Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Chah

The young novice in the cemetery

From a talk by Ajahn Chah, “Suffering on the Road”

1 min read

Content note: death

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

Retold in our own words from Ajahn Chah's talk “Suffering on the Road”, in The Teachings of Ajahn Chah (2007 web edition), pp. 488–489. Read the original talk

Ajahn Chah once encountered a young novice, still more or less a child and hardly into his teens, who wanted to practise living alone in a cemetery. Concerned for him, Ajahn Chah kept an eye on how he was doing. Each morning the novice went on almsround, brought the food back to the cremation ground, and ate alone among the pits where unburned corpses were buried; each night he slept alone next to the remains of the dead. After about a week nearby, Ajahn Chah went to check. The novice seemed at ease. Asked if he was afraid staying there, he said he was not. Asked why not, he said it seemed to him unlikely that there was much to be afraid of. That one simple reflection, Ajahn Chah says, was enough: the novice's mind stopped proliferating, his fear vanished, and he was 'cured' straight away.

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

We often think a big fear needs a big solution. Ajahn Chah admired a young novice whose fear dissolved with one plain thought, held steadily. When the mind piles worry on worry, it can help to find one simple, true reflection and rest there instead of thinking of a hundred more.

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)

A very young novice lives alone in a cemetery; when Ajahn Chah checks on him, he is at ease, because one simple reflection has ended his fear.

Teaching point

One simple, clear reflection can stop the mind's proliferation and dissolve fear.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Chah in the talk “Suffering on the Road”, in The Teachings of Ajahn Chah (2007 web edition), pp. 488–489

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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