Stories for danger
3 Buddhist wisdom stories for danger from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- The bomb next door in the BlitzStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: During the London Blitz a bomb falls right next to the terraced house where Ajahn Brahm's mother and grandmother are. The neighbours, only five or six metres away, are killed…
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Even my family, parents and grandparents would tell me about life in London during the Second World War during the Blitz where a bomb fell right next to a terrace house. The next terrace house where my mother and grandma were. People in the next house are neighbors. They were instantly killed. My mother had her arm lacerated. She hardly remembers it, but it did happen apparently. And these were the old terrace houses which was only maybe what maybe 5 mters wide, 6 m wide to the next house. And they said there were some of the most wonderful times when even though many people were dying, there's so much kindness and help and joy and even joy as well.
- The day I peed on a snakeStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After meditating all night in a Thai forest monastery, the tired young monk goes into the bush at first light and squats to urinate on what he thinks is a stick — until the stick…
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I've been meditating all night in this monastery over in Thailand and in the early morning just of course you went out to go to toilet. But in those jungles just like going out to the ordinary toilet you just go out to the forest, squat down as you've seen Asian's squat down and then you just urinate in the bush. So this is the first light of day so I wasn't seeing very clearly my mindfulness wasn't strong so when I squatted down and started urinating I really did think I was urinating on a stick. (Ajahn is laughing) And then that stick started to move You know what it's like you're a bit tired, look you don't get scared, you think oh! that's a snake. It's like you're really stupid. But of course, afterwards I was a bit afraid because I thought my goodness because when you squat down you're not standing, you're squatting remember, and that was a very venomous snake and as I tell people these days the most sensitive part of a male's body was only a few inches away from the venomous snake. You girls won't appreciate this but you men sometimes that make you squirm. Uh no, but of course it did not bite me. And to this day I always think I know now why it didn't bite me. Because this was in a Buddhist monastery, in a Buddhist country, Thailand. And I'm really sure to this day that that snake never bit me as I peed on it because it thought it was being blessed with holy water
- The dog, the lion and the monkeyStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A dog wanders too far into an African forest and a lion decides to eat him. The dog finds some bones, sits with his back to the lion and, as it's about to pounce, licks his lips:…
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once upon a time there was a dog who went for a walk in the forest in Africa and he walked a bit too far because a lion saw him and the lion thought that dog will make a good dinner and a dog heard that. How could a dog escape from a lion? But this dog, he must have listened to some of the the uh YouTube talks from here because he was a very very smart dog. I'm sure he was a Buddhist. So what he did, he managed to find some bones and he sat in front of the bones with his back towards the lion totally unafraid. And as the lion was about to pounce, the dog licked his lips and said, "M, what a delicious meal. These lions are very, very tasty. I wonder when I can get my next lion to eat. And the lion heard that, thought, "My goodness, that must be a really vicious dog. He's eaten another lion. I'm not going to be his dinner." And so the lion turned around and ran away. But there was a monkey and that monkey saw that that conversation and he said, "I'm not going to let the dog get away with tricking this lion." So he went up to the line and said, "You've been tricked. you're a fool. You know, this dog, you know, can't eat lions. You know, he just said this to scare you away. And so the lion got very upset and said, "I'm going to go and eat that dog." And the monkey said, "I can't come with you to watch." So the monkey jumped on the lion's back and the lion went straight towards the dog and the dog saw them coming. So he went in front of the pile of bones again with his back towards the lion and the monkey on the back. And as they came close, the dog licked his lips again and he said, "Where's that damn monkey? He promised he'd bring me another lion.