The laughing Bhikkhu

Ajahn Brahmavamso, the name given to him at ordination (lay name Peter) while titillating audiences with his anecdotes is etching a unique place for himself in the sphere of religion. He was born to a poor Roman Catholic family in London and began to show an aptitude for studies. He won a scholarship to Cambridge University where he came across the Buddha's teachings. Buddhist meditation appealed to him. Still a youth, he came to the East for further exploration into the field.

At the age of 27 he was ordained by a Thai prelate heading the forest monastery of Saketh Vihar in Thailand. Later hew was invited to head a Buddhist institute in Australia where he resides now in the forest hermitage Bodhyana at Serpentine. He also does consultancy work in many Buddhist societies in Australia and other countries. Today he has gained fame as the 'Laughing White Bhikkhu' Ajahn Brahmavamso laughs very often at himself and at others for their queer doings and funny quirks in life. Some may argue that laughing excessively is unbecoming for a Bhikkhu who should be engaged solely on the traumas and travails of the Samsara.

But it cannot be denied that Samsara itself raises an equal amount of laughter and sorrow. For the laughing Bhikkhu the world seems to be suffused with sorrow and suffering, but diluted much with laughing matter. Anyway laughing savants are not very uncommon.

Laughing Buddha

In fact, there is a statue of a Laughing Buddha in Myanmar. I saw it on a tour to Myanmar. Perhaps it comes under the pale of Mahayana Buddhism. A compilation of sermons by Ajahn Brahmavanso has been sent to me by Sunetra, one of my friends. Sunetra was a celebrated actress in Kadavalalu in the 1950s. Today she lives with her books, mostly religious texts, in a semi-mansion overlooking the picturesque Balana, Kadugannawa range from where I gazed for hours on a visit. We revived our friendship almost after 30 years and now indulge in an exchange of books that would be helpful in our last voyage. That is all part of the Samsara Chakka. I enjoyed the book that reveals not only the thought patterns of the Bhikkhu, but also his glimpses into the fantastic dramas that he has seen. There is an episode of a cat bred in the coal fields which had been closed on an order by the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Soon they became the dumping grounds not only for garbage, but also unwanted kittens.

The kittens grew into adulthood and soon the depths were full of their offspring. Years alter some engineers who examined the closed mines came across a new breed of cats, totally blind, but with long ears!

What had happened according to the bhikkhu was that since sunlight never percolated to the depths of the mines it had affected their eyesight and blinded them. To compensate for that and sharpen their hearing faculty the ears had grown long.

Queerness of living

This is one of the few tales told to illustrate the queerness of the living world. The tales take you to a strange world which put you in a quandary whether to believe them or not. There are those who come back from the after life, still others who leave their bodies and float in the air while the body lies on the operation table. All the talk going around reaches the astral self.

The best of his tales are those that make you laugh. The man with four wives does it, so does the milkman's tale of finding his son at last. But the anecdotes his forest hermitage in Thailand will just break your ribs. He has abdicated a high university post at Cambridge University that could have come his way easily to savour all the dangers of an equatorial forest.

The very environment is deadly, that is far from laughter. Reptiles crawl about in plenty. He says that they never hurt the meditating Bhikkhus. They crawl in and about their temporary lodgings. It was an exemplary instance of harmony between reptiles and humans. Ajahn Brahmavamso's sense of humour too reaches its apex in these tales really qualifying him for the title of the 'Laughing Bhikkhu'.

There is one episode in which he urinated on a piece of wood. Soon the wood began to move and he realised that he was urinating on a large serpent sporting the colours of wood! Ajan Brahmavamso says, "All Thais are Buddhists. So, I have to assume that these creatures of the wild too have converted to Buddhism. May be the huge serpent mistook my urine flow for a trickle of Pirith Pan that is administered by Bhikkhus on lay people to relieve their sufferings!"

Still in his 60s he is sure to make a success of his chosen career as a follower of the Buddha in a world torn between crying and laughing.