# The monk who would keep his money

- Teacher: Ajahn Chah
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/chah-monk-who-would-keep-his-money
- Themes: honesty, precepts, money, attachment
- Life situations: money, monastic rules, making excuses

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

A visiting monk asks to stay and keep his money 'without attachment'; Ajahn Chah answers that if he can eat salt and not find it salty, he can.

## The story, retold in our own words (a paraphrase, not Ajahn Chah's words)

_Retold in our own words from Ajahn Chah's talk “Unshakeable Peace”, in The Teachings of Ajahn Chah (2007 web edition), pp. 524–525._

Ajahn Chah met a monk who said he was a real meditator, asked to stay, and inquired about the monastery’s discipline. Ajahn Chah explained that they lived by the Vinaya and that the monk would have to renounce money and private stores. The visitor said his practice was 'non-attachment to all conventions' and asked to stay and keep his money without attaching to it, because money was just a convention. Ajahn Chah answered that if the man could eat salt and not find it salty, then he could use money and not be attached to it; non-attachment was not a matter of clever speech, and if he was going to talk like that he could not stay. So the monk left.

## Teaching point

Non-attachment is shown in how we live, not in clever speech.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Chah's talk)

Clever words can make almost anything sound spiritual. Ajahn Chah's answer about salt cuts through gently and firmly. Our values show in what we actually do with money, time and promises. Living them plainly, a little more each day, is worth more than any fine explanation of why we do not need to.

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

## Source

- Talk "Unshakeable Peace", in The Teachings of Ajahn Chah (2007 web edition), pp. 524–525 — https://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Unshakeable_Peace1_2.php

_The book is © The Sangha, Wat Nong Pah Pong, offered for free distribution; read the talk free at its source link. No book text is reproduced here._