Stories for blind faith
3 Buddhist wisdom stories for blind faith from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- The channelled spirit at the roulette tableJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A man channels a powerful being who gives him lots of advice; what he really wants is cash. “Go to the casino… the roulette table… put $10 on 19.” It wins. “All your winnings on…
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Here comes another joke about this person, and he channeled this powerful being and this powerful being gave all this advice, and the guy said, 'Well, look, it's nice having advice, but what I really want is some cash.' Okay, said this powerful being 'go to the casino.' So he went to the casino, and a powerful being said, 'go to the roulette table.' So he went to the roulette table. And this being said; he could hear it in his ears; channeling it. He said 'put $10 on number 19.' And the wheel went around, and the ball sat on number 19. 'Put all your winnings on number 22' said the being, He could hear it in his ears. Put all the winnings on number 22. And the ball went in number 22. 'Put all the winnings, he said, on number 16.' And he put all the winnings on number 16. the ball went round, and it fell in number 17. And he heard the being say "shit!" (laughter from audience) So even powerful beings make mistakes sometimes.
- The general's holy waterStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At a time when generals were the power behind the Thai government, a major general comes to Ajahn Chah's hut in Ubon asking for holy water. Ajahn Chah says he hasn't any; the…
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aent think I told that story when this General asked for holy water aent child would very rarely give holy water and one day agent child was a joker but sometimes I thought you really go too far cuz this day this General came up to him and I was there at his H so you know you hang around cuz it's great entertainment sometimes to see what aent child was going to do next and it's major general you know that now again like the generals were in power in Thailand this was a time when they were always in power they had I think a uh lay government but the generals were the power behind the scenes and so this big Major General came up to see aan sha in uban to ask for some holy water I said I Haven got any holy water said no please that child poor they called please some holy water so bow okay bow down and that he spout all this saliva in his General's head and rubbed it in and I thought my goodness you've gone too far this time magenta you really have and this General bought it he said oh s s s I've got real holy water know from the how stupid could you be that's what he did
- Why some are born intelligentStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: From a sutta: a man asks the Buddha what karma makes people wealthy, then what makes them beautiful or ugly (Ajahn Brahm breaks off to explain why he now stares at the carpet…
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And there they tell the story of this man who came up to the Buddha and asked him like a question on karma. He was saying, you know, I've noticed in this world, some people are just born wealthy, and they managed to maintain that wealth and increase it. Now other people are born poor, and sometimes they get wealthy, but you know, there are some people, they're poor, they work really hard, and they try very hard and they work just all hours of the night and still, it's just so hard to make ends meet. Why can't you be wealthy? While other people they seem to work much less than you, they just got the gift of making money. It must be some karma from a past life that we're born poor in this life. So he asked, What do I have to do in this life? What karma do I have to make in this life to be rich in my next life?" That's a fair enough question. so the Buddha gave him an answer. He was so happy with it. He asked the second question, he said, I've also noticed that sometimes people are very beautiful, while other people are ugly. And you may notice when I mentioned the word "ugly", I stared at the carpet. And the reason for this, the reason for this is I told this story in Singapore once. And I just, I just happened to be looking at a certain woman when I mentioned the word "ugly". Oh, my goodness, did she complain. She said, "Why did you mention the word ugly when you're looking at me?" It's even worse, if I've mentioned the word "beautiful" when I'm looking at someone, they get the wrong idea. (laughter) So anyway, he, the Buddha explained the cause for beauty and ugliness in your next life. But then the killer question, why are some people intelligent, and other people they just have such a hard time at school and university. You've been with some people, they hardly do any of the homework, they just float through school, they get the prizes, and they go to universities, they get double first. You know, for the rest of us. It's just so hard just now just getting the TEE passed. He said, "Why is it? What's the karmic reason why people are born intelligent, and other people aren't intelligent? What's the karmic cause?" And the Buddha said, and this was a beautiful answer. "The karmic reason for stupidity in your next life is not asking questions in this life."