleepy, go to bed. Being hard on yourself isn't discipline; it's fear. True discipline grows from kindness, forgiveness and peace. Live that way, and others will want to follow.

In brief (our summary)

An audience mention of a Japanese Soto (captioned Hai/Dogen) monastery that hits sleepy monks prompts him to disagree: prisoners who saw such a documentary said they'd kill anyone who tried it. His retreat rule — if sleepy, go to bed; kindness beats the stick.

Teaching point

Discipline without kindness is just fear; sleepiness needs rest, not violence.

When this story may help

  • harsh practice
  • sleepiness on retreat

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in In Between | Ajahn Brahm | 27-05-2011 · 2011-05-28 · ▶ watch from 57:06 to 58:05 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

1 other telling of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'A Hai'/'doen' likely Sōtō / Dōgen; 'A J rob' = Ajahn Brahm.

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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