Stories for anxiety
10 Buddhist wisdom stories for anxiety from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- He died of the blunt knife and the running tapStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Told as a famous psychology experiment: a condemned man in England is told his hanging is changed to having his throat cut; blindfolded, a blunt knife is drawn across his throat…
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a guy in jail in England over 100 years ago he was about to be executed by hanging And some psychologists, some scientists had permission to do this really gross experiment on him. They went to his cell the night before his execution and told him the law had been changed he still had to die tomorrow morning but this time not by hanging he would have his throat cut. And they let this poor man think about that all night. In the morning at dawn as happens with executions they came for him tied his hands securely behind his back put a blindfold over his eyes led him to the place of execution A priest gave him his last rites or whatever they did for him and then they took a knife and they cut his throat and he fell down and died. That's what he thought. He had his eyes blindfolded. What had really happened it was just the scientists and the prison governor or whoever it was, the superintendent took him to the wash rooms and one of them pretended to be the priest And when they finished reading out the sentence they took a knife which was so blunt you couldn't even cut butter with it and they drew it across his throat. He felt the steel on his throat. At the same time the other scientist just turned on a tap in the wash room, and he heard liquid coming out and he felt the steel on his throat and he fell down and died not a scratch on him. A very famous psychology experiment
- Insure the house — live in a prisonJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Sydney man told to cut insurance premiums with screens, cameras and bars until home feels like prison — punchline setup for finding another way.
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guy in Sydney I think I told this one before maybe some of you remember this guy in Sydney was just really really just upset at how much it cost for his insurance and the insurance company said if you want to get less premiums because of burglars and stuff you have to install security screens on your windows you get security guards like we've got over outside you have to have cameras everywhere bars on your windows it is like living in a prison but you have to because there's burglars around and he found a an alternative now he doesn't pay any insurance he's got free security and all he needed to do no bars on his windows no security screens no uh CCTV cameras all you did he went to Bunnings and brought a flagpole and on the flagpole is front garden he put a nicest flag
- 'Nothing wrong with being crazy'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At Cambridge in the 1970s a friend who had taken LSD came up to Ajahn Brahm saying, 'I think I'm going crazy.' Ajahn Brahm told him, 'Well, nothing wrong with being crazy — just…
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what my friends this was in the ' 70s even though I never took these drugs myself know he took some LSD one day when I was at Cambridge and I remember just uh seeing him know bumping up to him and he came up to me and said I think I'm going crazy I'm going mad and sometimes people do go crazy actually he is now he a very wealthy act one of the most conservative um suit ridden persons you could ever imagine if I actually told his boss what he did when he was at College he'd get kicked out of the company but nevertheless I would never say such things but at the time that he took some LSD and he thought he was going crazy and I remember just going up and say well nothing wrong with being crazy just be crazy it's all right and then of course he calmed down it was a fear of going crazy which was driving him crazy
- The ghost at the toilet doorStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After a funeral, a terrified 11-year-old novice stays in the hall all night; at 2 a.m. he dashes to the outdoor toilet, hears scratching at the door and hides for hours — it was…
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I remember this story - this poor little novice staying in our monastery in Thailand. Because it was a cremation monastery that day was the moon day when we would meditate all night...that poor little novice, we did a funeral that day, and were supposed to meditate all night... in the hall. Now usually, little novices, they are only about 11-12 years of age, there is no way they would stay up all night, they would sneak off in the middle of their night back to their house. We knew they did this, it was breaking the rules, but they were only small little monks, so we didn't mind. And we've go to be kind.. Not this day. This night, that little novice, he would not leave the hall. [Laughter]. Because he was just so afraid of the ghost. See even the [Laughter]. Those dogs must have been reborn in Thailand. Last night. [Laughter]. Great special effects. Now these, here they go again. [Laughter]. Shut up, dogs! [Laughter]. There, they're going now. Now these ghosts, or rather this little novice, the poor little novice, stuck in that hall, you know 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock, too scared to go out. When it got to about 2 o'clock in the morning he just couldn't hold his urine any longer. He had to go to the toilet. And the trouble is the toilet was about 20 meters outside the hall. [Some laughter]. In the darkness. So this poor little, you can imagine what he felt like, he had the pain in his bladder against the fear of that ghost getting him. So he made a run for it - desperation. He ran and he got to the toilet, locked the door. He'd only been in that toilet for about a few minutes when he heard the steps. [Laughter]. And it came right to the toilet cubicle he was in and started scratching. Can you get a scratch..? [Scratches tissue box]. I tried to get some special effects.. for the tape [Laughter]. A scratch at the door..and this poor little novice didn't come out of that toilet cubicle for about 3 hours. [Laughter]. And when he came out he was telling us - the ghost came to get him! The ghost! And he heard it, he heard it scratching. Another monk saw that ghost.. You know what it was? It was a civet cat. Like a possum. Those of you who've been to Asia know they've got squat toilets. The toilets are actually on the floor, and that little possum, civet cat, every evening he would go into that toilet cubicle to get some water to drink from the toilet bowl. That was his drinking place. And so that evening all that happened was this little possum walked to that toilet and was scratching the door - "please let me in, I'm thirsty". [Laughter]. But that little novice [laughs], he was a ghost coming to get me! And you can actually see how because of wrong thinking, and because there was a funeral that day, thinking all day, thinking all evening, and what was just a little jungle cat, just coming for a drink, he thought it was a ghost and he was in that toilet for about 3 or 4 hours - poor little novice.
- The only ones running for shelterStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A New Zealander, a late member of the society — reportedly the first New Zealander to escape from a prisoner-of-war camp in Europe — reached London in uniform. The first time he…
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one of our members who was here you know during that time most of these people are dead now you know he a New Zealander you know he escaped from a prison of war camp in Europe apparently the first New Zealander to actually escape he came back over to UK he was in London the first time he heard an air raid siren and you know he was in uniform he was a soldier and as soon as he heard the air raid Simon, he ran for an underground station when he realized that him and his soldier mate were the only two running into the station. and everyone were going around their business as normal. And he felt so embarrassed that the two soldiers were the only ones showing any fear and everyone else and people at the bus stop reading their newspaper, people just walking, chatting to each other, women were doing their shopping and he thought, "Wow, these people are not afraid." And they were so impressed with that attitude.
- The patient who took off her oxygen maskStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A doctor tells Ajahn Brahm about a patient with severe anxiety who was on an oxygen mask after every treatment had been tried — except his. She taught the patient his approach:…
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Just like there was one doctor who came to see me on a Friday because she had a patient on a Thursday who had um really severe anxiety and she was uh this person with anxiety was on a on a um uh oxygen mask because you know just to breathe and this oh I didn't actually say about the Ronnie story but anyway the grumpy story but anyway she was on an oxy oxygen mask and every type of treatment had been um dried and so except for a brah's treatment. So she said anyway, so what the treatment was was when you're anxious, when you have a panic attack, understand it, feel it first of all. Where is it? And for her, it was on her chest and really get to know it. Don't fight it. Don't try and get rid of it. Get to know it. And once you get to that, that's actually it's a not the best title for a book, but you know, the Chinese art of war, know the enemy, know yourself. Thousand battles fought, thousand battles won. Just know the sickness, know the problem, know what's going on. Once you get to know it, then we taught her to be kind to it by giving a nice massage on the chest. Nice massage on the chest. to be kind, not to try and get rid of things, but to get to know it and be kind to it, make peace with it, be kind to that physical manifestation of anxiety. And she told me afterwards, the next day when she went to check on the ward, that patient had an oxygen mask off and said, "I'm okay now. Can I go home?"
- The tiger that was a mouseStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Meditating alone at night deep in the Thai jungle, Ajahn Brahm hears rustling. As a Cambridge-trained scientist he assesses it: a small animal. As it comes closer: a medium-sized…
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so I was meditating in the jungle really dark no lights had a sort of flashlight but it was you know had to conserve the power and there was no mobile phones no one took court if there was any danger there deep in the jungle alone meditating now the jungle can be really peaceful at first especially you know when they see Carters you know start to die down after Sunset you'll be very peaceful and very cool you know Tyler is a very hot country but in the forest the shade of the trees maybe it's just the oxygen which they give up gives a beautiful atmosphere it's really cool and very peaceful and so secluded hardly any disturbances at all so I was getting into some really nice deep meditation until I heard a sound there's always something in the jungle crawling around and so I was mindful as you know I've been practicing this for years I was very mindful I didn't need to open my eyes if I did I couldn't say anything it was pitched dark I just listened and and assessed I was brought up as a scientist in Cambridge University so I did some like assessment gather some data and use some reason and by the sound of this animal it was only just you know not really crushing leaves it was just a little bit of rustling in the leaves so I assessed it and said oh it's only maybe a small little animal just you know walking through the jungle nothing to be afraid of so then I started meditating again but then after another couple of minutes I realized it was coming much closer and as it was closer I could hear it more clearly and I realized no no it's not a small animal it's a medium-sized one you could tell by the way it was actually crashing the leaves and breaking the Twigs but still nothing to be really afraid of and then when it got really close wow that's not a medium-sized one that's a big one because the way it was making a noise it must be something really heavy to actually to break not tweaks but like almost like small branches and crushing the leaves on the forest floor because you can't walk in the forest without any noise there's too much undergrowth and too much leaves litter on the ground this was a big animal that was dangerous and I got really scared and I picked up my flashlight and you know the waste of time for that really was a tiger that just tell you the tiger where you were but that's how stupid you are you pick up your flashlight and you look for it where's the big tiger and then I saw it I saw it just not that far in front of me this tiny Mouse about this big that's what it was and that tiny Mouse had been making us more noise but it was my fear with an exaggerated that sound into thinking it really was a tiger
- “They're all Buddhists” — the expensive clinicStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A very wealthy Kuala Lumpur businessman tells Ajahn Brahm he paid a fortune for therapy at a famous US clinic, even meeting the founder of the mindfulness movement — and came…
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This incredibly wealthy businessman, you know, he came up to me and he said he'd just been to the Mayo Clinic in Cleveland where all the film stars and pop stars, you know, go. It cost fortune to go to that clinic for therapy. Had depression, anxiety, I forget what it was, some addiction. And he went to this place cost him an absolute fortune. He had actually because he had money he had a personal in interview with John Kabbertson the guy who founded the mindfulness movement. And when he came back he said ajan bra all these guys here they're all Buddhists every one of them. And he said they teach the same thing as you do only not as clear. And he said I'm crazy. I spent all this money going to United States and I can hear better from you. He said, "Yeah, I teach these guys. You go to the source and it's really cheap when you come here.
- Two shopping bags — past and futureAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Carry two heavy shopping bags: left = PAST, right = FUTURE (hopes, fears, anxiety). Feel the lean; lower the past bag to the ground — spiritual exhaustion comes from holding both.
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simile of the two shopping bags. You imagine yourself carrying these two shopping bags in the left is a shopping bag which contains your past. See even got those four letters on the outside of the shopping bag. P A S T past. It's really heavy. And in the right hand you have the future. all your hopes and dreams and fears, anxieties. Those people who suffer from anxiety at this time, you know that that shopping bag in your right hand is so incredibly heavy. If you think of all the things which might go wrong and under those things which might go wrong, there's a few things there which may go right, but whatever is heavy. So having felt the weight of those two bags, you start with the bag in your left hand, the past. You've been holding it for such a long time. That is why we get tired and depressed and lose our resilience because we're spiritually exhausted. So take that bag, feel it, and imagine your back leaning to the left as you lower that bag to the ground. When the bag containing all of your pa
- “Whatever those monks are on, I want some”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A past president of the Buddhist Society, Rachel Green, first came only to learn meditation for panic attacks and anxiety. Seeing the Armadale group's monks always peaceful and…
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There's - one of our past presidents, she is not here this evening, so she was here about two or three weeks ago, that's Rachel Green. She won't mind me telling her name, because she wrote a little book about, her spiritual story. And the part which I like, well, I got to be honest, it was about me. And it's actually really about how she became a Buddhist. She was suffering from panic disorders and anxiety attacks. Like many of you know, if you actually come and do some meditation, it really helps overcome anxiety disorders and panic attacks. Meditation is a beautiful method of overcoming that. And many people know that, many people actually are sent by their GPs to places like this to learn meditation, so they can overcome their anxiety disorders and panic attacks - and it works very well. But anyway, she came along, just to learn some meditation to overcome her anxiety disorders, and then she saw these monks, and this is the Armadale group, always seem to be peaceful and happy. She wrote in her book, that when she first saw these guys, she thought they're just acting. Just a face you put on in public, and behind the scenes, you know you're just like anybody else - you know, grumpy, arrogant, selfish. So actually, she decided to try and visit our monasteries, and "check us out", to see whether this was real, or whether we're just faking it. And of course, now I really try hard to make everybody open, so you can come and see as many times, see us y'know, when we're off-guard, not in public, and hopefully, I think you'll probably see that as you see us now, is actually as we are at all times. When she saw that, she realized, "I don't know what those monks are on, but whatever they're on, I want some of it."