Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Chah

First night in the charnel ground

From a talk by Ajahn Chah, “In the Dead of Night...”

1 min read

Content note: death; cremation

The story — retold in our own words from Ajahn Chah's talk

Retold in our own words from Ajahn Chah's talk “In the Dead of Night...”, in The Teachings of Ajahn Chah (2007 web edition), pp. 339–344. Read the original talk

One day, as night was coming on, Ajahn Chah forced himself to go and stay in a charnel ground for the first time. He did not really want to go, but if he reasoned with himself he would never go, so he took a pa-kow (eight-precept postulant) and went, resolving that if he was going to be stubbornly afraid he might as well die. He made the pa-kow camp far off, though he would have liked company. A child's body was buried right beside his spot. He sat in his net all night watching over a body, without lying down. Later another, larger, body was brought and cremated there. In the dead of night the funeral fire flickered; he was rigid with fear. Around 10 p.m., sitting with his back to the fire, he heard a shuffling, then heavy footsteps like a buffalo's crunching the leaves, passing behind him, going off toward the pa-kow, falling quiet, then coming back. He did not know what it was. An inner voice asked what he was afraid of; another answered, death. He reflected that whether he was afraid or not he would die just the same, and as soon as he had conquered the fear, a violent rain broke. He was no longer afraid of dying or of branches falling, and he sat through the downpour. At dawn, when he opened his eyes, everything looked yellow. He got up; when he urinated there was blood in the urine. One inner voice feared his gut was torn; another answered that he had only been sitting, and if he died practising like this he was prepared.

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

Ajahn Chah did not wait to feel brave before going; he went, shaking, and sat with the fear until it passed. Most of us will never sleep in a cremation ground, but we each have a place we avoid. Moods say turn back. Taking one patient step towards what frightens us can loosen its grip.

Reflection written by Being Mindful Stories with AI help, in the spirit of the talk. These are not Ajahn Chah's own words.

In brief (our summary)

Ajahn Chah forces himself to spend a night in a cremation ground, sits through terror, a funeral pyre and a storm, and at dawn finds he has gone beyond his fear.

Teaching point

Fear is overcome by going towards it with resolve, not by following our moods.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Chah in the talk “In the Dead of Night...”, in The Teachings of Ajahn Chah (2007 web edition), pp. 339–344

1 other telling of this story

  • the talk “In the Dead of Night...”, in Food for the Heart (2007 edition), pp. 85–91
    The same talk, reprinted in this book (not a separate telling).

The book is © The Sangha, Wat Nong Pah Pong, offered for free distribution. Read the talk free at ajahnchah.org.

The story text is Being Mindful Stories's retelling in our own words of how Ajahn Chah tells it in this talk, not his own words and not a quotation. Read the talk in the book for his exact words. The title, summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk in the book. Markdown version

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